Dora Gerson

Dora Gerson (March 23, 1899 - February 14, 1943) was a Jewish German cabaret singer and motion picture actress of the silent film era who was notoriously murdered with her family at Auschwitz.

Related Topics:
March 23 - 1899 - February 14 - 1943 - Jewish - German - Cabaret - Singer - Actress - Silent film - Auschwitz

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Born Dorthea Gerson in Berlin, Germany, Gerson began her career as touring singer and actress in the Holtor Tournee Truppe in Germany where she met and married her first husband, film director Veit Harlan. The couple married in 1922 and divorced in 1924. Harlan would eventually direct the highly anti-semitic Nazi propaganda film Jud Süß by request of Nazi Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels.

Related Topics:
Berlin, Germany - Veit Harlan - 1922 - 1924 - Propaganda film - Propaganda Minister - Josef Goebbels

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1920, Dora Gerson was cast by director Karl May to appear in his film successful film Auf den Trümmern des Paradieses (In the Rubble of Paradise) and later followed that same year in another May film entitled Die Todeskarawane (The Death Caravan). Both films have been lost however for many years. Gerson continued to perform as a popular cabaret singer throughout the 1920s as well as acting in films.

Related Topics:
1920 - Karl May - 1920s

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By 1933 however, when the Nazis came to power in Germany, the German-Jewish population were systematically stripped of rights and Gerson's career slowed dramatically. Blacklisted from performing in "Aryan" films, Gerson began recording music for a small Jewish record company. Dora Gerson also began recording in the Yiddish language during this time, and the 1936 song Der Rebe Hot Geheysn Freylekh Zayn became highly regarded by the Jews of Europe in the 1930s. Her best remembered recording from this era was the song Vorbei (Beyond Recall). The song was an emotional ballad, subtlely memorializing a Germany before the rise of the Nazi Party:

Related Topics:
1933 - Nazis - Yiddish language - 1930s

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Vorbei, vorbei, vorbei

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They're gone beyond recall

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A final glance, a last kiss

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And then it's all over

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They're gone beyond recall

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A final word, a last farewell

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1936 Dora Gerson relocated with relatives to the

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Netherlands, fleeing Nazi persecution. On May 10, 1940 however, Germany invaded the Netherlands and the Netherlands capitulated in just ten days. Soon, The Jews of the Netherlands were subject to the same anit-semitic laws and restrictiions as in Germany. In 1942 Gerson and her family were seized trying to flee to Switzerland, a neutral nation in World War 11 Europe. The family were sent by railroad car to transit camp Westerbork bound for the Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz in Nazi-occupied Poland. Dora Gerson died at Auschwitz on February 14, 1943 at the age of 43.

Related Topics:
Netherlands - May 10 - 1940 - 1942 - Switzerland - World War 11 - Westerbork - Nazi-occupied Poland

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~