Barbara Goette
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Barbara Goette (26 July 1908 – 23 October 1997) was a German academic. She lived in
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 ...
and then Australia. From 1935 to 1943, she was the private secretary of
Ludwig Roselius Ludwig Roselius (2 June 1874 – 15 May 1943) was a German coffee merchant and founder of the company Kaffee HAG. He was born in Bremen and is credited with the development of commercial decaffeination of coffee. As a patron, he supported arti ...
, creator of Böttcherstraße and
Café HAG Café HAG is a worldwide brand of decaffeinated coffee currently owned by JDE Peet's. History Café HAG was founded in Bremen in 1906 as ''Kaffee-Handels-Aktiengesellschaft'' (Coffee Trading Limited). The company's founder was Ludwig Roseliu ...
, and financier of Focke-Wulf.


Early life

Barbara Goette matriculated in Kassel in 1928 and began studying mathematics,
physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
and philosophy at
Freiburg University The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...
and then
Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...
where she took her state examinations in 1934-35. She met Dr.
Ludwig Roselius Ludwig Roselius (2 June 1874 – 15 May 1943) was a German coffee merchant and founder of the company Kaffee HAG. He was born in Bremen and is credited with the development of commercial decaffeination of coffee. As a patron, he supported arti ...
through the marriage of her brother to his youngest daughter. He suggested she work for the concern. Goette became his companion, carer, confidante and collaborator.


Career

In September 1936 during a meeting in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (German Aviation Ministry) recommended reconstruction of Focke-Wulf with 50% going to the state and 50% to a large electronics concern. A short time later the Roselius conglomerate became majority shareholder with 46% and
Lorenz Lorenz is an originally German name derived from the Roman surname Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum". Given name People with the given name Lorenz include: * Prince Lorenz of Belgium (born 1955), member of the Belgian royal family by h ...
( ITT) secured 27.8%. The aircraft company was reconstituted as Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau GmbH. Goette was instrumental in assisting with this and the '' Böttcherstrasse'' was reclassified as 'degenerate art'. Roselius survived and consequently had the new FW 200 Condor fitted with 26 passenger seats (she was born on the 26th), safeguarding her legacy, in 1937. After Dr. Roselius died in May 1943, Goette lectured in English at the Humboldt Hochschule in Berlin until the premises were demolished during a bombing raid. In 1944 she started her Ph.D. in philosophy at Kiel. There she met Dr. J. P. Leidig, whom she married in February 1945. Shortly after the war she acted as an interpreter for the military police in
Gunzenhausen Gunzenhausen (; bar, Gunzenhausn, link=no) is a town in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Altmühl, northwest of Weißenburg in Bayern, and southwest of Nuremberg. Gunzenhausen is a nation ...
,
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
. In 1950 the family settled in
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, Australia. Dr. Leidig died in 1957 and Goette was left with two sons. She never remarried and taught mathematics at Woodlands Church of England Girls Grammar School for 23 years. One year she had 4 of the top 10 students in South Australia in her class. She received a congratulatory call from the
Adelaide University The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...
Mathematics Department. She worked as mathematics teacher until she was 81 at the Muirden College matriculation centre. A comprehensive posthumous interview by the ''Australian Our Time'' channel 44 program (episode 188) on her life was broadcast in 2015.


Publications

While employed by the Roselius concern, Goette wrote many articles on Dr. Roselius including, '
Ludwig Roselius Ludwig Roselius (2 June 1874 – 15 May 1943) was a German coffee merchant and founder of the company Kaffee HAG. He was born in Bremen and is credited with the development of commercial decaffeination of coffee. As a patron, he supported arti ...
creates the Böttcherstraße' and 'Politics and Propaganda'. An unpublished essay 'Ludwig the Philosopher' appears in the book that her son wrote with Kevin Lower as researcher and Karen Collins as main editor. This book is a biography dealing primarily with Goette's life in Germany during the
Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. A massive dose of
digitalis ''Digitalis'' ( or ) is a genus of about 20 species of herbaceous perennial plants, shrubs, and biennials, commonly called foxgloves. ''Digitalis'' is native to Europe, western Asia, and northwestern Africa. The flowers are tubular in shap ...
was allegedly injected by
Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
's henchmen into Roselius on 15 May 1943 in the
Hotel Kaiserhof (Berlin) Hotel Kaiserhof was a luxury hotel in Wilhelmplatz, Berlin, Germany. It opened in October 1875. It was located next to the Reich Chancellery in what was at the time the city's "government quarter". Berlin's first "grand hotel" it was the cre ...
. On 26 May 1944 Goette travelled to Bad Eilsen to meet with Focke-Wulf aircraft designer and engineer Professor
Kurt Tank Kurt Waldemar Tank (24 February 1898 – 5 June 1983) was a German aeronautical engineer and test pilot who led the design department at Focke-Wulf from 1931 to 1945. He was responsible for the creation of several important Luftwaffe aircraft o ...
in order to obtain his written contribution for a memorial publication on Roselius' life. Reichsführer
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
saw her English books at Mittersill Castle in
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and 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 orga ...
launched an investigation in August 1944. Goette conducted extensive
WWII 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 ...
correspondence with Senator Alfred Faust and in 1998 the Bremen State Archives purchased 80 original items from Ludwig Leidig in Australia. Mitzi Bergel was Goette's best friend in Australia and every year Goette hosted a Christmas party in North Adelaide attended mostly by Jewish friends. In 1944 Goette risked her life by writing the things that had infuriated Hitler in 1936 while attacking Dr. Roselius and the ''Böttcherstrasse'' at the September Nuremberg Party Rally. This ten page essay was approved in September 1944 and was eventually published by the Bremen Yearbook in 1951 and is included in the reference section. The controversial aspects were: * The Paula Becker-Modersohn museum which was the first museum in the world dedicated to a female artist and labelled 'degenerate art' by the Nazis. * The 'Tree of Life' by
Bernhard Hoetger Bernhard Hoetger (4 May 1874 in Dortmund – 18 July 1949 in Interlaken) was a German sculptor, painter and handicrafts artist of the Expressionist movement. Life Hoetger was the son of a Dortmund blacksmith, he studied sculpture in Detmold f ...
depicting a Nordic sacrifice. * Hoetger's architecture again 'degenerate'. In late 1935 the SS newspaper ''Das Schwarze Korps'' launched a vitriolic attack on Roselius' ''Böttcherstrasse''.Das Schwarze Korps; 24/10/1935; pages 11,34


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goette, Barbara 1908 births 1997 deaths Mathematics educators German emigrants to Australia