The Nazi Party of Nazi Germany of the World War 2 era are known for a lot, and much of this is attributed to the Holocaust, the systematic enslavement and murdering of European Jews. Beyond the genocide of an entire group of people, the Nazis and World War 2 were known for other such atrocities. When the Holocaust occurred, nearly 6 million Jews were killed by the regime by the end, just because the Jews were accused of being “greedy and selfish” and the cause of the economic pain of Germany at the time after World War 1. This was further exacerbated by Hitler and his nasty regime to help him feel better about himself. These are the 10 famous and amazing Jews killed by Nazis.
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Some of those they killed were not even Jews, and the persecution and murder extended to homosexuals, Romany people, defectors, Jehovah’s Witnesses and more. Not everyone was killed in a concentration camp or because they were Jewish under Hitler’s order though, and some people were simply minding their own business before being murdered either directly or indirectly by the Nazis. Accident or not, some of those they murdered were even prominent or famous, and many of them were Jewish or of Jewish heritage. Even if some became famous after their death, they are still included here. I’m going to list the 10 famous Jews killed by Nazis.
The 10 Famous Jews Killed By Nazis
1. Anne Frank
Everyone knows about this first entry, and it is not just because of Jewish background. Anne Marie Frank was a German-Dutch writer and diarist born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1929. Because of her Jewish background, Anne and her family were subject to prosecution by Nazi Germany. Anne was living in Amsterdam when she went into hiding with her family in her house’s attic in 1942. While in hiding, Anne began writing in her Dutch-language diary, later becoming one of the most read pieces of work written during the Holocaust.
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The Nazis invaded the Netherlands in 1940, segregating Jewish people from most businesses, including having to go to Jewish schools. Her father later lost his shop because Jewish people were not allowed to own their own businesses, and people of Jewish heritage had to wear the Star of David. When they later went into hiding trying to avoid deportation to a “labor camp” in 1942, they went into their hidden attic to avoid this persecution. They remained in hiding for over two years before being discovered. Anne was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau then Bergen-Belsen. Anne, her sister Margot, and their mother later died in their concentration camps. Anne died of typhus, and her father Otto was the only one to survive, later having her diary published for the world to hear her story.
2. Leslie Howard
Leslie Howard wan an English actor born in London, England in 1893. Howard was of partial Jewish ancestry on his father’s side, his father being Hungarian-Jewish. Leslie Howard participated in World War 1, suffered from shell shock, before returning to England and becoming an actor and filmmaker. Howard became known for his prolific stage and film appearances. He became known as the eloquent gentleman representation of English class.
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Howard kept furthering his craft, becoming more well known, especially by the 1930s. Broadening his horizons to helping the British government and becoming ambassador of British culture in Portugal by 1943 to help out with a “more subtle” kind of propaganda. Boarding a civilian flight on a DC-3 heading back to Bristol, England, his aircraft was shot down by a squadron of German Junkers 88 fighter-bombers over the Bay of Biscay, in spite of the airliner being known as civilian. It still remains mystery to this day as to exactly why they did this, but it seems that, at least concerning Howard, it was an accident.
The 10 Famous Jews Killed By Nazis
3. Benjamin Fondane
Benjamin Fondane was a Romanian and French poet born in Iasi, Romania in 1898. He was born to a Jewish family and became a prominent figure in Jewish existentialism, often being considered a symbolist and surrealist. Beginning his career in 1914, he publishing patriotic and lyric poetry in literary periodicals at National High School. Fondane displayed an early interest and expertise in art and poetry, explaining that “only poetry could succeed where morality and metaphysics had failed.”
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Fondane later found a dedication to Dada and surrealism, later becoming a leading figure in existentialism. Wanting to create his own distinct brand of surrealism, he furthered himself from the communist alignment of many other surrealists of his time. After moving to France in 1932, he became an avant-garde playwright and began to write works of philosophy and criticism. Later on, in 1944, Fondane was deported from France to Auschwitz and later died in a gas chamber at the age of 45 just months before the end of World War 2.
4. Edith Stein
Edith Stein was a German Jewish philosopher born in Breslau, German Empire in 1891. The arc of her life is somewhat interesting, considering she came from an observant Jewish family to an atheist before becoming a Catholic nun. Stein was a phenomenologist and Christian metaphysician, converting to Catholicism in 1922. She became a Carmelite nun in 1933. She later became a martyr and saint after her execution via gas chamber in 1942 at the age of 50.
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Stein is known for her women’s rights advocacy, education, and her philosophy related to phenomenology in empathy and affectivity. She is also known for her work in philosophical anthropology. Her original works in empathy, embodiment, the emotions, personhood, collective intentionality, and the nature of the state made her famous. In her later work, Stein developed an original philosophy of being and essence that integrated Husserlian phenomenology and Thomist metaphysics. She was prominent as research assistant to Edmund Husserl among many other philosophers of her day.
The 10 Famous Jews Killed By Nazis
5. Walter Benjamin
Walter Benjamin was a German philosopher and aesthetician born in Berlin, Germany in 1892. Being born to a prominent and prosperous Jewish family, Benjamin had much at his disposal. Not only did he enjoy the occasional essay, he was considered the most important literacy critic in the first half of the 21st century.
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Benjamin studied philosophy in Berlin, and be considered an eclectic thinker, he made contributions to aesthetic theory, literary criticism, and historical materialism. Many of his major works as a literary critic included essays on Baudelaire, Goethe, Kafka, Kraus, Leskov, Proust, Walser, and translation theory. Later on during World War 2, Benjamin wanted to flee to Spain to make it to the United States in 1940 after having been in France for seven years after leaving Nazi Germany. Benjamin later committed suicide after finding out he would be turned over to the Gestapo if he were to escape.
6. Sabina Spielrein
Sabina Spielrein was a Russian physician and psychoanalyst born in Rostov-on-Don, Russian Empire in 1885. Sabina is known for being one of the first female psychoanalysts. She is also a pioneer because, other than not being known for any real reason beyond being a pawn in the growing divide between Freud and Jung, of her being a psychiatric patient turned psychoanalyst. Her dissertation in 1911 was done on Schizophrenia and the first done with a psychoanalytic theme in general and on children.
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Spielrein was first a patient of Jung after having a mental breakdown and being admitted to a hospital at the age of 18. She even had a sexual relationship with Jung during medical school. Many of her writings and papers on her research revolved around literature, philosophy and anthropology, among many others. She was also known for her empathetic approach, especially to women, that was apparently lacking in her day. Spielrein was later murdered, along with her two daughters, in her hometown in 1942 by gunshot.
The 10 Famous Jews Killed By Nazis
7. Marc Bloch
Marc Bloch was a French medieval historian, editor and resistance leader born in Lyon, France in 1886. Considered one of the most influential historians of the 20th century, Bloch was known for his work in social and economic history. Bloch was the also interesting because of his ancestry related to the French Revolution, a descendant of patriotic French Alsatian Jews. He later joined the French Resistance and became a leader to combat the Nazis during World War 2.
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He acquired exceptional proficiency in languages, literature, and the social and natural sciences. Marc also had a thing for critical inquiry and demythologization, finding deep interest in mass delusion and more. He also founded the Annales School and served in the French Army in World War 1 and 2. Bloch received numerous other accolades for his numerous works in political and social history, including studies related to the French Revolution and much more. Unfortunately, later on, after having had joined the resistance in France, he was tortured and shot by a firing squad in 1944.
8. Felix Hausdorff
Felix Hausdorff was a German mathematician and philosopher born to Jewish parent in Wroclaw, Poland in 1868. Felix is highly noted for his work in topology, as well as his work in set theory, descriptive set theory, measure theory, and functional analysis. Hausdorff was the one who introduced the partially ordered set. After graduating from Leipzig University with a doctorate degree in mathematical application to astronomy, Hausdorff published several research papers on astronomy and optics.
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Hausdorff, however, had a keen interest in literature and philosophy. Many of his friends consisted of writers, artists and composers. He even had the pseudonym Paul Mongre to publish the several literary works he finished. Later on in his life, after having married, became an esteemed professor, but was kicked out of the university and forced to retire in 1935 by the Nazi regime. In spite of giving his oath to Hitler, he could not even publish his further research. After finding out that he could not leave Germany and would be sent to a camp, he along with his wife and her sister committed suicide together with barbiturates.
The 10 Famous Jews Killed By Nazis
9. Simon Dubnow
Simon Dubnow was a Russian writer, historian and activist born to an observant Jewish family born in Mstsislaw, Belarus in 1860. Dubnow is known for his many books on Jewish culture. In spite of his upbringing, Simon, grew into a secular and cosmopolitan lifestyle, deciding not to embrace a Jewish wedding. Early on, he would embrace literature related to Russian Jewish Enlightenment and found influence in Jewish historiography.
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Dubnow had many interesting views including that of migrating centers and autonomism. In spite of his identity as a Jewish man, he later escaped from Berlin in 1933 to Riga, Latvia. This did not last long, and towards the end of 1941, he was collected in a roundup of Latvian Jews. He was then shot and killed by a Gestapo officer in Riga.
10. Else Ury
Else Ury was a German-Jewish novelist and children’s book writer and author born in Berlin, Germany in 1877. Though not highly prominent in her time, she became more so after her death. She is best known for her character driven stories, including Annemarie Braun of her ten-volume Nesthäkchen series. It was said that Ury was pulled between her patriotic German citizenship and her Jewish heritage. Her Jewish heritage and cultural appropriation was even indicated in some of her books. Later on though, she was barred from publishing her books, sent to Auschwitz, and gassed the day after she arrived there in 1943.
The 10 Famous Jews Killed By Nazis
Honorable Mentions: Herschel Grynszpan, Erich Mühsam, Vladislav Vančura, Bernard Natan, Egon Friedell, Max Ehrlich, Janusz Korczak, Etty Hillesum, and so many more.
Blog Page: https://creatorconquer.com/bloggers-paradise/
Godspeed
