Käthe Vordtriede

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Handwriting by Käthe Vordtriede

Käthe Vordtriede (born January 2, 1891 as Käthe Blumenthal in Hanover , † August 10, 1964 in New York ) was a German journalist , writer and Jewish emigrant .

Life

Käthe Vordtriede's parents were the businessman Bernhard Blumenthal (1849–1920) from Hessisch Oldendorf and the teacher Helene Blumenthal (1864–1892), née Samuel, from Hanover. The couple married in 1885. Käthe grew up in a culturally stimulating, assimilated parental home without a mother, who died one year after her birth at the age of only 28. Her father was the director of a Dutch tobacco plantation in Deli on Sumatra , where she lived for the first few years. Her brothers Georg Blumenthal (1889–1931) and Erich Blumenthal (1897–1954) were born there. In 1893 the company moved to Herfordand remarriage of the father. From 1897 to 1906 she attended the local high school for girls . 1907 to 1909 followed training at the Bielefeld teacher training college , today's grammar school at Waldhof . However, she never practiced the teaching profession. Her stepmother Sidonie Blumenthal (1872–1908), née Simon, died in 1908 at the age of only 35.

In 1910, Käthe Blumenthal married the factory owner Gustav Adolf Vordtriede (1882–1929) in Herford, who owned the Schnabel & Vordtriede chocolate factory there. He was her father's business friend. With the beginning of the First World War in 1914 and her husband's compulsory military service, the young Vordtriede moved to Bielefeld near Herford. In 1916 she separated from her husband and was now the single mother of the two children Fränze Vordtriede (1911–1997) and Werner Vordtriede (1915–1985). In 1918 Vordtriede joined the SPD .

In 1922 Vordtriede and her children first moved to Todtmoos in the Black Forest and in 1923 to Freiburg im Breisgau . Here she was initially an administrative assistant and then the first female local editor of the SPD newspaper Volkswacht . Her focus was on politics, social affairs and above all culture. Käthe Vordtriede was one of the very few women in journalism during the Weimar Republic . In 1924 she was reclaimed by the SPD Baden for special tasks. In October 1925 she ran, albeit unsuccessfully, for the 2nd Landtag of the Republic of Baden . Vordtriede was in 6th place on the state list . The mandate in constituency III Freiburg was won by union secretary Philipp Martzloff . In 1926 she moved into a new residential area of ​​the “Bauverein Freiburg i. Br. ”, In the Haslach district . In the same year she wrote her first contribution for the Weltbühne, which was then edited by Kurt Tucholsky . She was only able to raise the high rent for the house and livelihood through ongoing capital income . Among other things, she received an insurance payment of 20,000 Reichsmarks after the accidental death of her husband . She was able to partially cover the cost of living and the school fees for the children through usufruct of the real estate of her deceased father. The estate administration took over her brother Dr. Erich Blumenthal, lawyer in Bielefeld. When she applied to work as an editor for the Berlin SPD magazine Frauenwelt, she was defeated by the politician Tony Sender in 1927 . This later helped her to get a visa for the USA. In 1930 Vordtriede applied unsuccessfully as an assistant to the municipal public library on Münsterplatz . For many years she and her daughter also worked for workers' welfare . Among other things, she organized and directed camps for working class children in St. Ottilien . Vordtriede also ran an open house at Fichtestrasse 4 for friends, guests, neighbors and party members.

After the takeover by the Nazis in 1933, she received because of their Jewish origin, which they themselves did not accept and felt disbarment . After the violent destruction of the “Volkswacht” publishing house, she lost her job, as did her editor-in-chief and party member Reinhold Zumtobel . She was interrogated several times in the “ Basler Hof ” (1933–1941 headquarters of the Freiburg Gestapo ) and in August 1933 was taken into “ protective custody ” for three weeks . There were also house searches, seizures and debts . From then on she lived her life as a traveling salesman for the Berlin Sunlicht-Seifenfabrik AG, which belonged to Unilever . This simple activity was later forbidden to her. At the end of 1938, her membership in the “Bauverein Freiburg” was terminated, as were other Jewish tenants. Among them was the economist Robert Liefmann . At the same time, their entitlement to live was withdrawn. Her two children, Fränze and Werner, had already emigrated at that time. At the beginning of 1939 she moved into a simply furnished room in the Stühlinger district of Freiburg . Their refuge was later completely destroyed in the bombing raid on Freiburg on November 27, 1944 . The Nazis continued to pursue them; she had to give up money and personal effects or leave them behind when she fled.

