[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"place-200":3,"supporters":49,"nearby-200":57},{"id":4,"title":5,"text":6,"photos":7,"videos":19,"audio":20,"coords":21,"stones":24,"town":40},"200","Heinz und Robert Sack","Robert Sack, 1939 nach England emigriert, erhielt im Sommer 1942 einen mysteriösen Brief, adressiert an einen Robert S. Ratchkowsky. An der Handschrift erkannte er, dass der Absender sein Bruder Heinz sein musste, der sich zur französischen Fremdenlegion gemeldet hatte. Offensichtlich war er in deutsche Kriegsgefangenschaft geraten – eine äußerst gefährliche Situation für einen deutschen Juden. \r\n\r\nDie Brüder Heinz und Robert Sack waren die Söhne des Baden-Badener Dermatologen Waldemar Sack und seiner Frau Sophie. Robert Sack ging am Gymnasium Hohenbaden zur Schule. Da der hochintelligente Schüler zwei Klassen übersprang, machte er bereits mit 16 Jahren sein Abitur. 1937 begann er im Schweizerischen Fribourg Physik zu studieren und setzte ab 1939 sein Studium in Bristol fort.\r\n\r\nSein älterer Bruder Heinz, der 1935 zunächst eine praktische Ausbildung zum Textilveredlungstechniker in Krefeld begonnen hatte, wich 1936 wegen der nationalsozialistischen Rassegesetzgebung zum Studium nach Prag aus und nach der Besetzung des Sudetenlandes 1938 nach Paris an die Sorbonne.\u2028\r\n\r\n\u2028Als Jude in deutscher Kriegsgefangenschaft\u2028\r\n\r\nHeinz Sack trat der Fremdenlegion bei und geriet 1940 in deutsche Kriegsgefangenschaft. Es gelang ihm über fünf Jahre hinweg, seine deutsch-jüdische Herkunft zu verbergen und sich unter dem Decknamen Ratchkowsky eine neue Biographie aufzubauen, die allen Zweifeln seiner national-sozialistischen Peiniger standhielt. Beide Brüder überlebten den Krieg, Robert wurde Hochschullehrer in London, Heinz ein Chemiker. Er blieb in Frankreich, wo er bei einem Autounfall 1964 ums Leben kam. \r\n\r\n\u2028\u2028Ratchkowsky – der Mann aus Haiti\u2028\r\n\r\nRobert Sack hatte seinem Sohn Simon nie viel über seine Jugend im national-sozialistischen Deutschland und den Krieg erzählt. Erst nach Robert Sacks Tod im Jahr 2004 entdeckte Simon auf dem Computer seines Vaters ein Dokument mit dem Titel \"Ratchkowsky\". Erst jetzt erfuhr er mehr über die abenteuerlichen Umstände, unter denen Roberts Bruder Heinz die deutsche Kriegsgefangenschaft hatte überstehen können. Lesen Sie nachfolgend den ganzen Bericht (in englischer Sprache).\r\n\r\n\r\nRatchkowsky – der Mann aus Haiti\r\n\r\nÜber die abenteuerlichen Umstände, unter denen Heinz Sack die deutsche Kriegsgefangenschaft hatte überstehen können.\r\n\r\nOne morning in the summer of 1942, as I entered the Physics Department, the portress came up to me: \"Mr. Sack! Two letters have arrived, addressed to one Robert S. and a surname after that, c\u002Fo Prof. Tyndall at this Department. We do not know who this might be, except possibly you\". I had no idea who could possibly write to me in such a code-like form; I ascertained that the letters came from abroad, and promised to let her know if they were meant for me. As I entered my office, which I shared with Freuhlich, my eyes fell on two missives which bore a notice in big capitals: \"KRIEGSGEFANGENENSENDUNG\".  \r\n\r\nThey contained no correspondence, only the address of the recipient, Robert S. Ratchkowsky, Prof. Tyndall, Physical Institute, Bristol University, Angleterre, and the sender's name, Jacques Ratchkowsky, with his camp address and POW number, and some instructions, in French, how to stick these labels on parcels, so that the POW in question would receive them personally.  The name Jacques Ratchkowsky meant nothing to me, but the handwriting did; it was my brother Heinz.  I had known for 18 months that he was a POW from the Foreign Legion, and had often worried to what extent he was endangered as a German Jew with Communist leanings; the idea that he might be living under a false identity had not occurred to me.  After the war he explained to me in detail how he had managed.\r\n\r\nWhen it became clear in June 1940 that the French Army was doomed, he was aware of the danger he was in.\r\n\r\n(The Gestapo did in fact call on my parents in Paris in the autumn of 1940 to ask where he was.  