Edith Hahn Beer
Encyclopedia
Edith Hahn Beer was an Austria
n Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust by hiding her Jewish identity and marrying a Nazi officer.
Although uncommon for a girl in that time to attend high school, her professor persuaded her father to give in and he sent her to high school. She continued her studies at university and was studying law at the time of the Anschluss
, when she was forced to leave school because she was Jewish.
, Germany
and then to a box factory in Aschersleben
. Her mother had been deported to Poland two weeks before Hahn was able to return to Vienna in 1942. With duplicate copies of a Christian friend's identity papers, she went to Munich.
In Munich, she met Werner Vetter, a Nazi party member who sought her hand in marriage, and volunteered as a German Red Cross nurse. The couple lived together in Brandenburg
and married to legitimize the impending birth of their daughter, Angelika, born in 1944. Vetter was sent to a Siberian labor camp in March 1945.
Pressed by the authorities to work as an informer, she fled with her daughter to London, where her sisters settled after they sought refuge in Israel at the onset of the war. Hahn worked as a housemaid and a corset designer. She married Fred Beer, a Jewish jewellery merchant, in 1957 and remained married until his death in 1984. After his death, she moved to Netanya, Israel.
In December 1997, a collection of Hahn's personal papers sold at auction for $169,250. The collection, known as the Edith Hahn Archive, was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust by hiding her Jewish identity and marrying a Nazi officer.
Early life and education
Hahn was one of three daughters born to Klothilde and Leopold Hahn. Her parents owned and ran a restaurant.(Early into the war, Leopold Hahn died while working at a famous Hotel as the restaurant manager in the Alps.)Although uncommon for a girl in that time to attend high school, her professor persuaded her father to give in and he sent her to high school. She continued her studies at university and was studying law at the time of the Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
, when she was forced to leave school because she was Jewish.
World War II
In 1939, Hahn and her mother were sent to the ghetto in Vienna. They were separated in April 1941, when Hahn was sent to an asparagus plantation in OsterburgOsterburg (Altmark)
Osterburg is a town in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, situated approximately 22 km northwest of Stendal.-International relations:Osterburg is twinned with: Wieluń, Poland...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and then to a box factory in Aschersleben
Aschersleben
Aschersleben is a town in the Salzlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approx. 22 km east of Quedlinburg, and 45 km northwest of Halle .-Pre-20th century:...
. Her mother had been deported to Poland two weeks before Hahn was able to return to Vienna in 1942. With duplicate copies of a Christian friend's identity papers, she went to Munich.
In Munich, she met Werner Vetter, a Nazi party member who sought her hand in marriage, and volunteered as a German Red Cross nurse. The couple lived together in Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
and married to legitimize the impending birth of their daughter, Angelika, born in 1944. Vetter was sent to a Siberian labor camp in March 1945.
Later life
Following the war, she used her long-hidden Jewish identity card to reclaim her true identity. The Allies' need for jurists called her law education into use and she was appointed as a judge in Brandenburg. Hahn pleaded with the Soviet occupying force to free Vetter until he was released in 1947, but their marriage ended shortly afterward. Vetter died in 2002.Pressed by the authorities to work as an informer, she fled with her daughter to London, where her sisters settled after they sought refuge in Israel at the onset of the war. Hahn worked as a housemaid and a corset designer. She married Fred Beer, a Jewish jewellery merchant, in 1957 and remained married until his death in 1984. After his death, she moved to Netanya, Israel.
In December 1997, a collection of Hahn's personal papers sold at auction for $169,250. The collection, known as the Edith Hahn Archive, was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history...
.
Works
- The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the HolocaustThe Nazi Officer's WifeThe Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust is a 1999 autobiography by Austrian-born Edith Hahn-Beer. Written with the help of Susan Dworkin, the book's first edition was published by Rob Weibach Books/William Morrow...
with Susan Dworkin (Little, Brown & Company, 1999)