Inge Deutschkron never tired of telling young people her dramatic story of survival in Berlin. Now the important contemporary witness has died.
Berlin – Holocaust survivor Inge Deutschkron died at the age of 99. The Schwarzkopf Foundation Young Europe confirmed this on Wednesday, citing their personal environment.
Deutschkron became known with her autobiography “I wore the yellow star” about her dramatic story of survival as a Jewess in Berlin.
“With Inge Deutschkron we have lost an important Jewish contemporary witness to the National Socialist terror in our city,” said the President of the House of Representatives, Dennis Buchner. “The honorary citizen of Berlin always found the strength to tell her story and to wake us up with it.”
Escape the Shoah
Deutschkron was born on August 23, 1922 in Finsterwalde, Brandenburg. During the Nazi regime, as a Jew in Berlin, she experienced hatred, discrimination and persecution. However, she managed to escape the Shoah. Deutschkron later worked in Germany and Israel. In 2013 she gave a moving speech in the Bundestag to commemorate the victims of National Socialism.
Regardless of her age, Deutschkron visited countless schools as a contemporary witness and facilitated encounters between Holocaust survivors and Berlin schoolchildren. She also founded the association “Blindes Trust” and called for courage as part of her foundation. “Inge Deutschkron was a staunch defender of democratic values,” said Buchner Deutschkron, President of the House of Representatives, on Wednesday. “Anyone who had the privilege of meeting Inge Deutschkron in person will never forget it. We mourn the loss of a strong Berliner.” dpa