They could answer truthfully that he had been in the army and they had no idea what had become of him. They only learnt about his new existence in late 1940 from a fellow prisoner who had escaped.) Although we was fluent in French, he could not pretend it was his mother tongue. He also had to state his birth place and childhood residence where the Germans could not check up. In his unit they had a man of the name of Ratchkowsky, whom they had lost; so he assumed his identity. This had the advantage that he could claim to be of Russian origin and like many children of refugees from the Bolsheviks had only a smattering of Russian. His childhood he had spent in Haiti and went to school at the College Sainte Barbe at Port-au-Prince. The language in Haiti is a corrupt French, and he found out after the war that there is a school of that name at Port-au-Prince, St. Barbara being the patron saint of gunners and of mathematics. This fake identity helped him to survive five years of captivity. As first name he had chosen Jacques in case any of his comrades addressed him as Sack. He was glad to be separated from most of them soon after capture. As he had no papers to prove his identity, he was repeatedly re-examined; the most awkward moment came when he was confronted with a prisoner who really came from Haiti; he took courage from the fact that this man's name was Thoras like a well-known Jewish lawyer (not Thoraz like the French Communist leader at the time), so he assumed that this man was also Jewish, which he was. He confided in him, and the man did not betray him.\r\n\r\nÜber die abenteuerlichen Umstände, unter denen Heinz Sack die deutsche Kriegsgefangenschaft hatte überstehen können.\r\n\r\nThe first two years must have been hell, but he hardly talked about them.\r\n\r\nAt first the French prisoners almost starved, in spite of the fact that most of them were not even classed as POWs, having surrendered after the armistice.  He claimed that he had spent a year at school in Switzerland, hence he knew some German; this improved over the years.  He spent some time in a  punitive section, breaking stones, but I do not know why he was sent there; he even temporarily lost the use of his legs.  He was also interviewed by a White Russian officer to recruit him for the German occupation of the Soviet Union, but he refused.  He was totally immersed in his fake existence, speaking French when woken in the middle of the night.  Later in the war he developped exophthalmic goiter, and they wanted to operate it, but he refused as he might have talked German when coming out of his anaesthesia.  After two years conditions improved somewhat; at various stages he worked as a chemical assistant and in a hospital. In several camps he became spokesman for the French prisoners in view of his knowledge of German. He often talked how they organized escapes from camps, on one occasion switching identities of two Polish and two French prisoners, all recaptured escapees, due to be sent as far away from home as possible; they thus arrived in their own countries, where at least one pair escaped successfully.  When the first Italian prisoners arrived in his camp in late 1943, dirty and starving, the French received them with stones, but that night the Russians broke out of their compound and into the stores, looted food, took it to the Italians and then went back to their own compound; they knew what real starvation was like.\r\n\r\nTowards the end of the war Heinz was in Augsburg. Coal was desperately short in Germany, and the director of the local gas works was commissioned to produce charcoal. He was not interested in this work, and had no men to do it, so he asked Heinz if the French prisoners could do it. He agreed on condition that the material would be moved quickly as it was a fire hazard. After two weeks they had produced one ton of charcoal having used up 5 tons of coal. He then insisted that it should be moved, but there was no place to move it to, nor any transport, so he refused to carry on; a few days later the heap caught fire (accidentally, of course!) and had to be doused, which made it unusable.\r\n\r\nOn a more serious note, shortly before Augsburg fell to the US Army, he was approached by a spokesman of the Russian POWs along these lines: \"The Americans are coming shortly, we must do something on our part.\" \"No, the locals know that the game is up and will only be too pleased to get it over with. If WE do anything, they will be afraid of us after the way we have been treated, and will resist. It will cause unnecessary bloodshed.\" \"We have been in contact with a woman who has instructions from the Soviet Army and she told us we have to act\"; he even had detailed plans as to where the various groups should attack. \"This is a US Army field of operations, the Soviet Army makes no decisions for here. I can risk one man to get through the lines with a secret message; if we hear that message on the US Army radio, we act, but not otherwise\". \"No! We meet that woman again today, to settle the final arrangements\". They did, and 2 days later all those who had met her, a Gestapo agent, were shot. The US forces took the town a few days later and only a handful of lives were lost.\r\n\r\nOnce liberated, a contingent of French POWs commandeered a lorry and drove towards Paris.  It was a very patriotic German lorry and broke down at the pre-1918 Franco-German border. They had to make their way to a reception camp, and Henri, as he called himself from then on, was greatly impressed by the efficiency with which everything was handled.  Within a few hours all the Frenchmen were supplied with papers, fresh clothing, money and sent on their way home; in his case it took a day longer as he was not French.  He felt even inclined to volunteer for a further stint in the army!  When he reached Paris, his impression changed; the compensation which he got for his 5 years in captivity was just enough for 5 meals in a black market restaurant!\r\n\r\nHow could I help him in his predicament?\r\n\r\nMy parents had somehow advised him how to contact me, and he wrote me a postcard, which reached me only after the parcel labels as the textual censorship took longer.  On receiving the labels, which were for food parcels, I asked Professor Tyndall's permission to use the name Ratchkowsky with the Department's address; he agreed.  In order to be in the clear with the British authorities, I went to the local censorship office; but when they heard that the matter related to a POW, they rejected any explanation and referred me to the Red Cross.  \r\n\r\nI considered it too dangerous to explain the circumstances there, so I went to the Red Cross office in London which dealt with non-British POWs, giving my false name and avoiding the local office altogether.  At first no food parcels could be sent to French POWs from England, but about 2 months later one could send one label a month to the London RC who forwarded it to Geneva.  From there a standard food parcel of the type which British prisoners received weekly was sent to the POW.\r\n\r\nOf course I had to pay for the parcels, which I did gladly.  I never knew what they contained, and sometimes the contents were not appreciated.  On one occasion they had eaten only swedes for weeks, so he opened a tin from a newly arrived parcel. It was marked \"Golden Turnip\", which meant nothing to him; when he saw the contents, he felt like joining the SS.  Still, that was better than what befell a fellow POW, a rodent eradicator by trade; he got a parcel from his wife with lots of butter to which he invited his comrades; but when his lips touched the butter, he recognized the taste of rat poison and called STOP; she had got tired of waiting for him and had used his trade supplies in an attempt to get rid of him for good.\r\n\r\nEvery 3 months the POWs received another label, for a clothing parcel, some of these he sent me; this proved difficult with the strict clothes rationing in Britain, but I managed to send him one or two, containing things he had requested such as underwear, boots, brushes; one or two labels I sent to relatives in USA.  There was however one way I could help him right from the start: tobacco.  I went to Rothman's and ordered half a pound of pipe tobacco and 200 cigarettes for the first parcel and 200 cigarettes monthly to follow; no labels were needed, and the cost was minimal as no tax was charged.  He told me later that the first lot may have saved his life; he took it to the quarter-master, who gave him a French officer's uniform in return, which ensured him better treatment from the guards.  Later, in the Apartheid years, my mother asked me to sign a pledge to boycott South African goods, but Rothman's was included in the boycott; remembering their service during the war I refused her request. \r\n\r\nThe most difficult aspect was correspondence. \r\n\r\nI did not want to upset him by talking much about my civilian life, nor did I dare to mention our many relatives in England and USA.  Having a brother in England was one thing, a whole slew of friends or relatives would arouse suspicion.  Most of his letters and cards went through the same British censor, and I assumed my mail to him would likewise be checked by the same camp censor.  So my letters were rather dull, he even wondered if I had become moronic.  We managed to get some secret messages through:  In early 1943 he added \"43  Victory Street\" to my address on one label; alas he had to wait two more years.  Later that year, just to cheer him up, I wrote I had a special present for his next birthday; he thought I knew the date of D-Day; when that event occurred just 5 days before his birthday, he replied how pleased he was with my present.\r\n\r\nThe only time when I divulged my false identity to the British authorities was in 1947, when I applied for naturalization.  I explained the circumstances to the policeman who interviewed me; he took down the particulars, but I heard no more about it from the Home Office.\r\n\r\nOne by-product of my contacts with Henri was that I came to organize \"Fairy Godmothers\" for other French or Foreign Legion prisoners.\r\nHe assured me after the war that he had never given my address to anybody, but someone must have taken note of it and also passed it on to other POWs.  At one stage three labels for food parcels arrived addressed to Prof. Tynªdall.  I passed these on to two girl students studying French, asking them to write to them and to send off the labels to the Red Cross in their name; the costs I partly bore myself, partly covered by making collections among my friends.  The letter to one of the prisoners arrived after he had been repatriated for health reasons; his pal to whom the letter was passed fell in love with the unknown sender.  The girl, being very prim and proper, got rather embarrassed by his tone, but on my urging carried on with the correspondence until shortly before the armistice; in one letter he even quoted Byron at her.  Three more POWs sent labels in 1944 from a camp where my brother had never been; a lady of Professor Tyndall's acquaintance, who had a son in Japanese captivity where she could not help him at all, offered to bear the cost for these.  One of these POWs apologized in his letter of thanks for inconveniencing private persons; he had been told that this was an organization helping French POWs.  After the armistice none of the girls heard anything from their prisoners; but I felt I had done a good deed in arranging for some female correspondence to their camps.  I have since heard of cases in France where such exchanges of letters led to marriage, but that was not my intention; I just wanted to give the men some pleasant thoughts in their miserable condition.",[8,14],{"original":9,"thumb":10,"caption":11,"width":12,"height":13},"https:\u002F\u002Fstolpersteine-guide.de:443\u002Fuploads\u002Fmedien\u002F927e503e0ec2188ec22311a8f514c3bf.jpg","https:\u002F\u002Fstolpersteine-guide.de:443\u002Fuploads\u002Fmedien\u002F927e503e0ec2188ec22311a8f514c3bf_thumb.jpg","Robert Sack (2.v.l.), Schulzeit in Baden-Baden, 30er Jahre",1136,638,{"original":15,"thumb":16,"caption":17,"width":18,"height":12},"https:\u002F\u002Fstolpersteine-guide.de:443\u002Fuploads\u002Fmedien\u002Fef0b3336e58baafe1fdce47b5c7e2b1b.jpg","https:\u002F\u002Fstolpersteine-guide.de:443\u002Fuploads\u002Fmedien\u002Fef0b3336e58baafe1fdce47b5c7e2b1b_thumb.jpg","Heinz Sack, 40er 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Mailformular zu öffnen.\r\n\r\nGesetzlicher Vertreter:\r\nPeter Boudgoust (Intendant)\r\n\r\nUmsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer:\r\nDE 812481116\r\n--------------------------------------------\r\n\r\nSWR.de\r\nist das Internetangebot des Südwestrundfunks\r\nKlicken Sie hier, um das Mailformular zu öffnen.\r\n\r\nGesamtverantwortlich:\r\nPeter Boudgoust (Intendant);\r\nHauptabteilung SWR.Online:\r\nJürgen Ebenau\r\nInternet-Inhalte zu Hörfunk- und Fernsehsendungen des SWR und die SWR.de-Nachrichten werden von den zuständigen Programmdirektionen verantwortet:\r\n\r\nFernsehen:\r\nChristoph Hauser\r\n\r\nHörfunk:\r\nGerold Hug\r\n\r\nLandessender Baden-Württemberg:\r\nIngrid Felgenträger\r\n\r\nLandessender Rheinland-Pfalz:\r\nDr. Simone Schelberg\r\n\r\nLeiter der Online-Nachrichtenkoordination: Markus Geyer\r\n\r\n--------------------------------------------\r\n\r\nNachrichtenagenturen:\r\nAFP, AP, DPA, Reuters, 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