GLR November-December 2023

artist not to live in a union that makes de mands of her in the sense of a patriarchal role allocation; instead, she should have a union that neither impedes her work nor hampers her development, that is, one con taining much that is reciprocal and com panionate. This is why it seems lucky to me if a woman artist is a lesbian and if she can declare this without feelings of guilt.” Starting in the mid-1920s, Sandmann worked for an extended period as a free lance artist in Paris and Italy, participated in several art exhibitions in Berlin, and did illustrations for magazines to earn a living. In 1976, she reflected on what life was like for Weimar Republic lesbians: “If they wanted to live according to their nature, and not in the closet, they faced severe re sistance, confrontation, pressure from fam ily, and hiding their lesbianism in most occupations.” Despite everything, she was successful and independent during this pe riod. She joined the left-wing Independent Social Democratic Party while studying in Munich, since it was the only party that had voted against the war. In 1933, she quickly recognized what the Nazis coming to power could mean for her and her artist friends. She fled to Switzerland but had to return to Germany in 1934 when she was unable to extend her residence and work permits. In the

stole everything. Suicide was an act of desperation not uncommon within the Jewish population. To make it look be lievable, Sandmann had to leave behind everything in the apartment, including her food rations card, which was neces sary for survival. Without the support of the friends who helped her while risking their own lives, she would not have been able to survive underground. Sandmann was lucky. Her partner, Hedwig Koslowski, an artisan who had been her lover since 1927, did not abandon her. Hedwig arranged a hiding place with friends of hers who were living in the Treptow dis trict of Berlin. She remained hidden in a tiny closet and lived on whatever they could spare from food rations. TheDiary of Anne Frank vividly described what it was like for Jews to live in hiding for months or even years. Like Anne Frank, Sandmann had to avoid making any sound whatsoever in the poorly insulated apartment. She could not stand near the window nor ever leave the apartment, even during the heaviest of bombings, which left her ut terly helpless. By the summer of 1944, this situation had become unbearable, so Hedwig found her a new hiding place in an unoccupied summer house in Biesdorf

Huff We were good boys. We went to school, got straight A’s. I, for one, never talked back. We huffed turpentine in the shed after class while your father slept on the couch.

I remember those fumes, dizzying and sharp like you said they would be, and the concrete, cold through my jeans—

your lips, how I ached to lean forward and kiss them.

T IM S TOBIERSKI

same year, she was expelled from the national professional as sociation of artists because of her “non-Aryan” heritage. In 1935, every artist of Jewish lineage, every political radical, and every gay person was banned from teaching, exhibiting, or selling their artistic works. Sandmann became dependent on her inheritance from her late father. In secret, she continued to draw. By a twist of fate, Sandmann’s sister became an Italian cit izen through her marriage to a non-Jewish Italian man. She reg istered their parents’ Berlin house in her married name in 1939 to save the family from losing it through “Aryanization,” as the Nazis referred to the expropriation of Jewish-owned property. Until 1942, the house provided Sandmann and her mother a place to hide. Sandmann had an opportunity to flee to England in 1939, but she could not leave her sick mother behind. She was still stuck in Berlin after her mother died. As of September 1941, she had to wear the Jewish star, which made her more visible as an outcast and subjected her to abuse on the street. She was required to hand in all valuables. Only her bad health saved her from having to perform slave labor. In the summer of 1942, her only uncle and aunt were de ported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp and murdered. In November 1942, Sandmann was threatened with “de portation”—i.e., being sent to a concentration camp. She de cided to risk going underground. She fled her own apartment on November 21, 1942, leaving a note announcing her suicide to the Gestapo, who appeared at her door shortly afterward and

on the outskirts of Berlin. To avoid tipping off the neighbors, she was not allowed to start a fire or turn on any lights. Hedwig and another friend supplied her with food. Since she was not able to draw for long stretches of time, she recited poetry to her self, training her memory to stay sane. In the fall of 1944, she had to move again because of the cold. This time Hedwig took her into her own apartment, which she shared with another artisan in the Schöneberg district. This is where Sandmann was living, emaciated at seventy pounds, when the Allied troops liberated Berlin. She was one of only 1,200 other Berlin Jews who survived the war underground. She

Gertrude Sandmann. Group IX, 1922.

TheG & LR

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