Margarethe »Gretl« ETLINGER (née Horn) was born in Budapest on March 9, 1888. She was Lutheran, but her father was a convert from Judaism.
She became an actress and lived in Berlin-Wilmersdorf until after her divorce. She moved to Salzburg in January 1933 to join her widowed mother who had lived here since 1914.
She was not involved with any particular organization, but she was first arrested by the Gestapo for anti-Nazi statements shortly after the war began in 1939. She was arrested again in August 1941 after being denounced by her milkmaid.
This time the evidence for a political crime was still minimal, but she was sent to the Ravensbrueck concentration camp in November 1941 and was murdered there on March 14, 1942.
It would seem that her Jewish ancestry had been discovered, or was at least suspected, and it was that which was responsible for her severe treatment, as the registration of her deportation and death identifies her as »Sara« Margerethe Etlinger [under the Nazi racial laws all Jewish women were forced to identify themselves officially with the name »Sara«].
Sources
- Jewish Community of Salzburg (birth and marriage records destroyed under the Nazi regime)
- Prague City Archives (family of Karl Gustav and Maria Horn)
- Berlin State Archives (marriage of Karl and Margarethe Etlinger)
- Vienna and Salzburg City and State Archives (resident registration records)
- Arolsen Archives (Ravensbrück Concentration Camp)
- Resistance and Persecution in Salzburg 1934–1945, Volume 2, p. 61
Translation: Stan Nadel
Stumbling Stone
Laid 27.08.2008 at Salzburg, Ernest-Thun-Straße 7
Registration form of Margarethe »Sara« Etlinger
Memorial for women in the resistance against National SocialismPhoto: City Archive
Photo: Gert Kerschbaumer