Mary Pünjer, born Kümmermann in Hamburg in 1904, is a Jewish lesbian woman, assassinated on May, 28th 1942 in a extermination camp in Bernburg.[1][2][3]
Biography
editShe is born to a Jewish merchant family in Hamburg and gets married in 1929 to Fritz Pünjer, a goy.
On the 24th of July 1940, she gets arrested in a lesbian bar and stays at Fuhlsbüttel prison in Hamburg. In October 1940, she is transferred to the camp of Ravensbrück. The official reasons of her detention are the following: «antisocial/lesbian». Women deemed to be anti-social included sex-workers, nonconformists, and lesbians and were assigned a black triangle.[4]
Between October 1940 and March 1941, she is interrogated several times by Hamburg police and more specifically by the department of sexual offenses.
She is sent back to Ravensbrück and placed under the supervision of the Dr. Friedrich Mennecke, known to be in charge of Aktion T4 (disabled people) and Aktion14f13 (invalid prisoners).
Her identification card mentions that she is a married Jew and an active lesbian; explaining her part of the special program 14f13. No other information indicates the presence of a disability or a disease, her alleged sexual orientation is considered enough to mark her as antisocial.
While many camps were opening brothels, serving as the same time as an «educational punishment» against women, Pünjer was kept apart this program as «inter-racial» relations were deemed criminal.
Three commemorative stones (Stolpersteine) in the pavement honoring her and her family were placed in the streets of Hamburg where her family shop was located (Wandsbeker Marktstraße 57).[5]
References
edit- ^ Schlagdenhauffen, Régis (2018). Queer in Europe during the Second World War. pp. 26–27. ISBN 978-92-871-8863-2.
- ^ Schoppmann, Claudia. "Elsa Conrad – Margarete Rosenberg – Mary Pünjer – Henny Schermann Vier Porträts" (PDF).
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Schlagdenhauffen, Régis. "Triangle rose: La persécution nazie des homosexuels et sa mémoire".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ J. Ota-Wang, Nick. "The Pink and Black Triangles".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Demnig, Gunter. "Stolpersteine Hamburg Mary Pünjer". Stolpersteine Hamburg.
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