"Marianne Tolska" Maria Agnes Golz-Goldlust (Wengraf) (?)

"Marianne TOLSKA" - Marianne GOLZ-GOLDLUST, divorced WENGRAF, divorced ?, née BELOKOSZTOLSZKY: b. 30 Jan 1895, Wien-Hernals - d. 8 Oct 1943, Prague

Marianne was reportedly married three times.

1st. marriage?

2nd. marriage: Ernst WENGRAF m. 16 July 1923, Wien

cf. marriage announcement viewable courtesy of:

ANNO, Salzburger Volksblatt: unabh. Tageszeitung f. Stadt u. Land Salzburg, 1923-07-16, Seite 4 http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=svb&datum=19230716&query...

They moved to Berlin together in circa 1924 and were subsequently divorced.

3rd. marriage: Hans Werner GOLZ-GOLDLUST m. 21 March 1929, Berlin

Biographical details courtesy of various sources including the following:

Marianne Golz - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne_Golz

Marianne Golz-Goldlust (née Belokosztolszky) was an Austrian-born opera singer and actress. She maintained a successful career in eastern Europe during the early 1920s, later moving to Prague, Czechoslovakia, and becoming a theatre critic. She married Jewish journalist Hans Goldlust in 1929. When Hans was arrested by Nazis in 1938, Golz-Goldlust secured his release, helping him and his other relatives escape to England. She stayed in Prague to help the Resistance, a dangerous task which she accomplished by hiding Jewish refugees, smuggling financial resources and information across borders, recruiting new resistance members, and holding resistance meetings at her home.

After she and several other resistance members were arrested by Nazis in 1942, Golz-Goldlust confessed to her part in the resistance and claimed her associates were innocent, successfully securing their release. Her family's legal attempts to have Golz-Goldlust freed were ultimately unsuccessful. In May 1943, she was sentenced to death by the Nazis, and was executed by guillotine in October of that year.

Golz-Goldlust's personal letters were compiled and published in book-form after the war, and her story became further popularized via articles, radio broadcasts, and a stage play. In 1988, Golz-Goldlust was recognized posthumously as Righteous Among the Nations.

Biography

Early life and career

Maria Agnes Belokosztolszky was born to a Catholic family on January 30, 1895, in Vienna, Austria. Her mother was Czechoslovakian, while her father was Polish.[1] She had a sister named Rosi.[2] After high school, Belokosztolsky trained as an opera singer and ballet dancer. She took on the stage name Marianne Tolska. Throughout the early 1920s, she appeared in performances in Linz, Stuttgart and Salzburg City, working with Austrian composer Nico Dostal and singing operettas alongside tenor Richard Tauber. During this time, she married and divorced twice.[1]

In 1924, Belokosztolszky moved to Berlin, where she met Jewish editor and journalist Hans Goldlust. The two married in 1929.[3] Hans had informally adopted the surname 'Golz' to avoid social stigma surrounding traditionally Jewish-sounding names in Germany, so when Marianne married him she adopted the surname Golz-Goldlust.[1] The couple moved to Prague in 1934, and Golz-Goldlust put her skills to work as a theatre critic.[3]

Resistance work

When the Nazis invaded Prague in 1939,[2] Hans was arrested. Golz-Goldlust successfully got him released, helping him escape to England. She also helped Hans' mother and sister escape the country.[3] Instead of joining them in safety, Golz-Goldlust decided to stay in Prague to help other persecuted Jews. She began holding social gatherings at her house to find like-minded citizens, and she soon met local resistance organizer Ottokar Zapotecky, whose network helped smuggle refugees out of Prague.[2] Golz-Goldlust recruited new resistance members from Czechoslovakia and Austria,[4] assisting Jewish refugees in their escape by putting them in touch with the network and moving financial resources across borders.[2] She hid refugees in her home, continued to hold resistance meetings, and arranged to smuggle important information about Prague conditions to the exiled Czech government over in England.[1]

Death and Legacy

On November 19, 1942[3], Golz-Goldlust and several of her resistance associates were arrested by the Nazis. Golz-Goldlust confessed immediately, telling her interrogators that she was the only resistance member in the group, and her associates were consequently allowed to go free.[1] Golz-Goldlust was held in Pankrác Prison. Despite her captivity, however, she continued to write a steady stream of letters to friends and contacts; the letters were written on paper scraps and smuggled out of prison whenever she had meals brought to her.[2]

