Franceska Mann - Nazi Slaying Ballerina & Her Death Dance in Auschwitz Crematorium
Franceska Mann - Nazi Slaying Ballerina & Her Death Dance in Auschwitz Crematorium
Franceska Mann known as Franceska Manheimer was born on the 4th of February 1917 in Warsaw then Kingdom of Poland. Franceska, a beautiful and exceptionally talented dancer, studied ballet and contemporary dance at the school of Tacjanna Wysocka, and later under Irena Prusicka where she studied free dance, ballet and tap dance together. She was acquainted with famous female artists of the time such as the singer Wiera Gran and stage and theatrical actress Stefania Grodzieńska.
During her studies and after graduation, Mann gave recitals at the Grand Theater in Warsaw and was one of the most beautiful and promising Polish dancers between 1936-1939 both in the classical and modern repertoire, performing on opera and cabaret stages, in cafes, revue shows as well as at private parties, and even in front of the camera – in the short film “Poles are famous”.
In May 1939, a few months before the outbreak of war, her talent was even recognized at the International Dance Competition in Brussels, where she performed a ballerina dance inspired by Degas’ ballet sketches, and placed 4th among 125 other young ballet dancers.
The Second World War started on the 1st of September 1939 with the invasion of Poland. Warsaw suffered heavy air attacks and artillery bombardment and German troops entered the capital on the 29th of September shortly after its surrender.
The campaign in Poland ended on the 6th of October the same year with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of the country. On the 23rd of November 1939, German civilian occupation authorities required Warsaw’s Jews to identify themselves by wearing white armbands with a blue Star of David. The German authorities closed Jewish schools, confiscated Jewish-owned property, and conscripted Jewish men into forced labor and dissolved prewar Jewish organizations.
On the 12th of October 1940 German authorities had decreed the establishment of a ghetto in Warsaw. The decree required all Jewish residents of Warsaw to move into a designated area, which German authorities sealed off from the rest of the city in November 1940. One of the Jews imprisoned in the ghetto was Franceska Mann and her husband Marek Rosenberg with whom she had a daughter.
In the ghetto Mann performed at the Femina Theater, Melody Palace or Café Bagatela until the 19th of April 1943 when the Warsaw ghetto uprising began after the German troops and police entered the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants to the forced labor camps in Lublin district.
The ghetto inhabitants offered organized resistance in the first days of the operation, inflicting casualties on the well-armed and well-equipped SS and police units. They continued to resist deportation as individuals or in small groups for four weeks. It was the largest uprising by Jews during World War II and the first significant urban revolt against the German occupation in Europe.
In the end however, the Germans razed the ghetto to the ground. They burned and demolished this part of Warsaw, block by block, in order to smoke out their prey.
The Germans ended the operation on the 16th of May when Jürgen Stroop, who led the suppression of the uprising, announced in his daily report to Berlin that “The former Jewish Quarter in Warsaw is no more.”
However, thousands of Jews survived in Warsaw, hiding outside the ghetto. Soon German agents and their collaborators spread the rumor that Jews could buy foreign passports and other documents, and then as foreign citizens, leave territories occupied by Nazi Germany. Tricked by Germans in what became known as the Hotel Polski Affair, around 2,500 Jews, estimates range as high as 3,500, came out of their hiding places and moved to Hotel Polski. The Polish Underground warned Jews that this was probably a trap, but many ignored the warnings. One of them was Franceska Mann. Although they had been told that they were being taken to a transfer camp called Bergau near Dresden, from where they would continue on to Switzerland to be exchanged for German prisoners of war, on the 23rd of October 1943, a transport of around 1,700 Polish Jews, including Franceska Mann, arrived on passenger trains in Auschwitz-Birkenau.
