Elisabeth Landmann (1889-1984)

Written by: Dr. Carol Rittner, RSM

Elisabeth Landmann, half-English by birth, had been living in Berlin, Germany for some years before the outbreak of the Second World War. A trained social worker who did not speak fluent English, she considered herself to be German. Although not Jewish herself, she felt great compassion for the suffering of the Jews under the Nazi regime. Seeing what was happening around her in 1938 and 1939, she decided to try and help as many Jewish children and adults as possible to emigrate to the safety of England.

Mrs Landmann personally made the contacts and arrangements with the German Jewish families, whilst her English friend, Mrs Atkinson from Dorset, found people to guarantee entrance permits for German Jewish children. Schools and guardians were found, including places at the famous Roedean and Bryanston public schools. After leaving Germany, many of those children never saw their parents again.

But Elisabeth’s work did not stop with getting “her” children to England: she kept in touch with the children by letter, sent birthday cards, then visited them in person at school after she emigrated to England with her son in 1939, just before the outbreak of war. By then, her rescue work in Berlin had come to the notice of the German authorities and she and her son were in considerable danger.

With the help of Mrs Atkinson and a Quaker, Mr Bellows, Elisabeth made it possible for some 80 people to escape to England. As her protégés recall, she had made “a very great sacrifice” and “done so much to save many Jewish lives…”

Quotes

“A Christian, she was ashamed of what the Nazis were doing and resolved to save as many children as she could.”

Testimony of Eva Lifschitz, rescued from Berlin, aged 13 in July 1939

“She of course received no form of payment and her motives were clearly love for her fellow men… She had an almost exaggerated share of this and feels great compassion for people who suffer as a result of the actions of others, whoever they may be.”