Fredy Hirsch
Alfred Hirsch (Hebrew: פרדי הירש;
11 February 1916 – 8 March 1944) was a German-Jewish athlete, sports teacher
and Zionist youth movement leader, notable for helping thousands of Jewish
children during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in Prague,
Theresienstadt concentration camp, and Auschwitz. Hirsch was the deputy
supervisor of children at Theresienstadt and the supervisor of the children's
block at the Theresienstadt family camp at Auschwitz II-Birkenau.
Because of his German extraction,
charisma, and careful appearance, he was able to convince SS guards to grant
privileges to the children, including exemptions from deportation and extra
rations, which saved their lives at least temporarily. Hirsch and his
assistants maintained clandestine education under the difficult circumstances.
Hirsch's insistence on exercise, discipline, and strict hygiene reduced death
rates among the children. The family camp was due to be liquidated on 8 March
1944; Hirsch's popularity made him a natural leader for an uprising. According
to some accounts, he committed suicide in order not to have to witness the
deaths of his charges; alternately, he was poisoned by Jewish doctors who would
have been killed if an uprising had broken out.
Early life
Germany Hirsch was born in
Aachen to Heinrich and Olga Hirsch on 11 February 1916; his father, who ran a
butcher shop, died when he was ten years old. According to Fredy's niece,
Raquel Masel, his brother, Paul Hirsch (1914–1979), was not close to their
mother because of her bitterness. Their poor relationship encouraged Fredy and
Paul to join youth organizations. Both brothers attended the Aachener
Couven-Gymnasium, which was not a Jewish school. Fredy left in March 1931 when
his mother moved, but there is no evidence that he attended another school, and
apparently he continued to live in Aachen. The Jewish community of Aachen was
well-integrated; there was little antisemitism in Aachen before the Nazi Party
came to power in 1933. Hirsch was already giving lectures at the age of 15. Hirsch
took over the leadership of the scouting branch of the local Aachen Jewish youth
association in 1931, and participated in founding the Aachen branch of the
Jüdischer Pfadfinderbund Deutschland (Jewish Scouting Association of Germany,
JPD), a German Jewish scouting organization, in 1932. Later that year, Hirsch
moved to Düsseldorf for a job with the JPD. The JPD had Zionist tendencies and
a close affiliation with Maccabi Hatzair, a Zionist sporting association.
Although Paul joined the JPD, he, like many in the Aachen Jewish community,
believed in assimilating into the non-Jewish community. Fredy became an ardent
Zionist, supporting the establishment of a Jewish state in then British Mandate
of Palestine (now Israel). Under the background of rising,
state-sponsored antisemitism, the JPD training became increasingly militarized,
emphasizing drills, marching with heavy loads, and first-aid training. In 1933,
the JPD merged into Maccabi Hatzair. Hirsch moved to Frankfurt, where he shared
a flat with leading JPD officials and led a scouting group. His time in
Frankfurt was cut short by rumors that he was gay, based on his lack of a
girlfriend and behavior towards some of the boys under his supervision,
although he was not accused of inappropriate behavior or misconduct. He moved
to Dresden in 1934, where he worked as a sports instructor for Maccabi Hatzair and
probably attended lectures at the German College of Physical Education in
Berlin.
Czechoslovakia After the
passage of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, Hirsch moved to Prague, Czechoslovakia,
probably illegally. According to German historian Dirk Kämper, the author of
the first biography of Hirsch, he may have also been motivated to escape the
increasing persecution of gay men in Germany. He continued to work for Maccabi
Hatzair. The Czech branch of the organization was initially concerned about his
reputation, but Hirsch was able to persuade Arthur Herzog, chairman of Maccabi
Hatzair in the Czech lands, that his homosexuality did not affect his work. Between
October 1936 and April 1939, Hirsch lived in Brno with his lover Jan Mautner,
four years his senior and a medical student from Olomouc. Their relationship
was well known in the city, according to Holocaust survivor Ruth Kopečková.
Mautner and Hirsch published the Maccabi newspaper, Mautner translating
Hirsch's articles into the Czech language, which Hirsch never mastered. Funded
by the Zionist World Federation, Hirsch organized local Maccabi Games and set
up youth and adult groups for physical education. He organized the 1937 Maccabi
Games for Czechoslovakia held in Žilina, Slovakia, with 1,600 participants. Until 1940, Hirsch organized an annual youth
camp at Bezpráví, where children and teenagers exercised and learned Hebrew. Paul,
a Reform rabbinical student, emigrated with their mother and her second husband
to Bolivia in 1938; Paul eventually became a rabbi in Buenos Aires. Fredy could have accompanied them, but did
not; Paul later said that Fredy's Zionist convictions had prevented him.
