Ellen Ettlinger: A Folklorist Flees the Nazis

Ellen Ettlinger: A Folklorist Flees the Nazis

4 June – 24 November 2019
Archive Case (First Floor)

September 2019 marks the eightieth anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, and this archive display marks the occasion by highlighting the work of Ellen Ettlinger (née Rathenau) (1902–1994), a Jewish folklorist who was forced to flee Germany in 1938 due to persecution by the Nazi regime, and who settled in Oxford.

A number of academics fled persecution and arrived in Oxford during this period. Many of them were supported by the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning. One of these scientists, an anthropologist called Dr Heinrich Meinhard, worked at the Pitt Rivers Museum from 1938 to 1947.

Ellen Ettlinger was born into a wealthy family which had set up the large electronics firm Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG); yet although members of the family were notable both as industrialists and politicians, they increasingly fell foul of right-wing persecution due to being Jewish.

Ettlinger travelled widely in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, as her journals on display here show. In 1938 she travelled through Italy at the time when Hitler visited Mussolini, and she gives a vivid eyewitness account, writing: ‘You notice the propaganda and you get annoyed. Rich decoration and troops of soldiers remind of Hitler’s return journey. Behind Trento, two country houses show big signs with Heil Hitler.’

Ettlinger’s 1938 journal ends abruptly with the following passage that shows how suddenly her decision to flee Germany must have been taken, and how emotional it was: ‘In Genoa, passport control was very noticeable to me. Full of gloomy premonitions and a heavy heart, we started our journey home. Return to Paulfisch on 1 June. On 17 June emigrated to England. These seventeen days were heartbreaking.’

Typing up this journal a few years later, she added: ‘The first 4¾ years in England were so hard that I did not dare to read or write down my notes. Now, in February 1943, the victories of the Russians and the Eighth Army in Africa give me hope for better fortune.’

During her time in Oxford, Ellen Ettlinger was an active member of the Folklore Society, and helped found a local branch in 1949, the Oxfordshire and District Folklore Society. She gave talks about her research on amulets and church traditions, among other topics, and researched material culture such as costume and local folklore. She also travelled to Ireland, visiting the Aran Islands in 1949 where she took a number of photographs and spoke to local people about craft and folklore.

Ettlinger published a number of articles on Irish and English folklore over the years, but her tremendous contribution was equally one of organising local folklore society meetings, serving as vice-chair for most if its existence (1950s and 1960s), and preparing many reports on ‘Monuments of Folklore in Oxfordshire’ for its Annual Record.

Displayed in the case is a selection from Ettlinger’s own research records, organised according to place and category, which she donated in the mid-1960s and that are archived at the Pitt Rivers. The overall collection contains around six hundred photographs relating to English, Irish and continental European folk-customs and arts.

Portrait of Ellen Ettlinger, pictured sitting on a hotel terrace alongside the River Nile. Luxor, Egypt. Photographer unknown. 17 March 1935. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Ettlinger Papers, Box 2, Item 5, fol.20v.)

Tourists visiting the Karnak Temple Complex, near Luxor, enter the Temple of Seti II. Photograph by Ellen Ettlinger. 17 March 1935. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Ettlinger Papers, Box 2, Item 5, fol.25v.)

Page from one of Ellen Ettlinger’s diaries, covering visits made in 1935 to Venice and Egypt. This page shows how she interspersed her daily entries with photographs taken or purchased during her travels. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Ettlinger Papers, Box 2, Item 5, fol.25v.)

Facing pages from one of Ellen Ettlinger’s typescript diaries, this entry of 23 March 1935 describing a visit to Jerusalem in the Holy Land. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Ettlinger Papers, Box 2, Item 6, fol.30v–31r.)

Children playing on the roof of a house. Santorini, Greece. Photograph by Ellen Ettlinger. 23 May 1938. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Ettlinger Papers, Box 2, Item 8, fol.27v.)

Facing pages from one of Ellen Ettlinger’s several typed diaries, this entry recounting an afternoon spent on the Greek island of Santorini: ‘Ich muss gestehen, dass der Anblick von Santorin der schönste meines Lebens ist.’ (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Ettlinger Papers, Box 2, Item 8, fols.27v–28r.)

