Partner Gertrude Sandmann
Queer Places:
Eisenacher Str. 89, 10781 Berlin, Germany
Alter St.-Matthäus-Kirchhof, Großgörschenstraße 12-14, 10829 Berlin, Germany
Tamara Streck (June 7, 1915 – October 4, 1979) was a former circus artist who worked as a driver. After the separation from Hedwig Koslowski in 1956, Gertrude Sandmann shared her life with Tamara Streck. While Gertrude Sandmann once trembled for her survival underground, Tamara Streck's life as a non-Jew had taken a different turn; as part of the "artistic troop support" she performed tricks on the trapeze.
In October 1979, Tamara Streck died of pneumonia and occupational arthritis. The early death of the much younger partner, born in 1915, deprives Gertrude Sandmann, who herself has cancer, of the psychological strength to continue living. Her willpower, which helped her to endure so much, is broken; she refuses to undergo life-prolonging therapies. Gertrude Sandmann, who wanted to "create more humanity" and build "bridges from person to person" with her art, died in January 1981.
My published books:
