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Esther Bejarano (archive picture): »It will always have a place in our hearts.«
Photo: imago stock & people / imago / Future Image
She fought anti-Semitism and racism all her life.
Representatives from politics and society react with sadness and sadness to the death of Holocaust survivor Esther Bejarano.
"With her death we suffered a great loss," wrote Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in a letter of condolence to the children.
"It will always have a place in our hearts." Bejarano experienced firsthand "what it means to be discriminated, persecuted and tortured".
"With her we are losing a courageous personality who stood up for those persecuted by the Nazi regime to the end."
Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) spoke up via the short message service Twitter: "The wonderful Esther Bejarano impressed with her vitality and unbelievable story," wrote Maas (SPD).
"We will miss your voice."
The International Auschwitz Committee recalled the work of the courageous woman. "Your gift of winning people over to the preservation of memories was just as legendary as your anger over the stupidity of right-wing extremism and the anti-Semitism that erupted everywhere and that deeply disturbed you," said Vice President Christoph Heubner. Still, hatred was never an option for them. “With Esther's Bejarano's death, the world became a bit darker, although this very person gave us so much light. We will sorely miss them in these days of growing right-wing extremism. "
Bejarano, born in Saarlouis in Saarland in 1924, survived the Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau as an accordion player in a girls' orchestra.
After the Second World War, she first went to Israel, but later returned to Germany, where she became involved as a contemporary witness.
She had last lived in Hamburg.
"With the death of Esther Bejarano, Hamburg loses an extraordinary citizen who was committed to the common good into old age," said the first mayor of the Hanseatic city, Peter Tschentscher (SPD), according to the announcement.
"With her often controversial requests to speak, she has given important impulses for democracy, a culture of remembrance and equality over many decades."
The Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock warned: "It is up to us to pass on what we have experienced and what people like Esther Bejarano told us, to remember and never to forget for the future."
Left chairmen Janine Wissler and Susanne Hennig-Wellsow declared that Bejarano had dedicated her life "to the fight against fascism and against oblivion."
With her commitment she "gave courage and strength".
"She is a role model for us and her life remains our mission," explained Wissler and Hennig-Wellsow.
The director of the Anne Frank educational facility, Meron Mendel, wrote on Twitter via Bejarano that she survived Auschwitz "because she played the accordion in the camp orchestra."
She dedicated her life to music and the "fight against racism and anti-Semitism".
Together with daughter Edna and son Joram, Esther Bejarano founded the group Coincidence in the early 1980s.
She has received numerous awards for her artistic commitment, including the Biermann Ratjen Medal from the City of Hamburg, the Carl von Ossietzky Medal from the International League for Human Rights and the Federal Cross of Merit.
mic / dpa / afp