Olga Benário Prestes
Encyclopedia
Olga Benário Prestes was a German
-Brazil
ian communist
militant
.
She was born in Munich
as Olga Gutmann Benário, to a Jewish family. Her father, Leo Benário, was a Social-Democrat lawyer, and her mother, Eugenie (Gutmann), was a member of Bavaria
n high-society. In 1923, aged fifteen, she joined the Communist Youth International and in 1928 helped organize her lover and comrade Otto Braun
's escape from Moabit
prison. She went to Czechoslovakia
and from there, reunited with Braun, to Moscow
, where Benário attended the Lenin-School of the Comintern
and then worked as an instructor of the Communist Youth International, in the Soviet Union
and in France
and Great Britain
, where she participated in coordinating anti-fascist activities. She parted from Otto Braun in 1931.
After her stay in Britain, where she was briefly arrested, Olga attended a course in the Zhukovsky Military Academy, something that led her to be charged in rightist histories with being an agent of Soviet military intelligence. Be as it is, due to her military training, in 1934 she was tasked with helping the return to Brazil
of Luís Carlos Prestes
, to whom she was assigned as a bodyguard. In order to accomplish this mission, false papers were created stating that they were a Portuguese
married couple. By the time they arrived at Rio de Janeiro
in 1935, this cover had become a reality, as the couple had fallen in love. After a failed insurrection in November 1935, Benário and her husband went into hiding, and after barely escaping a police raid at their bunk in Ipanema
, they were both eventually arrested in January 1936, during the harsh anti-communist campaign declared after Getúlio Vargas
had proclaimed martial law and was already plotting the 1937 coup that would eventually lead to the institution of the fascist-like Estado Novo
régime.
Pregnant and separated from Prestes, Benário clung to her alias
, only to have her real identity disclosed by Brazilian diplomacy, working hand-in-hand with the Gestapo
. Her lawyers' attempted at avoiding extradiction by means of an habeas corpus
at the Brazilian Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal), based on her pregnancy, that would have left a newborn Brazilian national in the power of a foreign government. As Brazilian law forbids the extradiction of nationals, Olga's lawyers expected to win time until Olga gave birth on Brazilian soil to an ipso facto Brazilian citizen - irrespective of the child's paternity, which remained legally doubtful in the absence of evidence for Olga's and Prestes' actual wedding - something that would have rendered extradiction quite unlikely. The plea, however, was speedily quashed, the rapporteur-justice alleging that habeas corpus was superseded by martial law and that Olga's deportation was justified as "an alien noxious to public order". She was then, despite an international campaign, taken back to Germany in September 1936, the commander of the German liner that took her having cancelled scheduled stops in non-German European ports, therefore foiling communist attempts at rescuing her. On arrival, she was put in prison, where she gave birth to a daughter, Anita Leocádia. The child was subsequently released into the care of her grandmother, Leocádia Prestes.
Olga, however, was eventually sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp
and from there to an experimental extermination camp set up at an old psychiatric hospital in Bernburg
in 1942, where she was gassed (see: Action T4
).
As Vargas joined the United Nations and Brazil entered World War II against the Axis, Luís Carlos Prestes, the father of Anita Leocádia and former partner of Olga Benário, eventually struck a political partnership with him according to Popular Front
Communist policies of the time: Prestes argued that, by declaring himself against Vargas' immediate resignation, he wanted to take a stand against "the decrepit remains of reaction".
, Olga was presented as the model of the female revolutionary, the writer Anna Seghers
having written a biographical sketch about her to be presented at the International Women's Day
of 1951. Her "official" 1961 biography by Ruth Werner was written in the same political orthodox mood.
In 2004, a popular Brazilian film based on Benário's life, Olga
, directed by telenovela
director Jayme Monjardim
, which offered a thoroughly depoliticized account of Olga's life, centered on her love affair with Prestes, was released, to the disappointment of German critique, who called it "kitsch
advertising". She was also the subject of a German documentary (with reconstructed scenes) directed by the former assistant to Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Galip Iyitanir, Olga Benário - Ein Leben für die Revolution.
Today, a street in Berlin
bears her name.
In 2006, the opera Olga
, by Jorge Antunes, premiered on October 14 at the Theatro Municipal
in São Paulo
, Brazil
.
Olga Benário was also subject of an opera Entre la Piel y el Alma by G. P. Cribari, which premiered in Glasgow at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama on May 22, 1992.
Jorge Amado
, in his 1942 biographical book "Vida de Luis Carlos Prestes
", compared her with Ana Ribeiro da Silva
, the Brazil
ian wife of Garibaldi - and remarked that "in the person of Olga, Europe repaid the debt to Latin America" (i.e., in her case it was a European woman revolutionary who married a Latin American revolutionary leader).
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
militant
Militant
The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
.
She was born in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
as Olga Gutmann Benário, to a Jewish family. Her father, Leo Benário, was a Social-Democrat lawyer, and her mother, Eugenie (Gutmann), was a member of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n high-society. In 1923, aged fifteen, she joined the Communist Youth International and in 1928 helped organize her lover and comrade Otto Braun
Otto Braun (Li De)
Otto Braun was a German Communist with a long and varied career.His most significant role was as a Comintern agent sent to China in 1934, to advise the Communist Party of China on military strategy during the Chinese Civil War...
's escape from Moabit
Moabit
Moabit is an inner city locality of Berlin. Since Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it belongs to the newly regrouped governmental borough of Mitte. Previously, from 1920 to 2001, it belonged to the borough of Tiergarten. Moabit's borders are defined by three watercourses, the Spree, the...
prison. She went to Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and from there, reunited with Braun, to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, where Benário attended the Lenin-School of the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
and then worked as an instructor of the Communist Youth International, in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, where she participated in coordinating anti-fascist activities. She parted from Otto Braun in 1931.
After her stay in Britain, where she was briefly arrested, Olga attended a course in the Zhukovsky Military Academy, something that led her to be charged in rightist histories with being an agent of Soviet military intelligence. Be as it is, due to her military training, in 1934 she was tasked with helping the return to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
of Luís Carlos Prestes
Luís Carlos Prestes
Luís Carlos Prestes was a leader of the 1920s tenente rebellion and the Communist opposition to the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas in Brazil....
, to whom she was assigned as a bodyguard. In order to accomplish this mission, false papers were created stating that they were a Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
married couple. By the time they arrived at Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
in 1935, this cover had become a reality, as the couple had fallen in love. After a failed insurrection in November 1935, Benário and her husband went into hiding, and after barely escaping a police raid at their bunk in Ipanema
Ipanema
For other uses, see Ipanema . For the British rock band, see Ipanema .Ipanema is a neighborhood located in the southern region of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between Leblon and Arpoador...
, they were both eventually arrested in January 1936, during the harsh anti-communist campaign declared after Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas served as President of Brazil, first as dictator, from 1930 to 1945, and in a democratically elected term from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Vargas led Brazil for 18 years, the most for any President, and second in Brazilian history to Emperor Pedro II...
had proclaimed martial law and was already plotting the 1937 coup that would eventually lead to the institution of the fascist-like Estado Novo
Estado Novo (Brazil)
Vargas Era is the period in the history of Brazil that lasted from 1930 to 1945, when the country was under the leadership of Getúlio Dornelles Vargas....
régime.
Pregnant and separated from Prestes, Benário clung to her alias
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
, only to have her real identity disclosed by Brazilian diplomacy, working hand-in-hand with the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
. Her lawyers' attempted at avoiding extradiction by means of an habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
at the Brazilian Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal), based on her pregnancy, that would have left a newborn Brazilian national in the power of a foreign government. As Brazilian law forbids the extradiction of nationals, Olga's lawyers expected to win time until Olga gave birth on Brazilian soil to an ipso facto Brazilian citizen - irrespective of the child's paternity, which remained legally doubtful in the absence of evidence for Olga's and Prestes' actual wedding - something that would have rendered extradiction quite unlikely. The plea, however, was speedily quashed, the rapporteur-justice alleging that habeas corpus was superseded by martial law and that Olga's deportation was justified as "an alien noxious to public order". She was then, despite an international campaign, taken back to Germany in September 1936, the commander of the German liner that took her having cancelled scheduled stops in non-German European ports, therefore foiling communist attempts at rescuing her. On arrival, she was put in prison, where she gave birth to a daughter, Anita Leocádia. The child was subsequently released into the care of her grandmother, Leocádia Prestes.
Olga, however, was eventually sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück was a notorious women's concentration camp during World War II, located in northern Germany, 90 km north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück ....
and from there to an experimental extermination camp set up at an old psychiatric hospital in Bernburg
Bernburg
Bernburg is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, capital of the district of Salzlandkreis. It is situated on the river Saale, approx. 30 km downstream from Halle. The town is dominated by its huge Renaissance castle featuring a museum as well as a popular, recently updated bear pit in its...
in 1942, where she was gassed (see: Action T4
Action T4
Action T4 was the name used after World War II for Nazi Germany's eugenics-based "euthanasia" program during which physicians killed thousands of people who were "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination"...
).
As Vargas joined the United Nations and Brazil entered World War II against the Axis, Luís Carlos Prestes, the father of Anita Leocádia and former partner of Olga Benário, eventually struck a political partnership with him according to Popular Front
Popular front
A popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...
Communist policies of the time: Prestes argued that, by declaring himself against Vargas' immediate resignation, he wanted to take a stand against "the decrepit remains of reaction".
Legacy
In the Post-War German Democratic RepublicGerman Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
, Olga was presented as the model of the female revolutionary, the writer Anna Seghers
Anna Seghers
Anna Seghers was a German writer famous for depicting the moral experience of the Second World War.- Life :...
having written a biographical sketch about her to be presented at the International Women's Day
International Women's Day
International Women's Day , originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and...
of 1951. Her "official" 1961 biography by Ruth Werner was written in the same political orthodox mood.
In 2004, a popular Brazilian film based on Benário's life, Olga
Olga (film)
Olga is a 2004 Brazilian film directed by Jayme Monjardim. It was Brazil's submission to the 77th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee.-Sinopsys:...
, directed by telenovela
Telenovela
A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...
director Jayme Monjardim
Jayme Monjardim
Jayme Monjardim Matarazzo is a Brazilian TV and film director. He is the only child of André Matarazzo Filho and Maysa Matarazzo....
, which offered a thoroughly depoliticized account of Olga's life, centered on her love affair with Prestes, was released, to the disappointment of German critique, who called it "kitsch
Kitsch
Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that...
advertising". She was also the subject of a German documentary (with reconstructed scenes) directed by the former assistant to Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
Galip Iyitanir, Olga Benário - Ein Leben für die Revolution.
Today, a street in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
bears her name.
In 2006, the opera Olga
Olga (opera)
Olga is an opera in three-acts and eight scenes in singspiel form composed by Jorge Antunes with a libretto by Gerson Valle. It premiered at Theatro Municipal of Sao Paulo on October 14, 2006. It is based on the life of Olga Benário Prestes....
, by Jorge Antunes, premiered on October 14 at the Theatro Municipal
Theatro Municipal (São Paulo)
Municipal Theatre of São Paulo is a theatre in São Paulo, Brazil. It is regarded as one of the landmarks of the city, significant both for its architectural value as well as for its historical importance, having been the venue for the Week of Modern Art in 1922, which revolutionised the arts in...
in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
Olga Benário was also subject of an opera Entre la Piel y el Alma by G. P. Cribari, which premiered in Glasgow at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama on May 22, 1992.
Jorge Amado
Jorge Amado
Jorge Leal Amado de Faria was a Brazilian writer of the Modernist school. He was the best-known of modern Brazilian writers, his work having been translated into some 49 languages and popularized in film, notably Dona Flor and her Two Husbands in 1978...
, in his 1942 biographical book "Vida de Luis Carlos Prestes
Vida de Luis Carlos Prestes
Vida de Luis Carlos Prestes , also published as "The Knight of Hope", is a 1942 book by Jorge Amado, a biography of the well-known Brazilian revolutionary Luis Carlos Prestes....
", compared her with Ana Ribeiro da Silva
Anita Garibaldi
Ana Maria de Jesus Ribeiro di Garibaldi, best known as Anita Garibaldi, was the Brazilian wife and comrade-in-arms of Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi...
, the Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian wife of Garibaldi - and remarked that "in the person of Olga, Europe repaid the debt to Latin America" (i.e., in her case it was a European woman revolutionary who married a Latin American revolutionary leader).