Ilse Brüll (1925–1942) was Austrian-Jewish girl killed at Auschwitz who became a symbol in Austria for young girls murdered by Nazis in the Holocaust.[1]
Life
editBorn on April 28, 1925, in Innsbruck, Austria to an assimilated Jewish family, her parents were Rudolf Brüll (1887-1957) a furniture manufacturer, and Julie Brüll (née Steinharter 1894–1971).[2][3]
When Austria merged with Nazi Germany in the Anschluss of 1938, the Brüll family, like all families of Jewish heritage, were persecuted by the Nazis. Jews were forced out of professions and their property stolen through "Aryanization" (the forced transfer to non-Jews) or outright seizure.[4] Brüll's schooling ended in November 1938 due to the Nazi's anti-Jewish pogrom known as Kristallnacht. Her family was beaten.[5]
Her family tried unsuccessfully to emigrate.[2] In April 1939 her family tried to save her and her cousin Inge by putting the girls on a Kindertransport to the Netherlands. She found refuge in a convent for several years, However, in 1942, her hiding place was discovered and she was deported to the Westerbork transit camp and in August of the same year she was transported to Auschwitz, where, according to witnesses, she was murdered on September 3, 1942.[6] Her parents survived imprisonment and returned to Innsbruck in 1945.[7]
Commemorations
edit
A Stolperstein was laid for her in 2004.[7] A school was moved to a street named after her.[8] Commemorative projects honor her memory.[6]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Brüll, Ilse (1925–1942) | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
As was true of Holland's Anne Frank, Austria's Ilse Brüll became a symbol to her nation of the millions of young girls murdered during the Holocaust.
- ^ a b Marcellina (2015-02-28). "In Memory Of A Girl". The Practice Room. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
- ^ "Rudolf Brüll". geni_family_tree. 2018-05-24. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
- ^ "Brüll, Ilse (1925–1942) | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
Within days of the German takeover, Jewish shops and businesses were boycotted by the vast majority of the population. Soon, these enterprises were "Aryanized" as Jewish owners were pressured to sell their property at absurdly low prices, mainly to opportunistic Nazi officials. The Jewish community was systematically stripped of its assets, its archives were confiscated, and the passports of all Jews were seized.
- ^ "Brüll, Ilse (1925–1942) | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
On the terror-filled Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass) of November 9–10, 1938, the houses of Innsbruck's Jews were raided and demolished, the synagogue and cemetery desecrated. Three community leaders were brutally murdered and their bodies thrown into the icy Inn river. Ilse Brüll was with an aunt in Munich during these horrible events, and from there went to Vienna to stay with other relatives while her desperate parents made plans for her emigration.
- ^ a b "Geraubte Jugendjahre – Innsbruck erinnert sich" (in German). 2020-08-06. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
- ^ a b "Ilse Brüll". Joods Monument. 1925-04-28. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
- ^ "Aus Müller wurde Brüll – Innsbruck erinnert sich" (in German). 2022-01-19. Retrieved 2024-03-10.