Laureen Nussbaum

Nussbaum was born Hannelore Klein in Frankfurt, Germany. As Germany became increasingly hostile toward Jews, Nussbaum's family moved from Frankfurt to Amsterdam in 1936. In her new neighborhood, Nussbaum met Anne Frank. Nussbaum's family and the Frank family had been friends in Frankfurt, though Nussbaum had not known the Frank children at that time. Nussbaum became closest to Anne's sister Margot. While growing up together, Nussbaum remembers Anne as "vivacious and smart", though the two were not particularly close.{{cite news | last = Powers | first = Lenita | title =Friend of Anne Frank tells her own story | url = http://archive.rgj.com/article/20060217/NEWS10/602170400/Friend-Anne-Frank-tells-her-own-story | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://archive.today/20140424182612/http://archive.rgj.com/article/20060217/NEWS10/602170400/Friend-Anne-Frank-tells-her-own-story | archive-date = April 24, 2014 | access-date = April 1, 2018 | website = archive.rgj.com | publisher = Gannet {{hyphen}} RGJ.com | date = February 16, 2006}} In fact, Nussbaum was "rather indifferent" about Anne, considering her a "noisy chatterbox" and "a shrimp".{{cite web|title=Laureen Nussbaum Video {{!}} Interviews|url=http://www.ovguide.com/laureen-nussbaum-9202a8c04000641f800000000c3cc990#|publisher=OV Guide|access-date=23 April 2014|archive-date=24 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424224541/http://www.ovguide.com/laureen-nussbaum-9202a8c04000641f800000000c3cc990|url-status=live}}

After Anne and most of her family were killed, Nussbaum remained close to Otto Frank, Anne's father and the only surviving member of Anne's immediate family. Otto was the best man at Nussbaum's wedding to Rudi.{{cite news|title=Holocaust survivors speak at Nestucca|url=http://www.tillamookheadlightherald.com/news/article_e943fc2e-49bd-11e0-8dd4-001cc4c03286.html|access-date=23 April 2014|date=9 March 2011|archive-date=1 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601195426/http://www.tillamookheadlightherald.com/news/article_e943fc2e-49bd-11e0-8dd4-001cc4c03286.html|url-status=live}}

Nussbaum has written about the fact that Anne Frank rewrote a large part of her spontaneous diary entries with the intention to publish an epistolary novel based on her diary.{{cite web|title=There are different versions of Anne Frank's diary.|url=http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Frank/A-diary-as-a-best-friend/At-last-seriously-taken-as-a-writer/|publisher=Annefrank.org|access-date=23 April 2014|archive-date=24 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424224728/http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Frank/A-diary-as-a-best-friend/At-last-seriously-taken-as-a-writer/|url-status=live}} While clear that "Otto should be congratulated for probably being the first to publish a document from the Holocaust," she has criticized him for combining Anne's two versions of her diary into one without explanation.{{cite web|last=Lee|first=Carol Ann|title=The Hidden Life of Otto Frank|url=http://www.harpercollins.com/author/authorExtra.aspx?isbn13=9780060520830&displayType=readingGuide|publisher=Harper Collins|access-date=23 April 2014|archive-date=25 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140425220323/http://www.harpercollins.com/author/authorExtra.aspx?isbn13=9780060520830&displayType=readingGuide|url-status=live}}

Of the memory that she keeps of Anne, Nussbaum stated in 1995 "Memory easily fools you and my memory is coloured, inevitably, by the fact that she has become so famous. I always found her lively and keen, but would never have thought she would turn into this icon. I am afraid the icon has become, for some people, a source of income and the person Anne is obscured by this. She stands as a symbolic figure upon whom the world can heap both its guilt and its commiseration."{{cite news|last=Lambert|first=Angela|title=Anne Frank: after the diary stopped|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/anne-frank-after-the-diary-stopped-1618257.html|access-date=23 April 2014|newspaper=The Independent|date=5 May 1995|archive-date=25 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825225421/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/anne-frank-after-the-diary-stopped-1618257.html|url-status=live}}

The Klein family moved to Amsterdam in 1936 to escape the increasing antisemitism in Germany. However, when the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in 1940, Jews were barred from many public places and in 1942 were forced to wear yellow stars on their clothing to denote their ethnicity. At the time of the invasion Nussbaum was twelve.

