Posiles Edeltrud (Becher)

Posiles, Edeltrud Edeltrud Becher was a young Viennese woman who, in 1936, met and fell in love with Walter Posiles, a Czech citizen. The two wanted to marry in 1938, but after the Nazi invasion of Austria in that year, this became impossible because Posiles was considered Jewish under the Nuremberg laws, and marriages between Aryans and Jews were forbidden. Posiles fled to Prague. He stayed in touch with Becher, and the two even managed to visit each other on a number of occasions. In the autumn of 1939 the Gestapo received an anonymous tip about Becher’s romantic relationship with a Jewish man, and a policeman was dispatched to the home of Becher’s family to investigate the matter. Becher was not there at the time, and she escaped to her sister who lived in Hungary, and stayed there for one and a half years. Friederike Buchegger*, a friend of Walter Posiles, heard about the plight of Edeltrud. She found a contact to a man that worked in the office of the Viennese Gestapo, and convinced him to destroy Becher’s file, along with the postcard from the anonymous informant. Becher was then able to return to Vienna, apparently in 1941. The contact between Becher and Posiles continued, and Walter Posiles twice crossed over the Austrian border for clandestine visits. Becher’s aunts, Lydia Matouschek* and Olga Holstein* allowed them to use a room in their apartment for eight days each time during both of these illegal visits. During the roundup and expulsion of the Jews of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to the camps in 1942, Walter Posiles, together with his two brothers, Hans and Ludwig, fled to Vienna, where Becher and her sister Charlotte took them in. The brothers sought refuge with Edeltrud Becher, who hid them in an attic apartment belonging to Friedrich Kunz, the fiancé of her sister Charlotte, who was in the army. Charlotte never told Kunz that his apartment was being used as a haven for fugitive Jews. When Kunz came home for vacations, the sisters were forced to smuggle the brothers to alternate hiding places. Charlotte had previously rented a room in Kunz’s apartment for her sister, and Becher hid Posiles in this room when Kunz came home. The Posiles brothers were hidden with other people – Ludwig with Alois and Josephine Kreiner*, and Hans with Maria Fasching*. The brothers remained in hiding from June 1942 until the end of the war. Sheltering the Posiles was not only dangerous it was also a great logistical challenge because it involved finding sufficient food and supplies for the three brothers in hiding during a time of severe rationing. It was also necessary to find and purchase medicines for Walter when he developed a life-threatening case of pneumonia. The friends who helped the Bechers hide the Posiles brothers also collected food stamps, provided them with supplies and medicines, and made contact with the few doctors who were willing to treat Jews in hiding. Despite this help, the day-to-day job of maintaining the three brothers fell on Edeltrud, with the help of her sister Charlotte (who had a small son and a profession). Edeltrud herself became ill and was hospitalized (and then the whole burden fell upon Charlotte), but after she recovered, she continued to take care of the Jews in hiding. Becher was well aware of the risk she was taking by maintaining a romantic relationship with a Jew, and by hiding Jewish fugitives. She always carried a poison pill with her so that, if caught, she would be able to commit suicide rather than submit to arrest and torture. In spite of the danger, Becher also prepared anti-Nazi publications and flyers, which Walter posted at various locations around the city. Hans Posiles, one of the brothers, was killed in a bombardment just before the end of the war. After the war, Posiles and Becher married, but they were divorced in 1962. Both of them continued to live in Austria. Ludwig Posiles also lived in Austria after the war. On October 26,1978, Yad Vashem recognized Edeltrud Posiles as Righteous Among the Nations. File1423