On September 2, 1939, one day after the start of the Second World War , a courageous border guard in Basel made it possible for her to flee to Switzerland. Vordtriede lived in Kreuzlingen , Frauenfeld and later in the Ittingen Charterhouse . It took over two years to travel to the USA. She received support in the search for accommodation and the official formalities from Ernst Leisi , Rector of the Frauenfeld Cantonal School. In 1940 she was expatriated from the German Reich . At the end of 1941 she came to New York on the American Export Lines steamship "Excalibur" . From 1942 she lived temporarily in Evanston (Illinois) , where her son Werner studied. Back in New York, she had to earn a living as a cleaning lady, nanny and housekeeper . Only from 1947 to 1949 was she able to work briefly as an editor at the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung ; after that she worked in households again. In 1954 her brother Erich died in Washington . As part of the German reparation policy , she received compensation in 1957 . However, only 3 years of their “racial” persecution were recognized. In mid-December 1963, the seventy-year-old Käthe Vordtriede suffered a first heart attack. While preparing to move to her son Werner in Munich, she died of another heart attack in August 1964. For personal reasons, she decided to destroy many contemporary documents. Her son was able to save a bundle of 130 letters.

Autobiography

Käthe Vordtriede only became known posthumously . While waiting for her exit papers in Switzerland, she took part in the writing competition Mein Leben in Deutschland before and after 1933 , which was advertised by Harvard University . The jury included the scientists Gordon Allport , Sidney B. Fay and Edward Hartshorne . The philosopher Karl Löwith , who was already in exile, also took part in this competition.

Vordtriede's contribution, which was archived by Edward Hartshorne in Washington but has since been considered lost, was found on microfilm in the archives of the American secret service OCI at the end of the 1990s and was first published as a book in 1999. The year before, the writer Manfred Bosch had edited the letters from her son Werner's estate that she had sent him from Switzerland to the USA from 1933 onwards. Some are also written in English and French. The advertised prize money of $ 1000 was distributed among several senders. Half of the $ 500 of the first prize went to the writer Gertrud Wickerhauser Lederer and the journalist Carl Paeschke .

Her autobiography and her letters are now recognized in historical studies as part of exile prose .

Appreciations

" Stumbling block " in front of the former Gestapo office in Freiburg
“Stumbling stone” in front of the former home in Freiburg-Haslach
The Käthe-Vordtriede-Weg in Freiburg-Rieselfeld

As a result of the book publications, there was a radio play by Thomas Jean Lehner in 1999 . In 2001, a documentary by Sigrid Faltin followed . Both were produced by SWR Freiburg and broadcast nationwide.

In 2003 a path in the Freiburg district of Rieselfeld was named after Vordtriede. In 2007 a stumbling block followed in front of the former residential building in the Haslach district . 2011 Another way the district was Wettbergen in Hanover named after her. In 2013 a second stumbling block was laid, this time in front of today's Freiburg Regional Council , known as the “ Basler Hof ”, which was then the headquarters of the Gestapo .

In 2014 there were various actions on the 50th anniversary of Käthe Vordtriede's death. The Vordtriede House in Freiburg was set up on a private initiative and is dedicated to the Vordtriede family who had emigrated. She lived from 1926 to 1938 in what is now a listed building.

From January to August 2015, in the special exhibition “The sky is burning on the horizon - Art in Eastern Switzerland under the spell of World War II”, Vordtriede's letter quotes were presented for the first time via audio guide . The offer was aimed at children and young people from secondary schools and their teachers . The organizer was the Thurgau Art Museum . At the same time, IVG gave a lecture in Shanghai in August . The conference venue was Tongji University .

Käthe Vordtriede mentioned the special exhibition “National Socialism in Freiburg” set up in the Augustinermuseum Freiburg in 2016 among the exemplary biographies. In cooperation with the Marbach Literature Archive , a reproduction of a letter to her son Werner Vordtriede was shown. As part of the museum education, Freiburg students developed and discussed an audio guide.

In May 2017 there was a reading production with the folk band Die Grenzgänger in the Kulturetage . The event was organized and co-financed by the University of Oldenburg . There was a follow-up event in Bad Nauheim in 2019 and in Halle (Saale) in 2020 .

Magazine articles

  • Our justice. In: The world stage. Issue 22, 1926, p. 633.
  • Messalina in the village. In: The world stage. Issue 29, 1933, p. 341.

Fonts

  • "It is still like a dream to me that I succeeded in this adventurous escape". Letters after 1933 from Freiburg, Frauenfeld and New York to her son Werner. Edited by Manfred Bosch. Libelle Verlag, Lengwil 1998, ISBN 3-909081-10-X .
  • "There are times when you wither". My life in Germany before and after 1933. Edited and with an afterword by Detlef Garz. Libelle Verlag, Lengwil 1999, ISBN 3-909081-13-4 .
  • From the Caritas Association. Edited and provided with a foreword by Jürgen Lang. Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Luxembourg 2020, ISBN 979-8-61122-870-8 .

literature

  • Bauverein Breisgau eG: Jewish members are excluded - member Käthe Vordtriede. In: 100 years of Bauverein Breisgau eG 1899–1999. Promo Verlag, Freiburg 1999, pp. 53-54.
  • Walter Preker: The letters from Käthe Vordtriede. In: Freiburger Almanach 2000. Poppen & Ortmann Verlag, Freiburg 1999, pp. 47-50.
  • Manfred Bosch: Became a Jew through Hitler. The journalist and emigrant Käthe Vordtriede (1891–1964). In: Alemannic Judaism. Traces of a lost culture. Edition Isele, Eggingen 2001, ISBN 3-86142-146-1 , pp. 405-412.
  • Bernd Ottnad, Fred L. Sepaintner: Käthe Vordtriede. In: Baden-Württemberg biographies. Volume 3, Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-17-017332-4 , pp. 430-432.
  • Beate Schmeichel-Falkenberg : It's no longer bearable here. Kathes and Werner's exile without end. In: Jewish intellectuals in the 20th century. Literature and cultural history studies. Verlag Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2003, ISBN 3-8260-2310-2 , pp. 151-165.
  • Kathrin Clausing: life on demand. On the history of the Freiburg Jews under National Socialism. Freiburg im Breisgau city archive, Freiburg 2005.
  • Action Committee 100 Years of the Garden City: The Gestapo just rummaged through our kitchen - Käthe Vordtriede's years in the Garden City. In: History and Stories. 100 years of the garden city of Freiburg-Haslach. Verlag schwarz auf weiss, Freiburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-00-047910-6 , pp. 84–88.
  • Jürgen Lang: Käthe Vordtriede. In: The Vordtriede Quiz. 50 questions and answers about the emigrated Freiburg family. BoD, Norderstedt 2015, ISBN 978-3-7392-0492-5 , pp. 13-14.
  • Augustinian Museum: Käthe Vordtriede. In: National Socialism in Freiburg. Book accompanying the exhibition at the Augustinermuseum in cooperation with the Freiburg City Archives. November 26, 2016 to October 7, 2017. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-7319-0362-8 , pp. 72–73.
  • Bianca Pick: Käthe Vordtriede: Self-testimonies of survival. Ridicule in spite of desperation. In: Autobiographical Discourses of Women 1900–1950. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-8260-5469-3 , pp. 227-236.
  • Bianca Pick: Gripped by the "disease of hatred"? Sarcasm in the autobiography and in the letters of Käthe Vordtriedes. In: Files of the XIII. International Germanist Congress Shanghai 2015 - German Studies between Tradition and Innovation. Volume 9: Publications of the Association for German Studies (IVG). Verlag Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2018, ISBN 978-3-631-66871-9 , pp. 269-273.
  • Bianca Patricia Pick: Prize publications as diagnoses of the times in exile. Käthe Vordtriede, Anna Siemsen, Käte Frankenthal. In: Zeitdiagnose im Exil. On the interpretation of National Socialism after 1933. Contributions to the history of National Socialism 36. Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2020, ISBN 978-3-8353-3791-6 , pp. 63–84.

