Oral History Interview with Hertha Beese
Hertha Scholz Beese, born in Berlin, Germany on September 10, 1902, describes her non-Jewish, German family; her parents, who were active in the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and trade unions; attending schools in Berlin before World War I with Jews and Catholics; being forced to participate in Protestant religious instruction of the Landeskirche (the regional church) because she was not baptized; how in 1933 she and other SPD members lost their jobs; the Nazi persecution of socialists and communists as well as Jews; her resistance group in Berlin; hiding people until they could cross the mountains into Switzerland; sheltering Jews and non-Jews in her home; her brother being beaten by SA storm troopers before the war; life in Berchtesgaden, Germany and observing the resentment of local residents toward the SS and the exploitation of German laborers; her refusal to fly the Nazi flag, her children’s refusal to join the Hitler Youth, and the devious means she used to avoid serving in the Luftschutz; having to work in the Arbeitsdienst from 1943 to 1945 as a teacher in the Spreewald area; working illegally as a bookkeeper for Jewish cattle dealers who were SPD members that joined the Nazi party to avoid deportation; a local farmer hiding several Jewish Berliners she brought to him; becoming the vice-chair of the Brandenburg SPD in 1945; chairing an anti-fascist commission in Potsdam, Germany; being the deputy mayor of Reinickendorf from 1948 to 1965; being honored with the Golden Rose of Paris for aid to French prisoners of war; and being declared an “Elder Statesman” of Berlin.
Date: | 10/12/1983 |
Interviewer: | Hanna Silver |
Interviewee: | Hertha Beese |
Language: | German English |
Subject: | Bookkeepers--Germany. Communists--Germany. Hiding places--Germany. Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Personal narratives. Human smuggling. Prisoners of war--France. Righteous Gentiles in the Holocaust. Socialists--Germany. World War, 1939-1945--Conscript labor--Germany. World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Rescue--Germany. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, German. World War, 1939-1945--War work--Germany. World War, 1939-1945--Women--Germany. Women--Personal narratives. Berchtesgaden (Germany) Berlin (Germany) Germany--Social conditions--1933-1945. Potsdam (Germany) Reinickendorf (Berlin, Germany) Spree Forest (Germany) Beese, Hertha Scholz, 1902- Germany. Reichsarbeitsdienst. Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei. Sturmabteilung. Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands. |
Location: | Berlin, Germany |
Permalink: | https://hoha.digitalcollections.gratzcollege.edu/item/oral-history-interview-with-hertha-beese/ |
Audio Transcript | Time |
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1:04:15 | |
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0:47:53 | |
0:15:55 |