Английская Википедия:Fredy Hirsch
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Good article Шаблон:Use dmy dates Шаблон:Infobox person
Alfred Hirsch (Шаблон:Lang-he; Шаблон:Birth date – Шаблон:Death date) was a German-Jewish athlete, sports teacher and Zionist youth movement leader, notable for helping thousands of Jewish children during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in Prague, Theresienstadt concentration camp, and Auschwitz. Hirsch was the deputy supervisor of children at Theresienstadt and the supervisor of the children's block at the Theresienstadt family camp at Auschwitz II-Birkenau.
Because of his German extraction, charisma, and careful appearance, he was able to convince SS guards to grant privileges to the children, including exemptions from deportation and extra rations, which saved their lives at least temporarily. Hirsch and his assistants maintained clandestine education under the difficult circumstances. Hirsch's insistence on exercise, discipline, and strict hygiene reduced death rates among the children.
The family camp was due to be liquidated on 8 March 1944; Hirsch's popularity made him a natural leader for an uprising. According to some accounts, he committed suicide in order not to have to witness the deaths of his charges; alternately, he was poisoned by Jewish doctors who would have been killed if an uprising had broken out.
Early life
Germany
Hirsch was born in Aachen to Heinrich and Olga Hirsch on Шаблон:Birth date; his father, who ran a butcher shop, died when he was ten years old. According to Fredy's niece, Raquel Masel, his brother, Paul Hirsch (1914–1979), was not close to their mother because of her bitterness. Their poor relationship encouraged Fredy and Paul to join youth organizations.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Both brothers attended the Aachener Couven-Gymnasium, which was not a Jewish school.Шаблон:Sfn Fredy left in March 1931 when his mother moved, but there is no evidence that he attended another school, and apparently he continued to live in Aachen.Шаблон:Sfn The Jewish community of Aachen was well-integrated; there was little antisemitism in Aachen before the Nazi Party came to power in 1933. Hirsch was already giving lectures at the age of 15.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Hirsch took over the leadership of the scouting branch of the local Aachen Jewish youth association in 1931, and participated in founding the Aachen branch of the Jüdischer Pfadfinderbund Deutschland (Jewish Scouting Association of Germany, JPD), a German Jewish scouting organization, in 1932. Later that year, Hirsch moved to Düsseldorf for a job with the JPD. The JPD had Zionist tendencies and a close affiliation with Maccabi Hatzair, a Zionist sporting association. Although Paul joined the JPD, he, like many in the Aachen Jewish community, believed in assimilating into the non-Jewish community. Fredy became an ardent Zionist, supporting the establishment of a Jewish state in then British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel).Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Under the background of rising, state-sponsored antisemitism, the JPD training became increasingly militarized, emphasizing drills, marching with heavy loads, and first-aid training.Шаблон:Sfn In 1933, the JPD merged into Maccabi Hatzair. Hirsch moved to Frankfurt, where he shared a flat with leading JPD officials and led a scouting group. His time in Frankfurt was cut short by rumors that he was gay, based on his lack of a girlfriend and behavior towards some of the boys under his supervision, although he was not accused of inappropriate behavior or misconduct. He moved to Dresden in 1934, where he worked as a sports instructor for Maccabi HatzairШаблон:Sfn and probably attended lectures at the German College of Physical Education in Berlin.Шаблон:Efn
Czechoslovakia
Шаблон:Location map many After the passage of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, Hirsch moved to Prague, Czechoslovakia, probably illegally.Шаблон:Efn According to German historian Шаблон:Ill, the author of the first biography of Hirsch, he may have also been motivated to escape the increasing persecution of gay men in Germany.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn He continued to work for Maccabi Hatzair. The Czech branch of the organization was initially concerned about his reputation, but Hirsch was able to persuade Arthur Herzog, chairman of Maccabi Hatzair in the Czech lands, that his homosexuality did not affect his work.Шаблон:Sfn
