Dorothee Fliess

Dorothee Fliess (born August 22, 1921 in Berlin ; † March 12, 2001 in Basel ) was a German persecuted by National Socialism . In 1942, shortly before the imminent deportation, she was able to flee to Switzerland with her parents thanks to a rescue operation by members of the resistance in the Wehrmacht intelligence service . Later, through her records and her public engagement, she became an important contemporary witness for these events and for assessing the German resistance.

Life

Fliess was the second daughter of the First World War seriously injured and decorated officer and Jewish lawyer Julius Fliess and his wife Hildegard.

In November 1938 she had to leave the subprima of the Fürstin Bismarck School overnight, attended courses in shorthand and typewriter, and finally worked as a secretary in her father's office until she was 19 in 1941 Ehrich & Graetz in Berlin-Treptow was obliged to do forced labor .

While her older sister Beate Hermelin emigrated to Palestine in 1939 , Dorothee never seriously planned this step because she was a Berliner with body and soul.

That Dorothee Fliess was able to lead the relatively normal life of a middle-class lawyer’s daughter until the end of 1941 was only possible because her father had a special position as an officer. Nevertheless, after the Nuremberg Laws were passed in 1935, he lost his notary's office , in autumn 1938 he lost his license to practice law and from then on belonged to the small group of Jewish lawyers who were still admitted as legal consultants.

In the first weeks of 1942, however, the Fliess family also received a written notification that they were scheduled to be "evacuated" from Berlin and that they had to be ready with one piece of hand luggage each.

Due to the position of Dorothee Fliess's father and his excellent connections, Reich judge Hans von Dohnanyi and attorney Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, with the active support of the Foreign Office / Defense of the High Command of the Wehrmacht, campaigned to exclude the Fliess family from this evacuation.

As the family later reported, Heinrich Himmler had been made a proposal at an official meal to smuggle a group of people - disguised as Jews - abroad, where they were supposed to work for Germany as alleged agents or confidants of the Abwehr. Himmler gave his approval in principle. This was the only way in September 1942 that the Fliess family, the Arnold couple with two children, the Rennefeld couple, Ms. Annemarie Conze with two school-age children who were friends with Brigitte Canaris, the daughter of the admiral and Abwehr chief Canaris , and Lotte Friedenthal could legally leave Germany for Switzerland under the highest level of secrecy.

Dorothee Fliess was able to catch up on her Abitur in Basel and study at the university there. She became a high school teacher there.

With the death of Dorothee Fliess, the research community was founded on July 20, 1944 e. V. with a legacy of € 450,000. These assets are invested in a fund reminiscent of Dorothee Fliess. The proceeds from this fund are intended to provide financial support to young people, primarily doctoral students, who are engaged in scientific research into the resistance against the Third Reich .

Testimonials

Fonts

• Story of a rescue . In: Rüdiger von Voss, Günther Neske (Ed.): July 20, 1944: Approaching the historical moment . Neske, Pfullingen 1984, ISBN 3-7885-0270-3 , pp. 69-87.
• "Company Seven". An action by the German military resistance. In: Wolfgang Benz (Ed.): Solidarity and help for Jews during the Nazi era , Part 4: Rescue in the Holocaust: Conditions and experiences of survival . Metropol Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-932482-80-8 , pp. 29-47. (Revised version of the story of a rescue .)

Appearance as a contemporary witness

• The Restless Conscience: Resistance to Hitler Within Germany 1933-1945 , documentary by Hava Kohav Bella (1992).

literature

• Winfried Meyer: "Company Seven": A rescue operation for those threatened by the Holocaust from the Foreign Office / Defense in the High Command of the Wehrmacht . Anton Hain Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1993, ISBN 3-445-08571-4
• Sylvia Rogge-Gau: “Enthusiastic Berliner and German” - Dorothee Fliess. In: Aubrey Pomerance in connection with the Jewish Museum Berlin (ed.): Jewish forced laborers at Ehrich & Graetz, Berlin-Treptow . DuMont-Verlag, Cologne / Jewish Museum, Berlin, 2003 ISBN 3-8321-7839-2 , pp. 92–98
• Heiko Schaumann u. a. (Ed.): Places of Remembrance: People and scenes in the border region of Basel 1933–1945 . Christoph-Merian-Verlag, Basel 2008, ISBN 3-85616-364-6
• Cioma Schönhaus : The Passport Forger: the incredible story of a young graphic artist who fought underground against the Nazis. Edited, with an afterword and edited by Marion Neiss. Scherz Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 2004, ISBN 3-502-15688-3
• Winfried Meyer: Dr. Donner: Hans von Dohnanyi, a conspirator against Hitler, is named "Righteous Among the Nations" . In: Berliner Zeitung , June 19, 2003

Web links

• Info letter “Legacy and reception of July 20, 1944” on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of 2004 . Scientific Service of the Bundestag , Reg. WD 1 - 077/03, February 23, 2004 ( PDF )
• Marilyn Henry: Who, exactly, is a Righteous Gentile? In: Jerusalem Post , April 22, 1998, p. 12 ( RighteousJews.org )
• Exile, change of profession and return . (PDF; 2.3 MB) Short biographies for the traveling exhibition Lawyer Without Law of the German Lawyers' Association and the Federal Bar Association (since 2000), p. 9 Photo by Dorothee and Julius Fliess from Berlin, 1942
• Dorothee Fliess Fond website