(kus) On Sunday, October 16, Trude Simonsohn was named Frankfurt's first honorary citizen in the Paulskirche church.
Trude Simonsohn was born in Olmütz in 1921. After the invasion of the Wehrmacht, she was deported to Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. In 1955 she moved to Frankfurt, where she assumed responsibility on the board of the Jewish community, and from 1989 to 2001 as chairwoman of the community council. Since 1975 she has appeared as a contemporary witness. Trude Simonsohn received the Medal of Honor of the City of Frankfurt in 1993 and the Ignatz Bubis Award in 2010.
Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann thanked the new honorary citizen in very personal words for her great services to Frankfurt: "Trude Simonsohn is an incredibly good listener. A woman who burns for her convictions, who stands up for them. She does not accept injustice and lack of freedom, but fights them. She always meets other people from equal to equal, she doesn't create bias, but takes it. An educator in the best sense of the word. In the public, as in the family. In public, it is the empathy, the openness, the understanding attention that has not taken away from the many, many listeners the shame and consternation that are inevitable if we have retained human feeling. But shame and consternation are the starting point if they give the impetus for more civil courage, more humanity, more commitment to social democracy. This is what Trude Simonsohn stands for: that the memory of the victims of Nazi crimes, of racial hatred and the historically unique breach of civilization, brings to life the will to shape the here and now. Then we will not remain in acceptance, but together become active fighters for our freedom and democracy!"
Trude Simonsohn was deeply moved by the tribute to her hometown: "I was born in Olomouc. I survived Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. I can understand the refugees of today very well. My family and I have found a home in Frankfurt. I am deeply attached to Frankfurt. I have made many friends here. On official occasions I always wear the city's badge of honour, of which I am very proud. In Frankfurt and the surrounding area, people, especially many young people, listen to me. They understand my fate - and they show civil courage against inhumanity today. Thank you to all those who show moral courage. Thank you to my city of Frankfurt."
Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann: "Given the life story of our new honorary citizen, it is anything but a matter of course that she has now lived in Frankfurt since 1955. It makes me happy when I read in her autobiography: ‚The home of my childhood exists only in my memory. Today I can say that I may not be at home in Germany, but I am certainly at home in Frankfurt.' We are deeply grateful for this trust."
In conclusion, Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann said, "Today we have awarded Trude Simonsohn honorary citizenship, the first woman to do so. Since the beginning of the award, only men have been honoured with it. With today, we are hopefully entering a new era in Frankfurt, which in the future will finally do adequate justice to the merits of women for Frankfurt."
