Marga Spiegel

Margarette (Marga) Rothschild was born in Oberaula, Hesse, Germany, on 21 June 1912. Her parents operated a retail store and a shop that made blueprint dye. She had a younger sister, Inge Johanna. The year 1933 brought monumental changes in Marga's life. She graduated from high school the same year that Adolf Hitler, a dictator, became the chancellor, and the Nazi Party came into power and initiated antisemitic laws. Siegmund Rothschild was able to pull a few strings to get Marga into a school in Marburg that did not allow Jews. His leverage was that he had fought during World War I. She studied mathematics and physics for a year or so, but she left the school after classmates harassed her for being a Jew. ==Holocaust era (1933–1945)==

Nazi Party from 1933 to 1938 Adolf Hitler restructured the government of Germany beginning on 30 January 1933 when he was appointed chancellor of Germany. Hitler and other Nazis changed the form of government to a dictatorship from its former republic. Legislation was enacted that classified people by whether or not they were beneficial or harmful to the country. If they were undesirable, such as if they were Jewish, they were classified as "enemies of the state" or "outcasts". Following Hitler's lead, the mayor of their town persecuted Jews, like Siegmund Rothschild and his family. They were subject to arrest on "flimsy" charges, taunted, and attacked. Siegmund Rothschild was convicted of usury and fraud and sentenced to prison. Marga was apprehended several times. Siegmund was a successful horse After the war, they had a son. Most of their Jewish neighbors had been deported from Dortmund as the Speiegels tried to plan their next steps. He put on Pentrop's uniform from World War I, wore his own Iron Cross medal, and Siegmund pretended that he was visiting on a holiday. Heinrich Aschoff A farmer, Heinrich Aschoff, took in Spiegel and her daughter Karin. Heinrich and his wife had eight children, one of who was a soldier. The Aschoff told their two oldest daughters that Spiegel and her daughter were Jews. Anni, one of the older girls, was a member of the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM), the female Hitler Youth organization, also known as the League of German Girls. After the war, Sickmann received the title Righteous Among the Nations on 20 July 1969 for sheltering and providing goods for Spiegel and Karin. The Sickmann's granddaughter, Leoni Sickmann, attended the school in Werne that was named after Marga Spiegel and was at the ceremony that Spiegel attended when the school was opened. Heinrich Silkenbömer After about nine months in hiding, the Silkenbömer family at Lüdinghausen took in Siegmund. Heinrich and his wife had two sons who were away fighting in the war. Siegmund stayed in the bedroom of one of the sons. He was treated well, and Marga was able to visit him occasionally at their farm. He lived there until the end of the war. ==After the war==

The Spiegels were liberated when the American Army invaded the area on 30 April 1945. Spiegel was interested in leaving Germany after the war, but her husband insisted that they stay there. Spiegel died from natural causes on 11 March 2014 in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. She was 101 years old. She was buried at the Jewish cemetery in Ahlen. ==Published works==

• Marga Spiegel: Rescuers in the night. How a Jewish family survived in a Münsterland hideout. 7th edition. Lit Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-8258-3595-8 (The 1st edition was published in 1969. Reprint as a series of articles in 1961/1962 in the magazine "Der Sämann" (organ of the Catholic rural people's movement).) • Marga Spiegel: Farmers as saviors. How a Jewish family survived. With a foreword by Veronica Ferres. 2nd Edition. Lit Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-8258-0942-3 ==Legacy==

• A school in Werne, where she lived with the Aschoffs, was named after Spiegel. • She received the Federal Cross of Merit in 2010. • In 2013, she received the Honorary Award of the Cinema for Peace Foundation. • In 2014, Spiegel was awarded the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf. ==Notes==