Lola Töpke

Edith Leonore Caroline Töpke (born July 4, 1891 in Leopoldshall , † January 3, 1945 in Stutthof concentration camp ) was a German sculptor .

Life

Kieler Kunst-Keramik AG, dancer, 1928, height: 54 cm, design: Lola Töpke

Lola Töpke was the oldest daughter of the lawyer Georg Simon. Her mother Anna Marie, née Seckel, wrote novels. She spent her childhood with two siblings in Staßfurt , Nordhausen and Halle an der Saale . In 1897 the family members converted from the Jewish to the Protestant faith. Lola Töpke attended Johannes Trüper's boarding school in Jena , who recognized and encouraged her artistic talent. Then she learned sculpture at the arts and crafts school in Halle . Richard Engelmann , who was highly regarded at the time, accepted her in his master class in 1911. In 1913 she moved with her teacher to the Weimar School of Art .

During the First World War Töpke worked as an auxiliary nurse for the Red Cross in East Prussia. In 1919 she continued her studies at the newly founded Bauhaus University Weimar . In 1921 she married a man who was probably called Hermann Töpke. Her husband was from Guatemala and had a German father. Since her husband wanted to move to Central America and expand the family property there, the couple divorced in 1923.

In 1925 the Weimar Bauhaus moved its headquarters to Dessau . Lola Töpke then settled in Hamburg , where her mother and sister Ellen lived. Töpke opened in Wandsbek own studio and received lessons at the local Landeskunstschule at Johann Michael Bossard . At that time she was commissioned to create portraits of children. Töpke was acquainted with Wolfgang Borchert's parents and taught Hertha Borchert pottery. She also knew the art critic Harry Reuss-Löwenstein , of whom she created a bust. In her studio, which she moved into in 1927, in the Mittelhaus at Breiten Straße 14 in Hamburg, she always worked on Thursdays with her friends, artists Emma Gold-Blau, Jürgen Bock, Lou Amerding and Gert Grube. The works she creates have rough surfaces that reveal references to Auguste Rodin and Ernst Barlach . Töpke was a member of the Hamburg art community and from 1928 to 1932 exhibited clay and plaster sculptures at events organized by the Hamburg Secession , the Hamburger Kunstverein and the Hamburger Kunsthalle . Today these works are mostly in private hands. In 1928 she created the expressive sculpture “Dancer” for Kieler Kunst-Keramik AG . In 1991/92 the Museum of Hamburg History showed Töpke's work as part of the exhibition 400 Years of Jews in Hamburg .

After the National Socialists came to power , Töpke was considered a Jew despite her Christian baptism due to the Nuremberg Laws . The Hamburgische artistry had to leave already on 25 April 1933rd Since then, participation in exhibitions has been banned. In 1934 she moved into an apartment on the fourth floor at Lübecker Straße 82, which can now be found at number 78 a. After she had made a "Negro bust" with which she wanted to criticize the racism of the National Socialists, she had to leave the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts in 1937 . After that she worked for a stonemason for some time. Her sister, who had meanwhile emigrated to London , and non-Jewish friends helped Töpke by buying her works of art. They also offered her to do handicrafts and pottery with their children.

On December 6, 1941, Töpke had to leave Hamburg. A train deported them from Sternschanze station to the Riga ghetto . On October 1, 1944, she reached the Stutthof concentration camp on a so-called evacuation transport. Here she died due to physical weakness in early 1945.
In Lübecker Straße 78 a, a stumbling block reminds of the artist.

Lola Töpke's tombstone is in the women's garden at the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg, on which the names of Anna Marie Simon (mother), Ellen Simon (sister) and Lena Brückmann (cousin) are also given.

literature

• Stephan Heinemann: Töpke, Lola . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 5 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8353-0640-0 , p. 368-369 .

Web links

• Biography on Stolpersteine-Hamburg.de