Marie Schmolka: Difference between revisions

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| birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date = 23 June 1893
| birth_date = 23 June 1893
| birth_place = [[Prague]], Austria-Hungary
| birth_place = [[Prague]], [[Austria-Hungary]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1940|03|27|1893|06|23|df=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1940|03|27|1893|06|23|df=y}}
| nationality = Czechoslovak
| nationality = [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]]<!--presumed best link for the country-->
| other_names =
| other_names =
| occupation = social worker
| occupation = [[Social work|Social worker]]
| years_active =
| years_active =
| known_for = Helping Jewish and political refugees escape the Nazis from [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] and Germany
| known_for = Helping Jewish and political refugees escape the Nazis from [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] and [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]
| notable_works = O sociální práci
| notable_works = O sociální práci
}}
}}
'''Marie Schmolka''' (née Eisner; 23 June 1893 – 27 March 1940) was a Czechoslovak Jewish activist and [[social worker]] who helped political refugees and Jewish adults and children escape the [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] in the lead-up to [[World War II]]. She was a member of [[Women's International Zionist Organization|WIZO]] and [[Women's International League for Peace and Freedom|WILPF]]. She had previously helped refugees from Germany who fled to Czechoslovakia after the [[Nazi rise to power]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kaplan |first1=Thomas Pegelow |last2=Matthäus |first2=Jürgen |last3=Hornburg |first3=Mark W. |title=Beyond "Ordinary Men": Christopher R. Browning and Holocaust Historiography |date=2019 |publisher=Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh |isbn=978-3-657-79266-5 |page=100 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AqixDwAAQBAJ&dq=Marie+Schmolka&pg=PA100 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite news |last1=Anna |first1=Hájková |title=The Woman Behind the Kindertransport |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/feature/woman-behind-kindertransport |accessdate=12 February 2020 |work=[[History Today]] |issue=12 |date=2018|volume=68}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Saviour of Jewish refugees Marie Schmolka finally honoured in Prague |url=https://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/saviour-of-jewish-refugees-marie-schmolka-finally-honoured-in-prague |accessdate=12 February 2020 |work=Radio Prague International |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Tait |first1=Robert |title=Prague to honour little-known saviour of refugees fleeing Nazis |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/10/prague-honour-little-known-saviour-refugees-fleeing-nazis-marie-schmolka |accessdate=12 February 2020 |work=The Observer |date=10 November 2019}}</ref> Schmolka headed the newly founded Czechoslovak Refugee Committee, and also chaired local [[HICEM]]. In July 1938, she represented Czechoslovakia at the [[Évian Conference|Évian conference]].<ref name=":0" />
'''Marie Schmolka''' (née Eisner; 23 June 1893 – 27 March 1940) was a Czechoslovak Jewish activist and [[social worker]] who helped political refugees and Jewish adults and children escape the [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] in the lead-up to [[World War II]]. She was a member of [[Women's International Zionist Organization|WIZO]] and [[Women's International League for Peace and Freedom|WILPF]]. She had previously helped refugees from Germany who fled to [[Czechoslovakia]] after the [[Nazi rise to power]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kaplan |first1=Thomas Pegelow |last2=Matthäus |first2=Jürgen |last3=Hornburg |first3=Mark W. |title=Beyond "Ordinary Men": Christopher R. Browning and Holocaust Historiography |date=2019 |publisher=Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh |isbn=978-3-657-79266-5 |page=100 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AqixDwAAQBAJ&dq=Marie+Schmolka&pg=PA100 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite news |last1=Anna |first1=Hájková |title=The Woman Behind the Kindertransport |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/feature/woman-behind-kindertransport |accessdate=12 February 2020 |work=[[History Today]] |issue=12 |date=2018|volume=68}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Saviour of Jewish refugees Marie Schmolka finally honoured in Prague |url=https://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/saviour-of-jewish-refugees-marie-schmolka-finally-honoured-in-prague |accessdate=12 February 2020 |work=Radio Prague International |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Tait |first1=Robert |title=Prague to honour little-known saviour of refugees fleeing Nazis |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/10/prague-honour-little-known-saviour-refugees-fleeing-nazis-marie-schmolka |accessdate=12 February 2020 |work=The Observer |date=10 November 2019}}</ref> Schmolka headed the newly founded Czechoslovak Refugee Committee, and also chaired local [[HICEM]]. In July 1938, she represented Czechoslovakia at the [[Évian Conference|Évian conference]].<ref name=":0" />


