Marischa – More than a Miracle

An unusual, yet quiet survival.

Growing up with loving parents in Lodz, Maria König (1921-2019), known as Marischa, survives both the local ghetto as well as several camps. When she finally is freed from Theresienstadt, her entire family has been murdered. With her husband Adi, who is also a Holocaust survivor, she settles in the GDR as a staunch socialist, where she lives a life that is both long and – so she says – happy.


When Antje Leetz encourages her to record her memories on tape in order to preserve them for posterity, Maria König is almost 100 years old and lives in a nursing home. They have known each another for a long time and are familiar with one another. So Marischa indeed recalls her experiences from the past – some for the first time ever. She struggles to find both words and thoughts, and searches for long-repressend images that return to the surface and submerge again. As she speaks, the story of her survival unfolds – a story filled with loss and pain, but also gratitude, humour and a zest for life – along with a fascinating panoramic view of contemporary history.


Antje Leetz, born in 1947 in Frankfurt a. M., studied German and Slavonic studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin, and worked as a publishing editor for modern Russian literature for many years. Since spending a period working as an exchange editor in Moscow from 1985 to 1988, she has worked as a freelance radio author, editor and translator.