Lotte Bergtel-Schleif
Elly Lotte Bergtel-Schleif, née Schleif, was a German librarian who was actively involved in the [German German resistance to Nazism|resistance to Nazism|resistance] against Nazis while a member of the Communist Party of Germany. Bergtel-Schleif became head of the Berlin Library School after the war.
Life
Lotte Schleif was the daughter of Fritz Schleif, an elementary school teacher and deputy headmaster. Her mother was Martha Bergtel. From 1909 to 1920 she attended the Lyceum and the Oberlyzeum. From 1921 to 1925 she trained as a librarian at the Central Office for Public Libraries Berlin, the Berlin City Library and the Berlin State Library. In 1925, she completed her education with the exams as a librarian.When her training was complete, she was appointed to a position as a librarian in Stralsund public library. In 1928, she moved to work in the Free Public State Library in Gera. In 1930, she moved to the Neukölln public library. Between 1933 and 1937 Bergtel-Schleif worked on a commission of the Association of German Librarians to establish binding rules for alphabetical cataloguing. From 1936 until 1942 she worked at the Nordmarkplatz library, Prenzlauer Berg and by 1937 was promoted to director. In 1939 Bergtel-Schleif achieved civil service tenure.
Resistance
In 1930, Schleif met the librarian and sinologist Philipp Schaeffer while in a conference and the philologist Heinrich Scheel, who visited her library. Both would become important contact during the war. In spring 1933 she became a member of the KPD, through which she met John Sieg who ran a group of communists and sympathizers in Neukölln. Through Sieg she met Herbert Grasse and Otto Grabowski along with Willi Gurklies, Franz Knippenberg and Ludwig Marmulla. Through Sieg, Bergtel-Schleif was introduced to Arvid Harnack who was part of the German resistance group that would later be called the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr. Heinrich Scheel, Schulze-Boysen and Kurt Schumacher met via Schleif.Schleif provided courier services, writing and copying services, brought persecuted people to the border with Czechoslovakia and provided the use of her home to those who were fleeing the Nazis. In the summer of 1939, she provided escape assistance by hiding Rudolf Bergtel who had escaped imprisonment from Aschendorf-Moor Prison. Schleif contacted Elisabeth Schumacher and Elfriede Paul who helped organise his escape to Switzerland. She was also part of the resistance group around Harro Schulze-Boysen and Arvid Harnack, Robert Abshagen and many others from the Communist resistance against the Nazis.