Gretel Beer (born Margaret Weidenfeld; 11 July 1921 – 11 August 2010) was an Austrian-born
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
author of
cooking books and
travel reports. She also served as a cookery writer for ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' and ''Daily Express'' newspapers.
Biography
Beer was born in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
into a Jewish family. She was mostly raised by her aunt Olga Springer (Bechin,
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
1879–1942
Maly Trostenets extermination camp
Maly Trostenets (Maly Trascianiec, , "Little Trostenets") is a village near Minsk in Belarus, formerly the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. During Nazi Germany's occupation of the area during World War II (when the Germans referred to it as ...
) the widow of a physician (in 1937: 9th district, Porzellangasse 45), as her mother Regina Weidenfeld née Pisk died when Margaret was six years old and her father, Dionys (Duny) Weidenfeld, did not keep up a household. (At Porzellangasse, until 1938
Eric Pleskow
Eric Pleskow (born Erich Pleskoff; April 24, 1924 – October 1, 2019) was an Austrian-born American film producer and executive. From 1973 through 1978, Pleskow was president of United Artists. Following a protest from Transamerica Corporation, ...
and
Ari Rath
Ari Rath (; 6 January 1925 – 13 January 2017) was an Austrian-Israeli journalist and writer.
Life
Rath was born in Vienna and grew up there. After the ''Anschluss'' he came through a ''Kindertransport'' as a thirteen-year-old boy to M ...
spent their childhood, as they told the Austrian broadcaster
ORF
ORF or Orf may refer to:
* Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF
* Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute
* One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel
* Open reading frame, a portion of the ...
in 2012.) After attending primary school at
Marchegg
Marchegg ( cs, Marchek, hr, Muriek, Marhek, sk, Marchek) is a town in the district of Gänserndorf in the Austrian state of Lower Austria near the Slovak border formed by the Morava River
Morava may refer to:
Rivers
* Great Morava (''Velika ...
, a small town east of Vienna near the border with
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
, she attended a federal ''Realschule'' at Vereinsgasse in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
's 2nd district, where many Jewish Viennese lived.
In the spring of 1938, after
the annexation of Austria by
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, she and 48 other pupils were forced to leave this school and attend a Jewish class elsewhere in Vienna. At the entrance hall of her school, which is now called
''Bundesrealgymnasium Vereinsgasse'', since 1989 the names of the expelled pupils are displayed on a memorial inscription.
Her father managed to emigrate to England and arranged for her to leave the ''Third Reich'' with a
Kindertransport
The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children (but not their parents) from Nazi-controlled territory that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World ...
arranged by British
NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
s. In March 1939 she arrived in
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...
and worked in several professions in England. In 1943 she married Dr Johann (Hans) Beer, son of the lawyer Oskar Beer. Hans had studied law at the Vienna University until 1938 and finished his studies in England. He was later able to work as British lawyer. The couple later lived in an apartment at
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and in a manor house in
Deal, Kent
Deal is a coastal town in Kent, England, which lies where the North Sea and the English Channel meet, north-east of Dover and south of Ramsgate. It is a former fishing, mining and garrison town whose history is closely linked to the anchora ...
.
She worked in advertising and public relations, and after the war she was successful with her cookery books and her journalistic work, e.g. for the ''
Daily Telegraph
Daily or The Daily may refer to:
Journalism
* Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks
* ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times''
* ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
'' and ''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
''. She travelled to Austria at least once a year and kept the typical Viennese German useful to describe the secrets of Viennese cuisine. Her husband died in 1981 in their manor house, during a fire which he could not escape in his wheelchair. She died in Deal in 2010.
Works
*''Ice Cream Dishes'', 1952
*''Sandwiches for Parties and Picnics'', 1953
*''Classic Austrian Cooking'', 1954
*''The Diabetic Gourmet'', 1974 (German edition: ''Feinscheckerküche für den Diabetiker'')
*''Austrian Cooking and Baking'', 1975
*''Exploring Rural Austria'', 1990
*''Eating Out in Austria'', 1992
*''A Little Hungarian Cookbook'', 1993
*''The QE2 Cookbook'', 1999
*''Austria''
*''Austrian Cooking''
*''The Sunday Express Cookbook''
*''Wieden'' (Polish for Vienna), by Fred Mawer, Gretel Beer, Deirdre Coffey, Rosemary Bircz, Caroline Bugler; Hachette Polska, Warsaw, 2009
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beer, Gretel
1921 births
2010 deaths
Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United Kingdom after the Anschluss
English Jewish writers
20th-century English writers
The Daily Telegraph people
Women cookbook writers
British women editors
20th-century English women writers
Kindertransport refugees
Jewish women writers
20th-century English businesspeople