Ilse totzke

Ilse lived in Strasbourg as a child with a family with a passion for the arts. Her dad directed a choir and her mom was an actress. At 19, she started to study music in Würzburg. Due to her friendship with Jewish people, Ilse was reported to the Gestapo as a “spy” by one of her own teachers from the university. She was then investigated, and her landlord said Ilse was someone who never received gentleman visitors and was a man hater. 

She was again denounced in 1941 for having an intimate relationship with another girl. The neighbor who reported her falsely stated the girl was underage and Jewish. She was threatened that if she continued to associate with Jews, she would be sent to a concentration camp. Ilse refused to follow this order and kept her friends.

In 1942 Ilse decided she was going to help save her Jewish friend Ruth Basinski. The two of them fled in the night in February towards Switzerland. Swiss guards unfortunately caught them and handed them over to German authorities. Ruth was sent to Auschwitz. During Ilse’s interrogation, she bravely stated that “I wanted to flee Germany because I reject Nazism. Above all, I cannot endorse the Nuremberg laws. I did not want to continue living in Germany under any circumstances.”

Ilse was sent to Ravensbrück but managed to survive the war. Ruth also thankfully survived. Ilse spent time living in other countries before returning to Germany. She was granted compensation for her persecution, and she died in March 1987 at 73. 

Sources and Further Reading:

Jake Newsome, "LGBTQ+ Stories from Nazi Germany: Ilse Totzke" (2024) pinktrianglelegacies.org/totzke