Elisabeth Schmitz

Elisabeth Schmitz (23 August 1893 – 10 September 1977) was a German Lutheran theologian, teacher, and author of "On the Situation of German Non-Aryans", a memorandum that attempted to persuade those in the Confessing Church to stand against the persecution of Jews in 1930s Germany. She also sheltered Jews and was granted the title of "Righteous Among the Nations" in 2011 by the Commission of Yad Vashem.

Early life and education Elisabeth Schmitz was born in Hanau, Germany, on 23 August 1893, She attended in nearby Frankfurt.

Schmitz graduated in 1914 and her strong academic performance allowed her to pursue further education, first at University of Bonn and then, in 1915, at the (now-named) Humboldt University of Berlin. She studied history, German, and theology and completed a dissertation on Edwin von Manteuffel, a Prussian field marshal, in 1920. Her most significant teachers included historian Friedrich Meinecke and the liberal theologian Adolf von Harnack, and she maintained close ties with both men and their families.

Career Schmitz began teaching at secondary schools for girls in 1923 in Berlin on short-term contracts for six years. In 1929, she was hired on a permanent contract at the Luisen school. Hitler's rise to power and the resulting introduction of Nazi ideology into the school curriculum concerned her. Her unwillingness to embrace this ideology did not escape the notice of her superiors and she was transferred to Berlin-Lankwitz as a disciplinary measure in 1935. The events of Kristallnacht had troubled her greatly and she later wrote of her decision to resign, "I decided to give up school service and no longer be a civil servant of a government that permitted the synagogues to be set afire."

Religious convictions and activism In 1933, Schmitz worked to persuade Friedrich von Bodelschwingh to speak out about the persecution of the Jews, which he declined to do. In it, she identified something that she believed should be a vital concern to the Protestant Church. "The Germans have a new god, which is race." Meyer was one of three former students whom Schmitz regarded as daughters and had received Schmitz's briefcase with the document and affidavit after Schmitz died.

While the similarity of the arguments made by Meusel and Schmitz may have led to the two memoranda being archived together, Schmitz's argument went much further. Schmitz saw the Church's responsibility to witness to injustice to be much wider than just injustice done to its own converts. As Margot Käßmann summarized in her memorial speech, "For her, it wasn’t just a question of the Church’s freedom to witness, as Karl Barth assumed, or about the fate of the baptized Jews, which so concerned Marga Meusel. She was much more concerned about the fate of the Church as Church if it was not prepared to stand up for the rights of those being maltreated."

Honours

The Evangelical Church of Hesse Electorate-Waldeck and the city of Hanau erected a memorial stone at Schmitz's grave in 2005 (see photograph, right)

For the 30th anniversary of Schmitz's death, Manfred Gailus organized a 2007 conference in Berlin on Schmitz's life and work. Papers from this conference were published as Elisabeth Schmitz und ihre Denkschrift gegen die Judenverfolgung. Konturen einer vergessenen Biografie (1893–1977).

Works Edwin von Manteuffel als Quelle zur Geschichte Friedrich Wilhelms IV,