Elisabeth Freund (1898–1982) was a German-Jewish educator and writer. Born in Germany, she emigrated to Cuba in the 1930s and to the US in 1941. Freund developed learning curricula for the blind, and founded a Touch and Learn Center at the Overbrook School for the Blind in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in the mid-20th century. Freund was born in Breslau,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

(now part of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

) in 1898 to a neurologist, Carl Freund. Elisabeth Freund studied at universities in Breslau,

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the '' Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzbur ...

, and

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. In the 1930s, Elisabeth Freund lived with her husband and children in

. In 1933, her husband was dismissed from his work at a corporation because he was a Jew. In 1938, Freund and her husband sent their two daughters through

Kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children (but not their parents) from Nazi-controlled territory that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second Worl ...

to the United States. Freund and her husband emigrated to Cuba in 1941 before finally emigrating to the U.S. in 1944. Freund began working for the Overbrook School for the Blind in

, which had been founded more than a century earlier by Julius Friedlaender, the brother of her great-uncle. In 1959, she published a biography of Friedlaender, ''Crusader for light: Julius R. Friedlander, founder of the Overbrook School for the Blind, 1832,''. Freund developed a Touch and Learn Center at the Overbrook School for the Blind that was a model for other blind centers internationally.Hirsch, Luise. 2013. From the shtetl to the lecture hall: Jewish women and cultural exchange. She died in 1982.

Publications

* Freund, Elisabeth D. 1978. Longhand writing for the blind. Louisville, Ky: Printed at the American Printing House for the Blind. * Freund, Elisabeth D. 1959. Crusader for light: Julius R. Friedlander, founder of the Overbrook School for the Blind, 1832. Philadelphia: Dorrance & Co.

References

External links

Guide to the Kindertransport Memorial Collection 1987-2005. Leo Baeck Institute.

Guide to the Elisabeth Freund Collection. Leo Baeck Institute
Accessed 7 May 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Freund, Elisabeth 1898 births 1982 deaths Jewish women writers 20th-century German writers 20th-century American writers 20th-century German women writers 20th-century American women writers German emigrants to the United States