Page from one of Ellen Ettlinger’s four handwritten diaries, this entry of 6 April 1931 describing a first visit to Oxford, when she stayed at the Mitre Hotel and saw the city’s sights following an edition of the Baedeker guide. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Ettlinger Papers, Box 1, Item 4, p.47.)

FESTIVALS: Whitsun. ‘Church floor strewn with hay.’ Shenington, Oxfordshire, England. Photograph by the Norman Blinkhorn studio (known as Blinkhorn’s, Banbury). 1950. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1965.5.1.218)

FOLKDANCE: ‘The Morrisdancers at Bampton’. Photographs by Ellen Ettlinger. Bampton, Oxfordshire, England. 1949. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Numbers: 1965.5.1.252–.254)

Reverse of the previous index card, showing Ellen Ettlinger’s typed label with notes and attribution. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1965.5.1.252–.254)

FOLKDANCE: ‘The Morrisdancers at Bampton, Oxon, 1949. The accordeon player is old Mr. Kimble.’ Photograph by Ellen Ettlinger. Bampton, Oxfordshire, England. 1949. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1965.5.1.253)

VILLAGES & small towns. ‘Half-timbered and thatched houses, clipped yew trees on road from Oxford to Worcester.’ Photograph by Ingegärd Vallin. 1948. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1965.5.1.520)

VILLAGES & small towns. ‘Harpsden, Oxon. Barn decorated with old printing plates’. Photograph by Ellen Ettlinger. Harpsden, Oxfordshire, England. Undated. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1965.5.1.517)

VILLAGES & small towns. ‘Great Tew, Oxon. The stocks and houses.’ Photograph by Sigurd Erixon. Great Tew, Oxfordshire, England. Undated. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1965.5.1.535)

COSTUMES, Ireland, Aran Isles. ‘Woman with her grandson. Note skirt on boy and the broad celtic type of head of woman.’ Photograph (and comment) by Thomas H. Mason. Aran Islands, County Galway, Ireland. Undated. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1965.5.1.114)

Reverse of the previous index card, showing Ellen Ettlinger’s typed label with notes and attribution. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1965.5.1.114)

COSTUMES, Ireland, Aran Isles. ‘Man wearing homespun tweed. Schoolteacher wearing flimsy colourful shawl’. Photographs by Ingegärd Vallin. Aran Islands, County Galway, Ireland. 1949. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Numbers: 1965.5.1.129–.130)

COSTUMES, Ireland, Aran Isles. ‘Man wearing homespun tweed.’ Photograph by Ingegärd Vallin. Aran Islands, County Galway, Ireland. 1949. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1965.5.1.129)

COSTUMES, Ireland, Galway. ‘Marketday in Galway City. Note dress of old man. This photo was taken about 1900–1905 and the dress is almost extinct now’. Photograph (and comment) by Thomas H. Mason. Galway, County Galway, Ireland. Circa 1900. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1965.5.1.140)

COSTUMES, Ireland, Kinsale, Co. Cork. ‘The lovely gowns with hoods for head are handed down from mother to daughter for generations – mostly seen in West Co. Cork. It is a lovely sight to see the women coming from Mass.’ Photograph (and comment) by Thomas H. Mason. Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland. Undated. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1965.5.1.143)

FARMLIFE: Domestic Utensils, Ireland. ‘Kitchen Utensils.’ Photographs by Michael J. Murphy. Ireland. Undated. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Numbers: 1965.5.1.175–.176)

‘Turf cutting at Ross, Ireland’ (prints on left). ‘Turf – Transport on Aran Isles’ (prints on right). Photographs by Ingegärd Vallin and Ellen Ettlinger. Ireland. 1949. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Numbers: 1965.5.1.507–.511)

TRANSPORT of water. ‘Young girl carrying a tankard of water from the well. The tankards are made locally of wood bound with iron hoops.’ Photograph (and comment) by Thomas H. Mason. Aran Islands, County Galway, Ireland. Undated. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1965.5.1.500)

VILLAGES, Ireland. ‘Thatched cottages on Aran Isles’. Photograph by Ingegärd Vallin. Aran Islands, County Galway, Ireland. 1949. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1965.5.1.553)

