fredy hirsch and jan mautner

For Pride Month, let’s start by recognizing a beautiful couple that lived openly during WW II, Fredy and Jan. As a gay elementary school teacher myself, Fredy’s story resonates deeply with me.

Fredy Hirsch, born Feb 11, 1916, was a proudly gay Jewish athlete, gym teacher, and a children’s group leader and their protector in the Theresienstadt concentration camp and then in Auschwitz. After the Nüremberg laws were passed, seeking to get away from persecution of both Jews and queer people, Fredy moved to Czechoslovakia. It was in there in 1936 when he met his partner Jan Mautner, (b. Nov 11, 1912) who was a medical student and later a doctor. They lived together happily for years before they both were sent to Theresienstadt. 

This piece shows Jan and Fredy at their best, happy and bright and together, untarnished by what the future could hold.

Fredy taught the Jewish children to be proud of themselves, and to take care of themselves. By promoting cleanliness, the children were less likely to be seen as sickly and sent to their deaths. Fredy even made classrooms for them in the camps, with murals of Mickey Mouse and other characters. He created a safe space for them in a nightmare situation. Despite his heroic actions, homophobic attitudes still permeated both Nazi and Jewish people in the camps. Many of Fredy’s kids survived and spoke glowingly of him in documentaries made many decades later. Jan survived Auschwitz and escaped the death marches at the end of the war, but Fredy was killed in Auschwitz.

Sources and Further Reading:

"Dear Fredy" 2017. film.