Elisabeth Schumacher
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Elisabeth Schumacher born Hohenemser (born April 28, 1904 in Darmstadt , † December 22, 1942 in Berlin-Plötzensee ) was a German graphic artist and resistance fighter ; she belonged to the circle of the Red Chapel .
Life
Elisabeth was born as the daughter of the engineer Fritz Hohenemser, who came from a former Jewish banking family from Frankfurt am Main , who had been baptized as an Evangelical Reformist . The mother was of Christian origin and came from Georgenthal . In 1914 the family moved from Strasbourg to Frankfurt am Main. Fritz Hohenemser died on October 23, 1914 as a soldier in the First World War . Elisabeth then moved to Meiningen with her mother and four siblings .
From 1921 she was back in Frankfurt and studied with interruptions until 1925 at the Offenbach School of Applied Arts . She worked in an arts and crafts studio until 1928, and then studied until 1933 in Berlin at the United State Schools for Free and Applied Arts in the graphics class with Ernst Böhm . After completing her studies, she worked for the German Occupational Safety Museum in Berlin, where she met Libertas Haas-Heye . Due to the Nuremberg Laws , she was considered a " half-Jewish ". As a result, she had no chance of a permanent job and could only work as a freelancer later.
In 1934 Elisabeth Hohenemser married the sculptor Kurt Schumacher shortly before they had to move out of their studio apartment on Prinz-Albrecht-Straße . The couple joined the circle of friends around Libertas and Harro Schulze-Boysen , which was later called the “Red Orchestra”. During the Spanish Civil War , secret materials from the German Air Force were passed on to the group by Schulze-Boysen and discussed, and then copied and miniaturized by Elisabeth Schumacher. The group also participated in the illegal distribution of leaflets and documented crimes of the Nazi regime .
Elisabeth Schumacher herself distributed illegal resistance pamphlets and tried to protect Jewish relatives from deportation . In the spring of 1941, the Schumachers were involved in an attempt to warn the Soviet Union of the German attack. On April 8, 1942, Elisabeth Schumacher, together with Philipp Schaeffer, tried to save her uncle, the Jewish musicologist Richard Hohenemser and his wife Alice, who, out of desperation over the persecution of the Jews, killed themselves with gas in their apartment. The rescue attempt failed because the caretaker did not let them into the Hohenemser's apartment and Philipp Schaeffer fell while trying to abseil down to the apartment. In August 1942, the Schumachers took in the communist Albert Hößler , who had lived in the Soviet Union since the 1930s and had parachuted over Germany to support the resistance group in transmitting information to the Soviet Union.
In 1942, after a radio message was deciphered, numerous people from these resistance groups were arrested. On September 12, 1942, Elisabeth Schumacher was also arrested in her apartment. Like her husband, she was sentenced to death by the Reich Court Martial on December 19, 1942 for “preparation for high treason ”, “ treason ” and other political offenses .
Elisabeth Schumacher died on December 22, 1942 under the guillotine in Berlin-Plötzensee prison . Her husband had been hanged there three quarters of an hour before her .
Quote
"This war is taking on more and more insane forms." (Elisabeth Schumacher in March 1941)
Honors
- Since the 1980s there has been a stone memorial plaque for Elisabeth at the house at Schulstrasse 4 in Meiningen, where she lived with her mother and siblings from 1915 to 1921. In 2019, Schulstrasse was renamed "Elisabeth-Schumacher-Strasse" in honor of Elisabeth.
- A bronze plaque was put up in 1994 in Frankfurt am Main, Kettenhofweg 46, a house in which Elisabeth Schumacher lived from 1921 to 1924.
- In 1969 she was posthumously honored with the Soviet Order of the Patriotic War .
- After the Second World War , a connecting road in the east of Leipzig (Sellerhausen / Paunsdorf) was named after her.
- In Darmstadt, where she was born, a street is named after her.
- On September 25, 2015 , a stumbling block was laid in front of her former home, Berlin-Tempelhof , Werner-Voß-Damm 42 .
literature
- Christine Fischer-Defoy , University of the Arts, Berlin: Art, power, politics. The Nazification of the art and music colleges in Berlin. Elefanten Press, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-88520-271-9 .
- Luise Kraushaar : German resistance fighters 1933 to 1945. Berlin 1970 Volume 2, p. 230 ff.
- Gert Rosiejka: The Red Chapel. "Treason" as an anti-fascist resistance. With an introduction by Heinrich Scheel . results, Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-925622-16-0 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gert Rosiejka: The Red Chapel. "Treason" as an anti-fascist resistance . Results-Publisher: Hamburg 1986; ISBN 3-925622-16-0 ; P. 37
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ New Germany of December 23, 1969
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schumacher, Elisabeth |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German resistance fighter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 28, 1904 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Darmstadt |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 22, 1942 |
| Place of death | Berlin |