Born: March 11, 1906, Germany
Died: July 21, 1970
Country most active: Germany
Also known as: Ilse Davidsohn
Ilse (Intrator) Stanley was a German Jew who, working with a handful of people including Nazi Gestapo members of the Gestapo and other Jewish civilians, secured the release of 412 Jewish prisoners from Nazi concentration camps between 1936 and 1938, before the devastating events of Kristallnacht (November 9, 1938). An actress no longer allowed to work in the theatre as a Jew, she used her skills – along with falsified papers – to free the imprisoned Jews. She volunteered with the vice-president of the Jewish Community, to have a cover office from which to work, and to provide a legitimate front for getting people out of Germany. She worked in the Passports Office, on “the most hopeless” cases. In addition to working out passport issues for people and enabling many Jews to leave the country while it was still legal to do so, she continued her trips to the camps, ultimately securing the release of 412 people.
Her story was featured in 1955 on Ralph Edwards’s television program, This Is Your Life, and is recounted in vivid detail in Stanley’s autobiographical book, The Unforgotten, which was published in the United States in 1957.