Ralph Oppenhejm

Ralph Oppenhejm (born December 10, 1924 in Copenhagen ; † February 4, 2008 ) was a Danish writer who survived his internment in the Theresienstadt ghetto .

Life

Oppenhejm was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto in autumn 1943 as one of the 481 Danish Jews who, like him, had failed to flee to Sweden via the Öresund .

The Danish government was able to visit the Danish Jews imprisoned in Theresienstadt for the first time in June 1944 as part of their efforts to save the Danish Jews . The evacuation to Sweden did not take place until ten months later as part of the rescue operation of the White Buses : The Swedish Red Cross first brought the freedmen under the direction of Folke Bernadotte in a convoy to Padborg . 116 Danish companions in suffering Oppenhejm did not survive Theresienstadt. After the Second World War , his first book was published in 1945, “At the limit of life - a Theresienstadt diary”. Oppenhejm studied law , only to then work mainly as a writer. His books have been translated into several languages.

In his “Theresienstädter Tagebuch” he also published a list drawn up by the SS of a total of 94 prominent prisoners whom he was able to bring to safety when he was released from the camp. The composition of this list of celebrities A was determined by the commandant's office of the camp. Another list of celebrities B could also be determined by the inmates' council of elders. For the lists of celebrities see: Theresienstadt-Konvolut .

Works

• At the limit of life - a Theresienstadt diary. 1945
• A barbarian in India. [Translation from Danish by Albrecht Leonhardt], Bremen 1960
• In Andalusia the donkeys are blue. [Translation from Danish by Albrecht Leonhardt], Bremen 1961

Web links

• ghetto-theresienstadt.de: Ralph Oppenhejm

Individual evidence

1. ^ Leo Goldberger: The Rescue Of The Danish Jews: Moral Courage Under Stress. New York New York University Press, 1988. pp. 96 f.
2. ↑ ghetto-theresienstadt.de: Celebrities