Berliner Rescuers

Thirty years after my father's release from Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, he told me the story of his imprisonment and rescue. As I listened, I realized that I had met one of the two responsible men for his release. In 1951 Herr Dorsch was a partner in the Bettfedernfabrik Nord (Berlin) when I met him at a dinner given by his silent partner near Loerrach (Baden).Herr Dorsch greeted me with the great warmth reserved for someone very special. I did not know the reason until my father explained it to me many years later.

In 1937 my father, Jakob Klimowski, had brought me to Chicago to live with my relatives. In july, 1938 he and my stepmother came to visit me. He rejected family offers to sponsor his immigration to America. He had two children still in Berlin, and his business was still doing well.My father was the owner of the "Erste Ostpreußische Bettfedernfabrik" in Insterburg, with general offices located in Berlin. Four month after his return from America was the eve of Kristallnacht, November 9th in 1938. His two key managers, Herr Selten and Herr Dorsch, advised him strongly not to go home that night. My father called the housekeeper, Miss Lotte Kahn, and told her that he had decided to sleep in the office. She became very upset and told him she had gone to a great deal of trouble to prepare his favorite meal. My father changed his mind, went home, and was arrested. He was incarcerated at Sachsenhausen Camp. The Gauleiter of East Prussia, Erich Koch, immediatly seized the business. My stepmother did all she could to have my father released. The famous reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Sigrid Schultz, tried to intervene with her Berlin contacts on behalf of my father - all efforts were to no avail. Herren Dorsch and Selten, at considerable personal risk, acted to save my father. They complained repeatedly to the new owner that he did not understand that the business was international. Exporters and importers of feathers and downs world-wide understood what had happended to my father. As this impacted on the firm, it would cost the Gauleiter profits unless the former owner reappeared.

Koch ordered the Camp Commandant to relaese my father. The Commandant of Sachsenhausen refused, advising that he alone had authority over his prisoners. My father had become ill in the meantime, his strength was ebbing. Dorsch and Selten never stopped complaining to the new owner. Finally, an angry Koch advised the commandant, he was personally coming to the camp with his stormtroopers, to relaese my father. To avoid the confrontation, my father was literally booted out of the camp. Some weeks later, the family emigrated to England. Erich Koch became the sole ruler over the Ukraine during the war and was hanged in Poland afterwards. I have never forgotten my meeting with Mr. Dorsch. I wished I had the opportunity to thank him for saving my family.

Louis K. Maling
Chiffre 14467