A Jewish Woman’s Scheme of Seduction & Holocaust Survival
Unraveling the web of facts & fraud meticulously spun.
Between 1941 and 1946, Nazi Germany and its collaborators committed multiple acts of terrorism against the Jews of Europe, and by the end of WWII; about 6 million Jews had been murdered.
During these trying times when most European Jews sought to seek refuge by laying low and remaining under the radar, one brave young girl fought in broad daylight choosing to rather deceive men into providing her protection.
Fake Identities and Forged Signatures
With Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, Jews were discriminated against more and more and Marie Jalcowicz Simon and her family saw it all happen in front of their very eyes.
Marie saw Jews walk around with the mandated yellow stars on their coats and get oppressed everywhere she turned. So when her parents passed away in 1941 and her close family members got deported to concentration camps, she knew she would have to play a cautious game if she wanted to survive all by herself.
Marie got rid of her yellow star and assumed the identity of another woman; Johanne Koch. Johanne was a close family friend and Marie soon began her life using Johanne’s ID card and legal papers.
She had to alter the documents to match her face obviously and so she did, using ink-erasing fluids, forging approval stamps, and swapping Johanne’s picture with her own.
Security in Sex
Even while Marie’s parents and family were alive, she had to pull strings to guarantee her some protection. In her book “Underground in Berlin” she recounts multiple instances of getting involved with men in bed if only it meant she would wake to see the light of another day.
Once in 1938, when she and her father had been living with friends; the Waldmanns, Marie’s father had gotten involved in a fling with the wife of the family, Frau Waldmann. To save her and her father from getting kicked out on the streets, Marie took it upon herself to sleep with Frau’s husband Herr Waldmann.
Once she even got engaged to a Chinese man for a brief amount of time. Neither could speak each other’s language and could not communicate with each other but Marie was hoping to migrate to China. However, she got denied a Chinese passport even when she applied for marriage in the mayor’s office and made up a story about getting pregnant.
The Commerce of Sex and Fraud
Many times, Marie had her hopes shattered and endured countless doors slammed in her face. At some point, she had managed to reach Bulgaria with a new Bulgarian lover Mitko and he worked to pull some strings and find a lawyer to make her stay in the country legally. He managed to get hold of a corrupt lawyer and tried convincing him to make Marie some fake documents.
Upon finding out that Marie was a Jew from Germany, the lawyer demanded to keep Marie as a governess for his son as payment for his services. Marie’s then-lover had denied the offer and left but the lawyer handed them both over to the Bulgarian police and Marie was deported right back to Berlin.
A Good to Barter
Throughout her life as a Jewish surviving the Holocaust, Marie was treated as a mere commodity passed around from one hand to another. While living with fellow Jews she was introduced to a man named Gerritt Burgers who took her home with him, essentially as his personal slave and pretend-wife. Gerritt’s landlady, Frau Blase was a Nazi supporter and treated Marie like dirt.
Gerritt treated her worse though and Marie recounts him hurling a shoe at her once only because she was reading in his presence. Apparently, while Gerritt was inside the house, Marie was not allowed to be doing anything except tend to him.
Under Gerritt’s roof, Marie learned to feign love and care for her alleged husband, running errands for his home and sharing meals with Frau who continued to treat her like crap regardless of it all. She quotes in her book that although she hated Frau Blase; she also loved her as a mother figure.
She had tolerated all this behavior and injustice towards herself because she knew she had to stick this out and that she was at least in better conditions than other fellow Jews who were being treated worse all over Europe.
“Underground in Berlin”
After years of getting thrown around and toyed with like a rag doll in the streets of Berlin, Marie Jalcowicz survived the war penniless and homeless. With no family and no home, Marie built herself up again from the ashes and went on to get married, birth a son, and teach at the Humboldt University of Berlin.
Her book “Underground in Berlin” describes not only the commonly talked about struggles of a Jewish in Germany during WWII but also the lesser known and lonely battles of a Jewish woman in particular.
She recounts that during these trying times, she always knew that she would get to the other side so all she had to do was keep fighting and stand up after every battle. Her story is a commendable tale of bravery, grit, and cunning wits and surely uncovers more than what is usually brought to the surface about WWII.
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