Stella Kubler - Jew Catcher

pavb2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_K%C3%BCbler

I was in Berlin last week and saw details of Stella Kubler and the story of Jews informing and being paid to give up their own 'Catchers' which I hadn't heard of before.

My first instinct was how bad these people must have been but the more you read it's not that clear cut and obviously contributed to her eventual suicide.

ejmaztec

pavb2 wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_K%C3%BCbler

I was in Berlin last week and saw details of Stella Kubler and the story of Jews informing and being paid to give up their own 'Catchers' which I hadn't heard of before.

My first instinct was how bad these people must have been but the more you read it's not that clear cut and obviously contributed to her eventual suicide.

From the link info it seems to be a case of self-preservation that made her what she was, and with a lot of time to think about her actions, she eventually drove herself over the edge.

jonniebgood1

pavb2 wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_K%C3%BCbler

I was in Berlin last week and saw details of Stella Kubler and the story of Jews informing and being paid to give up their own 'Catchers' which I hadn't heard of before.

My first instinct was how bad these people must have been but the more you read it's not that clear cut and obviously contributed to her eventual suicide.

She is refered to in 'Survival in the shadows' by Barbara Lovenheim. It is about seven Jews who survived WWII in Berlin and Stella Goldschlag (her maiden name) is mentioned as being notorious. She was known to visit public places like opera house, restaurants etc looking for former Jewish compatriots from her work at Siemens. It says that Stella was tortured by the Gestapo to make her inform on other Jews but it also casts doubt on this as the people in the book reckoned she would'nt have let them go that far before agreeing to help them.

With regard to her actions they were undoubtedly self preservation but I don't think thats a great defence for the betrayal which she seems responsible.

pavb2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stella-Peter-Wyden/dp/0671673610/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304717023&sr=1-1-spell

Might get this book on her, one of life's moral conundrums I suppose a lot depends on her other motivations aside from self preservation and how much she was co erced.

It's useful but uncomfortable to put ourselves in that position and ask how would we have reacted?

There's probably a lot more untold stories like this capo's in the concentration camps,ghettos etc. Survival is a strong instinct