- Maria Steiner
-
Maria Steiner is an Austrian honored as one of the Righteous among the nations.[1]
Maria Steiner lived in Vienna and in 1942 she housed the Jewess Hedwig Mendelsohn within her house. Hedwig Mendelssohn, chased by the Gestapo, was in danger to get arrested and to be deported. She asked the nearby living Maria Steiner, who in no time said yes to shelter her. Hedwig's husband Dr. Leopold Mendelsohn emigrated to Argentina in 1942, but because Hedwig had married him in 1941 only she wasn't able to get the necessary emigration papers together with him. Therefore she stayed in Vienna alone. Her emigrationpapers came when she already was chased by the Gestapo.
Maria Steiner hid Hedwig Mendelsohn although the janitor and the Gestapo controlled her often. She hid her for 3 years, until the end of the war, by doing this she saved Hedwigs life. After the war Hedwig followed her husband to Argentina.
References
Categories:- Austrian Righteous Among the Nations
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
