Category Archives: Germany

Levi Rothschild and His Family: Only Six of Nine Children Survived Childhood

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Because I have no records other than those already mentioned for the two other sons of Seligmann Rothschild (Leopold and Hugo), I am moving on to the next child of Gelle Blumenfeld and Simon Rothschild, their son Levi.

Levi was born on August 23, 1846, in Walterbrueck, Germany.

Levi Rothschild birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 893, p. 18

Although I cannot find a marriage record, I can infer from various records related to his children and his wife that he married Clara (sometimes spelled Klara) Jacob. Clara was born on December 1, 1850, in Breitbarten, Germany, to Meir Jacob and Frommet Handel.

Clara Jacob birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hessen, Geburtsregister der Juden von Breitenbach am Herzberg 1838-1906 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 85)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, WiesbadenErscheinungsjahr1838-1906

Levi and Clara must have married by early 1874 because their first child Sigmund Rothschild was born on December 19, 1874, in Borken, Germany. Although I do not have a birth record for Sigmund, his birthdate appears on his marriage record.1

For Levi and Clara’s second child, Betti, I was able to locate a birth record. She was born in Borken on September 14, 1876.

Betti Rothschild birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 920; Laufende Nummer: 788, Year Range: 1876, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Their third child Moses (or Moritz) was born on February 12, 1879, in Borken.

Moses Moritz Rothschild birth record, LAGIS Hessen Archives, Standesamt Borken (Hessen) Geburtsnebenregister 1879 (HStAMR Best. 920 Nr. 791)AputorHessisches Staatsarchiv MarburgErscheinungsortBorken (Hessen)Erscheinungsjahr1879, p. 13

Hirsch, their fourth child, was born on April 9, 1881, in Borken.

Hirsch Rothschild birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 920; Laufende Nummer: 793, Year Range: 1881, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Their fifth child and second daughter Thekla was born on January 29, 1886, in Borken.

Thekla Rothschild birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 920; Laufende Nummer: 798, Year Range: 1886, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

She was followed by another daughter, Genni, born May 11, 1888, in Borken. Unfortunately, Genni died before her first birthday on January 28, 1889, in Borken.

Genni Rothschild birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 920; Laufende Nummer: 800, Year Range: 1888, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Genni Rothschild death record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 878; Laufende Nummer: 920, Year Range: 1889, 
Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

A seventh child was born on December 12, 1889, in Borken. Thank you to Cathy Meder-Dempsey for translating the side note for me; it states that “on the 12th of December of this year, a female child was born at 1 o’clock in the afternoon and that this child was lost at birth.” I am not sure whether this means the baby was stillborn or died shortly after birth.

unnamed female child of Levi and Clara Rothschild, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 878; Laufende Nummer: 920
Year Range: 1889, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

Julius, their eighth child, was born in Borken on October 29, 1890, but did not make it to his second birthday. He died March 5, 1892, in Borken.

Julius Rothschild birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 920; Laufende Nummer: 802, Year Range: 1890, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Julius Rothschild death record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 881; Laufende Nummer: 920, Year Range: 1892
Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

And finally, Levi and Klara’s last child Frieda was born on May 31, 1893, in Borken.

Frieda Rothschild birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 920; Laufende Nummer: 805, Year Range: 1893, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Thus, of the nine children to whom Clara gave birth, only six survived past childhood. And given the five-year gap between Hirsch and Thekla, I wonder whether there were other pregnancies that did not result in a live birth.

The stories of the six who survived will continue in my next post.

 

  1. See marriage record for Sigmund Rothschild at Arcinsys Archives of Hessen, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 766, p. 101. ↩

Irma and Hilde: The Power of Love

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In my last post, I shared the story of my cousin Erwin Rothschild and his wife Irma Simon. As we saw, Erwin died from typhoid fever at Bergen-Belsen, but Irma survived. Erwin had done everything he could to keep Irma, her sister Hilde, and Hilde’s husband Simon Eisenmann alive, but in the end only Hilde and Irma survived. They were two young widows in their thirties as the war drew to a close in Europe.

As recounted by Irma in her moving testimony for the Shoah Foundation,1 in the spring of 1945 Irma and Hilde and about 2200 other prisoners at Bergen-Belsen were put on cattle trains by the Nazis with nothing to eat but one turnip each and taken on a long and twisting trip through Germany. When they saw the planes of the Allies flying overhead, they hung white shirts out the window, trying to save themselves from being bombed. As the train neared Frankfurt an der Oder near the Polish border, the Nazi guards abandoned the train, and the Russians came to liberate the people on the train on April 23, 1945. The Russians told the prisoners that they should go to a nearby village called Trobitz, which had been emptied of its residents and would be safe for the survivors.2

They had to walk to the village, but Hilde, who weighed only 70 pounds, was too weak to walk. So Irma and another woman found a wheelbarrow and pushed Hilde to the village. They settled into the village where there was shelter and food. One man died from eating too much food too quickly. Many others—about 600 people—died while living in Trobitz. But Irma and Hilde survived.

Memorial listing the names of those from the Lost Train who died in Trobitz, LutzBruno, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The people living in Trobitz were taken later by the Allies to Leipzig for a week and then they were allowed to go “home.” Irma and Hilde went back to the southern part of the Netherlands, where Hilde, a Dutch citizen by marriage, lived in a cloister and Irma was interned in a school. They could not return to Amsterdam because northern Holland had not yet been liberated. Once the war ended, the sisters moved to Amsterdam and then immigrated to the US in 1947 with the help of their brother Julius, who lived in Philadelphia. They traveled on the Queen Elizabeth and were able to get kosher food on the ship. Irma and Hilde settled in Washington Heights in New York, and Irma continued her career as a kindergarten teacher.

Both Irma and Hilde remarried in the 1950s, Irma to Nathan Haas, and Hilde to Nathan Meyer, both also German Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. Neither had children. They lived in adjoining apartments in Washington Heights. In 1967 the two couples moved to one house together in Englewood, New Jersey. They all became active in the Orthodox Jewish community there. Their second husbands both died in the 1970s, but Irma and Hilde continued to live together for the rest of their lives.

As reported by Joseph Berger in The New York Times on December 29, 2004,3 Irma and Hilde decided when they were 97 and 94, respectively, that they wanted to live the rest of their lives in Israel in a home for senior citizens in Jerusalem called Beit Barth. Berger described their special relationship and recounted their long lives together during and after the Holocaust:

The two sisters were inseparable….[He then described much of what I’ve reported earlier about their lives during the Holocaust.]

They came to the United States together and lived with their second husbands in adjoining apartment buildings in Washington Heights. … As if that were not close enough, they moved in 1967 into a single suburban ranch house in Englewood, N.J., which they continued to share after their husbands died.

Until yesterday. That was when Irma Haas, 97, and Hilde Meyer, 94, set off from Kennedy International Airport for Israel to spend the remainder of their lives in the same residence for the elderly in Jerusalem.

