Lesung "Die nicht erschossene Frau"

In the organizer's words:

April 12, 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the death of Else Gores, a courageous Düsseldorf citizen. In her novel The Woman Who Wasn't Shot, Düsseldorf author Doris Bender-Diebels describes Else Gores' last days.

It was only six days before the city of Düsseldorf was handed over to the US army when two members of the Kaiser army patrol found the deserted soldier Franz K. in her apartment on April 11, 1945. Someone had probably denounced them. Not only desertion, but also harboring deserters was punishable by death. They took the soldier away and brought him to the court martial. There he was shot immediately.

The same men picked up Else Gores hours later for questioning at Benderstraße 80 and took her from there to Eller Forst early in the morning on April 12. They shot her in the neck and left her lying there. She survived and women collecting wood found her lying on the forest floor calling for help. She asked the women for help, but before an ambulance arrived, the two members of the army patrol reappeared and took her away. Her body was never found. In 1948, a court declared April 12, 1945 to be the date of her death.

An event organized by kom!ma! - Verein für Frauenkommunikation e.V. in cooperation with the TMD.

Price information:

Reservations can be made via kasse_theatermuseum@duesseldorf.de or by calling 0211 89-96130.