Julius Rackwitz

In 2017 a book from the library of Julius Rackwitz could be returned.

Julius Rackwitz was born on 31 December 1885 in Delitzsch, Saxony, and moved with his parents to Berlin in 1889. In 1904 he graduated from Sophien-Gymnasium and then studied English and French at the Royal Friedrich-Wilhelms-University, accompanied by longer stays in Paris, London and Oxford. His university education ended abruptly when he was called up for military service (WW I). He was deployed on the fronts in France, Russia, Galicia and Romania and was wounded. In June 1918, he obtained a degree as an interpreter for English and French from the Interpreter School in Berlin, from where he was directly dispatched to the intelligence unit at German General Headquarters. He was discharged from military service in November 1918.
 
After a temporary position as tutor, Julius Rackwitz was employed as foreign correspondent at Dresdner Bank from 1920. In 1921 he married Ella Bialostozky (born on 11 May 1893 in Neustettin). Their daughters Inge and Eva were born from this marriage. The family lived at Carmen Sylva-Strasse 60 in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg. When Julius Rackwitz lost his employment with Commerzbank in 1937 due to forced retirement and thus also his income, the family was forced to relocate several times. In 1938 he was taken into so-called protective custody during the November pogroms and interned in the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp until mid-December 1938. He was ordered to leave Germany together with his family. With help of the Jewish Community of Berlin, the couple was able to bring their daughters to safety on a Kindertransport to England in 1939. Their efforts to subsequently leave the country failed: Julius Rackwitz was deported to Theresienstadt on March 17, 1943 and to Auschwitz on 23 October 1944. Ella was also deported to Auschwitz (2 March 1943) and murdered.