Ilse Stanley - Early Life

Early Life

Ilse was born in 1906 in the small mining town of Gleiwitz, Germany. The family moved to Berlin when her father, Magnus Davidsohn, was named as the main cantor at the new Fasanenstraße Synagogue being built in the Charlottenburg section of Berlin. The first time she entered the still-unfinished building, Ilse fell deeply in love with this synagogue (which she called "my House") and her life became thoroughly entwined with this synagogue. As a child of six she had the honor of presenting flowers to the German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm, when he came to dedicate the new temple, which opened on August 26, 1912.

Ilse graduated from the Auguste-Victoria-Schule (in Charlottenburg) at the age of fifteen. After graduation she continued to study theatre history and theatre science at the Theatre Science Institute and at the Berlin University, while working part-time as a bookkeeper and office manager. Later she studied acting and directing at the Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater (Berlin) and elsewhere. Using the stage name "Ilse Davis", her primary interest was in acting on the stage, although she also played bit parts in several films, including Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Her interest and ambition broadened to include directing and producing, and in 1929, just after turning twenty, she opened her own theatre organization. In this endeavor she handled everything from theatre production, promotion and publicity, to public relations; she also ran an Academy where entrants were taught acting, directing, and production.

Her acting career ended abruptly in 1933, however, as increasing pressure was put on the Jews by Hitler and his Third Reich and she was no longer able to rent theatres and concert halls. For the next three years, until 1936, she gave recital tours, speaking to her fellow Jews "wherever I was permitted to speak."