Stella Goldschlag

Stella Goldschlag

Stella Goldschlag was a German Jewish Woman who collaborated with the Gestapo during World War II.

She was born on July 10, 1922 in Berlin, Germany the only Child of a Middle Class Assimilated Jewish Family. Her Father, Gerhard, was a Journalist, Conductor and Composer and her Mother, Tony, was a Concert Singer.

When the Nazis came to power in 1933 the Family fell on hard times when the 1933 Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service was used to purge Jews from positions of influence and Stella’s Father lost his job with the Newsreel Company  - Gaumont.

When the Nazis forced all Jewish Children out of Public Schools in 1935 Stella attended the Goldschmidt School (run by Leonore Goldschmidt) until it was forced to close in 1938.

Her Parents attempted to leave Germany after Kristallnacht in 1938 to escape the Nazi, but were unable to gain Visas for any Country.

On September 16, 1941 the Germans forced all Jews in Germany and Austria to wear the Yellow Star of David on their Clothing. Stella would only wear the Star when doing her Forced Labor at a Factory – which she was forced to do in order to get a Ration Book.

On November 28, 1941 she married the Jewish Musician Manfred Kübler whom she had met while working as a Forced Laborer in a Berlin Factory.

In 1942 the Germans started deporting Berlin’s Jews to the Death Camps and Stella went into hiding. With her Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes and a Fake Identity Card she passed as an Aryan.

Stella was arrested during the Fabrikaktion (Factory Action) in February 1943 to make Berlin “Free of Jews” before Hitler’s Birthday in April. Her Parents were also arrested.

After being tortured following an escape attempt Stella agreed to collaborate with the Gestapo in exchange for the safety of her Parents and her Husband.

Stella agreed to become a "Catcher" (German: Greiferin) hunting down Jews pretending to be Non-Jews throughout Berlin. She would befriend Jewish Friends, Former Schoolmates and Acquaintances and then turn them into the Gestapo. She received 300 Reichsmark for each person she turned in.

Despite her working with the Gestapo (or some say because Stella wanted him gone) her Husband, Manfred, was deported to the Auschwitz Death Camp in German-Occupied Poland where he was killed. He was 20 years old.

Stella’s Parents were also deported first to the Theresienstadt Ghetto in German-Occupied Czechoslovakia in February 1944 and to the Auschwitz Death Camp in October 1944 where they were killed.

Despite her Husband’s and Parents’ Deaths Stella continued to work with the Gestapo until March 1945.

During that time, she met and married her Second Husband, Rolf Isaaksohn, on October 29, 1944 – whom she “worked” with turning in Jews to the Gestapo. Isaaksohn was shot and killed trying to flee from the Soviets in 1945.

In October 1945 Stella gave birth to a Daughter, Yvonne (who was from an Affair she had.) After the War she pretended to be a Victim of the Nazis and not the Collaborator she really was.

In December 1945 she was arrested by the Soviets in East Berlin for comparing the Soviet Secret Police (the NKVD) to the Gestapo. Her Identity as a Collaborator was then established and she was sentenced to 10 years of Hard Labor.

She was released in 1955 and moved to West Berlin.

In 1957 a West German Court sentenced her to 10 years for Collaborating with the Gestapo during the War, but did not serve any time in prison since she had already served 10 years in a Soviet Gulag. She was denied Custody of her Daughter though.

Shortly after this case Stella converted to Christianity and became an open Anti-Semite.

Yvonne, wanting to have nothing to do with her Mother, immigrated to Israel in 1967 and became a Nurse.

After her release from the Gulag Stella was married to three Non-Jews, starting with Friedheim Schellenberg, followed by a Cab Driver twenty years her Junior and finally a Berlin Orchestra Director who died in 1984.

Peter Wyden (October 2, 1923 – June 27, 1998), a Berlin Schoolmate of Stella’s whose Family had been able to obtain US Visas in 1937 and who later learned about Stella’s role as a "Catcher" while he was working for the US Army, tracked down and interviewed Stella in 1988, and wrote “Stella”, a 1992 Biography of her.

His Book brought worldwide attention to what Stella had done during the War. I read the book when I lived in Germany in 1995.

Not able to hide from her past anymore Stella Goldschlag committed suicide by drowning in a lake on October 26, 1994 in Frieberg, Germany. She was 73 years old.

A Movie, “Stella. Ein Leben” (“Stella. A Life”) based on her life and the book came out in Germany on January 18, 2024. Paula Beer plays Stella Goldschlag and Jannis Niewöhner plays Rolf Isaaksohn.

Stella Goldschlag turned in 3,000 Jewish Men, Women and Children to the Nazis.