After Brno refused him a
residence permit and threatened to expel him, Hirsch returned to Prague. Working
at the Zionist Youth Aliyah School run by Egon Redlich, he organized hakhshara
(preparation farms) for young Jews seeking to immigrate to the Land of Israel
and live on a kibbutz, training youth in horticulture, agriculture, and basic
military training. In late 1938, the Munich Agreement ceded the Sudetenland
(German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia) to Germany; on 15 March 1939,
Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, creating the Protectorate of Bohemia and
Moravia. Assimilation of the Czech Jews was so high that many children were not
even aware that they were Jews. Eighteen
boys trained by Hirsch were able to escape to Denmark in October 1939, and
immigrated to Palestine the following year. He drew lots with another Zionist
youth leader as to which of them would go to Palestine with the boys; Hirsch
lost and remained in Prague. In 1940, he was joined by Mautner, who was
prevented from continuing his studies by the closure of the Czech universities.
The same year, Hirsch published an article in the Prague Jewish Newspaper
laying out his views on Jewish youth education; Hirsch viewed physical
education as essential to promoting well-being and a Zionist consciousness.
Over time, the Germans applied
more and more restrictions to Czech Jews; they were fired from their jobs,
forced to move, had property confiscated, were forbidden from certain shops and
streets, and eventually forced to wear the Star of David. After the Nazis banned Jews from public
spaces, Hirsch organized a playground at Hagibor, in the Strašnice district of
Prague, for Jewish children to exercise. Hirsch and Mautner held soccer
matches, athletic competitions, study groups, and theatrical performances
there. Although there were other carers,
Hirsch's charisma made him the natural leader. Since he could not speak Czech
well, he gave instructions in Hebrew and taught the children to speak that
language. Survivors reported that Czech songs were written about him. In late
1941, the Nazis began deporting Czech Jews, first to the Łódź Ghetto. Hirsch
helped prepare the deportees with the 50 kilograms (110 lb) of luggage they
were allowed to bring.
The Holocaust
Theresienstadt Hirsch was
one of the first Jews to be transported to Theresienstadt concentration camp on
4 December 1941, where he helped to construct the concentration camp. His
friendship with Jakob Edelstein lead to an appointment with the housing
department. Later, Hirsch became the deputy to Egon Redlich, the leader of the
Youth Services Department; Redlich personally disliked Hirsch, but respected
his competence and leadership ability. Mautner was also deported to
Theresienstadt in early 1942.At Theresienstadt, the children lived separately
from the adults. Based on the teachings of Zionist youth movements, Hirsch
insisted on maintaining self-esteem, discipline, regular exercise and strict
hygiene—even holding cleanliness competitions —in order to maximize their
chances of survival. The youth leaders tried to maintain the children's
education despite this being prohibited, teaching a wide range of subjects
including Hebrew, English, mathematics, history, and geography. However, the
Germans did not actively oppose his activities because they felt that it helped
maintain order. Children 14 and older had to work; Hirsch tried to get them
jobs working in the vegetable gardens because he believed that this work would
improve their health and prepare them for life in Palestine. Survivors
often remarked on Hirsch's self-confident attitude, good looks, and careful
appearance, which had a salutary effect on other prisoners. He paid attention
to his posture and appearance, keeping his hair combed and boots polished, and
reportedly continuing to pomade his hair at Auschwitz. Hirsch was able to
establish a good relationship with SS guards even though he was Jewish and
openly gay. According to Yehuda Bacon, "he spoke German as well as the
Nazis, he had charm and a tip-top look. He knew how to talk to the SS. He was
dressed like a soldier." Pavel Stránský, who had been an educator on the
children's block at Auschwitz, testified that "[t]he SS treated him almost
like a human being". Redlich and Hirsch used their influence to
arrange separate barracks and slightly better conditions for the children. Sometimes
they were able to remove children from transports to extermination camps,
although they were ultimately unable to save them from this fate; more than 99%
of the children at Theresienstadt were eventually deported. Hirsch persuaded the
Germans to allocate space for a play area inside the concentration camp, where
he frequently oversaw athletic activities. In 1943, Maccabi Games were held and
observed by thousands of spectators. On 24 August 1943, a single
transport of 1,200 children from the Białystok Ghetto arrived at
Theresienstadt. These children were frightened of the showers because they
believed that they were gas chambers. The Białystok children were housed in the
western barracks, separated from the rest of the camp by a barbed-wire fence.