… With canes across their laps, they sat next to each other in wheelchairs as El Al security hurriedly examined their passports and put them through the requisite grilling about who had packed their bags and whether they had received any gifts. Much of the time, Hilde, looking frightened, clutched Irma’s left arm with her right hand.

“She cannot let go of me,” Irma said, mentioning their wartime terror. “She is afraid she would be brought somewhere and I would not come.”

…Both sisters are slight of build and wear gray shaytls, or wigs. Irma is hardier, Hilde more easily rattled. They were born in Londorf, a town in Hessen, a German state where their family’s roots stretch back hundreds of years. …Irma promised her mother that she would always take care of the more delicate Hilde….

Judy Marcus, their second cousin, who accompanied them on the flight, said the two sisters seemed to have eluded the arrows of sibling rivalry. “They were never jealous of each other,” she said. “They were always happy whatever the other one had.”

About two years ago, Hilde was briefly hospitalized and pleaded that Irma remain at her side. Mrs. Marcus said she told a hospital official: “They are Holocaust survivors. They can’t be separated.”

“They made a special dispensation to allow Irma to sleep in Hilde’s room,” Mrs. Marcus recalled. “But Irma would not have left anyway, even if it meant sitting up in a chair all night.”

Only death separated these two amazing sisters. Hilde died first on May 8, 2005;4 she was 94 and had been in Israel for only five months. Irma Simon Rothschild Haas, who had done so much to care for her younger sister and whose strength got them through the camps, liberation, and immigration to the US, died on April 17, 2009, just six months before she would have turned 102.5 She had outlived her parents, all her siblings, and two husbands. Neither Irma nor Hilde had had children, so there are no direct descendants to remember these two remarkable women. But I will forever, and I hope that you will also.

I wish I had some photos of Irma and Hilde I could share. All I found is this one small photo from the New York Times in 2004 when they moved to Israel. But If you haven’t already, please watch Irma’s Shoah Foundation testimony—if for no other reason than to see Irma with Hilde together near the end of that testimony. I guarantee it will both bring you to tears and lift you up with joy. The power of their love was immeasurable.

 

 

  1. Haas, Irma. Interview 32295. Interview by Miriam Horowitz. Visual History Archive, USC Shoah Foundation, 04 August 1997. https://vha.usc.edu/testimony/32295. Accessed 18 Jan 2024. Almost all of the information in this post came from Irma’s testimony, except where noted. ↩
  2. You can read more about the “lost train” from Bergen-Belsen to Trobitz here, here, and here. ↩
  3. Joseph Berger, “A Bond the Holocaust and Time Couldn’t Break,” The New York Times, December 29, 2004, page B1. See also “Holocaust Survivors from Englewood Begin Their New Lives in Jerusalem,” The Hackensack Record, December 31, 2004, p. A5. ↩
  4. Hilde Meyer, Gender Female, Birth Date 30 Sep 1910, Death Date 8 May 2005,
    Claim Date 13 Jul 1972, SSN 081242610, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  5. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/254917717/irma-haas: accessed 18 January 2024), memorial page for Irma Simon Haas (9 Oct 1907–17 Apr 2009), Find a Grave Memorial ID 254917717, citing Har HaMenuchot Cemetery, Jerusalem, Jerusalem District, Israel; Maintained by DTWer (contributor 47953179). ↩

Erwin Rothschild As Remembered By His Wife Irma

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Although two daughters of Moses Max Rothschild appear to have survived the Holocaust, his son Erwin was not as fortunate. The only official records I have for Erwin Rothschild are two that relate to his death, but they also include his birth date and his parents’ names. He was born on December 5, 1904, in Nordeck, Germany, and he died of typhus on March 28, 1945, in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. These two records also both provide evidence that Erwin was a dentist and that he was married to Irma Simon. But not much else can be discerned about Erwin’s life from these two documents.

Erwin Rothschild death record from the Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp, The National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland; Microfilm: A3355; ARC: 596972; Title: Lists and Registers of German Concentration Camp Inmates, 1946 – 1958; Record Group: 242; Record Group Title: National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized, 1675 – 1958
Source Information
Ancestry.com. Germany, Concentration Camp Records, 1937-1945

Erwin Rothschild death certificate, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Signatur: 135; Laufende Nummer: 926
Year Range: 1951, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

Fortunately, Erwin’s widow Irma Simon Rothschild Haas gave testimony to the Shoah Foundation and filled in the details of Erwin’s life as well has her own quite moving and amazing life story. I am so grateful to the Shoah Foundation for recording and preserving these stories.

Irma was 89 years old when she was interviewed on August 4, 1997. But you would never know it from the sharpness of her mind, the depth and precision of her memories, and her ability to answer probing and difficult questions. She was an incredible storyteller, and I felt like I was with her during those awful years of the Holocaust. I started out wanting to learn more about Erwin, but by the end of Irma’s testimony I was moved to tears by not only what I’d learned about Erwin, but by what I’d learned from Irma about the best side of human nature. Find two hours in your busy lives and listen to what Irma has to say. You also will never forget her. 1

Although I cannot do justice to Irma’s testimony in a brief paraphrasing of its content, I want to tell the story of Erwin and Irma as best I can. Irma Simon was born on October 9, 1907, in the small town of Londorf, Germany. Irma had two older brothers, Siegfried and Julius, and a younger sister Hilde.

Irma went to school to become a kindergarten teacher and worked in Cologne, Frankfurt, and Berlin before the Nazi era. She was working in a children’s home for 150 children in 1935 outside of Berlin when the Nuremberg Laws were enacted and the home was no longer able to obtain kosher meat. Irma left the home and found a new job teaching in Berlin. She lived with an unnamed cousin of Erwin Rothschild, and I assume that that is how she met Erwin. He was practicing dentistry in Berlin at that time.

After Kristallnacht in November 1938, the school where Irma had been working closed, and Erwin and Irma and her parents tried to get out of Germany . One of her brothers, Julius, was already in the US, her sister Hilde was married to Simon Eisenmann and living in Amsterdam, and her other brother Siegfried had been arrested after Kristallnacht and sent to Sachsenhausen. With Irma’s help and a visa obtained by her sister Hilde in Holland, Siegfried was released and left for South America. Later, Hilde was also able to get a visa for their parents and for her sister Irma to come to Holland.

Meanwhile, Erwin Rothschild, who was now engaged to Irma Simon, had gotten a ticket to leave Germany on the ill-fated ship, the St. Louis in the spring of 1939. I’ve previously told the story of the St. Louis, the ship that was turned away from Cuba and from the US and had to sail back to Europe in June, 1939, returning its passengers to a likely death in the Holocaust. Erwin ended up in Holland where Irma and her family were living.

Jewish refugees aboard the SS St. Louis attempt to communicate with friends and relatives in Cuba, who were permitted to approach the docked vessel in small boats. |Source=USHMM, courtesy of National Archives and Records Adminis (public domain)

But Erwin was not able to live in Amsterdam where Irma was living; as a refugee from the St Louis, he was required by the Dutch to live in the internment camp in Westerbork. But he was free to work as a dentist in Amsterdam and to see Irma, who was working at a children’s home in Amsterdam.

