Carla Simons

Carla Simons (born April 29, 1903 in Amsterdam , † November 19, 1943 in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp ) was a Dutch writer , translator and Romance scholar , victim of National Socialism .

life and work

Caroline Josephine Sophie Simons took courses in French and Italian at the University of Amsterdam . She met Romano Guarnieri , a private lecturer in Italian , who was separated from his wife , and became his partner. Between 1926 and 1939 she published three novels and a children's book under the name Carla Simons, as well as a translation of a text by Lionello Fiumi . Her translation of the novel Piccolo mondo antico by Antonio Fogazzaro appeared posthumously .

She initially escaped the persecution of Jews in the Netherlands (especially from 1942) under the protection of the fascist-oriented Guarnieri. After the fall of Mussolini in September 1943, Adolf Eichmann personally ordered her arrest on September 27, 1943. Two months later she was murdered in Auschwitz.

When she was at risk, she wrote a diary that was published in 2014.

Works

• Voorspel (Les amours en cachette) , Amsterdam 1926
• Lea. Episodes uit een vrouwenleven , Amsterdam 1930
• Snip, Snap, Snavelmond trokken de wijde wereld rond , Amsterdam 1932 (children's book)
• (Translator) Lionello Fiumi, Un 'Olanda fra due orari e ritorno via Bruges = Holland gezien tusschen twee treinen en een terugreis over Brugge , Amsterdam 1939
• Ik wil leven. Roman , Amsterdam 1939
• (Translator) Antonio Fogazzaro, De kleine wereld , Amsterdam 1945 (Italian original: Piccolo mondo antico , 1895)
• Dagboek 1942. Leven op de grens van wankelende waarden , Wormerland 2014 (diary)

Web links

• http://www.communityjoodsmonument.nl/page/286013/nl (biographical note, with pictures)