Else Beitz

Else Beitz (née Hochheim; 1920 – September 14, 2014), the wife of industrialist Berthold Beitz, helped conceal and feed Jewish people during World War II, which earned her several awards, including the Righteous Among the Nations. She was a German scholar who studied and published a book about industrial education.

Personal life and education Else Hochheim was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1920, They initially had a premature set of twins. Within a few weeks of her birth, Ingrid died of pneumonia. Barbara survived. Berthold, who transferred to Krosno as a manager at Beskydy oil, got a job as a secretary for Beitz, which allowed her to get a residency permit. Their daughter Barbara stayed in Greifswald with her grandmother Erna. The family — Beitz, Berthold, and Barbara — settled in the Boryslav of what was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Beitz, no longer employed, focused on taking care of her family. Beitz witnessed the horror of the war. Beitz and her husband also had daughters Suzanne and Bettina.

World War II Jewish people began coming to their house in Boryslav asking for help. Beitz was most concerned about the fate of Jewish children. One family brought their son to be held at Beitz's house during the day, until he stopped coming. Beitz assumed the worst.

The Nazi regime had a hard time securing oil during the war. Berthold, the commercial manager of the Karpathen-Oil AG in the Boryslav area of Poland, began saving Jews. He declared each person he saved as indispensable for oil production during the war. If he had not saved the Jewish people, they would have been put on trains at Boryslav, destined for extermination camps. The actions that Beitz and her husband took put their lives in danger. The Ph.D. dissertation was designated magna cum laude. died on September 14, 2014, in Essen at the age of 94. Else and Berthold were buried at the Bredeney Cemetery in Essen.

Honors

1994: Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia 1997: Josef Neuberger Medal by the Düsseldorf Jewish Community 2000: Leo Baeck Prize by German Council of Jews 2012: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany