Anne Ranasinghe papers

Anne Ranasinghe (1925-2016) was born Anneliese Henriette Katz on 2 October 1925 in Essen, Germany to Jewish parents Emil and Anna Katz. Emil Katz (1892-1944) was born on 16 August 1892 in Züschen, Germany to Joseph (1850-1905) and Marianne (d. 1933) Katz. He had eight siblings: Max (1878-1942), Victor (1884-1942), Julius (1885-1942), Hermann (1885-1914?), Lina (1887-1943), Klara (1889-1942), Moritz (1890-1915), and Sophie (1894-1943). He married Anna on 3 November 1924 in Essen. Anna Katz (born Aenne Amalie Mendel, 1902-1944) was born on 17 March 1902 in Cologne, Germany to Paula (1878-1942, née Stern, born on 23 October 1878 in Kamen) and Alfred Mendel. Alfred died when Anna was very young, and In 1908 Paula married Joseph Heiser (b. 5 May 1876 in Breitenbach), and they had a daughter Liselotte (1911-1986, later Lotte Nienaber).

Emil was a World War I veteran and his brothers Hermann and Moritz were both killed during the war. He owned a small factory that manufactured sanitary items. Although the family lived in Essen, in 1936 Anne began traveling daily to attend the Jewish Gymnasium in Cologne (the Jawne) since Jewish children were no longer permitted to attend the regular school in Essen. As a child, she also developed an interest in writing. Her family was religious and regularly attended Synagogue. Anne was also active in the Maccabi Hatzair Zionist youth group.

During Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938), the Katz family witnessed the burning of the Essen synagogue, and Anna and Anne were alone in their apartment when it was attacked on the evening of the 9th. Emil was arrested on the morning of 9 November. He was first sent to prison and later to the Dachau concentration camp. After sustained efforts by Anna, Emil was released from Dachau on 28 November. Anne’s parents decided to send her to England, with her grandmother’s brother, Dr. Ernst Stern and his wife Maria acting as her sponsor. On 26 January 1939 Emil took her as far as the Dutch border, arranged for her passage, and asked some Catholic nuns to look after her in the ship’s crossing from Flushing, Netherlands to Harwich, England. From Harwich, she travelled alone to Londonl to meet her great aunt. She stayed a few days with her, then was sent alone to the Parkstone Girls Grammar school in Dorset. When the war broke out in September, she was considered an “Enemy Alien” but was allowed to stay in school. Anne was able to remain in communication with her parents through letters sent via her father’s Dutch business partner, but after the German invasion of the Netherlands, all communication stopped.

By 1941, Anne’s father had lost his factory and her mother worked as a secretary. On 27 October 1941 Emil and Anna were deported to the Łódź Ghetto. On 10 July 1944 they were deported to the Chełmno extermination camp where they were murdered upon arrival. Anne did not learn the full story of her parents’ deaths until 1991. All of Emil’s siblings and Anna’s mother perished during the Holocaust.

From 1940-1941, the Germans conducted bombing raids on London and surrounding areas, and Anne survived the bombing of a theater in East Grinstead. In 1942, as part of her war service and to earn a living, she began training as a nurse at various London hospitals. She earned a midwifery degree at King’s College Hospital, where she met her future husband, Professor D. A. Ranasinghe, a Sri Lankan widower with three children who was earning a post-graduate degree there. They married in 1949. He returned to Sri Lanka where he was a member of the Medical Faculty at the University of Colombo (and later Chancellor of the University). Anne joined him in 1952 with their new baby. They had seven children including the three from his previous marriage.

By 1975, Anne had returned to writing, including an Amnesty International newsletter published through an office in her house, essays, and poems. Much of her work focused on themes related to the Holocaust. She was considered one of Sri Lanka's leading English language poets, and won several international awards. In 1985 she returned to Essen and her father’s hometown of Züschen for the first time since leaving in 1939. Her visit became the subject of Michael Lentz’s documentary Heimsuchung for German television. She was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2015. Additionally, a 1936 photograph of Anne in costume performing her Purim play is featured in the Daniel’s Story exhibition in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.