Funded by the Zionist World Federation, Hirsch organized local Maccabi Games and set up youth and adult groups for physical education. He organized the 1937 Maccabi Games for Czechoslovakia held in Žilina, Slovakia, with 1,600 participants.Шаблон:Sfn Until 1940, Hirsch organized an annual youth camp at Шаблон:Ill, where children and teenagers exercised and learned Hebrew.Шаблон:Sfn Paul, a Reform rabbinical student, emigrated with their mother and her second husband to Bolivia in 1938; Paul eventually became a rabbi in Buenos Aires.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Fredy could have accompanied them, but did not; Paul later said that Fredy's Zionist convictions had prevented him.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
After Brno refused him a residence permit and threatened to expel him, Hirsch returned to Prague.Шаблон:Sfn Working at the Zionist Youth Aliyah School run by Egon Redlich, he organized hakhshara (preparation farms) for young Jews seeking to immigrate to the Land of Israel and live on a kibbutz, training youth in horticulture, agriculture, and basic military training.Шаблон:Sfn In late 1938, the Munich Agreement ceded the Sudetenland (German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia) to Germany; on 15 March 1939, Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, creating the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Assimilation of the Czech Jews was so high that many children were not even aware that they were Jews.Шаблон:Sfn Eighteen boys trained by Hirsch were able to escape to Denmark in October 1939, and immigrated to Palestine the following year. He drew lots with another Zionist youth leader as to which of them would go to Palestine with the boys; Hirsch lost and remained in Prague.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In 1940, he was joined by Mautner, who was prevented from continuing his studies by the closure of the Czech universities.Шаблон:Sfn The same year, Hirsch published an article in the Prague Jewish Newspaper laying out his views on Jewish youth education; Hirsch viewed physical education as essential to promoting well-being and a Zionist consciousness.Шаблон:Sfn
Over time, the Germans applied more and more restrictions to Czech Jews; they were fired from their jobs, forced to move, had property confiscated, were forbidden from certain shops and streets, and eventually forced to wear the Star of David.Шаблон:Sfn After the Nazis banned Jews from public spaces, Hirsch organized a playground at Hagibor, in the Strašnice district of Prague, for Jewish children to exercise. Hirsch and Mautner held soccer matches, athletic competitions, study groups, and theatrical performances there.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Although there were other carers, Hirsch's charisma made him the natural leader. Since he could not speak Czech well, he gave instructions in Hebrew and taught the children to speak that language. Survivors reported that Czech songs were written about him.Шаблон:Sfn In late 1941, the Nazis began deporting Czech Jews, first to the Łódź Ghetto. Hirsch helped prepare the deportees with the Шаблон:Convert of luggage they were allowed to bring.Шаблон:Sfn
The Holocaust
Theresienstadt
Hirsch was one of the first Jews to be transported to Theresienstadt concentration camp on 4 December 1941, where he helped to construct the concentration camp. His friendship with Jakob Edelstein lead to an appointment with the housing department.Шаблон:Sfn Later, Hirsch became the deputy to Egon Redlich, the leader of the Youth Services Department;Шаблон:EfnШаблон:Sfn Redlich personally disliked Hirsch,Шаблон:Efn but respected his competence and leadership ability.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Mautner was also deported to Theresienstadt in early 1942.Шаблон:Sfn At Theresienstadt, the children lived separately from the adults. Based on the teachings of Zionist youth movements,Шаблон:Sfn Hirsch insisted on maintaining self-esteem, discipline, regular exerciseШаблон:Sfn and strict hygiene—even holding cleanliness competitionsШаблон:Sfn—in order to maximize their chances of survival.Шаблон:Sfn The youth leaders tried to maintain the children's education despite this being prohibited, teaching a wide range of subjects including Hebrew, English, mathematics, history, and geography.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn However, the Germans did not actively oppose his activities because they felt that it helped maintain order.Шаблон:Sfn Children 14 and older had to work; Hirsch tried to get them jobs working in the vegetable gardens because he believed that this work would improve their health and prepare them for life in Palestine.Шаблон:Sfn
