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PAGE 6 ALL ABOUT IDAHO IDAHO SENIOR INDEPENDENT • AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2021
‘Dangerous Grandma’ Relentless
Fighter for Fairness
Gisela was born in 1946, and her family
BY KEN LEVY was living in a refugee situation in north-
west Germany. They emigrated to Ojai,
She’s a dangerous grandma with boots Calif., shortly after.
on the ground. “I know what a great gift it is to be
So says Gisela Woggon, 74, of Boise, heard and acknowledged,” she said. “When
Idaho. Gisela has been an activist for social I was a little girl, I learned about prejudice,
justice and women’s equality for more than because I didn’t speak English, and I got
30 years. You’ll find her at any rally in Boise, called things like Jew killer and Nazi.”
where people gather to speak up against The name-calling in school went beyond
perceived injustices against minorities, her and her brother, to the black child in
women, and marginalized populations. the class.
She’s also right there when there are “We had the same problem. My whole
causes for which to advocate, such as diver- life, I’ve never been able to not see that.
sity protections and medical marijuana. I didn’t get to march with Martin Luther
And she’s always shown up with the King, Jr., but I always saw what was going
most peaceful of intentions. on,” she said. “I like the people that either
“That’s my whole thesis,” she said. have a big voice, or need a big voice.”
“Peaceful and persistent.” By the time she was a teenager, she
Gisela’s activism has deep roots in her was reading about social issues, including
family background. They came to the United details of what happened during the war.
States when she was 5 years old. “That was the first of my wanting some-
Her German parents came from East thing that was bigger than me,” she said.
Prussia, and they met on the flucht, “when Gisela Woggon tries to find common ground with “It went a short step from the men
those who disagree with her perspective. “We all
everybody ran to the west from the Russians, have things that we love,” she says. “We love our in the brown shirts in Berlin. When you
on foot, 1,000 kilometers.” families, we love the beautiful place we live in, and get people scared enough, you got them.
That evacuation took place in 1945 then we start to work on how can we improve it so We’ve got to get tired of this at some point.
that everyone that’s already here feels included and
during WWII. valued.”Photo by Ken Levy. I believe we’re working on it. I’ll die with
that belief.”
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