The Klein family was able to elude deportation because they were only part Jewish, claiming that Mrs. Klein was not Jewish at all. After that claim was accepted by the German authorities, only Nussbaum's father had to wear the yellow star on his clothing. The rest moved about society without issue. This is the subject of her book Shedding Our Stars: The Story of Hans Calmeyer and How He Saved Thousands of Families Like Mine published in 2019.{{Cite book|title=Shedding Our Stars: The Story of Hans Calmeyer and How He Saved Thousands of Families Like Mine|last=Nussbaum|first=Laureen|publisher=She Writes Press|year=2019|isbn=9781631526367|location=Berkeley}}

Nussbaum first met her future husband Rudi Nussbaum in Amsterdam, and acted as liaison for him while he was in hiding. Rudi hid for four years before the war ended, at first living with Dutch peasants, then in the countryside, and finally in the Klein home. The two married in 1947, two years after the war had ended. Of the experience Nussbaum stated "I would not have chosen, at the age of 13 or 14, a deep sense of obligation that someone was dependent upon you. But in all situations in life, you have to rise to the occasion. We decided the other person was decent and worth it."

In 1955, Nussbaum, along with her husband and children, spent a year in Indiana, where Rudi did post-doctoral research. Together Nussbaum and Rudi had three children; two sons and one daughter.{{cite news|title=Rudi H. Nussbaum Obituary|url=http://obits.oregonlive.com/obituaries/oregon/obituary.aspx?pid=154148365|access-date=24 April 2014|newspaper=Oregon Live|date=16 Oct 2011|archive-date=24 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424230025/http://obits.oregonlive.com/obituaries/oregon/obituary.aspx?pid=154148365|url-status=live}} Upon settling in California in 1957, Nussbaum changed her first name from Hannelore to Laureen.

In 1959, Rudi gained a position at Portland State University and the family moved to Portland, Oregon.{{cite news|last=Duin|first=Steve|title=Rudi Nussbaum and his wife, Laureen: A couple who rose to the occasion|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf/2011/10/rudi_nussbaum_and_his_wife_lau.html|access-date=23 April 2014|newspaper=Oregon Live|date=17 October 2011|archive-date=24 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424224937/http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf/2011/10/rudi_nussbaum_and_his_wife_lau.html|url-status=live}} While teaching part time at the same institution, Nussbaum acquired her Ph.D. and eventually a full time position in the Foreign Languages and Literature department, where she became Professor Emerita in 1989.{{cite web|title=SATURDAY, APRIL 5|url=http://www.millersville.edu/holocon/files/conference_programs/2003.pdf|publisher=Millersville University|access-date=23 April 2014|archive-date=24 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424224746/http://www.millersville.edu/holocon/files/conference_programs/2003.pdf|url-status=live}}

On July 22, 2011, Nussbaum's husband Rudi died after taking a fall in the Amsterdam Airport while the two were on holiday. After his funeral, he was cremated in Holland. The funeral was followed by a memorial service at the University Place Hotel and Conference Center in Portland.{{cite web|title=Oregon PSR Honors the Memory of Dr. Rudi Nussbaum|url=http://www.psr.org/chapters/oregon/news/oregon-psr-honors-the-memory.html|publisher=PSR|access-date=23 April 2014|archive-date=13 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111013220820/http://www.psr.org/chapters/oregon/news/oregon-psr-honors-the-memory.html|url-status=live}}

Nussbaum is published on a number of topics in multiple languages. Some key works include:

On Anne Frank 

"Anne Frank," in Women Writing in Dutch.{{Cite book|title=Women writing in Dutch|date=1994|publisher=Garland Pub|others=Aercke, Kristiaan, 1959-|isbn=0815302312|location=New York|oclc=28965768}}

"Anne Frank, The Writer," in Mit den Augen eindes Kindes: Children in the Holocaust: Children in Exile: Children under Fascism.{{Cite book|title=Mit den Augen eines Kindes : children in the Holocaust, children in exile, children under fascism|date=1998|publisher=Rodopi|others=Hertling, Viktoria|isbn=9042006234|location=Amsterdam|oclc=44019245}}

"Anne Frank: From Shared Experiences to a Posthumous Literary Bond," in Oregon English Journal.{{Cite journal|last=Nussbaum|first=Laureen|date=Spring 1999|title=Anne Frank: From Shared Experiences to a Posthumous Literary Bond|journal=Oregon English Journal|volume=XXI|pages=5–10|via=https://oregoncouncilofteachersofenglish.wildapricot.org/Oregon-English-Journal}}

"Anne's Diary Incomplete.  How Important are the Five Withheld Pages?" In Anne Frank Magazine.{{Cite journal|last=Nusssbaum|first=Laureen|date=1999|title=Anne's Diary Incomplete. How Important are the Five Withheld Pages?|journal=Anne Frank Magazine|pages=24–27}}

