Yvonne Useldinger

Yvonne Useldinger (née Hostert ; born November 6, 1921 in Steinfort ; † February 11, 2009 in Esch-sur-Alzette ) was a Luxembourg politician (KPL), women's functionary and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

Useldinger grew up in Differdange and joined the Socialist Youth in 1937. In 1938 she became a member of the Communist Party of Luxembourg (KPL). In 1940 she married Arthur Useldinger , one of the leading figures in the KPL and the resistance in Luxembourg. In 1941 she was arrested for the first time by the Gestapo , but had to be released due to a lack of evidence. A year later she was arrested again - meanwhile heavily pregnant - together with her parents Alfons and Katharina Hostert and her brother Walter. Their daughter Fernande was born in the Trier police prison . At the end of June 1943 she was deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp , where she later belonged to the illegal camp organization.

Her father came to the Mauthausen concentration camp via the SS special camp near Hinzert , her brother to the Dachau concentration camp . Her mother alone was released from prison and took care of her little grandchild.

Yvonne Useldinger was established in December 1944 by concentration camp in 1942 by a Siemens immediately built Corporation nearby subcamp Siemens Ravensbrück spent. It was used here in 1944 with over 2,000 women and girls, mainly for winding coils and for building relays and telephones. Shortly before the Ravensbrück concentration camp was liberated by the Red Army , she was evacuated to Sweden at the end of April 1945 by the Swedish Red Cross (“ Bernadotte ” campaign). A short time later she returned to Luxembourg.

Here in 1945 she was one of the founders of the women's association Union des Femmes Luxembourgeoises (UFL), which she was later to take over as chairman.

Her diary is one of the few original documents saved from the Ravensbrück concentration camp.

literature

• Kathrin Meß: Yvonne Useldinger - a Luxembourger in the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp (PDF; 534 kB). In: Forum for Politics, Society and Culture. Luxembourg , No. 259 (September 2006), pp. 48-52.
• Kathrin Mess: "Then I didn't feel hungry anymore ..." Art between resistance, testimony and survival strategy in the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp using the example of Yvonne Useldinger from Luxembourg . Differdange: Institute for History and Social Affairs Luxembourg, 2019, ISBN 978-2-919784-02-8
• Helga Schwarz, Gerda Szepansky (eds.): Ravensbrück women's concentration camp ... and yet flowers bloomed. Documents, reports, poems and drawings from everyday life in the camp 1939–1945 (PDF file; 1.6 MB). Brandenburg State Center for Political Education, Potsdam 2000, ISBN 3-932502-25-6 , pp. 108 and 166f.

Web links

• Diary page, drawing and photographs by Yvonne Useldinger