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Gerhart Moritz Riegner (September 12, 1911 in
On August 8, 1942, he sent the famous Riegner Telegram through diplomatic channels to Stephen Samuel Wise, president of the World Jewish Congress. (However, Wise did not receive it until the end of the month. The source of the information was Eduard Schulte, the anti-Nazi chief executive officer of the prominent German company Giesche (part of Silesian-American Corporation) that employed high-level Nazi officials.
His telegram was the first official communication about the planned
Article on Eduard Schulte in the Holocaust Encyclopedia with an image of the cable originating from Gerhart RiegnerA Final Hitler Decision for the "Final Solution"? The Riegner Telegram Reconsidered by Christopher R. Browning
1911 births 2001 deaths Activists from Berlin Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies alumni 20th-century German Jews The Holocaust and the United States {{Germany-activist-stub
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 ...
– December 3, 2001 in Geneva
Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
) was a German philosopher
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
, and the secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress from 1965 to 1983. He studied law in Heidelberg, Paris and at the Geneva Graduate Institute.
Life
On August 8, 1942, he sent the famous Riegner Telegram through diplomatic channels to Stephen Samuel Wise, president of the World Jewish Congress. (However, Wise did not receive it until the end of the month. The source of the information was Eduard Schulte, the anti-Nazi chief executive officer of the prominent German company Giesche (part of Silesian-American Corporation) that employed high-level Nazi officials.
His telegram was the first official communication about the planned Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
. It read in part:"Have received through foreign office following message from Riegner Geneva STOP Received alarming report that in Führers headquarters plan discussed and under consideration all Jews in countries occupied or controlled Germany number 3½ to 4 million should after deportation and concentration in East at one blow exterminated to resolve once and for all Jewish question in Europe. Never did I feel so strongly the sense of abandonment, powerlessness and loneliness as when I sent messages of disaster and horror to the free world and no one believed me."
Awards and honors
In 1994 he received the Four Freedoms Award for the Freedom of Worship In 2001 Riegner received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Lucerne.References
External links
Article on Eduard Schulte in the Holocaust Encyclopedia with an image of the cable originating from Gerhart Riegner
1911 births 2001 deaths Activists from Berlin Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies alumni 20th-century German Jews The Holocaust and the United States {{Germany-activist-stub