06/03/2026
For , we are sharing the stories of LGBTQ+ individuals from history.
Gertrude Sandmann (1893–1981) was a Berlin artist who refused to let persecution erase her life or her work.
As a Jewish woman and a le***an under N**i rule, Sandmann faced constant danger. She was banned from exhibiting her art, pushed out of public life, and stripped of her professional identity. But she did not disappear.
Sandmann had built her artistic career at a time when women were often excluded from formal training. She studied at the Berlin Association of Women Artists and later worked under Käthe Kollwitz, who remained an important mentor and friend.
In her personal life, Sandmann also challenged expectations. She knew she was a le***an from a young age. After a brief marriage to a man due to social pressure, she developed a lasting partnership with Hedwig Koslowski in 1927. Their relationship would later become a lifeline.
By the early 1940s, the threat of deportation was real and widely understood as a death sentence. In 1942, Sandmann made a desperate and courageous decision to stage her own death. Leaving behind a su***de note and her belongings, she went into hiding in Berlin.
For more than two years, Sandmann lived in secret. She moved between hiding places, relying on a small network of trusted friends, including Koslowski, who risked her own safety to help her survive. Cut off from her art and community, Sandmann endured isolation, hunger, and fear: but she survived.
After the war, Sandmann returned to her work. Despite lasting health problems from her time in hiding, she rebuilt her artistic career, exhibited her work, and even held a solo exhibition in 1974. She also became an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights in postwar Germany. Her life reminds us that even in the darkest times, people find ways to endure hardship and remain inspired to create.
Learn more about her life here: https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/content/blog/kulturerbe-erzaehlt-die-kuenstlerin-gertrude-sandmann?lang=en
Artwork - Berlinische Galerie:
Grüne Schneeballen, 1949
Kauerndes Mädchen mit Schatten, 1940