Czech gendarmes guarded the perimeter and kept the children strictly segregated
from the rest of the camp under threat of severe punishment. According to
Kämper, Hirsch wanted to confirm the rumors that Jews deported from
Theresienstadt were murdered in gas chambers. In any event, he managed to jump
over the wire fence separating the Białystok children from the rest of the
Theresienstadt prisoners, but he was caught and arrested by a Czech guard.
Peter Erben believes that Hirsch could have avoided punishment if he had been
able to speak Czech. Instead, he was brought to the commandant's office and
beaten. Allegedly for this violation, he was deported to Auschwitz on 8
September.
Auschwitz The Jews from
Theresienstadt encountered unprecedented privileged treatment upon their
arrival, where they were established in a separate block (BIIb), known as the
Theresienstadt family camp. They were tattooed, but were not subject to
selection upon arrival, were allowed to retain their civilian clothes, and were
not forced to shave their heads. Families stayed together and were also allowed
to write to their relatives at Theresienstadt, to those not yet deported, and
even to friends in neutral countries, in order to convey the impression that
deportation to the east did not necessarily mean death.
Hirsch was appointed the
lagerälteste of the family camp, because of the respect that the SS had for his
leadership. He refused to use violence against other prisoners, as the Germans
demanded. As a result, he was relieved of his position a month later and
replaced by the German criminal Arno Böhm. However, he persuaded Böhm to allocate a
barracks, Block 31, for children younger than fourteen, and became the overseer
of this barracks. In this arrangement, the children lived with their parents at
night and spent the day at the special barracks. Hirsch recruited adult
prisoners who had been involved in education at Theresienstadt and persuaded
the guards that it would be in their interest to have the children learn
German. In fact, the teachers taught other subjects, including history, music,
and Judaism, in Czech, as well as a few German phrases to recite at
inspections. Because there were only twelve books and almost no supplies, the
teachers had to recite lessons from memory. The children's lack of education —they
had been excluded from school even before their deportation —made their task
more difficult. A chorus rehearsed regularly, a children's opera was performed,
and the walls of the barracks were painted with Disney characters by Dina
Gottliebová. Because the block was so orderly, it was shown off to SS men who
worked in other parts of the camp. SS
men who directly participated in the extermination process, especially Dr.
Josef Mengele, visited frequently and helped organize better food for the
children.
Using his influence with the
Germans, Hirsch obtained better food for the children and food parcels
addressed to prisoners who had died. The soup for the children was thicker than
for other prisoners; allegedly it was from the Gypsy camp and contained
semolina. The children's barracks also received additional coal and was
slightly better heated. Hirsch also convinced the Germans to hold roll call
inside the barracks, so the children were spared the hours-long ordeal of
standing outside in all weather. After
another transport arrived in December 1943, there were about 700 children in
the family camp; Mautner was also on
this transport. Zuzana Růžičková, who had also arrived in December, entered
into the children's barracks without authorization in order to obtain work as a
carer, but was caught by an SS man. To distract him, Hirsch reportedly said
"Herr Oberscharführer, who have you killed and looted today?" Instead
of beating Hirsch, the SS man offered him a cigarette, which Hirsch declined. Nevertheless,
Hirsch was not excepted from the brutal treatment of the guards, being badly
beaten when a boy slept through the roll call.
Hirsch persuaded Böhm to allocate
a second barracks for children aged three to eight so that the older children
could prepare a performance of Snow White, which the SS had requested. The play
was performed on 23 January 1944 with many SS men in attendance. By imposing
strict discipline on the children, Hirsch made sure that there were no acts of
violence or theft, otherwise common in concentration camps. He was extremely
strict about the children's hygiene, insisting that they wash daily even in the
frigid winter of 1943–44 and carrying out regular inspections for lice. Due to
Hirsch's efforts, the mortality rate for the children was nearly zero, compared
to the overall mortality of about 25% of the residents of the family camp in
the first six months. The children
appreciated Hirsch's efforts on their behalf, and threw a surprise party for
him on 11 February 1944, his 28th birthday. In February 1944, a delegation from the Reich
Main Security Office and the German Red Cross visited the family camp. The
visitors were most interested in the children's barracks, which was the only
attempt to organize education at Auschwitz. The most notable visitor, Adolf
Eichmann, commented favorably about the cultural activity of the children at
Birkenau.
