Luise Hartnack (1872–1942) was a German

graphologist Graphology is the analysis of handwriting in an attempt to determine the writer's personality traits. Its methods and conclusions are not supported by scientific evidence, and as such it is considered to be a pseudoscience. Graphology has been ...

who was murdered at

Ravensbrück concentration camp Ravensbrück () was a Nazi concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure of 1 ...

. She was arrested in 1942 for hiding a Jewish friend from the German secret police,

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 ...

Biography

She was born Luise Bürkle on 1 January 1872 in

Marbach am Neckar Marbach am Neckar (, ) is a town about 20 kilometres north of Stuttgart. It belongs to the district of Ludwigsburg, the Stuttgart region and the European metropolitan region of Stuttgart. Marbach is known as the birthplace of Friedrich Schiller ...

and married to the carpenter Ferdinand Hartnack. On 2 August 1942, at the age of 70, she was arrested by the Gestapo at her home in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

for providing food and a hiding place for a good Jewish friend. On 1 October 1942, she was interned in the Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she was said to have died "of heart failure" on 14 December 1942. She is memorialized with a street stone located 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 ...

on Lenaustrasse near the church Kreuzbergprojekt and near Refugio, the public building.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartnack, Luise 1872 births 1944 deaths German women activists German activists German resistance to Nazism People who died in Ravensbrück concentration camp