However, when the Nazis invaded Holland in May, 1940, the school was forced to close and the children were evicted. Irma helped find homes for 130 of those children with families in Amsterdam. The Nazis also took over the camp at Westerbork where Erwin was living.

Nazi troops and supporters in front of De Bijenkorf, Dam Square, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1941 (crop of original 1941 public domain photo). 47thPennVols, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1942 Erwin and Irma married, but Irma stayed with her parents in Amsterdam because they all believed she would be safer there. But by the end of that year her parents were taken to Westerbork. To avoid being taken to a concentration camp at Vught where conditions were worse, Irma voluntarily moved to Westerbork to be with her husband Erwin as well as her parents and her sister Hilde and brother-in-law Simon. Conditions at Westerbork were at that time not bad at all, and Irma became a dental assistant working with Erwin.

In September 1943, Irma’s parents were put on a transport to Bergen-Belsen, where conditions were much worse. Then Irma’s sister Hilde and her husband Simon Eisenmann were put on a list for transport despite having certificates to go to Palestine, which were supposed to keep them (and Erwin and Irma) off the transport lists. Erwin figured out that there was confusion regarding a different man named Eisenmann and got Hilde and Simon off the list.

In December 1943, they were told that the Westerbork camp was to be dissolved and all those with Palestine certificates would go to a Red Cross camp, but in fact  Erwin, Irma, Hilde, and Simon and the others were all sent to Bergen-Belsen, arriving there on February 1, 1944, just a day after Irma’s parents had been transferred from Bergen-Belsen to Theresienstadt. Irma was heartbroken not to have had a chance to see her parents. She never saw them again. They died at Theresienstadt.

The conditions at Bergen-Belsen were terrible. Irma, Erwin, Hilde, and Simon all worked in a quarry, where Erwin feared his hands would be so damaged from smashing rocks that he would never practice dentistry again. But then one of the older camp dentists died, and Erwin was drafted into being a camp dentist. That meant he could live in the hospital with the doctors with better living conditions than being in the barracks.

Women and Children at Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp, 1945, No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit, Morris (Sgt), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

When a young SS officer who was also a dentist needed dental care one day, he asked Erwin to help him. At first Erwin refused, saying he was not allowed to treat Aryans. But the officer insisted, saying the other (non-Jewish) dentist was not as good. So Erwin treated him, and the officer arranged to have Irma become his assistant and to live in the hospital with the nurses.

But Hilde and her husband Simon were still in the barracks, and in November 1944, Simon died from typhoid fever. Hilde was bereft, and Erwin and Irma did everything they could to give her support. But she became very sick, and Erwin, without permission, had her brought to the camp hospital. Although he was caught and punished for doing that, he saved Hilde’s life.

But unfortunately, Erwin could not save his own life. In early 1945, a camp was set up near Bergen-Belsen for women who had been transferred from Auschwitz. Erwin was sent there to provide dental care for these women and contracted typhoid fever from them. He died from the disease on March 28, 1945,2 leaving Irma, like her sister Hilde, a young widow still imprisoned at Bergen-Belsen.

I will tell the rest of Irma and Hilde’s story in my next post. But this post is to honor the memory of my cousin Erwin Rothschild, a man who not only cared for those at Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen, but who managed to keep his wife Irma and her sister Hilde safe. From the way Irma spoke about him more than 50 years after he died, I could tell that theirs was a true love story and that Erwin was a good, decent, courageous, and compassionate man. How tragic that he died caring for others just a few weeks before the war ended in Europe.

 

 

  1. Haas, Irma. Interview 32295. Interview by Miriam Horowitz. Visual History Archive, USC Shoah Foundation, 04 August 1997. https://vha.usc.edu/testimony/32295. Accessed 14 Jan 2024.  You do not need to download Irma’s testimony; it is available online at the citation above. All the information in this post came from Irma’s testimony. ↩
  2. In her testimony Irma said that Erwin died on March 27, 1945, but the death records above both indicate that he died on March 28. I don’t know which is more accurate, but I am using the recorded date. ↩

The Children of Katincka Blumenfeld Heymann: Lost and Found and Lost Again

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Thanks once again to a new reader of my blog and a newly found cousin, I have updates to two of my earlier posts. I am so grateful to my new cousin Ofra for telling me about additional relatives I’d not been able to find and for giving me the records to verify that these were in fact our mutual cousins.

This new information all relates to the descendants of Abraham Blumenfeld III and his wife Fredericke Rothschild. I wrote back on February 8, 2022, over two years ago, that their daughter Katincka Blumenfeld and her husband Samuel Heymann “immigrated to Brazil in the summer of 1939 just before World War II started. I have no further information about their lives, but they had no children after their daughter Frieda died in 1911 at ten months of age. There are no descendants of Katincka and Samuel.” But I was wrong. Although they had no children after Frieda died, they had had other children before she was born.

As Ofra pointed out, Katincka and Samuel had at least three other children born before their daughter Frieda, all born in Biskirchen, Germany: Isidor, born June 9, 1905, Hedwig, born December 2, 1906, and Jakob, born May 24, 1909.1 Tragically, all three were killed in the Holocaust. Although I was able to find records for all three of these individuals on Yad Vashem, none of those records mentioned the names of their parents. And the birth records for Biskirchen start in 1910, so there are no birth records for these children online. I asked Ofra if she had any records that identified these three people as the children of Katincka and Samuel Heymann. And she did.2

Here are two Arolsen Archives documents that show that Isidor and Jakob Heymann were the sons of Samuel Heymann. Notice also that they were both living at the same address.

Arolsen Archives, DocID: 6096427 (ISIDOR HEYMANN) DeepLink: https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/6096427

Arolsen Archives, DocID: 6096431 (JAKOB HEYMANN)
DeepLink: https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/6096431

Although Ofra did not have a similar document tying Hedwig to Katincka and Samuel Heymann, she did provide me with links to pages showing the Stolpersteine established for Hedwig and other members of her family in Biskirchen, Germany. From one of those pages I learned the following:

Henriette Neter (*1906) was married to Isidor Heymann (*1905). The couple was deported from Gildehaus (Bielefelder Transport). Henriette was murdered in Stutthof in 1943, her husband on October 24, 1944 in the Landsberg/Lech camp.…

Erich Neter (*1913) married Isidor Heymann’s sister, Hedwig Heymann (*1906), in his first marriage. They had two children. Zilla Neter – 4 years old – and Semi Neter – 1½ years old – were shot together with their mother in December 1943 near Riga.

Erich Neter survived and later remarried and had two more children.3

Although this is not an official record, it is sufficient in my mind to establish that Hedwig was Isidor Heymann’s sister and thus also the child of Katincka Blumenfeld and Samuel Heymann.

But what a terrible, heartbreaking story to have to add to my family history. Isidor and his wife and his sister Hedwig and her two young children were murdered by the Nazis. The Nazis also killed Jakob Heymann. All of those newly found cousins were killed in the Holocaust. Here are the Stolpersteine placed in their memory in Biskirchen.