Death Arrivals to the
family camp were marked "SB6"—a cryptic abbreviation that the
resistance movement in Auschwitz eventually decoded as referring to
Sonderbehandlung ("special treatment"). This meant that the arrivals
were to be murdered 6 months after their arrival, or 8 March 1944 for the
transport that Hirsch was on. Hirsch and other leaders from Theresienstadt were
informed in advance by the resistance movement at Auschwitz. By this time, it
was evident to the prisoners that the Germans were going to lose the war and
some hoped for a swift Allied victory before their six months had elapsed. Although there was no possibility of success,
many Jews wanted to set the compound on fire as a symbolic act of resistance.
Hirsch was the natural leader for an uprising, because he was respected by
opposing factions in the family camp. On 5 March, the September arrivals were
told that they were soon to be transported to a labor camp at Heydebreck and
instructed to write postcards dated 25 March for their relatives in
Theresienstadt. On 7 March, they were moved to the quarantine block (BIIa); although
warned in advance that the Nazis were planning to murder all of these Jews,
Hirsch went with them.
What happened after this is
unclear. Rudolf Vrba, the clerk of BIIa, visited Hirsch on 8 March to inform
him about the preparations for the liquidation of the family camp and to urge
him to lead an uprising. Apparently Hirsch was uncertain whether to believe the
warnings about imminent death and skeptical of the value of resistance. He
thought it was unreasonable that the Nazis would give them such favored
treatment only to murder them later. Hirsch asked for an hour to think, and
when Vrba returned, Hirsch was in a coma. A Jewish doctor told Vrba that Hirsch
had committed suicide by a barbiturate overdose. If he did commit suicide, it
is unclear how he could have obtained a lethal dose without the cooperation of the
doctors.
According to some survivors, Hirsch
requested a small dose of a tranquilizer to help him calm down, but the Jewish
doctors poisoned him to prevent him from leading an uprising, which they feared
would compromise their own chances of survival. Mengele had promised them that
they would not be killed. The latter explanation is favored by Kämper. A few
people, including doctors and the artist Dina Gottliebová, were spared from
death by their special talents which were useful to the SS. According to
survivor testimonies, Hirsch was to be spared, but he was unwilling to save
himself without the children. On the night of 8 March, a strict curfew was
imposed and the Jews in the quarantine blocks were loaded in trucks and driven
to the gas chambers. Still unconscious, Hirsch was carried with them and was
murdered along with many of the children under his supervision.
Legacy According to
postwar testimonies, Hirsch was "a man of extraordinary courage" and
"for the children a God", although some of his adult colleagues
dismissed him as arrogant, shallow, dictatorial, or vain. The gymnasium in
Aachen that he attended renamed its cafeteria the "Fredy-Hirsch-AG"
in 2016 to commemorate his 100th birthday. At a commemoration ceremony in the
Aachen synagogue on the one hundredth anniversary of Hirsch's birth, Lord Mayor
Marcel Philipp stated that Hirsch was "one of the most important sons of
the city, if not the best known". Nina Weilová, who survived the Theresienstadt
family camp as a young teenager, said that "There was no one who was so
self-sacrificing and devoted himself to the children as much as he did." Czech
Jewish harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková worked as a teacher's assistant at the
children's barracks at Auschwitz and credited Hirsch for saving her life. Many
years later, she helped organize a monument for him. At the dedication, she
said, "We Jews have no saints, but we have 'tzadikim'—the word could be
translated as 'righteous' or 'decent'. Fredy Hirsch was a man, he had his
faults, he was not a saint, but he was righteous—a tzadik—and so we hope that
when the last of us who knew him have passed away, future generations will
stand before this tablet and say: 'He must have been a good, brave and
beautiful person'."
Hirsch was the subject of the
2016 documentary Heaven in Auschwitz, which featured the accounts of thirteen
survivors of Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. He was also featured in the 2017
Israeli documentary "Dear Fredy" by Rubi Gat. According to Dirk
Kämper, Hirsch's role was marginalized after the war because of his
homosexuality. In communist Czechoslovakia, his German ethnicity and Zionism
made him an unacceptable hero. Historian Anna Hájková, investigating the
relationship between Hirsch and Mautner, writes that theirs was "one of
the rare queer life stories that can be reconstructed for the Nazi era" Hirsch is the rare exception to the absent or
anonymous gay Holocaust victim because he worked with children and teenagers,
who lived long enough to tell the truth about him. She also noted the lingering
homophobia in the Terezín Initiative, the Czech association of Holocaust
survivors, which refused to print an inquiry from her regarding their
relationship. According to Hájková, "It is disturbing that even in 2018
the homosexuality of a Holocaust victim is considered to be offensive". On
February 11, 2021, Google celebrated his 105th birthday with a Google Doodle.
The Doodle was displayed in Germany, Czechia, Slovakia and Israel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredy_Hirsch
