ESSA Berlin: Luise Greger

Luise Sumpf Greger was a German prodigious composer and pianist. She was born on December 27, 1862 in Greifswald, Germany and by the age of twelve, she was writing and performing for such esteemed clients as the Tsar of Russia. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luise_Greger) She became a teacher and at the age of twenty, she was married. She later had three sons but continued to compose and perform her music. In 1911, she divorced her husband and continued to support herself with her writing and performances. As her health began to decline and after the death of her oldest son, she admitted herself to an old folks home where she was killed on January 25, 1944.

The Nazi party had begun to experiment with eugenics. They believed the weak races and individuals must die off to strengthen the human race. This was the philosophy behind the Holocaust, but their inhumanity affected more than just those sent to the concentration camps. The elderly, those with learning disabilities, and the physically impaired also fell under scrutiny. Although she had supported herself financially all her life and dedicated herself to furthering German art, she was deemed unuseful to society because of her “gradually increasing senile mental disorder”. They denied her food until she finally succumbed to starvation in 1944. (http://www.greger-luise.de/biografie)

The memorial I stood in front of was dedicated to all those who fell victim to Nazi eugenics home but it made no mention of Greger specifically. Outside of Berlin, Luise-Greger-Platz was named in her honor and dedicated in 2019. Otherwise, Greger has no public commemoration. A pair of brothers from BYU eventually recovered and republished much of her work but her works remain largely unknown. In their attempts to condense and revitalize German culture, the Nazis seem to have been largely successful in erasing Greger’s contributions to German art. Unless further action is taken, I fear she will remain in obscurity.