The Institute holds several records that relate to the Kautsky family. First, the papers of Karl Kautsky (1854-1938), writer and theorist in the area of the labour movement and Marxism. In these papers his wife Luise Kautsky-Ronsperger (1864-1944) is also central. . And second, there are the papers of their son Benedikt Kautsky (1894-1960). Recent small additions to these archives may shed a more precise light on the various members of this family that was so heavily affected by the Second World War and the period that preceded it. The Kautsky family settled in Amsterdam in 1938.
In December 2014 the Institute received three letters and three photographs. One was a letter written by Luise Kautsky, dated August 19, 1941. She resided at an address on Zuider Amstellaan, later Rooseveltlaan 154 in Amsterdam. The three photos of Luise Kautsky were taken on the occasion of her 80th birthday on August 11. 1944. The other two letters are written from and to Heinz Umrath, a friend of the family. He wrote to a son of the Kautskys on June 16, 1945 about the life of Luise Kautsky in Amsterdam until her deportation to Auschwitz. She lived relatively happy years in the house of Eva and Ernst Grünspach, who were children of close friends. Fate struck this small circle for the first time on June 20, 1943, when Eva and Ernst were arrested and taken to Westerbork. Luise Kautsky was protected by her mixed marriage and remained alone in the big house at the age of 78 or 79. In the months that followed, she resided at various addresses with friends. On August 11, 1944, she celebrated her eightieth birthday in Amsterdam with many guests (who had been living illegally in Amsterdam). They surprised her with flowers and fruit. Shortly afterwards disaster struck for the second time. The net around Luise Kautsky was drawn ever tighter, and the protection of mixed marriages was over: even though Karl Kautsky was not Jewish, Luise Kautsky was arrested by the Grüne Polizei and taken to Westerbork. From Westerbork she was transported to Theresienstadt and finally to Auschwitz.
This recent acquisition reminds us of a similar one received in 2007 from the estate of Edith Fresco Kautsky (1925-2006), the daughter of Benedikt Kautsky (1894-1960) and Gerda Kautsky-Brünn (1895-1964). This addition includes hundreds of letters which Benedikt (Bendel) and Gerda wrote to each other in 1922-1937 and 1946-1959. Benedikt was arrested in May 1938 and subsequently was imprisoned in Dachau, Buchenwald, Auschwitz, and then Buchenwald again. Besides the letters between the two spouses, this supplement contains a single folder with letters and other documents from 1945.
Most of these letters were addressed to Karl Jr. (Karli) (1892-1978), the elder brother of Benedikt. Some letters are about the uncertain fate of Benedikt and his mother Luise. Others are about Luise’s final months. Most numerous are the letters in which Karl Jr. is congratulated on Benedikt’s survival.Characteristic of the uncertainties in 1945 regarding the fate of prisoners and deportees is the letter dated March 2, 1945, from Oda Lerda-Olberg (1872-1955) to “Mein lieber Karli.” In this letter, was that of the German-Italian journalist who lived in Florida at the time, who speculated on the fate of Benedikt Kautsky and of his mother Luise Kautsky. Auschwitz had been so long in the hands of the Russians. Indeed, the Russians arrived in Auschwitz in late January 1945. Clarity about the survival of Benedikt only came in the course of April.
The supplement received in 2007 contained the report dated October 13, 1945, on Luise Kautsky in Auschwitz, written by Lucie Adelsberger (1895-1971), who was deported to Auschwitz and worked in the camp as a doctor and a nurse. Added to this is a typed text with the title “Das Maerchen”. In this “Fairytale” Adelsberger describes her surprise that despite Auschwitz, this “Pfuhl von Schmutz und Gemeinheit, wo wir in Menschen Verachtung und Pessimismus badeten,” six months after the end of the war nevertheless “der Glaube an eine Welt der Menschlichkeit und Guete schon wieder in uns wurzelt.” In the final sentence Adelsberger states that the latter is not a fairy tale but a fact. Adelsberger described the arrival of Luise Kautsky in Auschwitz and the first weeks in which her circumstances were relatively decent. Especially the mental resilience of the octogenarian woman is outlined: even under these conditions, she read the few newspapers and books that one could get for her, and talked about the news with the people in her immediate vicinity. She could also secretly exchange several letters with her son Benedikt, also interned at Auschwitz.
In late November 1944, the infirmary of the women's concentration camp was moved to the former gypsy camp. On December 8, 1944 her body gave out, and thus ended the eventful life of Luise Kautsky. The report from Lucie Adelsberger under the title “Die letzten Wochen Luise Kautsky” was published as Luise Kautsky zum Gedenken (New York, 1945).
See also the Benedikt Kautsky papers
Bouwe Hijma