Meikel1965, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

Meikel1965, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

Meikel1965, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

Meikel1965, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

Meikel1965, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

In addition to helping me document and add these additional children of Katincka and Samuel to my tree, Ofra also had information about another descendant of Abraham Blumenfeld III and Fredericke Rothschild—their grandson Julius Blumenfeld, the son of Hugo Blumenfeld and Blanka Rosenberg. I had written that Julius had emigrated to Palestine/Israel on August 23, 1934, and married Ettel Helfgott on March 26, 1940, in Haifa, but I had no further information about him. Ofra sent me a link to an obituary of Julius that reported that Julius had died of illness while serving in the IDF on May 31, 1954. He was only 46 years old and left behind his wife and two children, whose names were not given in the obituary.

Once again, I want to thank Ofra for all her help in allowing me to update this blog as well as my family tree. Although all these lives ended far too soon, I am glad that I can honor all of their memories.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Although Yad Vashem has Jakob’s birthdate as April 24, 1909, the Arolsen Archive document reproduced below says his birthdate was May 24, 1909. Since Jakob signed that document, I assume it is more accurate. ↩
  2. Ofra also named a fifth child of Katincka and Samuel, a son named Max Heymann who was born January 12, 1908, and who emigrated to the United States and/or Brazil. I am still trying to locate information for Max. ↩
  3. Yad Vashem has different information about the death of Isidor Heymann. It says he was killed at Dachau on November 6, 1944, as does the Stolpersteine shown above. ↩

Seligmann Rothschild’s Sons: The Challenges of Trees without Sources

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When he died at age 40 in 1884, Seligmann Rothschild was survived by his four sons and his second wife, Emma Rothschild.  Just nine years later, his son Emil died when he was just eighteen, leaving the three other sons: Moses Max, Leopold, and Hugo. These three sons had suffered so many losses in such a short time; for Moses, his mother when he was two; for all three of them, their father when they were all ten or younger; then their brother Emil, and then their grandparents Gelle Blumenfeld and Simon Rothschild.

Unfortunately, I have hit many a brick wall in trying to research the lives of Moses, Leopold, and Hugo. There are lots of trees on Ancestry, MyHeritage, Geni, etc., for this family, but very few have any sources, and I have not yet been able to find the sources to back up the information on those trees. Because I try not to include unsourced information on the blog, I am reluctant to share the information included on all those trees. I will keep searching, but for now this is a post that should have a big asterisk next to it, warning readers that some of the information here may not be correct. I will indicate below where there are places that are not yet verified by records or at least some direct family confirmation of the facts.

Moses Max Rothschild, Seligmann’s oldest son, married Helene Hoechster on July 8, 1897, in Nordeck, Germany. Helene was born in Nordeck on September 3, 1870, and she was the daughter of Salomon Hoechster and Jette Loew.

Moses Rothschild and Helene Hoechster marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 905; Laufende Nummer: 1070, Year Range: 1889-1899, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

I have been able to find records for three children of Moses and Helene: Gertrude, born June 23, 1898, in Nordeck, Erna, born November 25, 1899, in Nordeck, and Erwin, born December 4, 1904, in Nordeck.1

Gertrude Rothschild birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 905; Laufende Nummer: 1068, Year Range: 1888-1899, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Erna Rothschild birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 905; Laufende Nummer: 1068, Year Range: 1888-1899, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Several unsourced trees include three other children born to Moses and Helene, but the online records for Nordeck do not include the birth records for the years of the births of those other children. For two of these children, there are records that show that they were born in Nordeck, but nothing that ties them to Moses and Helene.

For example, there is a death record for a Siegfried Rothschild who was born in Nordeck on April 8, 1901, and died on January 15, 1936, in Hanau, Germany.2 But that record does not include his parents’ names. Could this be a son of Moses and Helene? Certainly. But is this record reliable evidence of that? No.

Similarly, there is a Holocaust era record for a Fritz Rothschild, born in Nordeck on June 1, 1906.3 Could this be a son of Moses and Helene? Sure. But this record in no way establishes that connection.

Then there is another son included on these trees, Walter, born July 6, 1903, and there is no record at all for this person or even a reference to his birthplace, let alone his parentage.

These children—Siegfried, Fritz, and Walter—could indeed be children of Moses and Helene Rothschild, but on Ancestry, the trees that include them all cite Geneanet as a source (as well as other Ancestry trees). The listing on Geneanet for this family has no actual sources either. I wrote to the person who submitted the information on Geneanet, and he said he had no sources and had just taken the information off other trees. So it’s like going in a circle—each tree relies on another tree that relies on another tree, and none have any real sources.

I also have sent a message through Geni to a profile manager there for this family. I am hoping that person will respond because they seem to be family members. Maybe they can help me break through this brick wall not only for Moses and his family, but also for his two half-brothers, Leopold and Hugo. But it’s now been well over a month, and I’ve heard nothing.

Leopold Rothschild, the second surviving son of Seligmann Rothschild, married Zipporah Birkenruth on September 28, 1906, in Fulda, Germany. Zipporah was the daughter of Josef Birkenruth and Roschen Grief and was born in Wehrda, Germany, on January 5, 1876.

Leopold Rothschild and Zipporah Birkenruth marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Signatur: 2363, Year Range: 1906, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Leopold and Zipporah had one child for whom I have a record with a birth date, but no reference to his parents: Siegfried, born on September 13, 1907, in Halberstadt, Germany.4 Although there is no specific official record tying Siegfried to Leopold and Zipporah, there are some secondary sources that have convinced me that he was their son.

A story on Yad Vashem mentions that Leopold and his family moved in 1913 from Halberstadt to Dinslaken, Germany, to run an orphanage there. The story refers to and quotes a son Pinchas, who was six when the family moved to Dinslaken, thus born in 1907. I assume that Pinchas was the Hebrew name of Siegfried, who was born in 1907, as noted above. And I have found a Shoah Foundation interview with Pinchas Rothschild. Unfortunately, it is in Hebrew, so I am waiting for a cousin to translate it for me. But the index for this interview on Ancestry identified his father as Leopold Rothschild and his mother as Zipporah Birkenruth. 5

According to other unsourced trees, Leopold and Zipporah had three other children, Judith, Naftali, and Mirjam, but I have no records for those three. Until I can verify the birth dates for these three, I have nothing more I can add.

As for Hugo Rothschild, the third surviving son of Seligmann Rothschild, several unsourced trees list his spouse as Hannah Adler. I did find Hugo Rothschild, married to Hannah Adler, on a citizen register for the city of Lubeck, Germany. The birth date and birthplace match that of our Hugo Rothschild, so I see this as fairly reliable evidence that Hugo did marry a woman named Hannah Adler. The register also indicates that they had two female children at that time. But what I can’t determine is when this register was created. It says that Hugo became a citizen on June 24, 1911, but is that necessarily the date that Hugo was listed on the register? Does it mean that as of June 24, 1911, he was married to Hannah and had two female children? Or does it only mean that that was his family status as of the time he was listed in the register—which could have been years after June 24, 1911?

