Hessy Levinsons Taft

Chemistry teacher; as a Jewish child, her photo was featured in Nazi Germany as the "Perfect Aryan Baby"[46]

What is Hessy Levinsons Taft known for?

Hessy Levinsons Taft was born on May 17, 1934, in Berlin, Germany. As a German Jew, she became an unexpected figure in Nazi propaganda when her infant photograph was selected by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels as the "Perfect Aryan Baby" in a contest in 1935. The image was then widely disseminated by the Nazi party in various materials such as magazines and postcards to promote Aryanism.

Levinsons Taft's parents, Jacob and Pauline Levinsons, originally from Latvia, were unaware of the photographer's decision to enter the contest. Although initially fearful that their Jewish identity would be discovered, the family later found humor in the irony of the situation. The photographer later admitted that he knew they were Jewish and entered Taft's photograph into the contest deliberately, intending to ridicule the Nazis.

Following the rise of the SS, the family moved to France in 1938, and then to Cuba, before settling in the United States in 1949. Hessy Levinsons studied chemistry at Julia Richman High School in New York and later at Barnard College, graduating in 1955. She furthered her studies with a PhD in chemistry at Columbia University where she met her husband, Earl Taft. Together, they joined the faculty at Rutgers University.

After leaving academia to raise her family, Hessy Levinsons Taft later worked for the Educational Testing Service on the AP Chemistry exam. After 30 years at the Educational Testing Service, she returned to academia as a chemistry professor at St. John's University in New York in 2000. Her research focused on water sustainability, a field she stayed in until her retirement in 2016.

External resources:
1. Oral history interview with Hessy Levinsons Taft - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
2. "The 'perfect Aryan' child used in Nazi propaganda was actually Jewish" - The Washington Post
3. "Nazi 'perfect Aryan' poster child was Jewish" - The Telegraph