Lily Knips, as many of you know, was a German Jewess who lived in Berlin prior to the Second World War. Her second husband, a non-Jew, had passed away earlier in the 1930s and she was alone in the city. Her only child, Lothar Sauer, had gone to England in the mid-1930s to study and work as an accountant.
In the late 1930s, Lily, like so many other German Jews, became increasingly desperate to escape Nazi Germany. She became acquainted with Josef Jakobs who, at that time, was working for Aryan lawyer Jürgen Ziebell. It was Ziebell who told Lily that, for a fee, she could buy a legit Finnish passport and easily escape Germany. The “fee” was, of course, not insignificant.
This black market passport scheme had been started by Hans Blum and later passed on to Ziebell. Fortunately, Lily had a savvy head on her shoulders. It all sounded a bit shifty to her and she demurred on having any further dealings with Ziebell. It does seem, however, that she maintained contact with Josef. A few months later, in October 1938, Ziebell’s entire operation (and many of his passport clients) were rounded up by the German authorities. As for Lily, her son managed to held her escape to England in April 1939.
When Josef was captured in January 1941, near the village of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire, he gave his captors Lily’s name and address. Had he landed undetected, he likely would have tried to reach her in London, perhaps hoping that she could offer him shelter and help hi escape to the USA. Luckily for Lily, his broken ankle prevented him from dragging her down with him. Lily was still questioned by the police and MI5 officers. What did she know about Josef Jakobs? Who was this man? While she was eventually cleared of any nefarious connections or intentions, she also learned that Josef had been captured and, in August 1941, she learned of his execution. The following year, Lily’s father died in Hannover and her sister, Elsa, boarded an Ost Transport to Sobibor where she was ultimately murdered. For Lily, all of this was too much and she took her own life in January 1943.
I became acquainted with Lily’s granddaughter, Sylvia Paskin, several years ago and we have stayed in touch ever since. Sylvia gave a touching interview to the Jewish Chronicle in January of 2024. Part of the interview focused on Sylvia’s participation in a unique project in Germany known as Denk Mal am Ort. This initiative believes that every house has a story to tell and the brings to life the stories of those persecuted by the Nazis, in the actual places where they lived. Sylvia told Lily and Elsa’s stories in May 2019. Part of her story is available via this link. The full story can be read in English (and German) on the 8 March, 2019, post on the Denk Mal am Ort Facebook page.
I appreciate the play on words in the project’s name. Denkmal (one word) means Memorial, so on the one hand, as you say the phrase, it could mean “Memorial on site”. But split into two words (Denk mal), it means “Think about the site/place”. It’s brilliant.
Perhaps one day, I will go to Berlin and tell the story of Josef’s uncle-in-law, Gustav Goldemann who perished in the Holocaust. Or maybe that of my father’s childhood friend, Gerhard Drucker and his family. There are so many people; so many houses and apartments with stories to tell.
I empathize with Sylvia’s desire to make sense of what happened during the Shoah. As I’ve researched Josef’s life, and his association with Ziebell, I am left with so many questions. Why did this happen? How could this have happened? How can we make sure it never happens again. I firmly believe that these stories need to be told, and retold, so that we never forget. So it never happens again.
Header Image by Ron Porter from Pixabay