Survivors often remarked on Hirsch's self-confident attitude, good looks, and careful appearance, which had a salutary effect on other prisoners.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn He paid attention to his posture and appearance, keeping his hair combed and boots polished,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn and reportedly continuing to pomade his hair at Auschwitz.Шаблон:Sfn Hirsch was able to establish a good relationship with SS guards even though he was Jewish and openly gay.Шаблон:EfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn According to Yehuda Bacon, "he spoke German as well as the Nazis, he had charm and a tip-top look. He knew how to talk to the SS. He was dressed like a soldier."Шаблон:Sfn Pavel Stránský, who had been an educator on the children's block at Auschwitz, testified that "[t]he SS treated him almost like a human being".Шаблон:Efn
Redlich and Hirsch used their influence to arrange separate barracks and slightly better conditions for the children.Шаблон:Sfn Sometimes they were able to remove children from transports to extermination camps, although they were ultimately unable to save them from this fate; more than 99% of the children at Theresienstadt were eventually deported.Шаблон:Sfn Hirsch persuaded the Germans to allocate space for a play area inside the concentration camp, where he frequently oversaw athletic activities.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In 1943, Maccabi Games were held and observed by thousands of spectators.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
On 24 August 1943, a single transport of 1,200 children from the Białystok Ghetto arrived at Theresienstadt.Шаблон:Sfn These children were frightened of the showers because they believed that they were gas chambers. The Białystok children were housed in the western barracks, separated from the rest of the camp by a barbed-wire fence. Czech gendarmes guarded the perimeter and kept the children strictly segregated from the rest of the camp under threat of severe punishment.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn According to Kämper, Hirsch wanted to confirm the rumors that Jews deported from Theresienstadt were murdered in gas chambers. In any event, he managed to jump over the wire fence separating the Białystok children from the rest of the Theresienstadt prisoners, but he was caught and arrested by a Czech guard. Peter Erben believes that Hirsch could have avoided punishment if he had been able to speak Czech. Instead, he was brought to the commandant's office and beaten.Шаблон:Sfn Allegedly for this violation, he was deported to Auschwitz on 8 September.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Auschwitz
The Jews from Theresienstadt encountered unprecedented privileged treatment upon their arrival, where they were established in a separate block (BIIb), known as the Theresienstadt family camp. They were tattooed, but were not subject to selection upon arrival, were allowed to retain their civilian clothes, and were not forced to shave their heads. Families stayed together and were also allowed to write to their relatives at Theresienstadt, to those not yet deported, and even to friends in neutral countries, in order to convey the impression that deportation to the east did not necessarily mean death.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Hirsch was appointed the lagerälteste of the family camp, because of the respect that the SS had for his leadership. He refused to use violence against other prisoners, as the Germans demanded. As a result, he was relieved of his position a month later and replaced by the German criminal Arno Böhm.Шаблон:Sfn However, he persuaded Böhm to allocate a barracks, Block 31, for children younger than fourteen, and became the overseer of this barracks.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In this arrangement, the children lived with their parents at night and spent the day at the special barracks. Hirsch recruited adult prisoners who had been involved in education at Theresienstadt and persuaded the guards that it would be in their interest to have the children learn German. In fact, the teachers taught other subjects, including history, music, and Judaism, in Czech, as well as a few German phrases to recite at inspections. Because there were only twelve books and almost no supplies, the teachers had to recite lessons from memory.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The children's lack of educationШаблон:Sfn—they had been excluded from school even before their deportationШаблон:Sfn—made their task more difficult.Шаблон:Sfn A chorus rehearsed regularly, a children's opera was performed, and the walls of the barracks were painted with Disney characters by Dina Gottliebová.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Because the block was so orderly, it was shown off to SS men who worked in other parts of the camp.Шаблон:Sfn SS men who directly participated in the extermination process, especially Dr. Josef Mengele, visited frequently and helped organize better food for the children.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Using his influence with the Germans, Hirsch obtained better food for the children and food parcels addressed to prisoners who had died.