Diverging Fates

Travelling Circus People in Europe during National Socialism

  • enEnglish
  • deDeutsch (German)
  • frFrançais (French)
  • Home
    • Project Description
    • Historical Context
  • Life Stories
    • Brothers Blumenfeld jun. – the Fall of a Jewish Horse Circus Dynasty
    • Rosa Bouglione (1910-2018), in a Parisian Circus under German Occupation
    • Edit Sandor Kleinbarth (1931- ), a circus child during the war
    • Romanian-Bulgarian Roma Circus Musician – Turcho Chukoev
    • Josef Freiwald (*1912), Swiss Citizen and Inmate of Auschwitz
    • Lya Graf / Lia Schwartz (1913-1941?), the “smallest woman in the world”
    • Raymond Gurême (1925–), a Manouches in resistance
    • Sioma Zubicky (1926-2014), a musical child prodigy
    • Zoltán Hirsch (1887-1944), a Hungarian Lilliputian Circus Star, murdered in Auschwitz
    • Lulu Adams (1900-1980/1990) and Albert Adams, named Albertino (1889-1948) – Entertainers in Dark Years.
    • Nikolai Poliakov, Officer of the Order of the British Empire and ‘Coco the Clown’ in Personal Union (1900-1974)
    • Charlie Cairoli (1910-1980) and the Threat of Internment as “Enemy Alien”
    • The “Gypsy Family Camp” at Birkenau in the Eyes of Lucie Adelsberger (1895-1971)
    • Renee Scott (1916-2000) and Walter Marshall (1916-1970). A Union of Circus and Fairground Families.
    • Margarita Ivanova (*1923), from the Soviet Circus to the Front
    • Adolf Molnar (1905-1988), Austrian dissident and lion keeper in the Finnish Tivoli Sariola
    • Irene Bento (1923-2006), survived the Holocaust by being hidden in Circus Adolf Althoff
    • Luisita Leers (1909–1997) – Power trapeze artist’s career ends due to WWII
    • Gnugo De Bar (1940-2015) – Born in a camp; the internment of the Italian circus family De Bar during WWII
    • Rodion Nikitins (14.4.1915*) – A circus artist’s journey as an entertainer through Soviet and National Social-ist occupation
    • Carola Williams (1903-1987) and the circus cashier
    • Rose Richard (1899-1977) and Louis Winterstein (1899-1981) – The fate of a traveling circus family in France
    • The French circus family Amar in the wake of World War II – The circus as a place of refuge, internment and imprisonment
    • The Russian-Jewish Show Dancer Senin Glazeroff (1882-1944) – Occupational Ban and Escape to Belgium
    • Carl Strassburger (1899-1953) – From a Boycotted “Jewish Circus” to a Successful Dutch Company
    • Hugo Strassburger (1880-1942) and Family – the Fatal Return from South America
    • Strongman, Lion Tamer, Survivor: The Astonishing Life of Houssein ben Ibrik (~1891–1980)
    • James Samuel Wonja Michael (1916-2007) – from the Moroccan Tumbling Troupe to the French Foreign Legion
    • Paula Busch (1886-1973) – The Grande Dame of German Circus as Crisis Manager in Dark Times
  • Teachers
    • Personal Stories in Teaching National Socialist Persecution
    • At the Intersection of Circus, History and Education
    • Working with the website in the classroom
  • Literature
  • Archives
  • Links
  • Project Team
News Ticker
  • [ January 29, 2019 ] Working with the website in the classroom Teachers
  • [ January 20, 2019 ] The Brothers Arthur (1882-1942) and Rudolf Lorch (1893-1944) – Letters from Internment Camps in Southern France Life Stories
  • [ January 16, 2019 ] Paula Busch (1886-1973) – The Grande Dame of German Circus as Crisis Manager in Dark Times Life Stories
  • [ January 1, 2019 ] The French circus family Amar in the wake of World War II – The circus as a place of refuge, internment and imprisonment Life Stories
  • [ December 24, 2018 ] James Samuel Wonja Michael (1916-2007) – from the Moroccan Tumbling Troupe to the French Foreign Legion Life Stories
Home2018October

Month: October 2018

Life Stories

Carl Strassburger (1899-1953) – From a Boycotted “Jewish Circus” to a Successful Dutch Company

October 29, 2018 malte 0

Carl Strassburger came from a German-Jewish family, whose horse circus tradition reached back to the early nineteenth century. In 1926, he took over the company from his father Adolf and his uncle Leopold. At that […]

Life Stories

Luisita Leers (1909–1997) – Power trapeze artist’s career ends due to WWII

October 19, 2018 malte 0

Luisita Leers was a skillful power trapeze artist from Germany. During the 1920s and 1930s, Leers gained popularity both in European and American prestigious circuses such as the Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus. […]

Life Stories

The Russian-Jewish Show Dancer Senin Glazeroff (1882-1944) – Occupational Ban and Escape to Belgium

October 16, 2018 malte 0

Senin Glazeroff was born as Salomon Abramovich Glazer in the Russian town Voronezh in 1882. Having received a professional dance education, he began to tour throughout Russia with great success. In 1905, he married the […]

Life Stories

Rose Richard (1899-1977) and Louis Winterstein (1899-1981) – The fate of a traveling circus family in France

October 5, 2018 malte 0

“My family has lost everything”. That’s how Jean Richard summarizes his story. Born in Montreuil-Bellay in 1941, he only remembers the movie projector and the movies that his father, who was the owner of a […]

Life Stories

Carola Williams (1903-1987) and the circus cashier

October 2, 2018 malte 0

Carola Williams, born Althoff, belonged to the largest circus dynasty in the world. When the Nazis took power, Carola and her brothers Franz and Adolf Althoff began to harbor Jews in their two traveling circuses. […]

Stay connected

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Follow on Facebook

Copyright © 2017 | University of Helsinki

Copyrighted Image

  • enEnglish
  • deDeutsch (German)
  • frFrançais (French)