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Adolf Althoff 1913 - 1998

Adolf Althoff was born on June 25, 1913, and died at age 85 years old on October 14, 1998. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Adolf Althoff.

Adolf Althoff

June 25, 1913

October 14, 1998

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Adolf Althoff Adolf Althoff (1913 - 1998)

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Adolf Althoff's History: 1913 - 1998

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Introduction

Adolph Althoff was a German circus owner, animal tamer and performer who saved several people from the Holocaust by having them work and travel in his circus. A member of a 300-year-old circus family, Althoff and his story are featured in a book about Germans who saved Jews from the Holocaust. Wikipedia Born: June 25, 1913, Sonsbeck, Germany Died: October 14, 1998, Stolberg (Rhineland), Germany
06/25

1913

Birthday

June 25, 1913

Birthdate

Unknown

Birthplace

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Professional Career

Adolph Althoff was a German circus owner, animal tamer and performer who saved several people from the Holocaust by having them work and travel in his circus. A member of a 300-year-old circus family, Althoff and his story are featured in a book about Germans who saved Jews from the Holocaust.
Personal Life & Family

Rescue in a Circus Adolf Althoff's family had owned the famous Althoff circus since the 17th century. Adolf was born in 1913 in the family's circus wagon, while the circus performance was going on. When his older brother and sister took over the family enterprise in 1939, Adolf established his own circus. Shortly afterwards he married Maria, who was also from a circus family. The Adolf Althoff circus, which consisted of approximately 90 artists and their families, toured all over Europe, and continued its regular activity throughout the war years, traveling from one place to another. In the summer of 1941, the circus stopped for a prolonged round of performances near Darmstadt in Hesse. One of the visitors at the site was a young girl by the name of Irene Danner. She was a descendant, on her mother’s side, of the Lorch family, a celebrated German-Jewish circus dynasty that had settled in the small town of Eschollbrücken near Darmstadt in the 19th century. Her father was non-Jewish and had been enlisted in the German army. Although Irene was half-Jewish, she and her sister were considered Jews according to Nazi Germany's racial laws. They suffered from severe discrimination – they had been ostracized by their classmates, and following Kristallnacht in 1938, were entirely expelled from school. Irene had to give up violin lessons and was barred from fulfilling her dream and going to ballet school. All doors were closing in Irene Danner’s face. She therefore went to Adolf Althoff in the hope of being able to join the circus. Although he was well aware of her Jewish descent and despite being subjected to severe control by the German Ministry of Culture, Althoff agreed to engage Irene in his circus under an assumed name. She soon fell in love with another circus artist, a clown by the name of Peter Storm-Bento from Belgium. They couldn't get married because of the racial laws, but soon had a child and then another. In 1942, the persecution of the Jews of Darmstadt entered a new, lethal phase. On 20 March 1942, the first deportation to Lublin in Poland took place, to be followed by two more deportations in September 1942 and in February 1943. Irene’s Jewish grandmother was deported with the last deportation from Darmstadt and the family house was confiscated. Irene's mother, Alice, and her sister Gerda managed to escape to the circus. Peter Storm-Bento turned to Althoff and asked him to help his partner's family. “There was no question in our minds that we would let them stay…,” Althoff explained after the war, "I couldn't simply permit them to fall into the hands of the murderers. This would have made me a murderer." He provided shelter for the three women in his circus until the end of the war. They were eventually joined by Irene’s father, Hans Danner, who, like other partners in mixed marriages, had been sent home from the front and ordered to divorce his Jewish wife. Danner decided to defy his commanders and join his family’s clandestine existence. Sheltering four illegals during the war years was a high-risk undertaking. Although the circus’ relative seclusion did afford some protection from inquisitive eyes, the Gestapo would regularly inspect the circus when it arrived at a new place. The Danners would then hide on the premises until the danger passed. The whole circus kept the secret. No one denounced the family, but the Althoffs had to reckon with the ever-present possibility of a denunciation by one or another disgruntled worker. The threat actually materialized once, but the wily circus director knew how to distract the Gestapo officers’ attention with a drink or two, giving the illegals extra time to disappear. On January 2, 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Adolf and Maria Althoff as Righteous Among the Nations. “We circus people see no difference between races or religions,” said Adolf Althoff, when he received the honor. Online Store The Encyclopedia of the Righteous among the Nations The Encyclopedia of the Righteous among the Nations $435.00 Yad Vashem logo Yad Vashem Har Hazikaron P.O.B. 3477 Jerusalem 9103401 Israel Phone: (972) 2 6443400 Fax: (972) 2 6443569 Email: [contact link] Interested in receiving information and updates from Yad Vashem?
10/14