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Content
0.42 -> The 1st of September 1939. After a false
accusation that the Poles attacked a
6.72 -> German radio station, Nazi Germany launches a
“retaliatory” campaign against Poland triggering
12.6 -> World War 2. Poland finds itself fighting a two
front war when it is invaded by the Soviet Union
18.78 -> from the east on the 17th of September. Warsaw
officially surrenders to the Germans on the 28th
25.08 -> of September and one day later in accordance with
the secret protocol to their non-aggression pact,
30.18 -> Germany and the Soviet Union partition Poland.
In the fall of 1940, German authorities establish
37.02 -> a ghetto in Warsaw, Poland’s largest
city with the largest Jewish population.
41.64 -> Almost 30 percent of Warsaw’s population are
packed into 2.4 percent of the city's area.
46.8 -> German policy toward the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto
is particularly brutal and ruthless. Extreme
53.4 -> overcrowding, minimal rations, and unsanitary
conditions lead to disease, starvation, and the
59.7 -> death of thousands of Jews each month. One of the
Jews imprisoned in the ghetto is Franceska Mann.
64.56 -> Franceska Mann
66.18 -> known as Franceska Manheimer was born on the 4th
of February 1917 in Warsaw then Kingdom of Poland.
74.82 -> Franceska, a beautiful and exceptionally talented
dancer, studied ballet and contemporary dance at
80.94 -> the school of Tacjanna Wysocka, and later under
Irena Prusicka where she studied free dance,
85.74 -> ballet and tap dance together. She was
acquainted with famous female artists of the
90.66 -> time such as the singer Wiera Gran and stage
and theatrical actress Stefania Grodzieńska.
96.12 -> During her studies and after graduation, Mann gave
recitals at the Grand Theater in Warsaw and was
101.7 -> one of the most beautiful and promising Polish
dancers between 1936-1939 both in the classical
108.12 -> and modern repertoire, performing on opera and
cabaret stages, in cafes, revue shows as well
114.3 -> as at private parties, and even in front of the
camera – in the short film “Poles are famous”.
118.8 -> In May 1939, a few months before the outbreak
of war, her talent was even recognized at the
125.76 -> International Dance Competition in Brussels,
where she performed a ballerina dance inspired
130.2 -> by Degas’ ballet sketches, and placed
4th among 125 other young ballet dancers.
136.2 -> The Second World War started on the 1st of
September 1939 with the invasion of Poland.
142.44 -> Warsaw suffered heavy air attacks and
artillery bombardment and German troops
147.06 -> entered the capital on the 29th of
September shortly after its surrender.
151.14 -> The campaign in Poland ended on the 6th of October
the same year with Germany and the Soviet Union
156.06 -> dividing and annexing the whole of the country.
On the 23rd of November 1939, German civilian
163.2 -> occupation authorities required Warsaw's Jews
to identify themselves by wearing white armbands
168.72 -> with a blue Star of David. The German authorities
closed Jewish schools, confiscated Jewish-owned
174.48 -> property, and conscripted Jewish men into forced
labor and dissolved prewar Jewish organizations.
179.76 -> On the 12th of October 1940 German authorities had
decreed the establishment of a ghetto in Warsaw.
186.72 -> The decree required all Jewish residents
of Warsaw to move into a designated area,
191.88 -> which German authorities sealed off from
the rest of the city in November 1940.
196.62 -> One of the Jews imprisoned in
the ghetto was Franceska Mann
200.22 -> and her husband Marek Rosenberg
with whom she had a daughter.
203.1 -> In December of the same year the
Germans called for the death penalty
207.42 -> for Jews who had left the ghetto without
permission. The same penalty awaited any
211.44 -> person who knowingly gave shelter to such Jews.
The ghetto, which became the largest of all the
217.56 -> Jewish ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe during
World War II, was enclosed by a wall that was
222.54 -> over 10 feet high, topped with barbed wire, and
closely guarded to prevent movement between the
227.34 -> ghetto and the rest of Warsaw. The population of
the ghetto, increased by Jews compelled to move
232.86 -> in from nearby towns, was estimated to be over
400,000 Jews. German authorities forced ghetto
239.22 -> residents to live in an area of 1.3 square
miles, with an average of 7.2 persons per
244.32 -> room. Proper hygiene was almost impossible,
as many homes did not have running water.
250.02 -> Extreme overcrowding, minimal rations,
and unsanitary conditions led to disease,
255.54 -> starvation, and the death of thousands
of Jews each month. An average daily
260.76 -> food ration in 1941 for Jews in Warsaw was
limited to 184 calories, compared to 2,613
268.14 -> calories for the Germans. An official German
order stated that “the basic provisioning of
273.24 -> the Jewish Residential District must be less
than the minimum necessary for preserving life,
277.92 -> regardless of the consequences.”
The hunger in the ghetto was so great,
282.18 -> that dying people were laying on the streets
and small children were seen begging.
286.92 -> Between 1940 and mid-1942, 83,000
Jews died of starvation and disease.
293.52 -> When a resident from the Warsaw Ghetto passed
away, their families would place the body in the
298.56 -> street and it would be picked up in the morning
by a funeral cart that made its rounds every day.
303 -> In the ghetto Mann performed at the Femina
Theater, Melody Palace or Café Bagatela until the
309.66 -> 19th of April 1943 when the Warsaw ghetto uprising
began after the German troops and police entered
315.78 -> the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants
to the forced labor camps in Lublin district.
320.76 -> The ghetto inhabitants offered organized
resistance in the first days of the operation,
325.2 -> inflicting casualties on the well-armed
and well-equipped SS and police units.
329.82 -> They continued to resist deportation as
individuals or in small groups for four weeks.
335.64 -> It was the largest uprising by Jews
during World War II and the first
339.78 -> significant urban revolt against
the German occupation in Europe.
343.44 -> In the end however, the Germans
razed the ghetto to the ground.
347.76 -> They burned and demolished this part of Warsaw,
block by block, in order to smoke out their prey.
353.22 -> The Germans ended the operation on
the 16th of May when Jürgen Stroop,
357.78 -> who led the suppression of the
uprising, announced in his daily
360.72 -> report to Berlin that “The former
Jewish Quarter in Warsaw is no more.”
365.46 -> However, thousands of Jews survived
in Warsaw, hiding outside the ghetto.
371.1 -> Soon German agents and their collaborators spread
the rumor that Jews could buy foreign passports
376.56 -> and other documents, and then as foreign citizens,
leave territories occupied by Nazi Germany.
381.72 -> Tricked by Germans in what became known as
the Hotel Polski Affair, around 2,500 Jews,
388.32 -> estimates range as high as 3,500, came out of
their hiding places and moved to Hotel Polski.
394.26 -> The Polish Underground warned Jews
that this was probably a trap,
397.92 -> but many ignored the warnings.
One of them was Franceska Mann.
402.84 -> Although they had been told that they were
being taken to a transfer camp called Bergau
406.86 -> near Dresden, from where they would continue
on to Switzerland to be exchanged for German
411.18 -> prisoners of war, on the 23rd of October
1943, a transport of around 1,700 Polish Jews,
418.62 -> including Franceska Mann, arrived on
passenger trains in Auschwitz-Birkenau.
423.48 -> At Auschwitz, the process of selection and murder
was carefully planned and organized. When a
428.88 -> train stopped at the platform, the arrivals were
lined up into two columns – men and boys in one,
433.62 -> women and girls in the other. The SS physicians
such as Josef Mengele performed a selection.
440.16 -> The only criterion was the appearance of the
prisoners, whose fate, for labor or for death,
445.86 -> was determined at will. The SS personnel – when
supervising the loading of prisoners who were
451.98 -> to be transported in cars to the gas chambers
– often behaved inhumanly, and tortured the
456.9 -> incoming prisoners in a cruel way, beating the
women, the men and the children with a stick
461.76 -> or with a cane while forcing them into the cars.
