Dora Davidsohn
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Dora Schaul (born Dora Davidsohn, 21 September 1913 – 8 August 1999) was a German woman noted particularly for her undercover work at official offices in
German-occupied France The Military Administration in France (; ) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western France. This so-called ' was established in June 19 ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. She passed on significant information to the
French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...
. Her experiences and those of numerous other German opponents of the National Socialist (Nazi) regime in Germany were described in her 1973 book ''Résistance – Erinnerungen deutscher Antifaschisten'' (''Résistance — Memories of German Antifascists''). She has been honored in France by the naming of a street in
Brens, Tarn Brens () is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France. Population See also *Communes of the Tarn department The following is a list of the 314 communes of the Tarn department of France. The communes cooperate in the followin ...
, and in Germany by a plaque near her long-time residence in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
.


Life


Early years

Dora Davidsohn was born in Berlin into a
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
family. When she was aged 4 the family relocated to
Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...
where they set up a small shop, specialising in
radios Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected to ...
and
phonograph A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...
s. She attended a commercially oriented secondary school (''"Handelsschule"'') and then took a job as a sales representative in Berlin.


Exile

In January 1933, a few months after her nineteenth birthday, national politics intervened in her life with the change of government.
Antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
became
mainstream Mainstream may refer to: Film * ''Mainstream'' (film), a 2020 American film Literature * ''Mainstream'' (fanzine), a science fiction fanzine * Mainstream Publishing, a Scottish publisher * ''Mainstream'', a 1943 book by Hamilton Basso * ...
, and in order to obtain work Dora Davidsohn emigrated to
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
in the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. By the end of 1934 she had met Alfred Benjamin, another German Jewish exile and a man who, as a member of the
German Communist Party The German Communist Party (, ) is a communist party in Germany. The DKP supports far-left positions and was an observer member of the European Left before leaving in February 2016. History The DKP considered itself a reconstitution of the C ...
since 1930, had additional reasons of his own to stay out of Germany where Communist party membership was by now illegal. Benjamin and Davidsohn would later marry. Early in 1934 the party instructed Alfred Benjamin to relocate to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
where the party leadership had established their headquarters in exile. Davidsohn accompanied him. They arrived in October 1934, setting up home in a small room, later described by Davidsohn as "très étroite et fort sale" (''"filthy and very narrow"'') in the 5th arrondissement in the city's
left bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ...
district. The hostel they inhabited had a single tap and a single wc. The couple had no work permits, but were able to survive with intermittent casual work. They also obtained 5 francs per day in basic support from the Soviet sponsored
International Red Aid International Red Aid (also commonly known by its Russian acronym MOPR) was an international social-service organization. MOPR was founded in 1922 by the Communist International to function as an "international political Red Cross", providing ma ...
organisation.


War and capture

Early in September 1939
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
declared
war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
on
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, two days after the German army had launched an
invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...
. Dora Davidsohn (still living with Alfred Benjamin, but not yet married to him) still had no work permit, but she responded to the outbreak of war by reporting to the local prefecture in order to regularise her residency status. After some rapid bureaucratic dithering, the authorities responded by arresting her as an
enemy alien In customary international law, an enemy alien is any alien native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secur ...
, and she was imprisoned at La petite Roquette. On 18 October 1939, joining a large number of others identified as
enemy alien In customary international law, an enemy alien is any alien native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secur ...
s, she was moved to Rieucros Women's Internment Camp at Mende in central southern France. In February 1942 all the detainees who had been held at Riecros were transferred to a recently converted camp at Brens, near to
Albi Albi (; ) is a commune in France, commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department, on the river Tarn (river), Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called ...
. During their internment, on 22 February 1941, Alfred Benjamin and Dora Davidsohn married.


Resistance

On 14 July 1942, while others celebrated
Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. It is referred to, both legally and commonly, as () in French, though ''la fête nationale'' is also u ...
, Dora Benjamin escaped from the internment camp at Brens. It was a narrow escape: barely a month later, all the German and Polish Jews still held at Brens were separated from the other detainees and deported to concentration camps outside France. Alfred Benjamin escaped in August 1942 from a labour camp at
Chanac Chanac () is a commune in the Lozère department in southern France. See also *Communes of the Lozère department The following is a list of the 152 communes of the Lozère department of France France, officially the French Republic ...
where he was being held, but in September was killed in an accident while attempting to flee from
Vichy France Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...
to
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
. Like her husband, Dora Benjamin headed east after escaping, ending up in
Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
, where she joined the Resistance. She was provided in July 1942 with a false identity card in the name "Renée Gilbert", a name which later became "unsafe" and was replaced with "Renée Fabre". At this time the southern part of
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
was still independent of German occupation, but in November 1942 the so-called Free zone was occupied by the German army and redesignated as the Southern zone. German supervision became much more intrusive and, especially for resistance activists, threatening. Despite having lived in France for nearly ten years, she still spoke with a German accent, and therefore passed herself off as originally from
Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
(which had been part of Germany till
1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (later Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off th ...
, and in most of which the preferred language for daily conversation is a dialect of German). Able to understand German without arousing suspicion, Dora Benjamin obtained work at a former medical school at 14 Avenue Berthelot, which had recently been requisitioned for use as a Sorting Office for the Military postal service. The postal service did not need the entire building, and a few weeks after Benjamin started work as a postal worker, the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
took over the rest of the building for use as an administrative centre. The regional Gestapo leader, aged only 29 on his appointment in November 1942, was
Klaus Barbie Nikolaus Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German officer of the ''Schutzstaffel'' and ''Sicherheitsdienst'' who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortu ...
who, four decades later, found himself at the centre of a high-profile war-crimes trial in France. In the 1940s Barbie had his office in the same building as the military postal service. During this time, in July 1943, Dora Benjamin was able to get hold of a complete list of the Gestapo members in the Lyon district. She did not dare copy the names, because it might have been impossible to do so without her two French colleagues finding out which would have put them in danger, so she memorised the information before passing it on to a Resistance colleague. The list found its way, virtually complete, to London, and a few days later listeners to
BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...
French language transmissions from London were treated to a listing of the names, addresses and ranks of the Gestapo members in Lyon including, of course, those of the local Gestapo chief,
Klaus Barbie Nikolaus Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German officer of the ''Schutzstaffel'' and ''Sicherheitsdienst'' who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortu ...
. The incident triggered great unrest among Gestapo members across France. Her work also enabled her to obtain and pass on more routine information on matters such as troop movements which were fed, via the Resistance network, back to Germany's enemies, while sources also indicate that her contacts with German soldiers gave her opportunities to distribute anti-Nazi fly-sheets and leaflets.


The family she left behind

When Dora Davidsohn left Germany in 1933, her Jewish parents stayed behind, together with her sister Lotte, six years older than Dora. In 1942 they were arrested and deported to the
Majdanek concentration camp Majdanek (or Lublin) was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp built and operated by the SS on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. It had three gas chambers, two wooden gallows, ...
in
occupied Poland ' (Norwegian language, Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV 2 (Norway), TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. ...
. Here they were murdered.


After the war

Dora Benjamin remained in France for the rest of the
war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
. War ended in May 1945, leaving what remained of Germany divided into allied zones of occupation.
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
was now surrounded by a large
Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...
, and it was to this area, under Soviet administration, that she returned in 1946. 1946 was the year in which she married
Hans Schaul Hans Schaul (13 December 1905 – 19 May 1988) was a German politician and a long-standing legally trained editor of the theoretical magazine of the Socialist Unity Party, '' Einheit.'' As a younger man he volunteered and participated on the Repu ...
(1905-1988), a Communist lawyer-journalist who had spent most of the war years in a succession of internment camps under (collaborationist) French control; but after his French-Algerian captors handed him over to the British in 1943 he had been able to travel to Moscow in November 1944, working as an instructor of German prisoners of war in various anti-fascist schools. For the next few years Dora Schaul worked as a research assistant at the Marxist Leninist Institute which had been established by the recently formed ruling SED (party) of the
German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
, the Soviet sponsored stand-alone German state itself founded in October 1949 out of what had till then been the
Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...
. She was also able to re-establish contact with some of the fellow survivors from the internment camps at Rieucros and Brens. In 1973 Dora Schaul published ''Résistance – Erinnerungen deutscher Antifaschisten'' (''Memories of German Antifascists''), which dealt with Germans who had fled to France in order to avoid Nazi persecution at home. She was at this stage still also working intensively on researching opposition to the Nazi regime, and on preserving contacts with schools in
Treptow Treptow () was a former borough in the southeast of Berlin. It merged with Köpenick to form Treptow-Köpenick in 2001. Geography The district was composed by the localities of Alt-Treptow, Plänterwald, Baumschulenweg, Niederschönewei ...
, the part of Berlin where she lived during the final part of her life, in order to ensure that the lessons from the Nazi years should never be forgotten.


Honours

On 12 March 2006, a street in Brens was renamed. The ''Route Dora Schaul'' (''"Dora Schaul Road"'') leads past the site of the former women's internment camp in which Dora Schaul spent several months until her escape. Her son, Peter Schaul, was present at the renaming ceremony: he spoke of his pride and satisfaction that at a time when the past is in danger of disappearing into oblivion, there were still moves to turn back the wheel of history, "because there is a local community in France, a country that suffered under German occupation, naming a street after a German anti-Fascist. I find that remarkable, courageous and gratifying, and it makes me all the more determined to do what is in my power to see to it that the demon of Fascism is given no chance o return" On 8 August 2009, which was the tenth anniversary of her death, a commemorative tablet was placed on the outside of the house at Dammweg 73 in Berlin-Treptow. The house was home to Dora Schaul during her final years. The inscription reads as follows: * ''The Anti-Fascist DORA SCHAUL (1913-1999) lived here. During the Second World War, she fought in the French Resistance under the name "Renée Fabre" against Nazi occupation. In Brens, near
Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
, a street was named after her in 2006.'' The placing of the memorial tablet resulted from a local initiative by the BdA (''Treptow anti-fascist league'') and the local Civic Committee for Vision and Responsibility. Its unveiling was accompanied by speeches from the leader of the district council, and other local civic leaders.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaul, Dora French Resistance members Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to France 1913 births 1999 deaths Jews in the French resistance People from Essen German Holocaust survivors