Ellen Bernkopf-Catzenstein

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Ellen Bernkopf-Catzenstein (also: Ellen Bernkopf, artist name: E. Colmar ; born April 4, 1904 in Hanover , † January 20, 1992 in Jerusalem ) was a German sculptor .

Life

In the German Empire , Ellen Catzenstein was born in 1904 in Hanover as the daughter of the Jewish doctor Leo Catzenstein (actually: Louis Catzenstein) and Anna Catzenstein . She was the sister of the gallery owner Franz Catzenstein . After attending school, she first underwent artistic training with Hermann Scheuertstuhl and the wood carver Ostermann at the Hanover School of Applied Arts . She then moved to the Academy of Arts in Berlin and the sculpture class at the teaching institution of the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin , where she was taught by the sculptors Walter Reger and Edwin Scharff .

After the First World War , Catzenstein became friends with the artist Gerda Rotermund in the Weimar Republic - this friendship lasted lifelong; their correspondence is now documented in the Ellen Bernkopf Archives (see section below).

During her stay in Paris in 1926/27 together with Gerda Rotermund, Catzenstein worked with the sculptor Jacques Loutchansky .

Ellen Catzenstein was a founding member of the Hanoverian GEDOK in Hanover in 1927 , of which she headed the sculpture group.

After taking a trip to Provence with Mara Matthiesen and Gerda Rotermund in 1928 , she moved to Berlin in the same year to carry out works in clay and stone under the artist name Ellen Colmar and in her first own studio in Berlin-Wilmersdorf , Jenaer Straße 3 for sale.

In the seizure of power by the Nazis was in 1933 a exhibition in Hanover shown that "was vilified in the wake of the Nazi cultural policy in the newspapers" but. In the same year Ellen Catzenstein went on a “ trip to Holland ” and emigrated - without her parents - first to Switzerland , then to Italy .

Also in 1933 her brother Franz emigrated first to Zurich , then into exile in London .

In 1936, in Palestine , Catzenstein met Hans Bernkopf , professor of virology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , and in the same year Catzenstein's father died in Hanover. In July 1937 Ellen Bernkopf-Catzenstein married the professor, but she was only able to get a visa from Athens to Palestine and leave there in December of that year .

In 1938, the year of the Reichspogromnacht in Germany, daughter Yael was born in Catzenstein's new home. In 1939 the widow Anna Catzenstein, the grandmother of little Yael, who had remained in Hanover until then, managed to flee to Palestine. Ellen earned a living from 1940 to 1947 taking private lessons in Jerusalem. In 1947 she presented her own works, in particular portraits , reliefs and figures made of terracotta and bronze , in a collective exhibition with Joseph Kossonogi in Tel Aviv .

From 1947 to 1950 Ellen Bernkopf-Catzenstein stayed in the USA: In December 1947 in New York City she had an exhibition in the Bertha Schaefer Gallery , later in Ann Arbor , Michigan. She worked again as a teacher in the ceramic studio " The Potter's Guild ", and in 1948 she exhibited in the Jewish Museum (New York City) .

In 1950 Bernkopf-Catzenstein returned to Jerusalem and worked there as a physiotherapist for handicapped children .

Between 1951 and 1955 she made various trips to Europe. From 1968 to 1969 she worked in the Pastori foundry in Geneva on her “ Memorial to the Victims of Violence”. According to the Bocholter Stadtlexikon , it was set up in the spring of 1970 at the location requested by the artist, "between the Aa bridges, in front of the Südhaus":

“It stands for the war and civilian deaths of the world wars and those who perished in the concentration camps.

The artist, herself persecuted by the Nazi regime , wanted a silent sculpture in the middle of the city's traffic. The memorial should not be in a remote location, such as a cemetery, where it would only come to the attention of the population on official days of mourning.

The sculpture is a life-size figure sitting on a pedestal, who seems to be thinking with folded arms and slightly tilted head. Ms. Bernkopf's intention was that people rushing by, especially children, shouldn't be frightened, but rather stimulate thought and questions. "

"In 1999 the monument found its current location in the course of the construction work around Neutor-Platz."