Hugo Rothschild Lubeck register, general_subcollection: Verzeichnis der in den Lübeckischen Staatsverband Aufgenommenen, 1903 (Mai)-1919, Ancestry.com. Lübeck, Germany, Citizenship Register, 1591-1919

The reason that this is important is that those unsourced trees for Hugo have conflicting dates for when Hugo married Hannah; some say 1908 in Baden-Baden, some say December 14, 1918, in Nordrach, Germany. I am inclined to think that the 1908 date makes more sense, especially since those trees also list four children for Hugo and Hannah born between 1907 and 1917. But alas, none of these trees includes a marriage record, nor have I found one.

As for those four children, two were allegedly born before June 24, 1911: a daughter Judith in 1907, making me wonder about a 1908 marriage, and a son Eli born in 1909. The register, however, says that Hugo had two daughters. So something is not right either on the register or on those trees. The unsourced trees list two more children for Hugo and Hannah: Chava, born in 1914, and Naomi, born in 1917, both in Lubeck. But again, no records support any of this information. A profile on Geni lists a descendant of Hugo and Hannah, and I have sent a message to that person and am hoping for a response. But again, it’s been over a month, and I’ve gotten no response.

So where do I stand? Frustrated for sure. I will move on to finish what I can of the stories of Seligmann Rothschild’s sons and their families based on the records I have, and if later I can find more sources, I will update the information with later posts.

  1. Erwin Rothschild death record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Signatur: 135; Laufende Nummer: 926, Year Range: 1951, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958 ↩
  2. Siegfried Rothschild death record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Signatur: 2100, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958 ↩
  3. See National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, DC; Name Index of Jews Whose German Nationality Was Annulled by the Nazi Regime (Berlin Documents Center); Record Group: 242, National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized, 1675 – 1958; Record Group ARC ID: 569; Publication Number: T355; Roll: 7, Mosbacher, Eduard – Schafranek, Bruno, Ancestry.com. Germany, Index of Jews Whose German Nationality was Annulled by Nazi Regime, 1935-1944 ↩
  4. Siegfried Rothschild, Gender Male, Birth Date 13 Sep 1907, Arrival Date 25 Oct 1943, Nationality I Deutschland, Nationality II Deutschland, Ancestry.com. Switzerland, Jewish Arrivals, 1938-1945 ↩
  5. Dr. Pinḥas Zigfrid Roṭshild, Birth Date 13 Sep 1907, Birth Place Halberstadt, Germany, Interview Date 5 Oct 1995, Interview Place Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
    Relationship Self (Head), Role Interviewee, USC Shoah Foundation; Los Angeles, California; Visual History Archive: The Holocaust, Free Access: USC Shoah Foundation, Holocaust – Jewish Survivor Interviews ↩

Seligmann Simon Rothschild’s Tragic and Short Life

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In 1861, Gelle Blumenfeld Rothschild gave birth to her eleventh and last child, Meier, as we saw in my earlier post. Two of those eleven children had died before their third birthdays, but the other nine were still living although for one of those children, Isaac, born in 1850, I have no records after his birth record.1 Thus, I can only report on what happened to the remaining eight children. I will tell their stories one at a time, starting with the oldest child of Gelle Blumenfeld and Simon Rothschild, Seligmann Simon Rothschild.

Seligmann Rothschild was 28 when he married Gelle Karoline Rosenberg on November 7, 1871, in Zimmersrode, Germany; she was the daughter of Jacob Rosenberg and Belle Kauffman and was born on September 11, 1850.2

Seligmann Rothschild marriage record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 884, p. 15

Seligmann and Gelle had two children. Moses (Max) Rothschild was born on January 18, 1874, in Waltersbrueck, Germany, and his brother Emiel (or Emil) Rothschild was born there on April 27, 1875.

Moses Rothschild birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 893, p. 40

Emiel Rothschild birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 893, p. 42

Sadly, Gelle Rosenberg Rothschild died less than two years later on August 26, 1876, in Waltersbrueck. She was only 25 years old and left her husband Seligmann with two children under three years old.

Gelle Rosenberg Rothschild death record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 8453; Laufende Nummer: 920
Year Range: 1876, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

Seligmann did not wait too long to remarry. On January 8, 1878, in Waltersbrueck, he married Emma Ernestina Rothschild, the daughter of Moses Rothschild and Caroline Baum. Emma was born on September 2, 1848, in Angenrod, Germany.

Seligmann Rothschild marriage to Emma Rothschild, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 920; Laufende Nummer: 8404, Year Range: 1878, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

One question nagging at me is whether Seligmann Rothschild, son of Simon Rothschild, was related to his new bride Emma Rothschild, daughter of Moses Rothschild. Emma and her family were from Angenrod, which is only 22 miles from Waltersbrueck where Seligmann lived. I have tried to trace back the lineage of Moses Rothschild and Simon Rothschild, but so far have not found any overlap. Yet it seems somehow likely that these two families were related and that when Seligmann’s first wife died, Emma was selected to help him raise his two little boys. But I have no proof so it remains just speculation.

Emma and Seligmann had two children together. Leopold Rothschild was born on March 20, 1880, in Waltersbrueck, and his brother Hugo was born in Waltersbrueck on July 5, 1882.

Leopold Rothschild birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 920; Laufende Nummer: 8382, Year  Range: 1880, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Hugo Rothschild birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 920; Laufende Nummer: 8384, Year Range: 1882, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

And then tragedy struck the family again when Seligmann, only forty years old, died on May 25, 1884, leaving Emma alone to raise the four little boys, the first two the children of Seligmann’s first wife Gelle, the other two Emma’s children. When Seligmann died, Moses Max was ten, Emil was nine, Leopold was four, and Hugo was two. It’s hard to imagine how Emma managed to cope with so much loss and with four little heartbroken children.

Seligman Rothschild death record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 8461; Laufende Nummer: 920, Year Range: 1884, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

Seligmann’s mother Gelle Blumenfeld Rothschild lived to see the births of all four of these grandsons, but also had to endure the heartbreak of losing her first-born child, Seligmann, who was the third of her eleven children to predecease her. Gelle died in Waltersbrueck on December 2, 1887, when she was 65 years old.3

Gelle Blumenfeld Rothschild death record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 8464; Laufende Nummer: 920, Year Range: 1887, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

Rothschild, Gelle nee Blumenfeld (1887) – Haarhausen”, in: Jewish Graves <https://www.lagis-hessen.de/de/subjects/idrec/sn/juf/id/2291&gt; (as of June 5, 2012 )

Gelle was spared the heartbreak of seeing that Seligmann’s second child, Emil, died when he was only eighteen on December 13, 1893, in Alsfeld, Germany, where he was then living and working as a merchant. I don’t know what his cause of death was, but when I think of all he’d endured—loss of his mother when he was one, the remarriage of his father and births of two half-brothers, the loss of his father when he was nine, and then the loss of his grandmother three years after that—I have to wonder what impact all that had on his physical and mental well-being.

