The Hampels. Love in the shadow of Nazism

Abstract: Dorothea Schalit, a Jewish girl, and Heinz Hampel, a Protestant, met in Sopot (Zoppot), then a town incorporated into the Free City of Gdańsk (Danzig), in the 1920s. They got married and were active in the leftist and democratic circles. After 1933, when the municipal authorities became dominated by the Nazis, the Hampels did not leave the Free City. Despite the increasing pressures and insults from the NSDAP members, Heinz Hampel refused to divorce Dorothea. Owing to their courage and the aid from few friends, the couple managed to survive in Sopot and in March 1945 saw the Red Army enter the town. They lived there until 1950 when they decided to emigrate to Israel. Till their death they stayed in Jerusalem. The presented text consists of a historical introduction written by Grzegorz Berendt and the report of the Hampels on their life in Sopot prior to the entry of the Russian army into the city. The said report was incorporated into the collections of Yad Vashem Institute, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority.
 

The Hampels. Love in the shadow of Nazism

Abstract: Dorothea Schalit, a Jewish girl, and Heinz Hampel, a Protestant, met in Sopot (Zoppot), then a town incorporated into the Free City of Gdańsk (Danzig), in the 1920s. They got married and were active in the leftist and democratic circles. After 1933, when the municipal authorities became dominated by the Nazis, the Hampels did not leave the Free City. Despite the increasing pressures and insults from the NSDAP members, Heinz Hampel refused to divorce Dorothea. Owing to their courage and the aid from few friends, the couple managed to survive in Sopot and in March 1945 saw the Red Army enter the town. They lived there until 1950 when they decided to emigrate to Israel. Till their death they stayed in Jerusalem. The presented text consists of a historical introduction written by Grzegorz Berendt and the report of the Hampels on their life in Sopot prior to the entry of the Russian army into the city. The said report was incorporated into the collections of Yad Vashem Institute, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority.