User:Martha Forsyth/Scratchpad

My sub-pages

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ILSE STANLEY: Preliminary collection o' info, links, etc

Material maybe to still use

• http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~jasoncs/family.html:

My brother Marcus Stanley was an assistant professor of economics at Case Western. Now he is a staff economist for the Joint Economic Committee.

My father, Manfred Stanley, was a professor in the Department of Sociology at Syracuse University. This is a very brief address I gave at Syracuse University's memorial service for him in December, 2004, about his work. Here are some pictures of him as a child in Berlin.

Here is the synagogue in Berlin where my great-grandfather, Magnus Davidsohn, was the chief Cantor for many years; Leo Baeck was the chief Rabbi. Here is a CD that contains some songs sung by him; the page also contains a brief clip of him singing the Psalm von Lewandowsky. There are a number of books that discuss him, some using the Christian name he used as an opera singer, Magnus Dawison (e.g. Chapter 6 of this volume of Henry-Louis De la Grange's biography of Gustav Mahler).

This is a very brief description of an episode of the show This is Your Life, with Ralph Edwards, featuring my grandmother, Ilse Stanley. She is also author of the book, The Unforgotten (Beacon Press, 1957), and appears in the movie Metropolis. Here is her New York Times Obituary, from 1970. And here is a short review of her book from the Psychiatric Quarterly, 31.1 (January, 1957):

The Unforgotten. By ILSE STANLEY. 375 pages. Cloth. Beacon. Boston.
1957. Price $4.95.

Ilse Stanley's story is another of those to make ordinary Americans, who have merely read about the Gestapo, wonder at the capacity for tolerance and insight which seems to characterize some of the people whom the Nazis treated the worst. Mrs. Stanley tells of a pleasant girlhood in Berlin and a promising career cut short when Hitler commenced rounding up the Jewish population for concentration camps. It would be unfair to explain how she did it but, because she was not readily recognized as Jewish, she was able to snatch scores of victims away from death or imprisonment. When Germany at length became too hot even for her, she managed to reach this country where she was still called upon for unusual exercise of brains and courage. With the war over, she embarked on her own program to re-create good will and understanding among Germans of both Christian and Jewish faith. Any student of human relations should enjoy and profit from this book.

(This link (from the quote above) gives some more family history. Jason Stanley is Ilse's grandson, son of Manfred. I wrote to him and he wrote right back; he started the page on Magnus Davidsohn. He has a brother; they want to reissue the book. 21:16, 7 October 2008 (UTC))

• How did I miss this page before?! It's from 2005:

From the discussion on Ruminations on "Multiculturalism" in Germany

Our grandmother, Ilse Stanley, wrote an amazing book about her experiences in Germany, called *The Unforgotten*. She was an actress trained by Max Reinhardt, and she appeared in the movie Metropolis. From 1936-1939 she was part of an underground group that used documents supplied by a Nazi friend of hers to smuggle Jews from concentration camps to outside of the country; my grandmother would bring the passes into the camps herself, dressed as a Nazi social worker, and bring the prisoners to freedom. She and our father got out at the last possible moment (as I say above, August, 1939). The book was published both in England and in Germany in the 1950s, and recounts her experiences in Germany and as an immigrant in the United States. There is also a *This is Your Life* show about her, from 1955 (which we have on tape -- since my grandmother died right after I was born, this is my only image I have of her). According to my father, Hollywood wanted to do a movie of the book, with Ingrid Bergmann playing my grandmother. But since they wanted her character in the movie to have a love affair with the high Nazi official who supplied her with the passes, she refused. My brother and I have wanted to get the book reissued for years (it came out at a time when the last thing people wanted to hear about was stories of immigrant Jews), but we don't know how to do it...

Posted by: Jason Stanley | December 04, 2005 at 10:51 PM[1]

This post is from 8 Nov. 2008:

Kristallnacht (J. Stanley)

Today is the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht. My grandmother was living across the street from the Fasanenstrasse Synagogue, where her father was chief cantor. Her life was intertwined with that synagogue, which she called her "house". I've posted her account of its destruction on Kristallnacht here.

Posted by Jason Stanley on November 09, 2008 at 09:25 AM in Blog Posts by Jason Stanley | Permalink

From her book

p. 125: "For the first time in years I felt regret that I had not left in 1933." (Just before the temples were burned.)

Material I've used (but may need to refer to)

• http://www.cine-holocaust.de/cgi-bin/gdq?efw00fbw000156.gd (referenced in Magnus Davidsohn: "She was also featured on an episode of the American television program This is Your Life ([2]), where she was reunited with her father")  Done reads as follows:

ID	FBW000156 TV series
Country / Year	USA, 1955
Original Title	THIS IS YOUR LIFE // ILSE INTRATOR STANLEY
Directed by	Axel Gruenberg
Produced by	Ralph Edwards Productions, Los Angeles, CA; for NBC (National Broadcasting Company), New York, NY
Staff	Producer: Axel Gruenberg; Executive producer: Ralph Edwards; Interviewer: Ralph Edwards
Appearance	Ilse Stanley (als: Ilse Intrator Stanley); Maxine Stanley; Manfred Stanley; Erich Simonauer; Fritz Lang; Magnus Davidsohn; Hermance de la Bourdette Burstyn
Length	30'
Format	16mm/sw/1:1,37
Dates	- 02 Nov 1955: Premiere, TV, NBC (National Broadcasting Company) - 02 Nov 1955: Shooting period
Abstract	The life of a Jewish refugee who is credited with the saving of 412 lives from Nazi concentration camps.
Subject Terms	Refugees; Survivors of the Holocaust; Camps; USA
Holdings	- Ralph Edwards Productions, Los Angeles, CA; 16mm
Bibliography	- Stanley, Ilse: The Unforgotten. 1957 - Stanley, Ilse: Die Unvergessenen. München / Wien / Basel: Desch, 1964 - Fox, Stuart: Jewish Films in the United States. New York, NY: K.G. Hall, 1976 - Shandler, Jeffrey: While America Watches: Television and the Holocaust in the United States, from 1945 to the Present. New York, NY: Columbia University (Dissertation), 1995 - Shandler, Jeffrey: While America Watches. Televising the Holocaust. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999  Done

• What's "Intrator"? Name of Ilse's first husband, per Jason Stanley [see below]  Done:

"Intrator" was the last name of my biological grandfather, Alexander Intrator, a concert violinist. He was Ilse's first husband - in the book, he's the one called "Paul".)

• Aha, Amazon lists The Unforgotten as follows: The Unforgotten by Ilse Davidsohn Stanley, Beacon Press (1957) (375 pp.). I know that it is a hard cover (I have it). ASIN: B0007DQOD. Also lists I will lift up mine eyes by Ilse Stanley (Unknown Binding - 1954.)  Done
  • More Amazon - customer review of I Will Lift up Mine Eyes, by I. Stanley — review by S. Robertson:

I am not a book critic, but love to read true life adventures. Ilse Stanley was a remarkable woman. The daughter of a Jewish Rabbi, she had every opportunity to achieve her dreams of success in the theatrical arts and music and became famous and wealthy. She was forced to leave her profession because she was a Jew. Because of her strong belief in God and love for her country (Germany), she worked to save many (over 400) people from Hitler's death camps in the years 1933-1938. You will be blessed to read this book by this very brave woman.  Done - is it really OK to quote this on WP?? NO—so just link.

• Also Auschwitz: Geschichte, Rezeption und Wirkung, by Fritz Bauer Institut, Fritz-Bauer-Institut, Published by Campus Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3593354411, 9783593354415 (410 pages) mentions Ilse Intrator Stanley on pp. 384 and 401: "... Rabbiner und Gemeindeoberhaupt aus Deutschland, Ilse Intrator Stanley, eine Jüdin, die 412 Personen aus einem Konzentrationslager gerettet hatte, ..." (you can see the whole page 384, but not quote it, from the Google Books ref. above).  Done

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Early draft (keep here till I'm sure I don't need it anymore) (mark things that still need to be incorporated in red)

Ilse Stanley — 11/26/08 promoted to a "real" article! (so edit there not here in future)

Ilse Stanley
Ilse Stanley
Born	approx. 1906 Gleiwitz, Germany
Died	(1970-07-19)July 19, 1970, age 64 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Other names	Ilse Davis (stage name) Ilse Intrator
Citizenship	German; American
Spouse(s)	Alexander Intrator Milton Stanley (1946)
Children	Manfred Stanley (1932-2004)
Parent	Magnus Davidsohn

Ilse (Intrator) Stanley (née Ilse F. Davidsohn), (approx. 1906 – (1970-07-21)July 21, 1970), was a German Jewish woman who, with the collusion of a handful of people ranging from Nazi members of the Gestapo to Jewish civilians, secured the release of 412 Jewish prisonsers from concentration camps between 1936 and 1938. During that time she also helped countless others leave the country while it was still possible for Jews to do so legally. This story was sketched publicly in 1955 on Ralph Edwards's TV program, This Is Your Life, and is told in vivid detail in Stanley's autobiographical book, The Unforgotten, published in 1957.

Early life

Warning:Nationmaster is not a valid ref, it's copied from WP!!! But bh.org is (I believe! - 12/2/08

Daughter of Magnus Davidsohn (the Fasanenstrasse Synagogue's main cantor),

official opening of Fasanenstrasse Synagogue was 26 August 1912

Fasanenstrasse Synagogue was in the Charlottenburg section of Berlin. Ilse's German life was thoroughly entwined with this synagogue, which she called "my House". Presenting flowers to the German Emperor at age 6.

Actress, trained by Max Reinhardt;

stage name: Ilse Davis ^p.70,

bit part in Fritz Lang's film Metropolis.

acting career ended in 1933, when Jews were no longer allowed to work

"Grauen Mond" theatre? "hers"? (acc to - need to track this down

First marriage — violinist Alexander Intrator ("Paul" in The Unforgotten).

what she had faith in/believed - describe somehow: perhaps "never to let fear and hatred rule her life"?
 - see what she wrote and use her words

Concentration camp(s?)

