Ilse Salberg (1901-1947) &
Anton Räderscheidt (1892-1970)
Having bought a plot of land with a house in Sanary, the painter Anton Räderscheidt, originally from Cologne and a leading figure in the New Objectivity art movement, left Germany in 1935 with his partner, the Jewish-German photographer Ilse Salberg, and their two children. When war broke out, they lived in Sanary. Anton was interned with Ernst, Ilse’s son, in 1939 and 1940 at Les Milles, Ilse with her daughter Brigitte at Gurs. In the winter of 1940/41, they found themselves in a precarious situation in Sanary, Ilse’s property and accounts in England having been frozen. When Mussolini’s troops arrived, they were expelled and taken to Barjols by the French Gendarmerie. After Ernst was arrested and deported to Auschwitz, the couple and Brigitte managed to escape to Switzerland with the help of the Barjols butcher.
Anton Räderscheidt and Ilse Salberg spent their happiest years together in Sanary. They met in Cologne in 1933, when Ilse was married for the second time to Rudolf Metzger, a wealthy Jewish jeweller and Räderscheidt’s patron.
In 1934, Ilse left her husband to follow Anton to France, taking her two children, Ernst Meyer from her first marriage, and Brigitte Metzger with her. After a stay in Paris, they came down to Sanary and bought a plot of land with a house in the Cride district, to which they added a studio for Anton. They divided their time between Sanary and Paris, but Sanary was a happy place. Thanks to Ilse’s money, from a wealthy family of Jewish merchants, they lived comfortably. They had a beautiful car, sophisticated photographic equipment and a darkroom for Ilse’s photos. They frequented the Café de la Marine on the harbour, but remained somewhat isolated from the other exiles. The Feuchtwangers were their closest neighbours, but Anton hated Lion.
On 3 September 1939, with the declaration of war on Germany, their status as political exiles was reclassified as ‘nationals of an enemy foreign power’. Their bank accounts were frozen and Anton, initially placed under house arrest, was interned at the Les Milles camp via the Toulon assembly centre, where he made friends with Alfred Kantorowicz. At Les Milles he met Franz Hessel and his neighbour Lion Feuchtwanger, with whom relations improved because of their shared misfortune. Fortunately, the internment ended at the end of September, but the respite only lasted a few months.
Following the Wehrmacht’s invasion of France, German-speaking nationals were once again interned at Les Milles in May 1940. With no public transport available, Lion Feuchtwanger, Anton Räderscheidt with Ilse Salberg‘s son, Ernst Meyer and Alfred Kantorowicz travelled together to the camp by taxi.
This second internment was much more trying, as extradition to the Nazis was a constant threat, so during a train transfer to Bayonne, Räderscheidt fled, went into hiding and finally managed to get back to Sanary.
For New Year’s Eve 1941, Ilse and Anton decided to share a meal with the exiles who had remained in Sanary. The mood on New Year’s Day was not a happy one, and they wondered what the future held in store for them. That day, Franz Hessel, exhausted by his two internments, suffered a heart attack and died a few days later.
After Mussolini’s troops seized their villa, Le Patio, in 1942, Anton, Ilse, and their children were expelled to the hinterland near Barjols. Ilse’s son Ernst Meyer was arrested and deported there. Anton, Ilse, and their daughter Brigitte managed to escape to Switzerland with the help of a butcher from Barjols. After Ilse’s death, Anton returned to Paris in 1947, where he met and married Gisèle. In 1949, they moved to Cologne. In the 1960s, Anton, his new wife, and their children visited Sanary. Though he entered the Bar de la Marine, he didn’t have the courage to go further. Anton Räderscheidt died in 1970 in Cologne following a stroke.
TO FIND OUT MORE
The Jacques Duhamel multimedia library in Sanary-sur-Mer has a collection of books on the theme of the memory of exile in Sanary.