Gad Beck
Encyclopedia
Gad Beck is a retired educator, author and gay
Holocaust
survivor.
mother who had converted to Judaism
. The family lived in a predominately Jewish immigrant section of the city. At age five, he and his family moved to the Weissensee district where he attended primary school and was the target of antisemitism from classmates. In 1934, he was enrolled in a Jewish school but had to quit and take a job as a shop attendant.
) Beck was not deported with other German Jews. Instead, he remained in Berlin. He recalls in his autobiography wearing a Hitler Youth uniform into the pre-deportation camp where his lover had been arrested and detained. He asked the commanding officer for the boy's release for use in a construction project, and it was granted. When outside the building, however, the boy declined, saying, "Gad, I can't go with you. My family needs me. If I abandon them now, I could never be free." With that, the two parted without saying goodbye. "In those seconds, watching him go," Gad recalls, "I grew up."
. In early 1945, a Jewish spy for the Gestapo
betrayed him and some of his underground friends. He was subsequently interrogated and interned in a Jewish transit camp in Berlin.
, Beck helped organize efforts to emigrate Jewish survivors to Palestine, emigrating himself in 1947. Beck returned to Berlin in 1979 where he has since retired from his position as director of the Jewish Adult Education Center in Berlin.
Paragraph 175
in which he remembers his "great, great love" lost to the Nazis. Also in 2000, Beck published his autobiography An Underground Life: Memoirs of a Gay Jew in Nazi Berlin. A documentary film, Gad is planned to be filmed on location in Berlin.
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
survivor.
Early life
Beck was born in Berlin, Germany, along with twin sister Margot, to a Jewish father and GermanGermans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
mother who had converted to Judaism
Conversion to Judaism
Conversion to Judaism is a formal act undertaken by a non-Jewish person who wishes to be recognised as a full member of the Jewish community. A Jewish conversion is both a religious act and an expression of association with the Jewish people...
. The family lived in a predominately Jewish immigrant section of the city. At age five, he and his family moved to the Weissensee district where he attended primary school and was the target of antisemitism from classmates. In 1934, he was enrolled in a Jewish school but had to quit and take a job as a shop attendant.
Deported lover
As a person with a partial Jewish ancestry (as the Nazis termed, MischlingMischling
Mischling was the German term used during the Third Reich to denote persons deemed to have only partial Aryan ancestry. The word has essentially the same origin as mestee in English, mestizo in Spanish and métis in French...
) Beck was not deported with other German Jews. Instead, he remained in Berlin. He recalls in his autobiography wearing a Hitler Youth uniform into the pre-deportation camp where his lover had been arrested and detained. He asked the commanding officer for the boy's release for use in a construction project, and it was granted. When outside the building, however, the boy declined, saying, "Gad, I can't go with you. My family needs me. If I abandon them now, I could never be free." With that, the two parted without saying goodbye. "In those seconds, watching him go," Gad recalls, "I grew up."
Gestapo arrest
He joined an underground effort to supply food and hiding places to Jews escaping to neutral SwitzerlandSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. In early 1945, a Jewish spy for the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
betrayed him and some of his underground friends. He was subsequently interrogated and interned in a Jewish transit camp in Berlin.
Palestine and Berlin
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Beck helped organize efforts to emigrate Jewish survivors to Palestine, emigrating himself in 1947. Beck returned to Berlin in 1979 where he has since retired from his position as director of the Jewish Adult Education Center in Berlin.
Culture
In 2000, Beck was featured, along with a few other gay Holocaust survivors, in the HBO documentary filmDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Paragraph 175
Paragraph 175 (film)
Paragraph 175 is a documentary film released in 2000, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, and narrated by Rupert Everett. The film was produced by Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, Janet Cole, Michael Ehrenzweig, Sheila Nevins and Howard Rosenman. The film chronicles the lives of several gay...
in which he remembers his "great, great love" lost to the Nazis. Also in 2000, Beck published his autobiography An Underground Life: Memoirs of a Gay Jew in Nazi Berlin. A documentary film, Gad is planned to be filmed on location in Berlin.