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Inge Deutschkron

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Inge Deutschkron (born 23 August 1922) is a German-Israeli journalist and author.

Life

Born in Finsterwalde, Brandenburg, Inge Deutschkron was the daughter of a Jewish secondary school teacher who moved the family to Berlin in 1927. But by 1933 her father was fired from his job and fled to Great Britain in 1939—leaving Inge and her mother in Berlin.[1] Between 1941 and 1943, she worked for Otto Weidt in his brush workshop. Otto Weidt supported mainly deaf and blind workers (a large proportion of whom were Jewish), and it was with the help of Otto Weidt that Inge Deutschkron managed to evade deportation. From January 1943, Inge lived illegally in Berlin, and hid with her mother in order to survive.[2]

Inge Deutschkron and her mother moved to London in 1946 where she studied foreign languages and became secretary to the Socialist International Organisation. From 1954 she traveled to India, Burma, Nepal and Indonesia before eventually returning to Germany in 1955 where she worked in Bonn as a freelance journalist. In 1958, Israeli newspaper Maariv hired Inge Deutschkron as a correspondent and she acted as an observer for Maariv at the Frankfurt Frankfurt Auschwitz trials in 1963. Inge Deutschkron became an Israeli citizen in 1966. Moving to Tel Aviv in 1972, Deutschkron became editor of the Maariv newspaper until 1988, dedicated to international and Middle East politics. She returned to Berlin in December 1988 for the stage adaptation of her autobiography "I Wore the Yellow Star" at the Grips-Theater. Since 1992, Inge Deutschkron has lived as a freelance writer in Tel Aviv and Berlin.

She strives to ensure that the silent heroes, people who have rescued Jews from the German government are acknowledged, overseeing the work of the Museum of Otto Weidt and the Silent Heroes Museum in Berlin. She has written a number of books for children and adults on her life and the life of Otto Weidt.

Awards

In 1994, Inge Deutschkron was awarded the Moses Mendelssohn Prize and Rahel Varnhagen von Ense Medal. She has repeatedly rejected the German Federal Cross of Merit, but in 2002 she received the Order of Merit of the State of Berlin. The order is awarded in "recognition and appreciation of outstanding contributions to the city of Berlin".

In 2008, Deutschkron was awarded the Carl-von-Ossietzky Prize for Contemporary History and Politics who stated her "life's work is the sign of the continuing commitment to democracy and human rights and against all forms of racism." As well as this, Deutschkron was given the Louise Schroeder Medal in 2008. The Louise Schroeder Medal is awarded annually in the legacy of Louise Schroeder to those who make "particularly outstanding contributions to democracy, peace, social justice and equality."

Works

Inge Deutschkron has written a number of books in German.

  • Ich trug den gelben Stern, (I Wore the Yellow Star). Cologne 1978, ISBN 3-8046-8555-2
  • Israel und die Deutschen: Das schwierige Verhältnis, (Israel and the Germans: The Difficult Relationship). Cologne 1983.
  • ... denn ihrer war die Hölle: Kinder in Gettos und Lagern, (Children in the Ghettos and Camps). Cologne 1985, ISBN 3-8046-8565-X
  • Milch ohne Honig: Leben in Israel, (Milk without Honey: Life in Israel). Cologne 1988, ISBN 3-8046-8719-9
  • Ich trug den gelben Stern, (I Wore the Yellow Star). Munich 1992, 3-423-30000-1
  • Mein Leben nach dem Überleben, (My Life After Survival). Cologne 1992, ISBN 3-8046-8785-7
  • Sie blieben im Schatten: Ein Denkmal für "stille Helden", (They Stayed in the Shadows: A Monument to Silent Heroes). Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-89468-223-X
  • Mein Leben nach dem Überleben, (My Life After Survival). Munich 2000, 3-423-30789-5
  • Emigranto: Vom Überleben in fremden Sprachen. Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-88747-159-8
  • Papa Weidt: Er bot den Nazis die Stirn, (Papa Weidt: He Defied the Nazis). Kevelaer 2001, ISBN 3-7666-0210-1 (with Lukas Ruegenberg)
  • Offene Antworten: Meine Begegnungen mit einer neuen Generation, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-88747-186-5

References

  1. ^ "Testimony of Inge Deutschkron" (PDF). Yad Vashem Archive.
  2. ^ Graham, Dave (18 September 2007). "Holocaust survivor champions German wartime helpers". Reuters.
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