Clara Reyersbach
Clara Reyersbach (born December 27, 1897 in Oldenburg , † January 18, 1972 in Puerto de la Cruz , Tenerife ) was a German - British journalist and from 1948 to 1972 head of the London editorial staff of the Hamburger Abendblatt .
life and work
Little is known about the educational path of the Jew Clara Reyersbach. In 1921 she began her journalistic career as an editor for the Oldenburger Landeszeitung . This was followed by positions in Kiel and Braunschweig , before she switched to the editorial office of the Hamburger Fremdblatt in February 1927 , where she wrote about women, film and fashion. In 1931 she was at the side of Magdalene Schoch co-founder of the Hamburg Zonta Club , of which she was also a member of the first board. After the seizure of power by the National Socialists their activity was severely limited. As a journalist, she should no longer be publicly present. However, she was initially able to pursue her profession, although the fact that the managing director of the Hamburg Regional Association of the German Press found out that her father had earned services during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 helped her . In the middle of 1936 she was dismissed as a non- Aryan after a manager in the publishing house was informed that Gestapo officials had inquired about a possible employment relationship for the "Jewess Reyersbach" - which ultimately turned out to be misinformation. She then worked as a freelance journalist and casual worker, but was also able to represent the English news agency Reuters . The Gestapo only questioned her for the first time in 1939. After searching her apartment, she decided to emigrate . Shortly before emigrating to England on May 15, 1939, she received news of her stepbrother's death in a concentration camp .
When she arrived in London, where she lived until her death, Clara Reyersbach initially worked as a domestic servant, secretary and translator . At the end of the war , she was unemployed for a long time before she took over the management of the London editorial staff of the Hamburger Abendblatt in 1948, which she held until her death. As a correspondent , she covered a wide range of topics. Starting with her first article on October 14, 1948, “No agreement on the dismantling question”, to the last and only after her death, on January 26, 1972, that appeared: “Churning out successes” on the writer David Storey .
"Whatever you write about, you see the people behind every topic!"
Clara Reyersbach, who had accepted British citizenship in October 1947, repeatedly returned to Hamburg. For example, in 1963 as a participant in the Inter-European Zonta District Conference that took place there, and most recently in 1971. She died of a heart attack while on vacation on the island of Tenerife, which she had grown fond of during several visits. There she was in Puerto de la Cruz buried .
“She brought readers closer to England and the English for more than 23 years. Through her work she has helped to break down barriers of distrust on both sides. "
literature
- Traute Hoffmann: Clara Reyersbach. In: The first German ZONTA club. On the trail of extraordinary women. 2nd Edition. Dölling and Galitz Verlag , Munich / Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-937904-43-3 , pp. 156–158.
- Rainer Nicolaysen : Reyersbach, Clara. In: Frank Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie. Lexicon of persons. Volume 4, Wallstein Verlag , Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0229-7 , p. 283 f.
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Reyersbach, Clara |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-British journalist and editor-in-chief |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 27, 1897 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oldenburg (Oldenburg) |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 18, 1972 |
| Place of death | Puerto de la Cruz , Tenerife, Spain |