Irene Seiler

Irene Seiler during her testimony in the Nuremberg legal process on March 26, 1947

Irene Seiler , née Scheffler (born April 26, 1910 in Guben , † July 1984 in Apolda ) was a German photographer , a victim of National Socialism and a witness in the Nuremberg legal process . She became known through books and films about the judicial murder of the Jew Leo Katzenberger .

Life

Youth, job, marriage

Irene Scheffler was the daughter of a businessman , grew up in Guben and learned to be a photographer after finishing school. Since July 31, 1939 she was married to Hans Seiler.

Because her father was a business friend of the Jewish shoe wholesaler Leo Katzenberger , she went to Nuremberg in 1932 and opened a photo studio in his house. A paternal-friendly relationship developed between Katzenberger and the much younger Irene, which was viewed with suspicion by roommates and neighbors.

time of the nationalsocialism

After the Nuremberg Race Laws came into force, this had fatal consequences for both of them. After denouncing the neighbors, the orthopedic mechanic Paul Kleylein and his wife Babette (Betty), nee Taubmann, Katzenberger was arrested in July 1941, but denied the charge of having had an intimate relationship with Irene Seiler. Irene Seiler confirmed this statement, which she also swore. On December 3, 1941, she was arrested on suspicion of perjury . The Nuremberg Special Court took the case and sentenced Katzenberger to death in the main hearing on March 13, 1942, and Seiler to two years in prison for perjury . The anti-Semitic newspaper “ Der Stürmer ” spread racist hate speech about the case. Katzenberger was beheaded with a guillotine on June 3, 1942 . Irene Seiler was imprisoned in the prisons in Aichach and Griebo . She was released on June 19, 1943 from the prison camp "Elbe Regulation Post Griebo bei Coswig (Anhalt) " near Griebo. Since then she has lived in Guben again and worked as a photographer.

Rehabilitation and Later Life

In the Nuremberg legal process , which was carried out by an American military tribunal from February 17 to December 4, 1947 , Irene Seiler appeared as a witness against the judges of the Nazi special court at the time. a. Oswald Rothaug . The judgment of the Nuremberg Special Court against them was overturned on March 28, 1947.

Irene Seiler went to Weimar in 1948 , where she ran a photo studio. Although she was recognized as a victim of fascism in 1947 , this recognition was withdrawn in 1952 because of her earlier membership in the NSDAP .

In 1960 she moved to Apolda and took over the management of the HO photo laboratory. Since 1965 she was a member of the Apolda City Council for two electoral terms for the NDPD . In February 1973 she was granted the status of persecuted by the Nazi regime after lengthy conflicts . In the same year she testified again against a Nazi lawyer during a trial in Nuremberg.

Irene Seiler died childless at the age of 74 in Apolda.

Movie

In the film drama The Judgment of Nuremberg , a US feature film from 1961 about the Nuremberg legal trials, the judicial murder of Leo Katzenberger was filmed for the first time with a different name. The testimony of Irene Seiler (in the film: Irene Hoffman Wallner, played by Judy Garland ), in which she denounces the unjust judgment, is a dramatic climax of the film.

literature

• Christiane Kohl : Der Jude und das Mädchen , Spiegel, Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-455-15018-7 (the author describes not only the judicial murder, but also the history of those involved before and after as well as the general environment and the mood towards the Nazi Time). This book formed the basis of the 2001 film Leo and Claire by Joseph Vilsmaier .
• Thomas Bahr: Irene Seiler and the "Judgment of Nuremberg" , in: Apoldaer Heimat. Contributions to the nature and local history of the city of Apolda and its surroundings, 1997, p. 17ff.

Web links

• Literature by and about Irene Seiler in the catalog of the German National Library
• Christiane Kohl: You Jew man, I'll help you . In: Der Spiegel . No. 41 , 1997, pp. 150 ( online ).