"Anne Frank," in Anne Frank: Reflections on Her Life and Legacy.{{cite book|title=Anne Frank: Reflections on Her Life and Legacy|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780252068232|url-access=registration|last=Enzer|first=Hyman Aaron|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=2000|isbn=9780252068232}}

On Bertolt Brecht

The Image of Woman in the Work of Bertolt Brecht.{{cite book|title=The Image of Woman in the Work of Bertolt Brecht|last=Nussbaum|first=Laureen Klein|publisher=Xerox University Microfilms|year=1977}}

"[https://www.jstor.org/stable/1428641 The Evolution of the Feminine Principle in Brecht's Work: Beyond the Feminist Critique]" in German Studies Review.{{Cite journal|last=Nussbaum|first=Laureen|date=May 1985|title=The Evolution of the Ferminine Principle in Brecht's Work: Beyond the Feminist Critique|journal=German Studies Review|volume=8|issue=2|pages=217–44|doi=10.2307/1428641|jstor=1428641}} 

"The Evolution of the Feminine Principle in Brecht's Work: An Overview" in A Bertolt Brecht Reference Companion.{{Cite book|title=A Bertolt Brecht reference companion|date=1997|publisher=Greenwood Press|others=Mews, Siegfried.|isbn=0313292663|location=Westport, Conn.|oclc=33405433}}

On Writings by Concentration Camp Survivors 

"Drawing Conclusions from a Sojourn in Hades: The Work of Gerhard Durlacher, an Auschwitz Survivor" in The Bulletin of the Center for Holocaust Studies.{{Cite journal|last=Nussbaum|first=Laureen|date=Spring 2005|title=Drawing Conclusions from a Sojourn in Hades: The Work of Gerhard Durlacher, an Auschwitz Survivor|journal=The Bulletin of the Center for Holocaust Studies|volume=9|issue=2|pages=5–8}}

"Three Concentration Camp Accounts by Teenage Survivors: A Comparative Analysis," in Autobiographische Zeugnisse der Verfolgung.{{Cite book|title=Autobiographische Zeugnisse der Verfolgung : Hommage für Guy Stern|date=2005|publisher=Synchron|others=Stern, Guy, 1922-, Feilchenfeldt, Konrad., Mahlmann-Bauer, Barbara, 1954-|isbn=3935025505|location=Heidelberg|oclc=59080194}}

"Anne Frank and Gerhard Durlacher, Two German-Dutch Writers: Parallels and Contrasts," in The Low Countries: Crossroads of Cultures.{{Cite book|title=The Low Countries : crossroads of cultures|date=2006|publisher=Nodus Publikationen|others=Broos, Ton J., Bruyn Lacy, Margriet., Shannon, Thomas F.|isbn=3893237119|location=Münster|oclc=71723022}}

On Georg Hermann

"Afterword," in Georg Hermann, Unvorhanden und stumm, doch zu Menschen noch reden. Briefe aus dem Exil an seine Tochter Hilde 1933-1941{{Cite book|title=Georg Hermann, Unvorhanden und stumm, doch zu Menschen noch reden. Briefe aus dem Exil an seine Tochter Hilde 1933-1941|last=Nussbaum|first=Laureen|publisher=persona verlag|year=1991|location=Mannheim}} (a volume she also edited).

"1926: Georg Hermann," in Yale Companion to Jewish Writing and Thought in German Culture 1096-1996.{{Cite book|title=Yale companion to Jewish writing and thought in German culture, 1096-1996|date=1997|publisher=Yale University Press|others=Gilman, Sander L., Zipes, Jack, 1937-|isbn=0300068247|location=New Haven|oclc=35990275}}

"A Sampling of Georg Hermann's 'Letters about German Literature,' published in Het Algemeen Handelsbad 1921-1926," in Georg Hermann: Deutsch-Jüdischer Schriftseller und Journalist 1871-1943.{{Cite book|title=Georg Hermann: Deutsch-Jüdischer Schriftseller und Journalist 1871-1943|last=Weiss-Sussex|first=Godela|publisher=Niemeyer|year=2004|location=Tübingen|pages=73–86}}

Other

"Witness Grete Weil: An Intensive Summer Graduate Seminar," in Shedding Light on the Darkness: A Guide to Teaching the Holocaust.{{cite book|title=Shedding Light on the Darkness: A Guide to Teaching the Holocaust|last=Lauckner|first=Nancy Ann|publisher=Berghahn Books|year=2000|isbn=9781571812087|pages=158–173}}