The SS men kept the people fated to die unaware
468.54 -> of what awaited them. They were told
that they were being sent to the camp
472.14 -> where work was waiting for them, but first
they had to undergo disinfection and bathe.
476.52 -> They were then told politely to
hang their clothes on the hooks,
480 -> take a shower and were even promised they
would be provided with soup and tea or coffee.
485.16 -> However they were taken into the gas chambers,
locked in, and killed with Zyklon B gas.
490.86 -> After the victims were murdered, their gold
teeth were extracted, and women’s hair was
495.54 -> shorn by the Sonderkommando which were groups
of Jews forced to work in the crematorium.
500.04 -> The bodies were hauled to the
crematorium furnaces for incineration,
503.34 -> the bones were pulverized and the
ashes were scattered in the fields.
507.72 -> This was the end which awaited Franceska and her
daughter as well. The Germans told her and other
513.78 -> women to remove their clothing, which they
had been wearing since they had left Poland,
517.5 -> so that they could be sanitized before
crossing the border with Switzerland.
521.4 -> The women were taken into an undressing
room next to one of the gas chambers and
525.3 -> ordered to undress. We will never find out if
Franceska was told what was about to happen
530.04 -> by a member of the Sonderkommando or not
but she somehow foresaw her fate and in a
535.08 -> desperate attempt to protect her daughter and
herself from certain death, she took action.
539.34 -> There are several versions of what happened next.
Filip Müller, a member of the Jewish
545.34 -> Sonderkommando at Auschwitz, later recalled how
Franceska had noticed that the two men were ogling
549.78 -> her and she launched into what appeared to be
a titillating and seductive strip-tease dance.
554.28 -> The SS men were hypnotised. Franceska undid her
garter and approached Oberscharführer Quakernack
561.78 -> and removed her heels with a swift move.
She then bent down, grabbed the right shoe
567.12 -> and hit Quakernack with the metal end of the
heel right in the nose. His bones crunched,
572.82 -> he howled with pain, dropped his pistol and
hid his face in his hands. What happened
578.04 -> next later felt like a movie on fast-forward:
Franceska grabbed the gun and fired two shots,
583.92 -> wounding Oberscharführer Josef Schillinger in
the stomach. He cried out and fell to the ground.
589.2 -> Then she fired a third shot killing
an SS Sergeant named Emmerich.
593.82 -> The shots also served as a signal
for the other women to attack the
597.3 -> SS men - one SS man had his nose
torn off, and another was scalped.
602.22 -> Soon after, reinforcements were
summoned and the camp commander,
605.809 -> posielam v prilohe 4 navrhy pre rozmer 54x78.
To iste viem urobit aj pre rozmer 65x90.
606.84 -> came with other SS men carrying
machine guns and grenades.
610.5 -> One account details that the women were gunned
down, while another claims they were forced
615.12 -> into the gas chamber. What is certain is that
after the uprising, the hundred Jewish women,
620.1 -> including 26 year old Franceska Mann,
were all killed that day in Auschwitz.
625.08 -> Schillinger, whom Franceska had shot in
the stomach, died on the following day.
629.7 -> The uprising had a significant
psychological impact on Auschwitz
634.02 -> prisoners. As Holocaust survivor Wieslaw
Kielar stated in his memoir, Anus Mundi:
639.36 -> Five Years in Auschwitz: “The incident passed
from mouth and embellished in various ways grew
645.24 -> into a legend. Without doubt, this heroic deed
by a weak woman in the face of certain death,
651.12 -> gave moral support to every prisoner.
We realized all at once that if we dared
656.4 -> raise a hand against them, that hand
might kill; they were mortal, too.”
662.04 -> There were many tears shed for Franceska
Mann and all the innocent and brave women
666.72 -> who stood right behind her and before being
killed, rose up against their Nazi murderers.
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