Henny Brenner

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Henny Brenner (born as Henny Wolf on November 25, 1924 in Dresden ; died on May 16, 2020 in Weiden in der Oberpfalz ) was a Jewish German slave laborer who, in her autobiographical report Das Lied ist aus (2001), about her life in Dresden and told of how her life was saved by the bombing raids on Dresden in February 1945.

Life

Henny Wolf grew up in a wealthy, upper-class family in Dresden . Her father Max Wolf was a Protestant, her mother Rebekka a Jew. Her maternal grandparents came to Dresden from Minsk in 1892 after anti-Jewish pogroms in Russia . The father had married into this Minsk family of Jewish cigar manufacturers and ran a. a. the “Palast-Theater” cinema at Alaunstrasse 28 (later known as “Kosmos”).

With the National Socialist race laws , the life of the now “mixed-racial non-privileged family” changed suddenly. Henny Brenner was verbally abused, isolated and expelled. In July 1941 she was sent to the Goehle factory for forced labor at Zeiss-Ikon . Her deportation was imminent on February 16, 1945, but she was no longer forced to begin because of the simultaneous bombing of Dresden. She fled with her parents, who hid in an abandoned house and waited for the war to end. All three family members survived.

The destruction of the city saved them from deportation, although even afterwards the Gestapo - bombed out themselves - looked for Jews in hiding. Henny Brenner also reports from this time up to the invasion of the Red Army (May 8) and the subsequent flight to West Berlin and later to Weiden .

Henny Brenner was awarded the Saxon Order of Merit on May 19, 2014 for her educational work as a contemporary witness .

The historian Michael Brenner is a son of Henny Brenner.

Autobiography

  • "The song is over". A Jewish fate in Dresden. Zurich 2001, ISBN 3-85842-398-X . New edition Wallstein 2017, ISBN 978-3835331327 .
  • Audiobook: Henny Brenner tells about her life: “Didn't know anything ?! You saw us with the yellow star! ” Series: Edition Zeugen einer Zeit, Paul Lazarus Foundation (Ed.), 2011. 2 audio CDs, ISBN 978-3-942902-01-4 .

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Memorial hour on the 71st anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and 69th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps , Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Munich and Upper Bavaria
  2. ↑ Dr. Jörg Skriebeleit: Deep mourning for contemporary witness Henny Brenner from Weiden. In: The new day. May 20, 2020, p. 5 , accessed May 25, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Herbert Lappe: One of the last witnesses. In: Dresdner Latest News . May 21, 2020, accessed May 23, 2020 .
  4. ^ Ulrich Gerhardt: Helga Verleger and Henny Brenner. Radio play. Bayern 2 , February 11, 2013, accessed on February 13, 2016 .
  5. ↑ a b c Frank Junghänel: “Only a big attack can save us”. In: Berliner Zeitung . February 12, 2005, accessed February 13, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Tillich presents the Saxon Order of Merit. May 19, 2014, accessed February 13, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Olga Havenetidis: The bombing night of Dresden: The fate of one night. In: Der Tagesspiegel . May 6, 2015, accessed May 21, 2017 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Brenner, Henny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wolf, Henny (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German contemporary witness of the Holocaust and author
DATE OF BIRTH November 25, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH May 16, 2020
Place of death Willows in the Upper Palatinate