Diverging Fates

Travelling Circus People in Europe during National Socialism

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    • 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
Home2018November

Month: November 2018

Life Stories

Strongman, Lion Tamer, Survivor: The Astonishing Life of Houssein ben Ibrik (~1891–1980)

November 30, 2018 malte 0

Born around 1891 in Morocco, Houssein ben Ibrik died nearly a century later in France. What is known about him sounds straight from a romance novel: a fighter of desert pirates, lion tamer, and acrobat […]

Life Stories

Hugo Strassburger (1880-1942) and Family – the Fatal Return from South America

November 20, 2018 malte 0

Hugo Strassburger came from the most important Jewish circus family in Germany. He worked as stable master, animal trainer, and buffoon horseman “Hugoletty” in the circus of his older brothers Adolf and Leopold, which was […]

News

Collaborative research workshop with members of the circus community in Berlin, 3.11.2018

November 2, 2018 malte 0

The project “Diverging Fates: Travelling Circus People in Europe under National Socialism”(www.divergingfates.eu) in cooperation with its follow-up project “Forgotten Cosmopolitans: Europe’s Circus People in the Wake of WWII” will arrange a cooperative research workshop with […]

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