Otto Weidt and his Workshop for the Blind: Saving Jews in the Nazi holocaust

(c) Neala Schwartzberg

The year is 1936. Otto Weidt (born in 1883) has become almost completely blind. He turns to brush-making to earn a living and has opened his Workshop for the Blind in Berlin, Germany.

Otto, who vehemently opposed the National Socialists and their Nazi party, begins to risk his life daily to save Jews from death. One way is to shelter them in his workshop. By 1939 most of his employees are Jewish.

I knew nothing about this extraordinary man when I arrived in Berlin for an exploration of Jewish history sites, but my thorough and knowledgeable guide, Yael Goldberg, told me that this is a stop I must make. So it was that I stood looking at a tiny back room where Chaim,  Machla, Max, and Ruth Horn lived in 1943. It is a  windowless room hidden behind a cupboard. Despite Weidt’s efforts the Horns were discovered in Gestapo raid, deported to Auschwitz  where they were murdered.

As I walked through the workshop and the displays I read about others, some with happier endings. There's the story of Alice Licht. One part of the story of her life includes being deported to Auschwitz. While on the train she manages to throw a postcard addressed to Otto from the window. It is found and sent to Weidt. He packs up and goes to Auschwitz on pretext - selling brushed  but in reality he was making plans to help Alice escape to a safe house. She survived the war and eventually returned to Berlin.

Even when his efforts were ultimately doomed, he never ceased helping. Hiding Jews, sending food, saving them from death in forced labor camps, bribing Gestapo to release them – pointing out to Gestapo that his products are classified as necessary to the war effort.

After the war he provided financial support for a Jewish home for children and elderly in Berlin. He died in 1947 at age of 64.

In 1971 Yad Vashem recognized Otto Weidt posthumously as one of the Righteous Among the Nations. Yad Vashem pays tribute to the men and women who stood up, risking their lives, at a time of persecution and tragedy. In a world that created genocide it is necessary to also remember and celebrate those in small and large ways said “I will not let this happen.”

The Museum Otto Weidt’s Workshop for the Blind (Otto Weidt’s Blindenwerkstatt) opened on December 5, 2006 It is located at: Rosenthaler Strasse 39 in Berlin. There is no charge for admission and the exhibits are in English and German. In addition, booklets describing some of the stories are available at no charge from the German Resistance Memorial Center

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(c) Neala Schwartzberg