HOLY WELLS. ‘Pilgrims at Doon Holywell, Co. Donegal.’ Photograph by Thomas H. Mason. Doon, County Donegal, Ireland. Undated. Ellen Ettlinger has noted: ‘The so-called rag-mannikins in the background are crutches sunk in the soil, the upper ends covered with bandages & ribbons. I saw them still in 1950.’ (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1965.5.1.578)

HOLY WELLS. St. Patrick’s Well, Stepaside, Co. Dublin. ‘Only 6 miles from centre of Dublin city.’ Photograph (and comment) by Thomas H. Mason. Stepaside, County Dublin, Ireland. Undated. Ellen Ettlinger has noted: ‘I visited this Holy well in 1950. It was then amidst a modern suburb, on the side of a road. The ugly figure of the saint was still there.’ (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Accession Number: 1965.5.1.588)

‘Ellen Ettlinger: A Folklorist Flees the Nazis’, Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 4 June to 24 November 2019. (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford)

Portrait of Ellen Ettlinger, pictured sitting on a hotel terrace alongside the River Nile.

Tourists visiting the Karnak Temple Complex.

Page from one of Ellen Ettlinger’s diaries containing photographs taken or purchased during her travels.

Facing pages from one of Ellen Ettlinger’s typescript diaries with photographs abd the entry of 23 March 1935 describing a visit to Jerusalem in the Holy Land.

Children playing on the roof of a house in Santorini, Greece.

Facing pages from one of Ellen Ettlinger’s typed diary contsaing photographs and the entry recounting an afternoon spent on the Greek island of Santorini.

Page from Ellen Ettlinger’s handwritten diary with entry dated 6 April 1931 describing a first visit to Oxford.

Three photographs of ‘the Morrisdancers at Bampton.

Reverse of the previous index card with typed label for notes and attribution: Folkdance. The Morrisdancers at Bampton, Oxon, 1949. The accordeon player is old Mr. Kimble. Photos Ellen Ettlinger

Half-timbered and thatched houses, clipped yew trees on road from Oxford to Worcester.

Barn decorated with old printing plates.

Boy sitting on a wooden structure in the countryside.

Reverse of the previous index card with typed label for notes and attribution: Costumes, Ireland, Aran Isles. 'Woman with her grandson. Note skirt on boy and the bread Celtic type of head of woman.' Photo and comment by T.H.Masen, Dublin, obtained in 1948

One photo of a man wearing homespun tweed and a young girl holding their hands; and one photo of schoolteacher wearing flimsy colourful shawl with her students.

A man wearing homespun tweed and a young girl hold their hands

Group of men at Market day in Galway City with young boy in the foreground

Woman walking in an empty street, wearing a gown with hood for head.

Domestic Utensils (handwritten record). Two images of a woman sitting in a kitchen

‘Turf cutting at Ross, Ireland’; ‘Turf – Transport on Aran Isles’ (typed captions). Photographs by Ingegärd Vallin and Ellen Ettlinger. Ireland. 1949.

Young girl carrying a tankard of water from the well.

An empty street with thatched cottages on Aran Isles

Group of pilgrims at Doon Holywell, Co. Donegal.

‘Only 6 miles from centre of Dublin city’ (typed caption). Photograph by Thomas H. Mason. Stepaside, County Dublin, Ireland. Undated.

‘Ellen Ettlinger: A Folklorist Flees the Nazis’ exhibition gallery at Pitt Rivers Museum

Acknowledgements and Credits

Exhibition curated and designed by Christopher Morton
Digitisation and captions by Philip Grover
Slideshow by Tim Myatt
Print design by Alan Cooke
Case installation by Jon Eccles

The Pitt Rivers Museum’s exhibition 'Ellen Ettlinger: A Folklorist Flees the Nazis' is part of the Insiders/Outsiders festival, celebrating refugees from Nazi Europe and their contribution to British culture.

You can read more about the life and work of Ellen Ettlinger via the Pitt Rivers Museum’s project website The Other Within: Analysing the English Collections at the Pitt Rivers Museum. You can read another article about Ellen Ettlinger by researcher Alison Petch, which was originally published in the Journal of Museum Ethnography.