Recha Freier
Recha Free (Hebrew רחה פריאר; born Schweitzer, born October 29, 1892 in the north; † April 2, 1984 in Jerusalem, Israel) was a German - Jewish resistance fighter against National Socialism, teacher and poet. On 30 January 1933 she founded the " Children and Youth Aliyah ." The organization rescued thousands of Jewish children and youth by assisting in the emigration from the German Empire in the time of National Socialism 's life.
Life
Recha Freier was born as a daughter of the Orthodox Jewish elementary school teacher Manasseh Schweitzer. Since her childhood, she was confronted with anti-Semitism in the north, as it was prevented by a sign with her family from entering a public square: " Dogs and Jews is the no trespassing ". She later "earthquake" processed in the poem this experience. 1897 the family moved to a small town in Lower Silesia after transfer requests her father had been granted. In the school there Recha was the only Jewish student and was ridiculed because of the writing prohibition on Shabbat in school and gleefully asked by a teacher if she did on Saturday should ever tie the apron itself.
After finishing school Recha Schweitzer studied education and folklore in Breslau and Munich and worked as a teacher of German, French and English as well as a pianist in secondary schools. In 1919 she married the rabbi Moritz Free. The couple had four children, of whom three now live in Israel.
1919 the family moved to Sofia. Here Recha founded the Young Women's International Zionist Organization ( WIZO - Jung ), the girls and young women avid for Zionism. 1926 the couple moved to Berlin after her husband was appointed Chief Rabbi for the three major Orthodox synagogues of the Jewish community in Berlin. There, in 1932 five 16 -year-old eastern European Jewish boys came to her, who had lost their jobs because of their faith, and asked them for help. Influenced by this experience, she did not see the incident as an economic and social problem but as an anti-Semitic act. So matured in her the idea to bring these young Jews to Palestine, be trained as a professional and to provide them with adoptive parents in kibbutzim a new home. The first group of children left Germany in 1932, the year in which the Child and Youth Aliyah was founded. The official registration document was signed in Berlin on 30 January 1933 from a lawyer, was the day on which Hitler Chancellor. The merger of different organizations resulting arose on May 30, 1933, the Child and Youth Aliyah. Office of the Youth Aliyah was in Berlin -Charlottenburg 2, Kantstr. 158, there was, inter alia, the office of the Prussian State Association of Jewish Communities. Your was responsible for the selection and preparation of 13 - to 17 -year-olds to emigrate to Palestine.
Recha Free insisted on the emigration of young people to Palestine without them would have been trained professionally before their departure in Germany or elsewhere in Europe. She pleaded for it, she immediately integrate into kibbutzim and cooperative villages and not forward them to special facilities for refugee children.
The male members of the family went Stringer 1937-1939 from Berlin to London. However Recha Freier decided, along with her daughter to stay as long as there was still a chance to save Jews.
In the procurement of the necessary exit and entry papers for the young Recha Freier went before not always legal, so it was excluded from the 1938 board of the association, as it did not want to come to terms with their learned from a lawyer methods. During the Kristallnacht itself Recha Freier held on with her family in London. However, they immediately returned to Germany when she heard what had happened. She decided to continue their activities on their own. 1940 denounced colleagues because they Antinazipropoganda. Since she was warned in time, she managed to flee to Palestine by British entry clearance for Palestine Vienna, Zagreb, Turkey, Greece and Syria. Here she was able again to save 120 children from deportation to extermination camps.
In Israel she founded in 1941 the " Agricultural Training Centre for Israeli Children". This institution took children from poor families and brought them under in kibbutzim. In 1958 she founded the "Israel Composers Fund" and 1966 the " Testimony Scheme ", an association of writers and musicians.
Honors
Services
The Children and Youth Aliyah rescued 7,600 children from Nazi Germany. The organization is still active today and helps orphaned children who come into the country with the different waves of immigration. Since its inception, according to the organization, more than 350,000 children and young people were cared for from over 80 countries.
Works ( selection)
- On the stairs, Hamburg, 1976
- Shutters, Hamburg 1979
Musical settings
- Eva -Maria Houben: 5 haikus (2003) for speaking voice and piano. UA February 21, 2004 Dusseldorf ( Art Space; Sylvia Alexandra Schimag [ voice ], Eva -Maria Houben [ piano ] )