Johanna Geissmar

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Johanna Geissmar at the age of 19, photography by Conrad Ruf

Johanna Elsa Geissmar ( December 7, 1877 in Mannheim - August 14, 1942 in Auschwitz ) was a German doctor who was murdered in the Holocaust .

family

Johanna Geissmar was the youngest of six children of the lawyer Josef Geissmar (October 16, 1828 in Sinsheim - October 3, 1905 in Mannheim) and his wife Klara, born in Regensburg (April 20, 1844 in Eppingen - July 16, 1911). Her ancestors included rabbis (e.g. David Geismar ), cantors and religion teachers.

Life

Johanna Geissmar attended the secondary school for girls in Mannheim. At first, studying was out of the question because the universities were still closed to her as a woman: In 1900 women were admitted to Heidelberg University for the first time . Johanna made up her Abitur at the humanistic grammar school Hohenbaden in Baden-Baden and from 1909 studied medicine in Heidelberg . During this time she lived with her brother, the regional judge Jakob Geissmar in Graimbergweg 1. She completed her studies in 1915 with the title of Dr. med. from. She then worked as a doctor in a Heidelberg military hospital , where she experienced the aftermath of the First World War . From 1920 she practiced as a pediatrician in Heidelberg, first she had her practice in Erwin-Rhode-Strasse, later in Moltkestrasse, where she also lived. As of 1930, fewer and fewer patients came to Johanna Geissmar as a result of the Nazi propaganda. On April 1, 1933, the Gauleitung called for a boycott of Jewish doctors. At the end of April 1933, Johanna Geissmar's license was withdrawn and she had to close her practice.

After August 28, 1933, Johanna Geissmar moved to Bärental in the Black Forest , from 1935 she lived in Saig , there eventually with her brother Friedrich Geissmar, who was also a doctor. After the November pogrom in 1938 , Johanna Geissmar was physically attacked. She found refuge with her friend Erika Schwoerer, whose family was not in favor of National Socialism. When the situation became more and more threatening, her friend turned to the Protestant pastor Martin Huss, who was a member of the Confessing Church . But protection was not possible, Johanna's brother Friedrich committed suicide in the autumn of 1940. Johanna Geissmar was taken by the Gestapo to one of the three collection points on October 23, 1940 as part of the Wagner-Bürckel campaign and deported to the Gurs camp in southern France , where she helped as a doctor as much as possible in the women's camp. In August 1942 she was transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp . Although her name was not on the list, she volunteered for the transport, on the one hand she wanted to continue providing medical care for her patients, on the other hand she hoped to find her brother Jakob and his wife, who were deported from Munich, in Auschwitz. Her arrival in Auschwitz-Birkenau is recorded as the day of her death: August 14, 1942.

None of the siblings survived; three siblings had died before 1933. Jakob was murdered in Theresienstadt in 1943, his wife Elisabeth and their daughter Martha were also victims of the Shoah . Two nieces survived: Else Geissmar, Jakob and Elisabeth's second daughter, because she was able to emigrate to the USA with her daughter Ruth in 1938, and Berta Geissmar , Leopold's daughter, who also fled in good time.

memory

Stumbling block for Johanna Geissmar in Heidelberg

A memorial plaque for Johanna Geissmar is on the building in which she lived: Hochfirstweg 27 in Lenzkirch-Saig. The "unveiling" was on May 30, 2004. It was supposed to be May 30, but was postponed until autumn.

Since 2014, a stumbling stone in front of Moltkestrasse 6 in Heidelberg has been reminding of Johanna Geissmar.

The ZDF film with the title Engel in der Hölle by Dietmar Schulz, which was shown on January 31, 2009, reports on the fate of Johanna Geissmar.

In 2013 the school conference of the Peter-Petersen-Gymnasium in Mannheim-Schönau decided to name the school after Johanna Geissmar in the future. Since February 1, 2014 it has been called Johanna-Geissmar-Gymnasium .

See also

literature

  • Karl Diefenbacher: Ortssippenbuch Eppingen in Kraichgau . Interest group Badischer Ortssippenbücher, Lahr-Dinglingen 1984 ( German Ortssippenbücher, series A. Volume 109) ( Badische Ortssippenbücher . Volume 52).
  • Horst Ferdinand: Johanna Geissmar . In: Baden biographies . New episode 4/1996. Pp. 90-92.
  • Richard Zahlten: My sister died in Auschwitz. Memorial book for Dr. Johanna Geißmar and her family . Johannis Verlag, Lahr 2000.
  • Richard Paid: Dr. Johanna Geissmar: From Mannheim to Heidelberg and across the Black Forest through Gurs to Auschwitz-Birkenau. 1877-1942. In memory of a Jewish doctor 60 years later. Hartung-Gorre Verlag, Konstanz 2001, ISBN 3896496611 .

Web links

Commons : Johanna Geissmar  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Geissmar family on the website of the Stolpersteine ​​initiative for Heidelberg , accessed on September 5, 2017.
  2. ↑ cf. Mannheimer Morgen , edition of Friday, June 7, 2013, p. 17.
  3. ↑ a b PPG becomes Johanna-Geissmar-Gymnasium | Mannheim.de. Retrieved September 11, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b Johanna Geissmar - JGG Mannheim. Retrieved on October 21, 2019 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Geissmar, Johanna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Geissmar, Johanna Elsa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor
DATE OF BIRTH December 7, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Mannheim
DATE OF DEATH August 14, 1942
Place of death Auschwitz