Adolf Althoff (, 25 June 1913 in

Sonsbeck Sonsbeck is a municipality in the district of Wesel, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 20 km west of Wesel, and 25 km south-east of Cleves as well as 8 km from the historic city of Xanten. It is one ...

– 14 October 1998 in

Stolberg (Rhineland) Stolberg (, Ripuarian: ) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It has a long history as an industrial town and belongs to the district Aachen and the lower district court of Eschweiler. Geography Stolberg is located approximately 5&nbs ...

was a German

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

owner, animal tamer and performer who saved several people from the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

by having them work and travel in his circus. A member of a 300-year-old circus family, Althoff and his story are featured in a book about Germans who saved Jews from the Holocaust (''Other Germans Under Hitler'' by

Herbert Straeten Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbe ...

). The events of his rescue during World War II are also dramatized in a 1998 Showtime TV-movie entitled ''Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Families''. Althoff warned the people he rescued with the code ''Go Fishing.'' In 1995 he and his wife Maria were named

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...

, an Israeli honor. He was born into the family in

, Germany. At age 17 he became publicity director for his families of the circus. In his twenties Althoff and his sister formed their own circus, of which he was the ringmaster for 30 years. In 1940, Althoff began five years work in concealing four members of the Danner performing family in his circus. Althoff provided the Danners with false identity papers and had the family working under pseudonyms.

References

External links

Adolf Althoff
at

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

website 1913 births 1998 deaths Ringmasters German Righteous Among the Nations Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia {{Germany-entertainer-stub