Frieda Impekoven (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Kobler; ; 1880 – after 1966) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

woman who protected Jews during the Holocaust.

Life

Frieda Kobler was born in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

in 1880. Her father was an industrialist. She later married the German playwright

Toni Impekoven Toni Impekoven (21 June 1881 – 6 May 1947) was a German actor and writer. Impekoven was a popular playwright, who co-authored the hit comedy '' The Scoundrel'' with Hans Reimann. The play was turned into films on two occasions.Goble p. 748 H ...

, their daughter Niddy Impekoven was born in 1904 and would go on to be a successful dancer. All three were opposed to the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

government and its racial policies. 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 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 ...

officer recognised that her daughter was a famous dancer. Wölffler however was later deported to

Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...

. Another time she offered her apartment to another Jewish woman, Margarete Knewitz. While Impekoven went to visit her husband in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, Knewitz was allowed to stay in her apartment. In this manner, Knewitz escaped deportation and wound up finding lasting accommodation in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. After her husband's death in 1947, Impekoven moved back to Switzerland. In 1966 she was recognised as

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

Notes and references

1880 births 20th-century deaths Year of death unknown German Righteous Among the Nations Swiss Righteous Among the Nations {{Switzerland-bio-stub