Mathilde Jacob

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Mathilde Jacob on a relief by the sculptor Ingeborg Hunzinger (1996), in front of the New Germany publishing house on Franz-Mehring-Platz
Stolperstein , Altonaer Strasse 26, in Berlin-Hansaviertel
Memorial plaque on the grave of her parents in the Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Weißensee

Mathilde Jacob (born March 8, 1873 in Berlin ; † April 14, 1943 in Theresienstadt concentration camp ) was a translator and stenographer . As a secretary and close confidante of Rosa Luxemburg , she smuggled her letters and manuscripts out of prison and rescued parts of her estate.

Life

Mathilde Jacob was born as the daughter of the Jewish butcher couple Julius and Emilie Jacob. As a freelance typist and translator, she got to know the editors Julian Balthasar Marchlewski , Franz Mehring, and Rosa Luxemburg through writing assignments for Die Sozialdemokratische Korrespondenz .

Deeply impressed by Rosa Luxemburg's personality, Mathilde Jacob helped the anti-militarist, especially during her multiple imprisonment. This ranged from taking care of the apartment (including Mimi the cat) to smuggling letters and highly political manuscripts out of prison. When Mathilde Jacob was briefly imprisoned herself in May 1919, she learned of Rosa Luxemburg's death, whose body she also had to identify.

After psychologically processing the great loss, she joined the former defender of Luxembourg, Paul Levi , who became chairman of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in March 1919 . After he was excluded from the KPD in 1921 due to differences of opinion about the March Action , he founded the Communist Working Group (KAG) and joined with Mathilde Jacob in 1922 initially the USPD and, with its majority, the SPD .

Here she supported Paul Levi in ​​editing various publications, such as the magazine Our Way . After Levi's death in 1930 Mathilde Jacob withdrew from all political activities, but after 1933 she kept in touch with resistance groups . As a Jew, she had to endure the reprisals and restrictions of the Nazi regime . She could hold only a small pension and occasional typing afloat until they picked up on 27 July 1942 and sent to the concentration camp Theresienstadt deported was where she died on April 14, the 1,943th Her grave is in the Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Weißensee .

Services

Heinz Knobloch researched her life and her achievements for the first time and published them in 1985 in his book Meine liebste Mathilde . Mathilde Jacob is particularly credited as a historical merit for smuggling Rosa Luxemburg's manuscript The Crisis of Social Democracy out of prison in 1915 and for printing and distributing it. Another historical act is the rescue of parts of the Rosa Luxemburg estate, which Mathilde Jacob carefully administered and handed over to an American historian in 1939.

Awards

Memorial plaque at the Tiergarten town hall in Berlin-Moabit

In 1995 the forecourt of the former Berlin Tiergarten district was named after her, and in 1997 a commemorative plaque was inaugurated on the town hall. Since the Berlin district merger in 2001, Mathilde-Jacob-Platz 1 has now been part of the Mitte district .

In 1996 a terracotta stele in honor of Mathilde Jacob, which was created by the artist Ingeborg Hunzinger , was set up in front of the New Germany publishing house on Franz-Mehring-Platz .

On May 10, 2011 , a stumbling block was laid for her in front of her former home, Altonaer Strasse 26, in Berlin-Hansaviertel .

literature

Web links

Commons : Mathilde Jacob  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Jacob, Mathilde
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German socialist
DATE OF BIRTH March 8, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1943
Place of death Theresienstadt concentration camp