Emiel Rothschild death record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 27; Laufende Nummer: 921, Year Range: 1891-1894, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

Two years later Seligmann Rothschild’s father Simon Rothschild died on July 21, 1895, in Zimmersrode. He was 82

Rothschild, Simon (II) (1895) – Haarhausen”, in: Jewish Graves <https://www.lagis-hessen.de/de/subjects/idrec/sn/juf/id/2213&gt; (as of June 5th. 2012)

The futures of the three surviving sons of Seligmann Simon Rothschild will be discussed in the next post.

  1. There is a notation on Isaak’s birth record that says, “war noch nicht eingetragen, geschieht nachtraeglich,” which translates to “Not yet registered, will happen later.” Someone on Facebook pointed out that Isaak’s birth record is out of chronological order in the register and so was recorded months after his birth. ↩
  2. Gelle Rosenberg Rothschild death record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 8453; Laufende Nummer: 920, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958 ↩
  3. She also lived to see the births of nine other grandchildren, but we will get to those other grandchildren in later posts. ↩

Gelle Karoline Blumenfeld Rothschild, Part I: Eleven Children in Eighteen Years

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It’s been quite a while since I have written about my Blumenfeld relatives. Other things—photos, a photo album, updates from cousins—have filled my blog. But today I can finally return to the Blumenfeld tree. And it’s time for a new branch of that family.

After a year and a half researching and writing about Isaak Blumenfeld I and his large family, I can now turn my attention to Isaak’s younger sister Gelle (Karoline) Blumenfeld, the third child of my three-times great-uncle Moses Blumenfeld. To give you a sense of where I am in telling the story of my Blumenfeld family, here are two charts.

The first one shows where I am in writing about all the descendants of my earliest known Blumenfeld ancestors, Abraham Katz Blumenfeld and Giedel Katz Blumenfeld, my four-times great-grandparents.

The second one shows where I am in my writing about Moses Blumenfeld I, their oldest child–not quite two thirds done.

Now on to the third and last child of the oldest child of Abraham and Giedel, my first cousin, four times removed, Gelle Karoline Blumenfeld.

Gelle was born in about 1822 in Momberg, Germany.1 She married Simon Rothschild on November 15, 1842, in Neustadt, Germany, when she was twenty years old. Simon was the son of Seligmann Rothschild and Terz Gutheim, and he was born in Waltersbrueck, Germany, in June 1813.2

Marriage of Gelle Blumenfeld and Simon Rothcchild. Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 629, S. 6

Gelle and Simon had eleven children together. Although the birth records for the children are listed in the records for the town of Zimmersrode, a larger town close to the very small village of Waltersbrueck, I assume based on later records that the family lived in Waltersbrueck and that the children were actually born there. But their births were registered in Zimmersrode.

First born was Seligmann Rothschild II on September 9, 1843.

Seligmann Rothschild birth record, Arcinsys Hesse Archives, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 893, p. 15

Seligmann was followed by Abraham, born December 22, 1844; sadly, Abraham lived just a few months. He died on February 16, 1845.

Abraham Rothschild birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 893, p. 17

Abraham Rothschild death record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 896, p. 16

A third son was born on August 23, 1846. His name was Levi.

Levi Rothschild birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 893, p. 18

He was followed by yet another boy, Moses, born August 30, 1848.

Moses Rothschild birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 893, p. 20

Then came Isaak, born January 15, 1850.

Isaak Rothschild birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 893, p.23

Finally, Gelle gave birth to a daughter, Gitel, on January 7, 1852, but Gitel lived just a little over a year, dying on February 11, 1853.

Gitel Rothschild birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 893, p. 24

Gitel Rothschild death record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 896, p 21

Gelle and Simon’s seventh child was another girl, Beschen, born June 22, 1853. Fortunately, she survived and became the oldest living daughter in the family.

Beschen Rothschild birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 893, p. 25

Another boy followed Beschen. Gerson was born May 1, 1855.

Gerson Rothschild birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 893, p. 27

The ninth child was Malchen, born March 3, 1857.

Malchen Rothschild birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 893, p. 28

Sara, the tenth child, was born on January 6, 1859.3

Sara Rothschild birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 893, p. 30

And finally, Gelle gave birth the eleventh and last time to another son, Meier, born on May 9, 1861.

Meier Rothschild birth record, Arcinsys Archives of Hesse, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 893, p. 32

Gelle was 21 when she gave birth to her first child Seligmann in 1843 and 39 when she gave birth to her last child Meier in 1861. She had been having babies for almost twenty years, sometimes in consecutive years. I am not sure how she did it, especially enduring the loss of two of those children at such young ages while raising all the others.

But fortunately, at least eight of the other nine children lived to adulthood, and I will be telling their stories in the posts to come.

  1. Rothschild, Gelle geborene Blumenfeld (1887) – Haarhausen“, in: Jüdische Grabstätten <https://www.lagis-hessen.de/en/subjects/idrec/sn/juf/id/2291&gt; (Stand: 5.6.2012) ↩
  2. „Rothschild, Simon (II) (1895) – Haarhausen“, in: Jüdische Grabstätten <https://www.lagis-hessen.de/en/subjects/idrec/sn/juf/id/2213&gt; (Stand: 5.6.2012). ↩
  3. Although Sara’s marriage record gives her a different birth date (January 3, 1860), I am assuming that this birth record, though difficult to read, is more accurate. See Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 920; Laufende Nummer: 8409, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930 ↩

The Legacy of Thekla Blumenfeld Gruenbaum: Family Photos

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I mentioned in my last blog post that I have recently connected with another cousin, Robin Kravets, the great-granddaughter of Thekla Blumenfeld Gruenbaum. Robin is my fifth cousin, once removed. We are both descendants of Abraham Blumenfeld and Geitel Katz, Robin through their son Moses and me through their daughter Breine.

Robin has generously shared with me a collection of photographs of her family, and I am delighted to be able to share them with you. All the photos in this post are courtesy of my cousin Robin. I am providing a summary of what I posted two years ago about Robin’s direct ancestors to provide context to the photos and to add some additional insights Robin shared with me. The blog posts from 2021 contain more details and my sources.

Salomon Blumenfeld, Robin’s great-great-grandfather, first married Caecilie Erlanger, but she died when she was only 24 years old, leaving behind two very young children: Thekla (Robin’s great-grandmother), not yet two, and Felix, just seven months old. Two years after his first wife Caecilie died, Salomon married Emma Bendheim and had a third child, Moritz, in 1877. And then sometime within the next five or six years, Salomon left Germany for Spain with Emma and Moritz, leaving his first two children, Thekla and Felix, behind. As best I can tell, Thekla and Felix, still both young children, must have been raised by their mother’s family, the Erlangers, in Marburg.

