As we’ve seen, Meyer Selig Goldschmidt and his wife Selma Cramer Goldschmidt had three children who survived them as well as a daughter Clementine who predeceased them. This post will report on the three who outlived them and also survived the Holocaust: Harry, Arthur, and Alice.

Harry Goldschmidt

Meyer and Selma’s oldest child Harry, his wife Fanny Steindecker, and their son Walter Selig Goldschmidt had moved to Paris, France, by 1933. Harry is listed on a ship manifest to New York, his occupation as an antiquary, and his marital status as married.¹ But by 1936 when Harry is next listed on a ship manifest, his marital status is listed as single.²

Both Fanny (returning to her birth name Steindecker) and their son Walter Selig Goldschmidt immigrated to the US on February 18, 1942. Walter listed his occupation as bank clerk on the ship manifest. Fanny reported that she was divorced. They listed their last residence as Cassis, France, a community near Marseille in the south of France. I wonder if they’d been hiding there, waiting for a ship and visa to get to the US, as by February, 1942, the Nazis were occupying northern France and southern France was controlled by the Vichy government, considered a mere puppet government of the Nazis or even their allies and collaborators.

On her 1942 declaration of intention Fanny reported that she was divorced from Harry Goldschmidt and that Harry was living in Aix-en-Provence in southern France. Perhaps he was hiding from the Nazis. Also, Fanny reported that her last residence was Cairo, Egypt, and that she had sailed from Casablanca, Morocco. Her travels show how difficult it was for people to get out of Europe by 1942.

Interestingly, her son Walter’s declaration of intention differed in some details from that of his mother, even though they were on the same ship. Walter listed his last residence as Cassis and said he emigrated from Marseille. Had Fanny left for Cairo and then Casablanca and met Walter on the ship? Unfortunately the ship manifest above does not name from which port the ship departed.

On his World War II draft registration filed in May, 1942, Walter reported that he was employed by the Filtered Water Service Corporation, and both he and his mother were living at 21 West 86^th Street in New York City. He also listed his citizenship as French.

Walter married Nicole Meyer in New York on February 6, 1946.³ She was born in Paris on June 12, 1923, to Emile Meyer and Georgette Hagenauer.⁴ Walter became a naturalized US citizen on July 15, 1948, and was still living in New York City at that time.⁵  Walter and Nicole had two children born in the 1950s, one in France and one in New York, and by 1959 the family was living in Paris and Walter was now claiming that his nationality was French, not American.⁶

According to David Baron and Roger Cibella’s research, Harry Goldschmidt died in Paris on November 12, 1970. His son Walter Selig Goldschmidt died in Paris in October 1982,⁷ and Walter’s mother Fanny Steindecker also ultimately returned to France where she died on November 15, 1987, at the age of 95.⁸

Arthur Goldschmidt

Meyer and Selma Goldschmidt’s second oldest child was their son Arthur Goldschmidt, and I have very little information about his life. I’ve not been able to find a ship manifest or any other record for Arthur between his 1924 marriage record to Martha Mitterhauser Widmer and his World War II draft registration dated 1946. By that time Arthur was living in New York City and self-employed.

He did not list Martha as his contact person, and in fact in 1955 he married Anna Maria Kelsen⁹ so his marriage to Martha had obviously ended sometime between 1924 and 1955. Anna Maria Kelsen was born on February 7, 1907, in Berlin.¹⁰

I don’t have any other details about Arthur except that he died while traveling in Zurich, Switzerland, on August 22, 1960, from pneumonia and heart failure. The report on his death indicates that his address was in New York City, but that his widow Anne Marie Kelsen Goldschmidt with whom he’d been traveling also had an address in Paris. From the passenger card for Anne Marie traveling to Paris in April 1960, it appears that Arthur and Anne Marie had residences in both cities.¹¹ I have found no evidence that Arthur had any children with either of his wives.

Alice Goldschmidt Eisemann

Whereas Harry had immigrated to France and Arthur to the US, Meyer Selig and Selma’s youngest child, their daughter Alice, and her husband Heinrich Eisemann escaped to England. They are listed on the 1939 England and Wales Register residing in London. Heinrich was working as a dealer in books of antiquity. They are not listed with any of their children, although there is one line blacked out that could be one of their six children. (I do not think that Berta Goldschmidt, their cook and housekeeper, was a relative.)

Alice and Heinrich became British citizens, as indicated on a 1952 ship manifest for a visit to New York.¹² Alice died in London on January 18, 1965 when she was 68 years old;¹³ her husband Heinrich survived her by eight years, dying in 1973 in England.¹⁴

Alice and Heinrich might have been visiting their daughter Clementine Eisemann Bodenheimer on that 1952 trip to New York. Clementine, who was born in Frankfurt on October 16, 1920,¹⁵ was married to Ernst Bodenheimer. Ernst was born on December 5, 1905, in Frankfurt,and is listed on the 1939 England and Wales Register as a manager of a chemical company. ¹⁶  According to David Baron and Roger Cibella’s research, Ernst and Clementine married on the Isle of Man where they must have been interned as enemy aliens. Ernst’s registration as an enemy alien indicates that he was released on September 7, 1940, and heading to Cuba.

This ship manifest shows that Ernst and Clementine did in fact leave England for Cuba on September 9, 1940.

As we will see in a post to follow, Clementine (Eisemann) and Ernst Bodenheimer were on the same ship as Clementine’s first cousins, Manfred and Eric Sondheimer, the sons of Clementine Goldschmidt Sondenheimer, Clementine Eisemann’s aunt, her mother’s sister.

On July 1, 1941, Ernst Bodenheimer registered for the World War II draft. He and Clementine were living in Brooklyn, and Ernst was employed by Tonerde, Inc.¹⁷ Clementine and Ernst had three children in the 1940s, all born in New York.

Ernst Bodenheimer died at the age of 94 on September 12, 2000.¹⁸ Clementine Eisemann Bodenheimer died seven years later on December 21, 2007. She was 87. They are survived by their children and other descendants.¹⁹

The other children of Alice Goldschmidt and Heinrich Eisemann are either still living or have living spouses so in the interest of privacy, I will not be writing about them. Suffice it to say, Alice and Heinrich have many grandchildren and great-grandchildren living in many parts of the world.