Marie Jalowicz-Simon

Marie Jalowicz (b. 4 April 1922, d. 16 September 1998) was a German philologist and historian of philosophy. She became known to larger audiences for her autobiographical account of the persecution of jews in Nazi Germany, which was published posthumously.

Early life

Jalowicz was born Jewish in Berlin, Germany. When she was 11 the Nazi Party came to power and began to imprison her family members. By age 20, she was forced to fend for herself. She survived by assimilating into German life, pretending to be a non-Jew. She died in Berlin. Her mother died of cancer in 1938. Her father died in 1941. She is survived by her only son, Hermann Simon.[1]

Holocaust and survival

Just before her death in 1998 she recorded 77 cassette tapes of audio with her son, Hermann, for the first time chronicling her experience during the Nazi reign. They were later compiled into a book: Underground in Berlin: A Young Woman's Extraordinary Tale of Survival in the Heart of Nazi Germany. Jalowicz impersonated a neighbor when a postman wrongly delivered a letter containing a job offer intended for the neighbor. The neighbor, a woman named Marie Jalowicz, had fled so she took the job and began working at the Siemens arms factory in her neighbor's place.

She began to live a double life. She relocated and was sold to an abusive Nazi with late-stage syphilis for 15 marks, which added to her cover as a non-Jew. During this time, she and many of the Jewish factory workers began to secretly sabotage the arms and munitions produced in her factory, which helped weaken the Nazi's war efforts.[2]

Marie evaded Nazi capture through a long string of forgeries, impersonations, luck and help from people from every walk of life. She used her wit and charm to seduce people in positions that could help her and moved around constantly. She took the words of a friend of hers to heart, “In absurd times, everything is absurd. You can save yourselves only by absurd means since the Nazis are out to murder us all.”[3] On more than one occasion she tried to flee Germany, narrowly evading apprehension and escaping back to her homeland each time.

She returned to her original identity only on her deathbed, and pursued a career in academia, receiving a Ph.D. in ancient literature and art history at Berlin's Humboldt University.[1]

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References
  1. "A Holocaust Survival Tale of Sex and Deceit". Smithsonian. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
  2. Oltermann, Philip. "Submerged: the Jewish woman who hid from Nazis in Berlin". Guardian. Retrieved 15 Mar 2014.
  3. "She used absurd means to save herself in the absurd times of Nazi Germany". Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
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