Remembering Clara Stier-Somlo: A life in the shadow of the Nazi era

Remembering Clara Stier-Somlo: A life in the shadow of the Nazi era

On June 4, 2025, the life of Dr. Clara Stier-Somlo, a remarkable woman who worked at the university library until 1933. Her career came during a time of extreme anti-Semitism and persecution, which was shaped by National Socialist ideology. After an accelerated rise in the academic world, Stier-Somlo was dismissed because of her Jewish origins and was forced to go into exile.

Dr. Clara Johanna Stier-Somlo was born on December 22, 1899 in Charlottenburg. She was the daughter of the legal scholar Fritz Stier-Somlo and Gertrud Rosenthal. Her family roots lay in the Jewish educational tradition; her grandfather, Josef Stier, was rabbi of the New Synagogue in Berlin. Clara studied in Cologne, Munich and Frankfurt am Main and received her doctorate from the University of Cologne in 1924. Her dissertation dealt with the topic “Substitution principle and law of substitution in economic theory”.

Career and dismissal

In 1930 she passed the examination for the higher library service, which laid the foundation for her career as an academic librarian. She initially worked at the Prussian State Library in Berlin before moving to the Kiel University Library in 1932. But this career came to an abrupt end when Clara Stier-Somlo was forced out of the library by the National Socialists on April 1, 1933 because of her Jewish origins and under threat of violence. The accusation was that she had acquired too much Catholic and Jewish literature.

After her release she emigrated to Prague. She lived there until her deportation in 1942. On June 10, 1942, she was deported to Poland with a thousand other Jews. Their deportation number was 73. Many of the deportees were murdered in the Majdanek concentration camp, while others were taken to the Sobibor extermination camp. Taurus-Somlo did not survive this captivity; she was probably murdered between June 1942 and October 1943. The Holocaust, in the context of which their deportation took place, is considered one of the cruelest genocides in history, in which an estimated 5.7 million Jewish people died.

Remembering and commemorating

Coming to terms with their fate is receiving new attention thanks to a current project at the University of Kiel. Supported by Daniela Herzberg and Kristin Grothe, an audio installation was developed that brings the life of Clara Stier-Somlo to life. This will be presented in the university library for three months and will be supplemented by exile poems from the National Socialist era, which will be integrated into the exhibition from June 3, 2025. Headmaster Gerhard Müller emphasizes the importance of the project as part of the remembrance of past injustices.

The project is additionally supported by the Ministry of General and Vocational Education, Science, Research and Culture (MBWFK) and the Schleswig-Holstein Institute for Vocational Training (SHIBB). A scientific center to research Clara Stier-Somlo's life and fate is already being planned in order to sustainably strengthen the work of remembrance.

Finally, a stumbling block for Clara Stier-Somlo will be honored in Kiel. This was moved on March 5, 2015 and is part of the culture of remembrance that was initiated by Gunter Demnig in Germany. These memorial stones are intended to commemorate the victims of Nazi persecution and make their fates visible. This form of remembrance is particularly important to raise awareness of the cruel crimes of National Socialism and to encourage future generations to deal with history.

For a more comprehensive insight into Clara Stier-Somlo's life story and historical context, see the reports from Kiel University, Wikipedia and segu story.