Elsa Conrad

Elsa Conrad, nicknamed "Igel" (9 May 1887 – 19 February 1963) was a German businesswoman and night club entrepreneur. In the 1930s she was arrested and interned at Moringen concentration camp by the Nazi Party and was forced to emigrate, due to her sexuality, political views and Nazi racial laws.

Biography Born Elsa Rosenberg on 9 May 1887 in Berlin, she was the daughter of a Jewish mother, Bertha Rosenberg (1861–1940), and an otherwise unknown non-Jewish father. She completed a commercial apprenticeship. In 1910 she married Wilhelm Conrad. This marriage ended in divorce in 1931; it may have been a sham marriage and that Wilhelm was homosexual.

After the end of the First World War, Elsa Conrad, nicknamed "Igel" ("hedgehog"), on account of her spiky haircut, managed several businesses that became meeting places for lesbian women. Whilst Conrad was imprisoned, Rothaug ended their relationship. However, the authorities delayed the provision of a passport, so that the passage on the ship to East Africa that had already been booked for Conrad by her former lover, Berta Stenzel (1892–1979) expired. The book was adapted into a film Nowhere in Africa and Mechthild Grossmann (de) played a character named “Elsa Konrad”.

Historiography Historian Laurie Marhoefer used the example of Conrad's life to illustrate how lesbian lives are an under-researched theme of Holocaust Studies.