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The soup for the children was thicker than for other prisoners; allegedly it was from the Gypsy camp and contained semolina.Шаблон:Sfn The children's barracks also received additional coal and were slightly better heated.Шаблон:Sfn Hirsch also convinced the Germans to hold roll call inside the barracks, so the children were spared the hours-long ordeal of standing outside in all weather.Шаблон:Sfn After another transport arrived in December 1943, there were about 700 children in the family camp;Шаблон:Sfn Mautner was also on this transport.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn Zuzana Růžičková, who had also arrived in December, entered into the children's barracks without authorization in order to obtain work as a carer, but was caught by an SS man. To distract him, Hirsch reportedly said "Herr Oberscharführer, who have you killed and looted today?"Шаблон:Efn Instead of beating Hirsch, the SS man offered him a cigarette, which Hirsch declined.Шаблон:Sfn Nevertheless, Hirsch was not excepted from the brutal treatment of the guards, being badly beaten when a boy slept through the roll call.Шаблон:Sfn
Hirsch persuaded Böhm to allocate a second barracks for children aged three to eight so that the older children could prepare a performance of Snow White, which the SS had requested.Шаблон:Sfn The play was performed on 23 January 1944 with many SS men in attendance.Шаблон:Sfn By imposing strict discipline on the children, Hirsch made sure that there were no acts of violence or theft, otherwise common in concentration camps.Шаблон:Sfn He was extremely strict about the children's hygiene, insisting that they wash daily even in the frigid winter of 1943–44 and carrying out regular inspections for lice.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Due to Hirsch's efforts, the mortality rate for the children was nearly zero, compared to the overall mortality of about 25% of the residents of the family camp in the first six months.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The children appreciated Hirsch's efforts on their behalf, and threw a surprise party for him on 11 February 1944, his 28th birthday.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In February 1944, a delegation from the Reich Security Main Office and the German Red Cross visited the family camp. The visitors were most interested in the children's barracks, which was the only attempt to organize education at Auschwitz. The most notable visitor, Adolf Eichmann, commented favorably about the cultural activity of the children at Birkenau.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Death
Шаблон:See also Arrivals to the family camp were marked "SB6"Шаблон:Sfn—a cryptic abbreviation that the resistance movement in Auschwitz eventually decoded as referring to Sonderbehandlung ("special treatment"). This meant that the arrivals were to be murdered 6 months after their arrival, or 8 March 1944 for the transport that Hirsch was on. Hirsch and other leaders from Theresienstadt were informed in advance by the resistance movement at Auschwitz. By this time, it was evident to the prisoners that the Germans were going to lose the war and some hoped for a swift Allied victory before their six months had elapsed.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Although there was no possibility of success, many Jews wanted to set the compound on fire as a symbolic act of resistance. Hirsch was the natural leader for an uprising, because he was respected by opposing factions in the family camp.Шаблон:Sfn On 5 March, the September arrivals were told that they were soon to be transported to a labor camp at Heydebreck and instructed to write postcards dated 25 March for their relatives in Theresienstadt.Шаблон:Sfn On 7 March, they were moved to the quarantine block (BIIa);Шаблон:Sfn although warned in advance that the Nazis were planning to murder all of these Jews, Hirsch went with them.Шаблон:Sfn
What happened after this is unclear.Шаблон:Sfn Rudolf Vrba, the clerk of BIIa,Шаблон:Sfn visited Hirsch on 8 March to inform him about the preparations for the liquidation of the family camp and to urge him to lead an uprising. Apparently Hirsch was uncertain whether to believe the warnings about imminent death and skeptical of the value of resistance. He thought it was unreasonable that the Nazis would give them such favored treatment only to murder them later.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Hirsch asked for an hour to think, and when Vrba returned, Hirsch was in a coma. A Jewish doctor told Vrba that Hirsch had committed suicide by a barbiturate overdose. If he did commit suicide, it is unclear how he could have obtained a lethal dose without the cooperation of the doctors.Шаблон:Sfn