Together with [[Doreen Warriner]] from the [[British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia]] and Martin Blake, she invited [[Nicholas Winton]] to Prague, where Winton helped with their [[Kindertransport]] scheme. In August 1939, she was sent by [[Adolf Eichmann]] to negotiate Jewish emigration from Central Europe to Paris on a [[American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee|JOINT]] conference. Caught up by the outbreak of the [[World War II|Second World War]], she relocated to London and continued her work for refugees as part of Bloomsbury House. She moved in with her old friend, suffragist and pacifist [[Mary Sheepshanks]] in Gospel Oak, [[Lissenden Gardens]]. She died on 27 March 1940 following a heart attack. Her funeral in [[Golders Green Jewish Cemetery]] was attended by [[Jan Masaryk]], [[Rebecca Sieff]], wife of the Czechoslovak president Hana Benešová, [[Wenzel Jaksch]], as well as many leading personalities of British Jewry and Czechoslovak emigration.<ref name=":0" />
Together with [[Doreen Warriner]] from the [[British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia]] and Martin Blake, she invited [[Nicholas Winton]] to Prague, where Winton helped with their [[Kindertransport]] scheme. In August 1939, she was sent by [[Adolf Eichmann]] to negotiate Jewish emigration from Central Europe to Paris on a [[American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee|JOINT]] conference. Caught up by the outbreak of the [[World War II|Second World War]], she relocated to London and continued her work for refugees as part of Bloomsbury House. She moved in with her old friend, suffragist and pacifist [[Mary Sheepshanks]] in Gospel Oak, [[Lissenden Gardens]]. She died on 27 March 1940 following a heart attack. Her funeral in [[Golders Green Jewish Cemetery]] was attended by [[Jan Masaryk]], [[Rebecca Sieff]], Hana Benešová (wife of the [[Edvard Beneš|the Czechoslovak president]]), [[Wenzel Jaksch]], as well as many leading personalities of British Jewry and Czechoslovak emigration.<ref name=":0" />


==Marie Schmolka historical marker==
==Marie Schmolka historical marker==

Revision as of 21:47, 25 February 2024

Marie Schmolka
Marie Schmolka in the 1930s
Born23 June 1893
Prague, Austria-Hungary
Died27 March 1940(1940-03-27) (aged 46)
NationalityCzechoslovak
OccupationSocial worker
Known forHelping Jewish and political refugees escape the Nazis from Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and Germany
Notable workO sociální práci

Marie Schmolka (née Eisner; 23 June 1893 – 27 March 1940) was a Czechoslovak Jewish activist and social worker who helped political refugees and Jewish adults and children escape the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in the lead-up to World War II. She was a member of WIZO and WILPF. She had previously helped refugees from Germany who fled to Czechoslovakia after the Nazi rise to power.[1][2][3][4] Schmolka headed the newly founded Czechoslovak Refugee Committee, and also chaired local HICEM. In July 1938, she represented Czechoslovakia at the Évian conference.[2]

Together with Doreen Warriner from the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia and Martin Blake, she invited Nicholas Winton to Prague, where Winton helped with their Kindertransport scheme. In August 1939, she was sent by Adolf Eichmann to negotiate Jewish emigration from Central Europe to Paris on a JOINT conference. Caught up by the outbreak of the Second World War, she relocated to London and continued her work for refugees as part of Bloomsbury House. She moved in with her old friend, suffragist and pacifist Mary Sheepshanks in Gospel Oak, Lissenden Gardens. She died on 27 March 1940 following a heart attack. Her funeral in Golders Green Jewish Cemetery was attended by Jan Masaryk, Rebecca Sieff, Hana Benešová (wife of the the Czechoslovak president), Wenzel Jaksch, as well as many leading personalities of British Jewry and Czechoslovak emigration.[2]

Marie Schmolka historical marker

A historical marker, donated by the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, was placed on the Holocaust Rescuer's Wall outside the Golders Green Jewish Cemetery in Barnet, England.

The text reads:

"Marie Schmolka was the only Czechoslovak representative at the Evian conference of July 1938, which focused on the Jewish refugee crisis. After the Munich agreement of September 1938, together with Doreen Warriner, she organised the Kindertransporte scheme that brought in Sir Nicholas Winton.

Schmolka was arrested by the Gestapo and gruelingly interrogated, her life at extreme risk. The Nazis exiled her to Paris, conditional upon her removing as many Jews as possible from Czechoslovakia. With the fall of France, she escaped to London, where she lived with the noted British Pacifist and Humanitarian, Mary Sheepshanks, in Gospel Oak, London. By now, her health had been broken by her extreme efforts to save Jews and others from the Nazis. She died, age 47.

Marie Schmolka saved thousands upon thousands of lives."

Marie Schmolka historical marker on the Holocaust Rescuers wall, Hoop Lane, Barnet, England

References

  1. ^ Kaplan, Thomas Pegelow; Matthäus, Jürgen; Hornburg, Mark W. (2019). Beyond "Ordinary Men": Christopher R. Browning and Holocaust Historiography. Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh. p. 100. ISBN 978-3-657-79266-5.
  2. ^ a b c Anna, Hájková (2018). "The Woman Behind the Kindertransport". History Today. Vol. 68, no. 12. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  3. ^ "Saviour of Jewish refugees Marie Schmolka finally honoured in Prague". Radio Prague International. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  4. ^ Tait, Robert (10 November 2019). "Prague to honour little-known saviour of refugees fleeing Nazis". The Observer. Retrieved 12 February 2020.

Further reading

  • Thieberger, Frederick; Weltsch, Felix; Brod, Max (1944). In Memoriam: Marie Schmolka. Marie Schmolka Society of Women Zionists from Czechoslovakia.
  • About Marie Schmolka The Marie Schmolka Society
  • Laura Brade and Rose Holmes, “Troublesome Sainthood: Nicholas Winton and the Contested History of Child Rescue in Prague, 1938–1940,” History and Memory, Vol. 29, No 1, Spring/Summer 2017, pp. 3–40, pdf available at Further Reading
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