After Moses IIB and Sara (Stern) Blumenfeld died, Moses in 1911, Sara in 1928, they had five surviving children and eleven grandchildren.
Hermann and his wife Helma had two children: Hilde Nomi and Hans. Bertha and her husband Ludwig Fernich had two children: Jenny and Else. Salomon and his wife Malchen or known more often as Amalie had three: Gretel, Jenny, and Hilde. Clementine and her husband Richard Abraham had three: Lilli, Martin, and Walter. Max and his wife Johanna Gruenwald had one child, a son Fritz.
Of those twenty-one family members, only about half are known to have survived the Holocaust. In addition, some of the great-grandchildren of Moses IIB and Sara were also killed in the Holocaust. This post will tell the story of Hermann Blumenfeld, the oldest child of Moses IIB and Sara. It is an appropriate post for today, just a day after Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and just six days before Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel Independence Day, because although Hermann and his wife Helma were murdered in the Holocaust, their two children survived by escaping to what was then Palestine, but what became the independent state of Israel in 1948.
Hermann Blumenfeld and his wife Helma were deported from Frankfurt to the Littmanstadt Ghetto in Lodz, Poland, on October 19, 1941, and were killed sometime thereafter.
Hermann Blumenfeld, Page of Testimony at Yad Vashem by his daughter Hilde, found at https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=1899981&ind=1
Helma Lillienstein Blumenfeld Page of Testimony at Yad Vashem by her daughter Hilde, found at https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=1899975&ind=1
Fortunately, their two children both left Germany earlier and eventually immigrated to what was then Palestine.
Hilde Nomi left Germany for Oslo, Norway, on August 19, 1933, and then entered Palestine on April 22, 1936. She applied for citizenship there on May 23, 1938, when she was living near Haifa and working as a teacher. She became a Palestinian citizen on June 21, 1938. You can see her full immigration file at Blumenfeld Hilda _ מחלקת ההגירה – ממשלת ארץ ישראל – בקשות לאזרחות _ ארכיון המדינה
Hilde Blumenfeld, Palestine Immigration file found at the Israel State Archives at https://www.archives.gov.il/en/
She remained in Palestine, later Israel, and married Isaac Schattner in Jerusalem on February 17, 1942.
Marriage record of Hilde Blumenfeld and Isaac Schattner, found at the Israel Genealogy Research Association at https://genealogy.org.il/AID/
Hilde Nomi died on February 1, 2012.
Hilde Schattner grave found at GRAVEZ at https://gravez.me/en/deceased/EB68819A-D75B-452E-AC83-D46D1B20317F?lang=en
Her brother Hans arrived in Palestine on July 1, 1935, when he was seventeen. He applied for Palestinian citizenship on September 13, 1938, and was granted citizenship on October 16, 1938. He was working as a laborer at that time and living in Jerusalem. His full immigration file can be seen here: Blumenfeld Hans _ מחלקת ההגירה – ממשלת ארץ ישראל – בקשות לאזרחות _ ארכיון המדינה
Hans Blumenfeld Palestine immigration file found at the Israel State Archives at https://www.archives.gov.il/en/
Hans remained in Palestine, later Israel, and married Ruth Herman in Jerusalem on August 8, 1941. His marriage record confirmed my earlier assumption that he was in fact the son of Hermann and Helma Blumenfeld.
Marriage record of Hans Blumenfeld and Ruth Herman, found at the Israel Genealogy Research Association at https://genealogy.org.il/AID/
In 1947, Hans changed his first name to Hanan.
IGRA website found at https://genealogy.org.il/AID/
At some later point Hanan changed his surname to Bar Sadeh. He and his first wife Ruth were divorced, and in November 1954, he married Esther Asch, daughter of Hillel and Fredericka Asch. I am indebted to David Lesser of Tracing the Tribe who translated the headstone and then went even further and found the wedding announcement for Hanan and Esther on p. 3 of the November 22, 1954, issue of Hatzofe (the Observer), an the Israeli newspaper. David translated the announcement as follows: “Hanan Bar-Sadeh (Blumenfeld) son of Herman, Divorcee, Germany Tel-Aviv to Esther Ash Daughter of Hillel, Single, Germany Tel-Aviv.”
According to their gravestone, Esther was born May 29, 1925, and died on June 25, 2006. Hans died on September 1, 2004.
Hanan Bar-Sadeh gravestone found at GRAVEZ at https://gravez.me/en/deceased/9A0712A0-3749-4251-A557-E8EDAA465AF2
Thus, because they were able to escape to what was then Palestine and is today Israel, the children of Hermann Blumenfeld and Helma Lillienstein survived the Holocaust. Unfortunately, Hermann and Helma did not.
Nor did Bertha Blumenfeld Fernich and most of her family, as we will see next.
Brotmanblog: A Family Journey 
Is there some special meaning to Hans’s new name, Hanan Bar Sadeh?
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I am not fluent in Hebrew, but from what I’ve been able to figure out, Sadeh means a cultivated field. Bar son of. So son of a field. Since Blumenfeld means field of flowers, there is a connection between his German surname and his Hebrew surname.
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Well done to David Lesser for helping you with translation for your family research.
There is such kindness out there.
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There truly is. I’ve been so fortunate.
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Another difficult post to read. (As I have mentioned I seem to have a problem responding some times. I appreciated your explanation on Han’s new new that he choose)
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Can you tell me what happens when your comments aren’t going through so I can report this to WordPress? I haven’t heard this from anyone else, but I may not even know they’re trying to comment.
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The lessons your research teach are so similar to the phrases and beliefs I recall from my father and grandmother – “Always keep your passport current” and “Don’t invest your money in things you can’t sell fast or smuggle out”. I think that sort of undercurrent of insecurity continues to pervade Jewish people’s thoughts today, 80 years later and in other countries throughout the world.
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I didn’t grow up with that fear, but these days it seems more and more justified.
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Even when people escaped, having relatives who died (especially parents) had to be so tragic for their emotional lives.
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Absolutely. The pain of the loss and the survivor’s guilt and the fear and anxiety must have left a permanent scar on all of them. Yet so many were able to rebuild their lives and find love and joy. It’s all quite remarkable to me.
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It’s remarkable to me, too. I have read enough memoirs and stories by the children of survivors to know how they viewed their parents’ adjustment or not to the current world. But yet so many were so successful afterward.
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I have now listened to quite a few Shoah Foundation testimonies, and I am always deeply moved by both the way the scars never completely heal and the way people move on despite those scars.
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I am always amazed at the documentation you are able to obtain. I know some of it is not pleasant to see but it is so very important to the story.
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Thanks, Debi.
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Hi Amy, if Hilde Blumenfeld Schattner was born on 21.8.1909, as it says on the gravestone, then she died on 1 Feb. 2012. The day comes here before the month!
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Ah, of course, I will make the correction. Thanks!
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