Journalist, actress, author, and Holocaust survivor Peggy Parnass passed away at the age of 97 in her adopted home of Hamburg. According to Tagesschau, she died on Wednesday morning surrounded by friends and family.
Hamburg's Mayor Peter Tschentscher honored Parnass as a tireless fighter against right-wing extremism and discrimination. "We mourn an extraordinary citizen of our city," said Tschentscher, according to Tagesschau. "Her tireless commitment to democracy, tolerance, and humanity should continue to be an example to us in the future."
Cultural Senator Carsten Brosda praised Parnass's lifelong dedication to justice. "Always a free spirit and unafraid to cause a stir, she advocated for an open and diverse society," said Brosda, according to Tagesschau. "Hamburg is losing a friendly, warm-hearted, and special person who is rarely met. Whether in the front row of a theater, with a broad smile at the edge of a reception, or somewhere in the corner of a room in intense conversation—I will miss her infinitely."
Born on October 11, 1927, in Hamburg, Peggy Parnass narrowly survived the Holocaust as a child. In 1939, she and her four-year-old brother were brought to Stockholm on a children's transport, where she lived in twelve different foster families, as reported by Münchner Merkur. Her parents, Simon and Hertha Parnass, were deported by the Nazis to the Warsaw Ghetto and later murdered in the Treblinka concentration camp, along with around 100 relatives, according to Die Zeit.
After the war, Parnass initially lived in London before returning to Hamburg, her birthplace. "I decided to come along—whether enrolled or not. And so I got stuck in Hamburg," she once said, as reported by Hamburger Morgenpost. In Hamburg, she worked as a language teacher, film critic, author, and actress, becoming an icon of the leftist bohemia in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
Parnass made a name for herself primarily with her court reports, which were published in the magazine Konkret between 1970 and 1978. She wrote detailed accounts of court proceedings, becoming known as the "human embodiment of the bad conscience of the Federal Republic," as Alfred Biolek once called her, according to Hamburger Morgenpost.
As a publicist and committed civil rights activist, Parnass received numerous awards, including the Joseph Drexel Prize for outstanding achievements in journalism, the Biermann-Ratjen Medal from the city of Hamburg, and the Federal Cross of Merit, as reported by Münchner Merkur.
Throughout her life, Parnass fought against injustice, intolerance, and forgetting, dedicating herself to these causes and raising her voice against injustices. "It demands self-respect to try to change something," she believed, as quoted by Stern. She remained politically active until her last days, engaging in numerous protest movements and advocating for justice, according to Die Welt.
In 2021, Parnass was appointed an honorary member by the German PEN Center, recognized for her courageous fight for democracy and human rights against all forms of fascism and oppression, as reported by Die Zeit.
Her autobiographically influenced anthology Süchtig nach Leben (1990) received attention, in which she reported on her life full of passion, according to Münchner Merkur. In her earlier book Unter die Haut (1983), Parnass wrote movingly about her sheltered childhood in Hamburg, the first hostilities against Jews, and the terrible day in 1939 when her mother sent her and her brother away on a children's transport to Stockholm, as noted by Stern.
Parnass kept letters and photos from her mother in a shoebox as her treasured possessions, including the last postcards from the Warsaw Ghetto with the words, "Goodbye! Shalom! We love you! We always think of you! Be good and don't be sad!" Unfortunately, her guardian later burned the shoebox along with its contents, as reported by Die Welt.
Despite the traumatic experiences of her childhood, Parnass's "unbridled joy in life" gave her the strength to keep going, she said in an interview with Die Welt.
After a fall in autumn 2019, Parnass lived in a senior citizens' home in the Hamburg district of St. Georg, where she suffered from the isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic, as reported by Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Hamburg's Bishop Kirsten Fehrs honored Parnass as an "indefatigable fighter for justice" and stated, "Against the background of her own dramatic fate as a victim of the Nazi regime, she dedicated her life to a humane and solidarity-based society," according to Süddeutsche Zeitung. "I will miss her clear words and her lovable, warm-hearted nature very much," Fehrs added.
Deputy Mayor Katharina Fegebank called Parnass an "impressive woman" and "an important voice of Hamburg," describing her as a "curious, warm-hearted, and opinionated personality who always advocated for the concerns of minorities," as reported by Tagesschau.
"As a reporter and author, she contributed to the consistent reappraisal of Nazi crimes," said Peter Tschentscher, according to Tagesschau.
Her legacy as a moral and anti-fascist authority will continue to inspire future generations. "We all owe her a lot," said Carsten Brosda, according to Tagesschau.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.