Radio play and films

Web links

Commons : Käthe Vordtriede  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Regional history working group: The Freiburg journalist Käthe Vordtriede. In: Schule-bw.de. Baden-Württemberg State History Working Group, accessed on January 2, 2020 (German).
  2. ^ Heiko Wegmann: Books were also burned by the Nazis in Freiburg. Badische Zeitung , August 21, 2013, (With picture of the author [“3/3”]).
  3. ↑ Ulrike Baureithel: "Now we are nothing". How evil got into the provinces: The letters of the journalist Käthe Vordtriede after 1933. In: Die Welt , online edition of February 6, 1999.
  4. ↑ Julian Schütt: "Oh God, never again Switzerland !!!". Käthe Vordtriede: journalist, socialist, Jew, exile in Switzerland from 1939 to 1941. In: Die Weltwoche , issue 34 of August 20, 1998, p. 43.
  5. ↑ Martin Ebel: "Four hours for the estate". The fate of a talent: Käthe Vordtriede's letters from exile. In: FAZ . Online edition from September 22, 1999.
  6. ^ Käthe Vordtriede: "My Life in Germany Contest Papers, 1940". Entry No. 237. Houghton Library, Harvard University in Cambridge 2016.
  7. ^ Karl Löwith: "My life in Germany before and after 1933". A report. With a foreword by Reinhart Koselleck and a comment by Ada Löwith. Stuttgart 1986.
  8. ↑ Käthe Vordtriede: "There are times when you wither". My life in Germany before and after 1933. Edited and with an afterword by Detlef Garz. Libelle-Verlag, Lengwil 1999.
  9. ↑ Norbert F. Pötzl: "Never go back to this country". At the end of the 1930s, emigrants described the outbreaks of violence against German Jews and political opponents organized by the Nazis. In: Der Spiegel . Online edition from May 18, 2018.
  10. ↑ Peter Winterling: The tragedy of a woman's life. Südwest Fernsehen portrays the left-wing Jewish journalist Käthe Vordtriede. Badische Zeitung , January 5, 2001.
  11. ↑ Kunstmuseum Thurgau, Ittingen Charterhouse: “The sky is burning on the horizon”. Art in Eastern Switzerland under the spell of World War II. (PDF). In: kklick - cultural mediation in Eastern Switzerland. Cooperation project between the offices for culture in the cantons of Appenzell, Ausserrhoden, St.Gallen and Thurgau. Edition March 2015, p. 9.
  12. ^ Bianca Pick, University of Oldenburg: Käthe Vordtriede: Autobiography and letters. (PDF). In: Program of the XIII. Congress of the International Association for German Studies. German studies between tradition and innovation. Tongji University Shanghai, 23. – 30. August 2015, p. 28.
  13. ↑ DFG graduate college at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg: Staged reading & concert by the band “Grenzgänger” on Käthe Vordtriede. In: Program for the theme day REMEMBER Ӏ LIFE Ӏ EXILE - Vanishing points and border crossings. Kulturetage Oldenburg on May 31, 2017.
  14. ↑ Cabinet pieces of the TAF begin with "Medea". In: Wetterauer Zeitung . Online edition from March 26, 2019.
  15. ↑ Reading to commemorate the Holocaust. Theater pedagogue traces the escape of a Jewish woman. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung . Online edition from January 27, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Vordtriede, Kathe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanover
DATE OF DEATH August 10, 1964
Place of death New York City