Elise Saborovsky Ewert

Elise Saborovsky Ewert (born November 14, 1886[1][2] in Hanover, Germany; died February 2, 1940, in Ravensbrück concentration camp) was a German communist activist who worked around the world, but is most known for her work in Brazil during the 1930s.

Elise Saborovsky Ewert
woman facing camera head-on, black and white photograph
Ewert around 1936
Other namesBerger, Elisabeth, Machla, Macha Lenczycki, Sabo

Biography

Ewert was born in Hanover to Polish parents.[3] She worked as a secretary and typist.[3]

She met and became a partner to Arthur Ewert in the 1914, though they would not marry until 1922.[4][5] She became politically active in 1913.[3] A year later, she and Ewert moved to Canada and was interned due to her political activities.[3][5] Traveling to the United States, she became a photographer.[5]

She later returned to Germany and, in 1920, joined the Communist Party of Germany. Ewert then became a member of the Comintern.[6] She and her husband traveled to China on a secret mission in 1932.[3] They were in the Soviet Union during 1934.[3]

They arrived in Brazil in March 1935 (under false names with American passports) and were fundamental to the establishment of the "National Liberation Alliance," or the Aliança Nacional Libertadora in July.[4] A few days later, President Getúlio Vargas declared it illegal and it became an underground organization dedicated to planning the government's overthrow.[4]

After the failure of the Communist uprising in Brazil in November 1935, they were arrested in Rio de Janeiro.[2] The Ewerts were tortured, including in front of each other, and Elise was sexually assaulted.[6] In 1936[4][3] or 1937, she was deported to Germany and handed over to the Gestapo.[6][2]

She was first held at Lichtenburg concentration camp.[5] Though some sources state that she escaped to France, Ewert most likely died in Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1939 or 1940.[4]

References
  1. "Ewert, Elise – Deutsche Biographie". Deutsche Biographie (in German). Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  2. "Ewert, Arthur". Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur (in German). May 2008. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  3. Jeifets, Victor; Jeifets, Lazar (2015). "E". América Latina en la Internacional Comunista 1919–1943 (in Spanish). Ariadna Ediciones. pp. 189–200. ISBN 978-956-8416-39-3. OCLC 1031325844.
  4. Coutinhou, Amélia. "Arthur Ernst Ewert". CPDOC – Centro de Pesquisa e Documentação de História Contemporânea do Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  5. Friedmann, Ronald (2011). "Arthur Ewert und Elise Saborowski". Jahrbuch für Forschungen zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung (in German). 10: 5–21. ISSN 1610-093X.
  6. Smallman, Shawn C. (1999). "Military Terror and Silence in Brazil, 1910–1945" (PDF). Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (PDF). 24 (47): 15–16. doi:10.1080/08263663.1999.10816774. ISSN 0826-3663. Retrieved September 26, 2022 – via CORE.
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