In 1987, Ellen Bernskopf-Catzenstein made a name for herself in her native Hanover: as part of the exhibition "60 Years of GEDOK Hanover 1927–1987", a retrospective of the Hanoverian woman was presented at the same time .

Works (incomplete)

Fonts

  • Ellen Bernkopf: The victims. In: UNSER BOChOLT , vol. 21 (1970), issue 1, pp. 8/9

Ellen Bernkopf Archive

In 1993, Ellen Bernkopf's daughter, Yael Arnold-Baran , handed over her mother's written estate to the Academy of Arts in Berlin.

Honors

After the City Council of Hanover decided in 1999 to name new streets mainly after women who played an important role in the history of the city, a brochure was published in August 2011 which gives information about previous street names after female personalities and a series lists of people after whom street names should be made in the future. The latter also includes a short biography of Ellen Bernkopf .

See also

literature

  • Herbert A. Strauss , Werner Röder: International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Emigrés 1933–1945 [corresponds to: Biographical Handbook of German-speaking Emigration after 1933 ], Volume II / Part 1: A – K. The Arts, Sciences, and Literature [ed. from the Institute for Contemporary History, Munich, and from the Research Foundation for Jewish Immigration, Inc., New York under the overall direction of Werner Röder and Herbert A. Strauss], Munich; New York; London; Paris; Saur, 1983, ISBN 3-598-10087-6 , p. 97f.
  • Hilde Weström: The sculptor Ellen Bernkopf-Catzenstein. In: 60 years of GEDOK Hanover. 1927-1987. Fine arts, applied arts, literature, music, art lovers , p. 14f.
  • Hiltrud Schroeder (Ed.): Sophie & Co. Important women of Hanover. Biographical portraits , Hannover: Fackelträger-Verlag, 1991, ISBN 3-7716-1521-6 , p. 227
  • Ines Katenhusen : "... the need for mental stimulation". Gedok artists and art lovers in Hanover in the twenties and thirties. In: Nobles, Workers and… Women's Life in the City and Region of Hanover from the 17th to the 20th Century , ed. by Karin Ehrich and Christiane Schröder ( Municipal Association Greater Hanover ), in the series materials on regional history , vol. 1, Bielefeld: Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, 1999, ISBN 3-89534-292-0 , p. 216 and others.
  • Peter Schulze : Bernkopf-Catzenstein, Ellen. In: Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon , pp. 54f. u.ö. ( Online in Google Book Search).
  • Peter Schulze: Bernkopf-Catzenstein, Ellen. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , p. 64.
  • Christine Kannenberg, Sabine Poppe (editor), Petra Utgenannt (design): Important women in Hanover. Help for future naming of streets, paths, squares and bridges according to female personalities , brochure, ed. from the Department for Equal Opportunities for Women and from the Planning and Urban Development Association, City of Hanover, June 2013 ( Online , PDF, 736 kB).
  • Gerd Häckelmann: Memorial for the victims of violence. In: UNSER BOCHOLT , vol. 21 (1970), issue 1, pp. 6/7

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Peter Schulze: Bernkopf-Catzenstein, Ellen (see literature)
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Manfred Mayer: Ellen Bernkopf Archive (see web links)
  3. ↑ a b c d e Peter Schulze: Catzenstein, Leo. In: Stadtlexikon Hannover , p. 109
  4. ^ Bernhard Schulz: Berlin / dealers and stolen goods. In: Jüdische Allgemeine . dated April 14, 2011 ( online transcription , accessed April 22, 2012)
  5. ↑ a b c Irmgard Ratermann: Bocholter Stadtlexikon / memorial for the victims of violence (see web links)
  6. ↑ Christine Kannenberg, Sabine Poppe (editor), Petra Utgenannt (design): Significant women ... (see literature)
personal data
SURNAME Bernkopf-Catzenstein, Ellen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Catzenstein, Ellen; Colmar, Ellen; Colmar, E.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor; emigrates to Palestine
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanover
DATE OF DEATH January 20, 1992
Place of death Jerusalem