Ella Lingens

Vienna, Austria… 1938 – Dr. Ella Lingens and her husband, Dr. Kurt Lingens, were anti-fascist activists.  Shortly after the Germans annexed Austria in March 1938, Ella began to help her fellow colleagues from medical school.  During the Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938, she hid ten Jews in her room.   In 1939, the Lingens met Baron Karl von Motesiczky, a medical student whose mother was Jewish.  They became friends.  Baron von Motesiczky introduced Ella and Kurt to many Jewish friends and to members of the anti-Nazi resistance.   From 1941 to 1942, the Lingens provided shelter to many Jews.  They also produced forged papers, offered medical assistance, and used personal connections to help their Jewish friends escape from the Nazis.

In 1942, the Lingens and Baron Karl von Motesiczky were denounced to the Nazis and were arrested. Dr. Lingens was sent to the Russian front where he was severely wounded.  Ella Lingens and Baron Karl von Motesiczky were sent to Auschwitz. In Auschwitz, Ella worked as a doctor in the camp's hospital where she continued her rescue activities and saved many Jews from death in the gas chambers.  Ella was sent on a death march from Auschwitz to Dachau and managed to survive until she was liberated.  Baron Karl von Motesiczky died of typhus in Auschwitz in June 1943. After the war, Ella returned to Vienna, Austria.

Ella Lingens died in December 2002.

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