Although Golz-Goldlust's family pursued legal means to have her freed, most lawyers were unwilling to risk the wrath of German authorities by arguing in her defense. Czech lawyer Marie Schrámek finally agreed to take the case, but was ultimately unable to free Golz-Goldlust,[4] despite an appeal to the Special German High Court and to the Reich Minister of Justice.[1] In May 1943, Golz-Goldlust was sentenced to death for her actions, and she was guillotined on October 8, 1943.[3]

In 1946, Golz-Goldlust's letters were compiled and published as a book titled Zaluji (I Accuse), and later in German translation as Der Große Tag (The Great Day). Her story was eventually featured in radio broadcasts, articles, and a play. In June 1988, Golz-Goldlust was formally recognized posthumously by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations for her work rescuing Jewish refugees.[2] An olive tree was planted in her honour at the Yad Vashem Memorial Centre in Israel.[1]

In 2011, the German Resistance Memorial Centre held a special exhibition focused on Golz-Goldlust's life.[5]

German version:

Marianne Golz – Wikipedia

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne_Golz

N.B. also ...

The Righteous Among The Nations

http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/family.html?language=en&itemId=40...

Golz FAMILY: Golz Maria (1895 - 1943 )

Rescue Story: Golz-Goldlust, Marianne

Marianne Golz-Goldlust was born in 1895 in Vienna as Maria Agnes Belokosztolszky the daughter of a Czechoslovakian mother and a Polish father who worked as an orchestra conductor. Using the stage name Marianne Tolska, she became an actress and opera singer, and between 1922 and 1924 was a member of the Salzburg City Theatre. In 1924 she moved to Berlin, and in 1929, she married Hans Goldlust, a Jewish journalist and literary editor who lived in Berlin. With the rise of the Nazis to power, the couple changed their name to Golz, and in 1934 moved from Berlin to Prague, where Golz-Goldlust became a theater critic. After the Nazi invasion of Prague in 1939, Golz-Goldlust’s husband was arrested by the Nazis. Golz-Goldlust met with the Gestapo and managed to get a temporary release for her husband, who then immediately fled to England. Golz-Goldlust remained behind in order to help her mother-in-law and sister-in law who were still living in the city. She held social gatherings in her home that attracted members of the anti-Nazi resistance, many of them Jews and half-Jews. In 1940 she met Ottokar Zapotecky, who was at the head of a network that helped Jews in Prague escape over the border. Golz-Goldlust made Zapotecky’s acquaintance by way of a common friend, Josef Goldschmidt, who, because he himself was on a list for deportation, later used this network to escape to Vienna. In October 1942, one of Golz-Goldlust’s friends turned to her for help. Viktor Kühnel, a half-Jew according to the Nuremberg racial laws, decided to escape from Prague to Vienna. Golz-Goldlust helped Kühnel make contact with Zapotecky, who agreed to help him to cross the border to Austria. She also made contact with her friend Goldschmidt in Vienna, who met Kühnel and helped him during his first days in Vienna. In addition, Golz-Goldlust took a sum of 20,000 krones from Kühnel, and transferred the money in small amounts to Vienna through her sister, Rosi, who lived in the city. In November 1942, the Nazis discovered Zapotecky’s smuggling ring, and all those who were involved in its activities were arrested. Eighteen people were put on trial in Prague, and on May 18, 1943, ten of them were sentenced to death, including Marianne Golz-Goldlust, Zapotecky and Goldschmidt. Kühnel was sentenced to one year in prison. The group was imprisoned in the Pancrač prison in Prague. Even behind bars, Golz-Goldlust stood out because of the power of her personality. She kept up a widespread correspondence, written on scraps of paper smuggled in and out with the food. Many of these letters were exchanged between her and a member of the Czech underground, with whom Golz-Goldlust fell in love after they met in jail. Golz-Goldlust was executed in jail on October 8, 1943, but the letters she wrote testified to the strength of her spirit and the optimism she maintained until her very last moments. After the war, her letters from jail were published in 1946 in Prague in a book titled Zaluji (I accuse), and later in German, under the title, The Great Day (Der Große Tag), and her life story became the basis for articles, radio broadcasts and even a stage play.

On June 9, 1988, Yad Vashem recognized Marianne Golz-Goldlust as Righteous Among the Nations.

Particularly valuable family information thanks to:

Ronnie Golz: Marianne Golz-Goldlust (1895 - 1943) http://www.rgolz.de/e-marianne.html