Frieda Impekoven

Frieda Impekoven (née Kobler; German: [ˈfʁiː.da ˈɪm.pə.koːfn̩] (listen); 1880 – after 1966) was a Swiss or German[upper-alpha 1] woman who protected Jews during the Holocaust.[3]

Life

Frieda Kobler was born in Zürich in 1880. Her father was an industrialist. She later married the German playwright Toni Impekoven, their daughter Niddy Impekoven was born in 1904 and would go on to be a successful dancer. All three were opposed to the Nazi government and its racial policies.[4]

Impekoven was contacted in 1943 by Ms Wölffler, who had been evicted from her home and lived in a house designated only for Jews. She brought food to the elderly Jewish woman. Impekoven was questioned about her relations with Wölffler, but was left alone after a Gestapo officer recognised that her daughter was a famous dancer. Wölffler however was later deported to Theresienstadt.[3]

Another time she offered her apartment to another Jewish woman, Margarete Knewitz. While Impekoven went to visit her husband in Strasbourg, Knewitz was allowed to stay in her apartment. In this manner, Knewitz escaped deportation and wound up finding lasting accommodation in Stuttgart.[4]

After her husband's death in 1947, Impekoven moved back to Switzerland.[3] In 1966 she was recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.[1]

Notes and references
  1. Born in Switzerland. Yad Vashem lists her nationality as German,[1] some other sources as Swiss.[2]
  1. "Impekoven Frieda (Kobler)". The Righteous Among the Nations Database. Yad Vashem. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  2. "The "Righteous among the Nations" of Swiss nationality". uwe.ac.uk. University of the West of England, Bristol. Archived from the original on 22 July 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  3. Wagner, Meir; Meisels, Moshe (2000). "The Freedom-Giving Lady of Frankfurt". The Righteous of Switzerland: Heroes of the Holocaust. KTAV Publishing House. pp. 17–19. ISBN 9780881256987. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  4. Gutman, Israel; Fraenkel, Daniel; Borut, Jacob (2005). "Impekoven, Frieda". Lexikon der Gerechten unter den Völkern: Deutsche und Österreicher (in German). Wallstein Verlag. p. 159. ISBN 978-3-89244-900-3. Retrieved 29 October 2019.


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