Helene Jacobs
Encyclopedia
Helene Jacobs was a member of the Confessing Church
and of the German Resistance
against National Socialism.
and (from 1934 onwards) a member of the Confessing Church. She joined a group centred around the lawyer Franz Herbert Kaufmann which, from 1940 onwards, hid Jews fleeing Nazi persecution and helped them to escape from Germany. Jacobs hid some Jews in her own house out of a Christian-Socialist motivation, until she was denounced in 1943 and subsequently convicted to two and a half years' imprisonment in a zuchthaus or penitentiary.
Jacobs was a member of the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation
since its foundation in 1949 and was honoured by Yad Vashem
as Righteous Among the Nations
. She died in 1993 and was buried at the Waldfriedhof Dahlem
, where she was given an memorial in 2004.
(1935), that arbitrarily excluded a section of the population from citizenship, especially got under my skin. I wanted to help these hounded people.(http://www.brunnenstrasse.de/_buch/23.shtml)
The inscription on the plaque on Bonner Straße 2 in the Künstlerkolonie Wilmersdorf translates as:
Confessing Church
The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:...
and of the German Resistance
German Resistance
The German resistance was the opposition by individuals and groups in Germany to Adolf Hitler or the National Socialist regime between 1933 and 1945. Some of these engaged in active plans to remove Adolf Hitler from power and overthrow his regime...
against National Socialism.
Life
Jacobs was the secretary to a Jewish patent attorneyPatent attorney
A patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing an opposition...
and (from 1934 onwards) a member of the Confessing Church. She joined a group centred around the lawyer Franz Herbert Kaufmann which, from 1940 onwards, hid Jews fleeing Nazi persecution and helped them to escape from Germany. Jacobs hid some Jews in her own house out of a Christian-Socialist motivation, until she was denounced in 1943 and subsequently convicted to two and a half years' imprisonment in a zuchthaus or penitentiary.
Jacobs was a member of the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation
Deutscher Koordinierungsrat der Gesellschaften für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit
The Deutscher Koordinierungsrat der Gesellschaften für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit is an umbrella organisation for 81 local and regional organisations in Germany working for Christian-Jewish collaboration. It presently has around 20,000 members overall...
since its foundation in 1949 and was honoured by Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
as Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
. She died in 1993 and was buried at the Waldfriedhof Dahlem
Waldfriedhof Dahlem
The Waldfriedhof Dahlem is a cemetery in Berlin, in the district of Steglitz-Zehlendorf on the edge of the Grunewald forest at Hüttenweg 47. Densely planted with conifers and designed between 1931 and 1933 after the plans of Albert Brodersen, it is one of Berlin's more recent cemeteries...
, where she was given an memorial in 2004.
Quotation
"I had nothing to do with illegality. My world was falling apart, and I wanted to defend it. On 30 January 1933, as Hitler became Reich-chancellor, I lost my homeland. The antisemitic Nuremberg LawsNuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were antisemitic laws in Nazi Germany introduced at the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. After the takeover of power in 1933 by Hitler, Nazism became an official ideology incorporating scientific racism and antisemitism...
(1935), that arbitrarily excluded a section of the population from citizenship, especially got under my skin. I wanted to help these hounded people.(http://www.brunnenstrasse.de/_buch/23.shtml)
Plaque
- "From 1935 until her death, in this house lived the resistor against Nazism Helene Jacobs, 15/2/1906 to 13/8/1993. She hid unprotected Jews in her home and helped them to escape. The Nazi courts sentenced her to 2.5 years imprisonment. Berlin, April 1997."
External links
- Helene Jacobs in der Künstlerkolonie Berlin
- Helene Jacobs as member of the Confessing ChurchConfessing ChurchThe Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:...
at Berlin-Dahlem