After she could no longer work at her profession, and seeing no hope for matters to improve in the visible future, she became somewhat depressed.

The story of how she accomplished this is interesting enough to tell in full. Click "Show" to read.

In 1936, a cousin of Ilse's came to Berlin to consult a lawyer about getting her husband released from a concentration camp. The cousin had not yet realized the seriousness of Germany's situation, in which law and order was simply not operating. In the ensuing conversation, both women became distraught. After much soul-searching and a visit to her beloved Synagogue, Ilse reached a life-changing decision. Pitting her faith in the "goodness even in people who have been taught nothing but evil" p.68 against the odds of failure, she and her cousin went to the Gestapo headquarters together to look for help. As they walked the halls with appropriately downcast eyes, they were stopped by an officer who took Ilse aside. As he questioned her closely about "Davis" and then "Ilse", she recognized "Fritz" (whose real name was Hans) — a theatre policeman from her acting days, for whose younger sister she had arranged a gala weekend in Berlin in honor of the girl's 16th birthday. The two met later in a café, and Fritz explained to Ilse a plan he had devised. In the guise of a social worker and using the alias "Feldern", Ilse would hand-carry the release papers to the concentration camp and pick up the prisoner. Going in person had the essential element of surprise, which greatly increased the likelihood that the camp would actually release the prisoner, who might otherwise be quietly killed instead of released, particularly if he was in "unpresentable" condition. The rules were stringent: a trusted Gentile chauffeur would drive Ilse to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp where her cousin's husband was held. She would enter alone, present the papers, and wait for the prisoner to be brought to her. If questioned about the papers, she would give the name of a (cooperating) high-placed Nazi lawyer, but say no more. No one must know when or where she was going, but a trusted, distant acquaintance—not a family member—would know when she was leaving and when to expect her return. If she did not return by the specified time, he was to call Fritz. No written record of any of her doings, or her information, could be kept longer than a day. Above all, under no circumstances must she ever show even the slightest reaction to any sight that might greet her on these trips. She went, and she brought the prisoner home.

Having succeeded the first time, she continued to take false papers to Sachsenhausen for three more years, ultimately securing the release of 412 people before the devastating events of Kristallnacht (9 November 1938) when the Synagogues all over Germany—including Ilse's "House"—were torched.

 work in "Jewish Community" organization??? need to understand better, to include

1938, 1939

something in her book, she gave "readings" -??

After Kristallnacht, the situation worsened dramatically. Ilse was no longer able to go to the camps, but she continued to help people leave the country. Detail(s)? As the Gestapo began interviewing people planning to leave Germany in order to try to prevent them from leaving, Fritz found a way to warn her. And Ilse herself, along with her family, began to prepare their departure. They left separately: first her father, in March of 1939. Then her husband. Five days before Ilse's planned departure, her mother was summoned to the Gestapo on Alexanderplatz. Ilse went in her stead. Once again, her acting past unexpectedly surfaced: the younger of her two interrogators recognized her. But the interview continued with no further reference to that. All went surprisingly well, until Ilse made a near-fatal slip: she mentioned her own impending departure. In answer to further close questioning, Ilse spoke quietly about presenting flowers to the Emperor at the age of six, about the Emperor's flight from Germany on November 9, 1918, about Kristallnacht, which happened exactly twenty years later (November 9, 1938). One of her two interrogators broke down. She was allowed to leave the office, and three days later [date?? visa issued 17 April 1939], she and her son Manfred left for England.

"The brief version": Finally, in 1939, Ilse found herself unable to continue living in Germany. Narrowly escaping arrest at the last moment, when she went once again to Gestapo headquarters to speak for her mother who had received a summons, she and her son Manfred left for England.

America

Ilse and Manfred left for the U.S.A. from Southampton, England, on the ship "Deutschland", on 4 August 1939 and arrived in the U.S. on 11 August.

Recognition

In 1955 Ilse Stanley was featured on an episode of the American television program This is Your Life; on this program she was reunited with her father, Magnus Davidsohn.

Writings by Ilse Stanley

• Stanley, Ilse (1954). I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd. pp. 224pp. ASIN B0000CIXZ1. See a particularly nice Amazon customer review.
• Stanley, Ilse (28 December 1957). "The Stranger's Surprise". The Saturday Evening Post. 44 (11). {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)

Reprinted in November/December 1992 issue, vol. 264:6.

• Stanley, Ilse (1957). The Unforgotten. [Boston, Mass. USA]: Beacon Press. pp. 375pp. LCC PN2658.S75 A3.
• Stanley, Ilse (1964). Die Unvergessenen. München / Wien / Basel: Desch.

Further reading

• Fox, Stuart (1976). Jewish Films in the United States. New York: K. G. Hall. pp. 359pp. ISBN 0816178933, ISBN 978-0816178933.
• Shandler, Jeffrey: While America Watches: Television and the Holocaust in the United States, from 1945 to the Present. New York, NY: Columbia University (Dissertation), 1995 (include or not, given the next ref?)
• Shandler, Jeffrey (1999). While America Watches. Televising the Holocaust. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 315pp. ISBN 0-19-511935-5.