Frieda Impekoven (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Kobler; ; 1880 – after 1966) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

woman who protected Jews during the Holocaust.

Life

Frieda Kobler was born in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

in 1880. Her father was an industrialist. She later married the German playwright

Toni Impekoven Toni Impekoven (21 June 1881 – 6 May 1947) was a German actor and writer. Impekoven was a popular playwright, who co-authored the hit comedy '' The Scoundrel'' with Hans Reimann. The play was turned into films on two occasions.Goble p. 748 He ...

, their daughter

Niddy Impekoven Luise "Niddy" Impekoven (2 November 1904 – 20 November 2002) was a German dancer of the Golden Twenties. Career Impekoven took up dancing at a young age and first performed publicly in 1910. She was considered a child prodigy and received in ...

was born in 1904 and would go on to be a successful dancer. All three were opposed to the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

government and its racial policies. Impekoven was contacted in 1943 by Ms Wölffler, who had been evicted from her home and lived in a house designated only for Jews. She brought food to the elderly Jewish woman. Impekoven was questioned about her relations with Wölffler, but was left alone after a

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 ...

officer recognised that her daughter was a famous dancer. Wölffler however was later deported to

Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the Schutzstaffel, SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (German occupation of Czechoslovakia, German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstad ...

. Another time she offered her apartment to another Jewish woman, Margarete Knewitz. While Impekoven went to visit her husband in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, Knewitz was allowed to stay in her apartment. In this manner, Knewitz escaped deportation and wound up finding lasting accommodation in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

. After her husband's death in 1947, Impekoven moved back to Switzerland. In 1966 she was recognised as

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 ...

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 ...

Notes and references

1880 births 20th-century deaths Year of death unknown German Righteous Among the Nations Swiss Righteous Among the Nations {{Switzerland-bio-stub