Hella Hirsch (6 March 1921 - 4 March 1943) was a Jewish resistance fighter during World War II. She was a member of the Baum Group, a collaborative anti-Nazi resistance organization.[1]
Hirsch was executed for her role on in the Baum Group's arson attack against an anti-Soviet exhibition in Berlin.
Life
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Hirsch was born in Poznań, Poland. Her father was a transport worker and her mother was a housewife.[1] She attended Margarethen-Lyceum School after which she attended Jewish middle school for one year. She went on to study commerce at the firm of Zeidler and Remark from 1937-1939.[2] Hirsch worked as a receptionist for local doctor, Fritz Hirschfeld.[1][2]
Hirsch was a member of Ring, Bund Deutsch-Jüdischer Jugend (Ring Association of Jewish Youth), a Jewish Social organization that was forced to disband in 1937. The group's leader was Judith Kozminski.[1]
Hirsch was forced by the Nazis to work at the IG Farben's Aceta chemical works in Berlin-Rummelsburg starting in June 1941.[1] Through Judith Kozminski, Hirsch connected with Herbert Baum, a Jewish man active in the resistance movement. Hirsch joined Baum's resistance group with her sister, Alice.[1]
On 18 May 1942 the Baum Group and another anti-Nazi group set fire to Das Sowjetparadies (The Soviet Paradise), an anti-Soviet exhibit in Berlin's Lustgarten.[2] Group members were caught by the Nazis. Most were executed quickly and others were murdered a short time later in prisons and concentration camps.[3] Hirsch was arrested on 8 July 1942 and executed in Berlin-Plötzensee on 4 March 1943.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g "German Resistance Memorial Center Biographie". Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
- ^ a b c "Baum Gruppe: Jewish Women". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
- ^ "Shoah Resource Center - Baum Gruppe" (PDF). Yad Vashem.