Gertrud Kolmar, née Chodziesner
born 1894
Gertrud Käthe Chodziesner was born in Berlin in 1894, the eldest child of the lawyer Ludwig Chodziesner, and from 1917 published poetry under the pen name Gertrud Kolmar. She worked as an educator and language teacher before returning home in 1928 to nurse her mother, after which she kept house for her father and went on writing. Under Nazi rule her work was boycotted, from 1936 she was barred from publishing under her pseudonym, and her books were pulped. While her siblings emigrated, she stayed with her elderly father; after the November 1938 pogrom the family had to sell their house in Finkenkrug and move to Speyerer Straße 10 in Schöneberg. She was conscripted for forced labour in a cardboard factory in Lichtenberg, arrested during the so-called 'Fabrikaktion' in February 1943, and deported to Auschwitz on 2 March 1943, where she was murdered. The Bundesarchiv Memorial Book lists her under her legal name, Chodziesner, and records only March 1943 as the date of her death.
Murdered in Auschwitz.
Sources
- Bundesarchiv, Gedenkbuch – entry Chodziesner, Gertrud Käthe (also known as Kolmar) Legal name, birth 10 Dec 1894 Berlin, residence Schöneberg, deported from Berlin 2 Mar 1943 to Auschwitz, died March 1943 (day unknown) in Auschwitz
- Stolpersteine in Berlin – Gertrud Kolmar (biography by Helmut Lölhöffel) Address Speyerer Str. 10 (today Münchener Str. 18a), occupation, family background, forced labour at the Epeco cardboard factory, arrest during the 'Fabrikaktion', deportation 2 Mar 1943
- statistik-des-holocaust.de – 32. Osttransport 32nd Osttransport left Berlin for Auschwitz on 2 Mar 1943 (transport identification)
- Bundesarchiv – Deportationschronologie (German Reich) Transport Berlin → Auschwitz departing 2 Mar 1943
- Wikipedia (en) – Gertrud Kolmar Full birth name; murdered in Auschwitz, March 1943
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