1998

Death

October 14, 1998

Death date

Unknown
Cause of death

Unknown
Death location

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Obituary

Adolf Althoff, 85, Circus Chief Who Hid People From Nazis By Eric Pace Oct. 19, 1998 Adolf Althoff, a courageous German circus executive who saved several people in the Nazi era by having them work and travel with his circus, died in his sleep on Wednesday in a hospital in Stolberg near Aachen. He was 85 and lived in Stolberg. The cause was probably heart failure, said the German news agency DPA. He had been hospitalized after a fall at home. A member of a 300-year-old circus family, Mr. Althoff figures in a book about Germans who saved Jews from the Holocaust, ''Other Germans Under Hitler'' by Herbert Straeten, published last year in Germany. In the book Mr. Althoff is quoted as saying, ''Circus people don't ask if you are Christian, Jewish or heathen.'' When the book was published Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel of Germany said: ''It is incredible how many simple people -- farmers, people in the circus -- tried to help. But it was a minority who had the courage to resist. Most Germans did not.'' Mr. Althoff, who warned people who traveled with him when the Gestapo came to check the circus with the phrase, ''Go fishing,'' once said in an interview, ''In a circus you can do a lot and keep it secret.'' His bravery earned a high Israeli honor in 1995 from the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Israel. It also won him an award in 1994 from a German organization, the Stuttgart Circus-Friends, which called him a descendant of one of the oldest and greatest circus families in Germany. He was born into the family in Sonsbeck near Dusseldorf, while his parents' circus was on tour. At 17 he became publicity director of the circus. Mr. Althoff and his sister formed their own circus while he was in his 20's, and he was its ringmaster for 30 years. He was also, as one circus colleague put it after his death, ''a fantastic animal trainer and animal psychologist.'' He even managed to ride tigers. ''His operation was regarded as a model circus because of its discipline and the beauty of its numbers,'' DPA said. His career took him around Europe and to North Africa and the United States. What Happened After the Joke: A Stand-Up’s Harrowing Tale In 1940, Mr. Althoff began five years' of concealing the four members of the Bento performing family in his circus. By some accounts the husband, Peter Bento, and his wife, Irene, were Jewish. Peter worked as a clown and Irene as a trick rider. Other accounts suggest that the husband was not Jewish. Their two children were reported to be still performing in Germany 40 years after the war, much in demand as clowns. Mr. Althoff is said to have provided the the Bentos false identity papers and letting family members perform under pseudonyms. The German newspaper Die Welt said on Friday: ''In every city Gestapo officials came to check the circus. Because Althoff had friends in almost every city he was mostly informed a bit ahead of time about the 'visit.' Then he knocked on the widow of the Bentos' large covered wagon and gave the cue for them to disappear: 'Go Fishing.' '' Years later heart trouble and diabetes forced Mr. Althoff to cut back his activities. In 1965 he sold his circus at the time, the Frederike Hagenbeck circus, and founded a ''safari park'' near Aachen. When his son, Franz, founded the Williams Althoff circus in 1977, Adolf Althoff went on tour with it. When he was 70 a tiger performing with him bit his hand. He had the wound bandaged quickly and kept performing. Surviving are his wife, Maria, and son.

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Adolf Althoff lived 9 years longer than the average family member when died at the age of 85.

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14 Memories, Stories & Photos about Adolf

Amanda S. Stevenson

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10/05/2019

Adolf Althoff

A photo of Adolf Althoff

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

10/05/2019

Adolf Althoff employee?

A photo of an employee of Adolf Althoff?

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

10/05/2019

Adolf Althoff Friend?

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Ingeborg Rhodin, Charley Baumann and Adolph Althoff

Amanda S. Stevenson

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10/13/2017

Ingeborg Rhodin, Charley Baumann and Adolph Althoff

A photo of Ingeborg Rhodin with Charley Baumann and Adolph Althoff taken by Amanda S. Stevenson

A photo of Charly Baumann
A photo of Axel Gautier's sister Ingeborg Rhodin, famous Horsewoman, Charly Baumann, famous Tiger Trainer and Adolf Althoff, famous Lion Tamer at Madison Square Garden in 1966. Taken by Amanda S. Stevenson (friend to all of them).

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

10/05/2019

Adolf Althoff Relative?

A photo of a relative of Adolf Althoff?

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

10/05/2019

Adolf Althoff

A photo of Adolf Althoff

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

10/05/2019

Adolf Althoff

A photo of Adolf Althoff

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

10/05/2019

Adolf Althoff

A photo of Adolf Althoff

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

10/05/2019

Adolf Althoff

A photo of Adolf Althoff

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

10/05/2019

Adolf Althoff

A photo of Adolf Althoff

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Adolf Althoff's Family Tree & Friends

Adolf Althoff's Family Tree

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Adolf Althoff Jun 25, 1913 - Oct 14, 1998

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Other Biographies

Other Althoff Family Biographies

Althoff, Marion (Oct 19, 1915 - Aug 20, 2002) Althoff, Philip (Oct 8, 1904 - Jul 1987) Althoff, Lester (Aug 11, 1921 - Nov 1979) Althoff, Jessie (Dec 21, 1907 - Jul 25, 1998) Althoff, Lois (Feb 10, 1925 - Nov 1975) Althoff, John (Sep 29, 1934 - Sep 26, 2009) Althoff, Teresa (Sep 11, 1948 - Sep 11, 2004) Althoff, John (Dec 9, 1909 - Jun 1984) Althoff, Barbara (Jan 20, 1888 - Aug 1977) Althoff, Charles (Nov 15, 1889 - Oct 1962)

Althoff, Hermine (Mar 30, 1906 - Dec 1973) Althoff, Letty (May 27, 1903 - May 1981) Althoff, Bernard (Jan 4, 1935 - Jul 23, 2002) Althoff, Fred (May 10, 1926 - Aug 12, 1995) Althoff, Mary (Apr 7, 1898 - Jan 13, 1997) Althoff, Elfi (Apr 1, 1914 - Feb 22, 1995) Althoff, Carl (Jun 10, 1905 - Sep 1987) Althoff, Gertrude (Mar 29, 1897 - Jan 1985) Althoff, Margaret (Mar 4, 1902 - Nov 1972) Althoff, Lelia (Nov 6, 1911 - Jun 27, 2002)

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Adolf Althoff 1913 - 1998

Adolf Althoff's History: 1913 - 1998

Introduction

Birthday

Professional Career

Personal Life & Family

Death

Obituary

14 Memories, Stories & Photos about Adolf

Adolf Althoff's Family Tree & Friends

Adolf Althoff's Family Tree

Adolf's Friends

Other Althoff Family Biographies