Lisa Fittko

Lisa Fittko (born Elizabeth Eckstein, Hungarian: Eckstein (Ekstein) Erzsébet; Uzhgorod 1909 - Chicago 2005) was a young woman who lived through the Nazi occupation of Europe.

For her bravery and actions during the occupation she is considered an "invisible hero of resistance."

Lisa Fittko's life was formed in her work in the underground resistance of Nazi-occupied Europe. She came to international recognition over forty years later through her two widely-translated memoirs, in which she describes her actions (considered inspirational by many who read about them) in the voice of a fearless young woman, a bohemian, an activist. It is, however, a voice altogether lacking in self-glorification or self-pitying victimization. Her bravery in leading refugees, including many famous intellectuals and members of the anti-Hitler resistance from Nazi-occupied France across the Pyrenees into Spain, brought her international fame.

Perhaps the best-known refugee she was able to help was Walter Benjamin, who reached Portbou, Spain with her help in September 1940. Benjamin was found dead in the small hotel in the border town of Port-Bou where they arrived on the morning after the Spanish police threatened to turn the small group of émigrés he was with back. The rest of Fittko's group was subsequently allowed to proceed. According to Fittko, Walter Benjamin carried with him a heavy briefcase which he claimed to be more important than his life. This story, a sensational discovery for his close collaborators and friends, was not confirmed by other accounts, causing some controversy. Authorities such as Chimen Abramsky, who was among the first to hear the story and from Fittko herself, give Fittko's account credibility. A briefcase was mentioned in the Spanish police records, but its contents are not described there. Speculations as to what may have been inside the briefcase have been the subject of scholarly articles and artistic works inspired by Benjamin's story and Lisa Fittko's account of it in her books.

Lisa Fittko was born into an international Jewish family (Simon, Ekstein. Her large family was active in many spheres of cultural and economic life of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. One branch of her family was active in the Czech National Movement, others were prominent industrialists and patrons of the arts. Johann Strauss II, the "Waltz King" was an in-law, and she grew up in the company of her aunt Malva Schalek. After her family moved to Berlin, she witnessed the Nazi rise to power, and became involved in anti-fascist politics. She worked as an underground resistance fighter in Berlin, Prague (where she met her husband and comrade Hans Fittko, Zurich, Amsterdam, Paris, Marseilles and finally, in the Pyrenees.

With her husband Hans, she escaped to Cuba, and from there entered the United States. She died in Chicago at the age of 95. She was remarkably clear of thought for her age. Here excerpt from the obituary in the New York Times, March 21, 2005.:

Ms. Fittko emerged from a leftist, artistic family to become active in the resistance to Hitler in the early months of his rule, then fled to continue the fight in other European countries for seven years. For seven tense months in 1940 and 1941, she escorted refugees on a tortuous path over the Pyrenees mountains so they could go on to Spanish and Portuguese ports to seek passage to safe havens. Many of the people she helped were intellectuals, artists and anti-Nazi organizers.

Catherine Stodolsky's biographical information on her aunt is the best source for a full historical account of Lisa's life: