The Nazi Era: Episode 11: Fredy Hirsch

Making Gay History | LGBTQ Oral Histories from the Archive

Making Gay History

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4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 3 April 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Charismatic German Jewish athlete Fredy Hirsch dedicated himself to inspiring and protecting children imprisoned by the Nazis. In this episode, survivors of Theresienstadt and Auschwitz whose lives were made tolerable, sometimes even joyful, thanks to his selfless efforts share their memories. Visit our episode webpage for additional resources, archival photos, and a transcript of the episode. For exclusive Making Gay History bonus content, join our Patreon community. ——— -The following interview segments are from the archive of the USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education: Dina Gottliebova-Babbitt, © 1998 USC Shoah Foundation Michael Honey, © 1997 USC Shoah Foundation Peter Mahrer, © 1998 USC Shoah Foundation Helga Ederer, © 1997 USC Shoah Foundation Yehudah Bakon, © 1996 USC Shoah Foundation Melitta Stein, © 1996 USC Shoah Foundation Eva Gross, © 1996 USC Shoah Foundation Chava Ben-Amos, © 1997 USC Shoah Foundation For more information about the USC Shoah Foundation, go here. -The following interview segments are from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Washington, D.C., courtesy of the Jeff and Toby Herr Foundation: RG-50.030.0488, oral history interview with Ursula Pawel RG-50.477.0497, oral history interview with John Steiner, gift of Jewish Family and Children's Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties RG-50.106.0061, oral history interview with Rene Edgar Tressler For more information about the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, go here. -The Rudolf Vrba audio was drawn from footage created by Claude Lanzmann during the filming of Shoah. Used by permission of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, Jerusalem. ——— To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Making Gay History Family. Eric here. Like a lot of organizations, we've had to rethink our mission and work in light of the new regime in Washington, D.C.
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1:08.6	Thanks so much.
1:13.8	Pretty he, slash donate. Thanks so much. Pretty Hirsch was a young man who came to Brno at first, fleeing Hitler. He was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome.
1:26.7	He looked like a toothpaste advertisement. He had this shiny black, slick
1:33.2	black hair, very handsome face and an incredible grin with white, white teeth.
1:40.7	Well, Freddie Hirsch was quite an extraordinary man, a tremendous gymnast.
1:46.0	Laughter was around him always.
1:49.0	He was, you know, there's some people you can't analyze what makes this guy be appreciated and respected by everybody.
1:58.0	What makes him a leader?
	...

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