According to some survivors,Шаблон:Efn Hirsch requested a small dose of a tranquilizer to help him calm down, but the Jewish doctors poisoned him to prevent him from leading an uprising, which they feared would compromise their own chances of survival. Mengele had promised them that they would not be killed.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The latter explanation is favored by Kämper.Шаблон:Sfn A few people, including doctors and the artist Dina Gottliebová, were spared from death by their special talents which were useful to the SS. According to survivor testimonies, Hirsch was to be spared, but he was unwilling to save himself without the children.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn On the night of 8 March, a strict curfew was imposed and the Jews in the quarantine blocks were loaded in trucks and driven to the gas chambers.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Still unconscious, Hirsch was carried with them and was murdered along with many of the children under his supervision.Шаблон:Sfn
Legacy
According to postwar testimonies, Hirsch was "a man of extraordinary courage" and "for the children a God",Шаблон:Sfn although some of his adult colleagues dismissed him as arrogant, shallow, dictatorial, or vain.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The gymnasium in Aachen that he attended renamed its cafeteria the "Fredy-Hirsch-AG" in 2016 to commemorate his 100th birthday.Шаблон:Sfn At a commemoration ceremony in the Aachen synagogue on the one hundredth anniversary of Hirsch's birth, Lord Mayor Marcel Philipp stated that Hirsch was "one of the most important sons of the city, if not the best known".Шаблон:Efn Nina Weilová, who survived the Theresienstadt family camp as a young teenager, said that "There was no one who was so self-sacrificing and devoted himself to the children as much as he did."Шаблон:Sfn Czech Jewish harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková worked as a teacher's assistant at the children's barracks at Auschwitz and credited Hirsch for saving her life. Many years later, she helped organize a monument for him. At the dedication, she said, "We Jews have no saints, but we have 'tzadikim'—the word could be translated as 'righteous' or 'decent'. Fredy Hirsch was a man, he had his faults, he was not a saint, but he was righteous—a tzadik—and so we hope that when the last of us who knew him have passed away, future generations will stand before this tablet and say: 'He must have been a good, brave and beautiful person'."Шаблон:Efn
Hirsch was the subject of the 2016 documentary Heaven in Auschwitz, which featured the accounts of thirteen survivors of Theresienstadt and Auschwitz.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn He was also featured in the 2017 Israeli documentary "Dear Fredy" by Rubi Gat.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
According to Dirk Kämper, Hirsch's role was marginalized after the war because of his homosexuality.Шаблон:Sfn In communist Czechoslovakia, his German ethnicity and Zionism made him an unacceptable hero.Шаблон:Sfn Historian Anna Hájková, investigating the relationship between Hirsch and Mautner, writes that theirs was "one of the rare queer life stories that can be reconstructed for the Nazi era".Шаблон:Efn Hirsch is the rare exception to the absent or anonymous gay Holocaust victim because he worked with children and teenagers, who lived long enough to tell the truth about him.Шаблон:Sfn
On February 11, 2021, Google celebrated his 105th birthday with a Google Doodle. The Doodle was displayed in Germany, Czechia, Slovakia and Israel.[2]
See also
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite journal
- Шаблон:Cite journal
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
Web
- Шаблон:Cite web
- Шаблон:Cite news
- Шаблон:Cite web
- Шаблон:Cite news
- Шаблон:Cite news
- Шаблон:Cite news
- Шаблон:Cite web
- Шаблон:Cite web
- Шаблон:Cite news
- Шаблон:Cite web
- Шаблон:Cite web
- Шаблон:Cite news
- Шаблон:Cite web
- Шаблон:Cite web
- Шаблон:Cite news
Further reading
External links
- Шаблон:Youtube
- Шаблон:Youtube
- Primary source material on Hirsch in the collections of the Jewish Museum in Prague
Шаблон:Authority control Шаблон:Theresienstadt
- Английская Википедия
- Страницы с неработающими файловыми ссылками
- 1916 births
- 1944 deaths
- People from Aachen
- Gay Jews
- German Zionists
- German Jews who died in the Holocaust
- German people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp
- Jewish German sportspeople
- Theresienstadt Ghetto prisoners
- Czech resistance members
- German resistance members
- Jews in the German resistance
- German gay sportsmen
- German emigrants to Czechoslovakia
- 20th-century German LGBT people
- Страницы, где используется шаблон "Навигационная таблица/Телепорт"
- Страницы с телепортом
- Википедия
- Статья из Википедии
- Статья из Английской Википедии
