Johanna Eck (born January 4, 1888, as Johanna Opitz – died September 27, 1979) was a German woman who saved four people during the Holocaust. She was honored as one of the Righteous among Nations.
Biography edit
Born and raised in Berlin, Johanna Eck became close friends with the Jewish family of one of her husband's comrades from World War I.[1] When deportations began, she hid one of the family (Heinz Guttmann); she would go on to hide another Jewish woman (Elfriede Guttmann, no relation to Heinz).[1] She hid them and two others in her apartment in Berlin.[2][3]
Eck was a housewife and former nurse.[4] She described her reason to save others as "nothing special," remarking that "Human beings—so it seems to me—make up a big unity; they strike themselves and all in the face when they do injustice to each other."[5][6] Eck's story has often been used as an example of an ordinary person who resisted Nazi violence.[7]
She was buried in the graveyard at the church of St. Matthias in Berlin.[8]
Honors edit
She was honored as one of the Righteous among Nations by Yad Vashem in the early 1970s.[9]
The Johanna Eck School, a secondary school in Berlin, was renamed in her honor in 2014.[8] Since 2002, the school has honored Eck by taking care of her grave as part of its religious education classes.[8] The school is known for its efforts to serve refugee children.[10][11]
She has been featured in a play about genocide education.[12]
References edit
- ^ a b "Johanna Eck". "Women of Valor": Stories of Women Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
- ^ Lewis, Ingrid (2015). The Representation of Women in European Holocaust Films: Perpetrators, Victims and Resisters. Dublin. p. 236.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Lewis, Ingrid (2017), "Gendered Disparities in the Portrayal of Rescuers", Women in European Holocaust Films, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 235–248, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-65061-6_15, ISBN 978-3-319-65060-9, retrieved 2022-12-06
- ^ Carmon, Daniel (January 2, 2017). "Ambassador's Speech on International Holocaust Remembrance Day". Embassy of Israel. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
- ^ Paldiel, Mordecai (1993). "Appendix: Performing One's Duty". The Path of the Righteous: Gentile Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. p. 379. ISBN 978-0-88125-376-4.
- ^ Mensch, James R. (2003). Ethics and selfhood : alterity and the phenomenology of obligation. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. p. 195. ISBN 1-4175-3136-3. OCLC 56066759.
- ^ Tognato, Carlo; Jaworsky, Bernadette Nadya; Alexander, Jeffrey C. (2020-07-04). The Courage for Civil Repair: Narrating the Righteous in International Migration. Springer Nature. p. 10. ISBN 978-3-030-44590-4.
- ^ a b c Keitel, Horst-Dieter (2014-06-23). "7. Integrierte Sekundarschule nach Johanna Eck benannt". Berliner Woche (in German). Retrieved 2022-12-06.
- ^ Sachser, Friedo (1976). "West Germany". The American Jewish Year Book. 76: 346. ISSN 0065-8987. JSTOR 23605448 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Nelson, Soraya Sarhaddi (December 26, 2015). "Migrants Find A Warm Welcome At This German School". National Public Radio. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
- ^ denk!mal (PDF) (in German). Berlin: German Parliament. 2016. pp. 8, 19.
- ^ "Upstanders Plays". World Without Genocide. Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
External links edit
- “Kind German Widow: Johanna Eck” Accidental Talmudist.
- “Stories of Women Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust” Yad Vashem.
- “The Task That God Demands from Me” International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, October 20, 2020.