Joachim von Zedtwitz

Joachim von Zedtwitz (6 June 1910 – 10 October 2001) was a physician who helped Jews escape Nazis during World War II, for which he received the title Righteous Among the Nations on 14 December 1994. To make arrangements to have refugees transported to Poland, he worked with Milena Jesenská, teachers from the British Institute in Prague and local guides at Moravská Ostrava. The refugees travelled to Katowice in Poland where another group of people helped them reach England or France. This route became obsolete when the Germans invaded Poland.

Jesenská was arrested in November 1939 and was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she died on 17 May 1944. Zedtwitz was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo in March 1940. He assumed the manner of a mentally ill patient and was put into a psychiatric hospital for 15 months. After his release, he continued to work within the resistance movement until the end of the war. After the war, he settled in Switzerland, where he attained citizenship in 1980. He practiced medicine and pursued creative interests.

Life Joachim von Zedtwitz was born in the Pötzleinsdorf area of Vienna, Austria on 11 June 1910. He descended from the Zedtwitz family of Germany, who were Bohemian nobility, including Count Philipp Ferdinand (1700–1750). His parents were Count Max von Zedwitz and Eleonora von Janson and he had a brother, Peter, who was born in 1913. Zedtwitz studied medicine in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Transport from Prague Zedtwitz worked with the teachers and Milena Jesenská to save Jews. Jesenská offered her apartment as a hiding place for those waiting to start their journey with Zedwitz. The initial part of the journey involved passing through numerous checkpoints staffed by German soldiers.

After Germany's occupation of Poland When Germany occupied Poland, Zedtwitz's route was no longer a viable option for leading Jews to their escape. Horrified by the Germans' behavior against the Jews, Zedtwitz surrendered his German citizenship. but she died in the camp of kidney disease on 17 May 1944.

After the war Zedtwitz lived in Switzerland from 1948, establishing his residence at some point for his family in Götighofen. Zedtwitz corresponded with Max Horkheimer, a member of the Frankfurt School of social research, in January 1971 about the practical need for the state of Israel, writing that "there needed to be a place to which one could go if one could not go anywhere else." He became a citizen of Switzerland in the 1980s and pursued interests in writing, painting and composing music. Zedtwitz died on 10 October 2001. He was buried in the Bernrain area of Kreuzlingen, Switzerland at the Jewish cemetery.

Recognition Zedtwitz was recognized for his anti-Nazi activities by Yad Vashem and was bestowed the title Righteous Among the Nations on 14 December 1994. Zedtwitz provided information that helped document the request for Righteous Among the Nations status for Jesenská, which was awarded posthumously in 1995.