"[https://escarpmentpress.org/sophiejournal/article/view/2682 Confrontations in the New World. Grete Weil's 'Happy,' sagte der Onkel (1968)]" in The Sophie Journal.{{Cite journal|last=Nussbaum|first=Laureen|date=2015|title=Confrontations in the New World. Grete Weil's 'Happy,' sagte der Onkel (1968)|journal=The Sophie Journal|volume=3|issue=1|doi=10.15173/sj.v3i1.2681|doi-broken-date=12 July 2025 |via=https://escarpmentpress.org/sophiejournal/article/view/2682|doi-access=free}} 

"[https://www.jstor.org/stable/1429271 The German Documentary Theater of the Sixties: A Stereopsis of Contemporary History]," in German Studies Review.{{Cite journal|last=Nussbaum|first=Laureen|date=1981|title=The German Documentary Theater of the Sixties: A Stereopsis of Contemporary History|journal=German Studies Review|volume=4|issue=2|pages=237–255|doi=10.2307/1429271|jstor=1429271}}

Nussbaum's work has also been referenced in dozens of books, such as:

• Anne Frank: The Biography by Melissa Müller{{cite book|last=Müller|first=Melissa|title=Anne Frank: The Biography|year=1999|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=9781429978897}}
• Anne Frank Unbound: Media, Imagination, Memory by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett and Jeffrey Shandler{{cite book|last=Kirshenblatt-Gimblett|first=Barbara|title=Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Jeffrey Shandler|year=2012|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=9780253007551}}
• Bertolt Brecht: Centenary Essays by Steve Giles and Rodney Livingstone{{cite book|last=Giles|first=Steve|title=Bertolt Brecht: Centenary Essays|year=1998|publisher=Rodopi|isbn=9789042003095}}
• Between Sorrow and Strength: Women Refugees of the Nazi Period by Sibylle Quack{{cite book|last=Quack|first=Sibylle|title=Between Sorrow and Strength: Women Refugees of the Nazi Period|year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521522854}}
• Constructing a Sociology of Translation by Michaela Wolf and Alexandra Fukari{{cite book|last=Wolf|first=Michaela|title=Constructing a Sociology of Translation|year=2007|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=9789027292063}}
• German-Jewish Literature in the Wake of the Holocaust: Grete Weil, Ruth Klüger, and the Politics of Address by Pascale R. Bos{{cite book|last=Bos|first=Pascale R.|title=German-Jewish Literature in the Wake of the Holocaust: Grete Weil, Ruth Klüger, and the Politics of Address|year=2005|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9781403979339}}
• The Child's View of the Third Reich in German Literature : The Eye Among the Blind by Debbie Pinfold{{cite book|last=Pinfold|first=Debbie|title=The Child's View of the Third Reich in German Literature : The Eye Among the Blind|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780191554193}}
• The Woman who Knew Too Much: Alice Stewart and the Secrets of Radiation by Gayle Greene{{cite book|last=Greene|first=Gayle|title=The Woman who Knew Too Much: Alice Stewart and the Secrets of Radiation|url=https://archive.org/details/womanwhoknewtoom0000gree|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=9780472087839}}
• Theaters of Justice: Judging, Staging, and Working Through in Arendt, Brecht, and Delbo by Yasco Horsman{{cite book|last=Horsman|first=Yasco|title=Theaters of Justice: Judging, Staging, and Working Through in Arendt, Brecht, and Delbo|year=2011|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=9780804770323}}
• Winter Facets: Traces and Tropes of the Cold by Andrea Dortmann{{cite book|last=Dortmann|first=Andrea|title=Winter Facets: Traces and Tropes of the Cold|year=2007|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=9783039105403}}
• Women Without a Past?: German Autobiographical Writings and Fascism by Joanne Sayner{{cite book|last=Sayner|first=Joanne|title=Women Without a Past?: German Autobiographical Writings and Fascism|year=2007|publisher=Rodopi|isbn=9789042022287}}

A 2019 memoir, “Shedding Our Stars: The Story of Hans Calmeyer and How He Saved Thousands of Families Like Mine,” written in collaboration with Karen Kirtley, focuses less on Nussbaum's relationship with Anne Frank, and more on Hans Calmeyer, the German official who saved the Klein family.{{Cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/anne-franks-friend-writes-about-german-official-who-saved-thousands-from-camps/|title=Anne Frank's friend writes about German official who saved thousands from camps|last=Burack|first=Emily|website=www.timesofisrael.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-25|archive-date=2019-11-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191127234523/https://www.timesofisrael.com/anne-franks-friend-writes-about-german-official-who-saved-thousands-from-camps/|url-status=live}}

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Category:Anne Frank