Elli Smula (1914–1943) was a Berlin tram conductor who was arrested in September 1940. She was accused of seriously compromising the Berlin Transport Authority (BVG) by failing to report for work after going out drinking with female fellow workers. Like her colleague Margarete Rosenberg, she was detained by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

in the prison on

Alexanderplatz () ( en, Alexander Square) is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin. The square is named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I, which also denotes the larger neighbourhood stretching from in the nort ...

. BVG had received complaints that some of their female employees were taking their colleagues home, encouraging them to consume alcoholic drinks and involving them in lesbian sexual relationships. The following November both women were transferred to the

Ravensbrück Concentration Camp Ravensbrück () was a German concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure o ...

where Smula "suddenly died" on 8 July 1943.

Biography

Born in the

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...

district of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

on 10 October 1914, Elli Smula was the daughter of Martha Smula who worked as a housemaid in Hohenlychen,

Uckermark The Uckermark () is a historical region in northeastern Germany, straddles the Uckermark (district), Uckermark District of Brandenburg and the Vorpommern-Greifswald District of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Its traditional capital is Prenzlau. Geogra ...

. She and her brother Willi were born out of marriage with the result that when her father was killed in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, her mother received no pension. The family later moved to Berlin. In July 1940, as a result of the absence of male workers during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Smula was engaged to work for the Berlin Transport Authority (BVG) as a tram conductor in the

Treptow Treptow () was a former Boroughs of Berlin, borough in the southeast of Berlin. It merged with Köpenick to form Treptow-Köpenick in 2001. Geography The district was composed by the localities of Alt-Treptow, Plänterwald, Baumschulenweg, Nie ...

district. The following September both she and Rosenberg were arrested by the Gestapo and taken to the Alexanderplatz prison. They were subsequently each interrogated on at least four occasions by the Gestapo unit responsible for homosexuality. The reason for their detainment was that the BVG had received complaints that women conductors from Treptow had been involved in lesbian intercourse after taking their colleagues back to their apartments and encouraging them to drink. As a result, there were disruptions in the tram service as the women were unable to report for work the following day. After her last interrogation on 10 October 1940, Smula remained in the Alexanderplatz prison until 30 November when, together with Rosenberg, she was transferred to the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp. Both were registered as lesbians although Smula's crime, like Rosenberg's, is thought officially to have been subversive conduct. Some time during July 1943, her mother was informed by Ravensbrück of Elli Smula's very sudden death on 8 July 1943. No further explanations were given.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smula, Elli 1914 births 1943 deaths People who died in Ravensbrück concentration camp People from Berlin 20th-century German LGBT people

Biography

See also

References