I had wondered whether Salomon or his son from his second marriage, Moritz, had remained in touch with Thekla and Felix. Robin provided this photograph of Moritz with his half-niece Cecilie, Thekla’s daughter, and another unidentified woman, so there is some evidence that at least Moritz had some contact with his half-sister Thekla and her family.

Moritz Blumenfeld and Cecilie Gruenbaum (with unknown woman on the left)
Courtesy of Robin H Kravets

This is the oldest photograph in Robin’s collection. It shows Thekla as an infant with her mother, Caecilie Erlanger Blumenfeld and must have been taken in about 1872 when Thekla was born. Thank you to Ava Cohn, aka Sherlock Cohn, The Photogenealogist, for pointing out the correct dating of this photograph.

Caecilie Erlanger Blumenfeld with Thekla Blumenfeld, c. 1872 Courtesy of Robin H Kravets

Here are two beautiful photographs of Thekla as a young woman.

Thekla Blumenfeld, courtesy of Robin H Kravets

Thekla Blumenfeld, courtesy of Robin H Kravets

Thekla married Max Gruenbaum in 1894. Here is a photograph of them taken in 1895.

Thekla Blumenfeld and Max Gruenbaum 1895
Courtesy of Robin H Kravets

Thekla and Max had four children: Cecilie (1895), Curt (1897), Franz (1899), and Rosemarie, Robin’s grandmother (1912).

Cecilie, Curt, and Franz Gruenbaum c. 1908 Courtesy of Robin H Kravets

Courtesy of Robin H Kravets

Cecilie, Franz, Rosemarie and Curt Gruenbaum, 1918  Courtesy of Robin H Kravets

Thekla’s brother Felix married Thekla Wertheim in 1902, and they had two sons, Edgar (1903) and Gerhard (1906). Robin had just a few photos of Felix; he appears to be in uniform during World War I in these first two. The caption on the first translates as “to commemorate the first nailing of the Zaitenstock.” I am not sure what that means, but Wikipedia explains (as translated by Google) that zaitenstocke were part of the pipe systems used to carry water into the cities.

Felix Blumenfeld, 1915 Courtesy of Robin H Kravets

detail from photo above

Felix Blumenfeld, 1916
Courtesy of Robin H Kravets

detail from photo above

As I wrote in my earlier posts, both Felix and his sister Thekla lost their spouses at relatively young ages. Thekla’s husband Max Gruenbaum died in 1917, and Felix’s wife Thekla died in 1923.

But even more tragically, both Felix and Thekla were among the six million who were killed in the Holocaust, Felix by suicide in 1942, as detailed here, when he was in despair and had no hope in surviving, and Thekla at Treblinka in 1943.

Felix Blumenfeld
Courtesy of Robin H Kravets

Thekla had refused to leave Germany, and her daughter Cecilie would not leave her mother behind. Robin wrote that “[Cecilie] was very smart and saw the writing on the wall but her mother would not leave.  I remember my family talking about them having tickets on a boat somewhere. But the boat was cancelled.”1 Fortunately, Cecilie’s children were safely in England.

But Cecilie and her husband Walter Herzog were sent to the concentration camp in Riga in 1941. Walter did not survive, but against all odds, Cecilie did even after being sent to Stutthof, a camp where the conditions were truly horrible, as I wrote about here. When I asked Robin whether she had any information as to how Cecilie had survived, she wrote that “since she was trained as a nurse during WWI, she used her skills to help people in the camps. I have always believed it gave her a purpose to survive. The story I heard as a child was that when the Allies liberated the camp, she knew she had to get west. She collected a group of people and helped them make their way west. As a nurse, she knew that they needed to be very careful about overeating after being in the camps and made sure they did not die from bloating.”2 As was not uncommon with Holocaust survivors, Cecilie never wanted to talk about her experiences.

Cecilie Gruenbaum Herzog Courtesy of Robin H Kravets

The other children of Thekla Blumenfeld Gruenbaum and Felix Blumenfeld had all managed to escape Germany before it was too late, as I wrote about here. Robin’s grandmother Rosemarie, the youngest of Thekla’s children, had married while still in Germany. In fact, as Robin explained, she had married her husband Ernest Heymann in absentia as Ernest was in England at the time, having gone there on business and then realizing it was not safe to return. I’d never heard of being married in absentia, but apparently Rosemarie’s nephew stood in as a surrogate groom.3

Rosemarie was able to get out of Germany and join Ernest in London where their first child, Robin’s mother, was born. After the war started, Ernest was one of the many Jewish refugees who was sent to an internment camp as a “enemy alien.” He was interned from June 21, 1940, until October 17, 1940.

Ernst Heymann, he National Archives; Kew, London, England; HO 396 WW2 Internees (Aliens) Index Cards 1939-1947; Reference Number: Ho 396/178
Piece Number Description: 178: German Internees Released in Uk 1939-1942: Hertzke-Hoj
Ancestry.com. UK, World War II Alien Internees, 1939-1945

After he was released, he and Rosemarie and their daughter immigrated to the US and settled in New York. They had another child in New York after the war.

Rosemarie’s sister Cecilie made it to the US in 1946 and went to live with Rosemarie and her family in New York. The two sisters lived together for the rest of their lives and remained close to their brothers Curt and Franz (later known as Frank), who visited them often from Massachusetts.  Cecilie lived to 95, dying in 1990, and Rosemarie to 91, dying in 2004.3

The story of Thekla Blumenfeld Gruenbaum is tragic: motherless as toddler, left behind by her father, widowed at a young age, and then killed by the Nazis. The fact that Thekla’s two daughters Cecilie and Rosemarie lived together and survived into their 90s is quite a tribute to the strength their mother must have had and that they both had.

Thekla with her daughter Rosemarie Courtesy of Robin H Kravets

Thekla Blumenfeld Gruenbaum  Courtesy of Robin H Kravets

Thekla Blumenfeld Gruenbaum  Courtesy of Robin H Kravets

 

 

 

  1. Email from Robin H. Kravets, September 10, 2023. ↩
  2. Ibid. ↩
  3. Emails from Robin H. Kravets, September 10, 2023, and October 27, 2023. ↩ ↩

Friederike Blumenfeld Schoen, Part III: Her Son Moses Escapes to America

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I have been unable to do any new research in these last few weeks since the horrendous massacre in Israel by Hamas on October 7. I just can’t seem to focus on research right now. Fortunately I had several blog posts ready in my queue and will publish those, including this one. Perhaps the best way I can support Israel right now is to educate and remind people about the long history of persecution of Jews and antisemitism so that they best understand why Israel exists and why it must survive.

Although Friederike’s oldest child Jakob died in 1937 and his widow and daughter were killed by the Nazis, her other three surviving children all managed to escape the Nazis.

Friederike’s son Moses, more commonly known as Moritz, wanted to leave Germany quite early. As described by his son Kurt Leopold Schoen in the oral history interview he did with the US Holocaust Memorial and Museum, Moritz had had a successful wholesale and retail shoe business in Kassel, but once the Nazis came to power the business suffered. Non-Jews boycotted the store, and Moritz had to close the business and work as a shoemaker.1

But leaving Germany was difficult. The family needed affidavits from someone in the US to get a visa to enter the country, and the relatives in the US were reluctant to sponsor a family with three young children. Fortunately, Moritz and Else’s fourteen-year-old daughter Alice was given an opportunity to leave when the National Council of the Jewish Women in the US organized a rescue mission that brought many children out of Germany.2 Alice came to the US on May 13, 1938, and was sent to live with a Jewish family in San Antonio, Texas, the Rosenbergs, as seen on the 1940 US census.3

Alice Schoen passenger manifest, The National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, D.C.; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at and Departing from Ogdensburg, New York, 5/27/1948 – 11/28/1972; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715, 1897-1957
Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957

The website for the Holocaust Memorial Museum of San Antonio reported that Abe and Bella Rosenberg “took [Alice] into their lives as if she were a long lost relative. The Rosenberg children, Miriam and Stanley, and a host of aunts, uncles, and cousins who treated her with affection and kindness made her adjustment to a new life easier.” In his oral history interview, Alice’s brother Kurt mentioned that the Rosenbergs were a very nice family, but nevertheless Alice was naturally very homesick.  She did not see her family again until 1940.4

But Alice was able to get help from the Rosenberg family to bring her father Moritz to the US from Germany. As reported on the website for the Holocaust Memorial Museum of San Antonio, they signed affidavits pledging financial support for him.

Once he had an affidavit from the Rosenbergs, Moritz was able to go to the US consulate in Germany and receive a visa. But before he could leave, he was arrested during the Kristallnacht riots in November, 1938. According to his son Kurt, Moritz was not sent to Buchenwald like so many other Jewish men were after Kristallnacht because he already had a visa to leave Germany. He was released within a day or two from police custody in Kassel and prepared to leave for the US.5

Moritz arrived on December 3, 1938, seven months after Alice’s arrival, and settled in New York City. His ship manifest lists his wife Else as the person he was leaving behind in Kassel, Germany, and his sister-in-law Betty Lutz (born Babette Freimark) as the person he was going to in the US. He listed his occupation as a shoemaker.6

Meanwhile, back in Germany, Else and her two young sons Manfred and Kurt moved to Frankfurt; the boys were sent to a Jewish orphanage and Else moved in with one of her sisters. Kurt described the orphanage as a place where he and his brother were well treated. They went to school and learned English. Finally in April 1939, they were released and reunited with their mother and allowed to leave Germany for the US. Kurt, who was eleven at the time, recalled that the Nazis tore through their luggage and stole everything Else had packed except one small teapot.7

Else arrived in New York with Manfred and Kurt (listed as Kurt Leopold Israel on the manifest) on May 19, 1939.

Else Schoen and children, passenger manifest, The National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, D.C.; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at and Departing from Ogdensburg, New York, 5/27/1948 – 11/28/1972; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715, 1897-1957
Ship or Roll Number: Deutschland, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957

The family moved into a small apartment riddled with bed bugs; Moritz worked doing shoe repairs and barely made a living. But as Kurt said, they were happy to be out of Germany and safely living in New York. They moved frequently from one apartment to another in order to get the benefit of one or two free months of rent being offered by landlords. Manfred and Kurt started school where they quickly learned English and rose from the lower levels of their grade to the highest within a year.8

Alice was reunited with her parents and brothers sometime in 1940 when the Rosenberg family brought her to New York after taking a trip to Canada to see the Dionne Quintuplets. She married just three years later when she was nineteen, according to her brother Kurt.9 Her husband, Albert Bernhard Schwarz, was born on October 22, 1922, in Busenberg, Germany, to Alfred Lazarus Schwarz and Berta Levy. Like Alice, he was refugee from Germany; he had arrived on August 13, 1938.10 He was the only member of his family to survive. His parents and all his siblings were killed by the Nazis.11

Albert entered the US Army on March 26, 1943, listing his marital status as single.12 He and Alice must have married later that year. According to one biography of Albert, he was assigned to Camp Ritchie in Maryland and trained for military intelligence. As a Ritchie Boy, as they were known, Albert was trained to interrogate German prisoners of war. Starting in October 1944 he was with the 7th Armored Division of the II English Army in France and the northern part of Belgium. On November 5-6, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, Albert’s jeep hit a German mine near a bridge over the Meuse River. Albert suffered severe head injuries from which he suffered the rest of his life. He was in a coma for over a month in a English military hospital and remained there until February, 1945. He returned to the US in the spring of 1945, but was hospitalized until July. On Aug. 02, 1945, he was discharged from military service at Camp Edward, Massachusetts.13

Alice and Albert had three children born after the war. In 1950 they were living in New York City, and Albert was working as a butcher.14 Alice’s parents Moritz and Else Schoen and her brothers Manfred and Kurt (listed as Leo here) were also living in New York City. Moritz now owned his own shoemaking business. Manfred was an industrial engineer, and Leo/Kurt was a chemist in a cosmetics company.

Morris Schoen and family, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: New York, New York, New York; Roll: 3572; Page: 9; Enumeration District: 31-2294, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census

Meanwhile, Moritz’s two remaining siblings had survived the war in Shanghai, China. More on that in my next post.

  1. Many of the personal details in this post came from Kurt Leopold Schoen’s interview with the USHMM. Kurt L. Schoen, July 24, 2004 interview, Accession Number: 1997.A.0441.512 | RG Number: RG-50.462.0512, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Gratz College Holocaust Oral History Archive, found at https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn566135.  Although Kurt is listed as Leopold or Leo on many US records, he used the name Kurt for most of his adult life in the US and will be referred to here as Kurt for that reason. ↩
  2. See Note 1, supra. ↩
  3. Alice Schoen, 1940 US Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: San Antonio, Bexar, Texas; Roll: m-t0627-04201; Page: 61A; Enumeration District: 259-6, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
  4. See Note 1, supra. ↩
  5. See Note 1, supra. ↩
  6. Moses Schoen, passenger manifest, The National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, D.C.; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at and Departing from Ogdensburg, New York, 5/27/1948 – 11/28/1972; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715, 1897-1957, Ship or Roll Number: Hamburg, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 ↩
  7. See Note 1, supra. ↩
  8. See Note 1, supra. ↩
  9. See Note 1, supra. ↩
  10. Albert Schwarz, Declaration of Intention, The National Archives at Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA; NAI Title: Declarations of Intention For Citizenship, 1/19/1842 – 10/29/1959; NAI Number: 4713410; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: 21, Description
    Description: (Roll 610) Declarations of Intention For Citizenship, 1842-1959 (No 481301-482200), Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943 ↩
  11. Family history of Schwarz family, Arbeitskreis Judentum im Wasgau, Elisabeth & Otmar Weber, Schillerstraße 10b, 66994, found at /https://judentum-im-wasgau.de/images/geschichte/jugemeinden/jufbusenberg/02_schwarz_jakob_hauptstr_49_bu.pdf ↩
  12. Albert B Schwarz, Race White, Marital Status Single, without dependents (Single)
    Rank Private, Birth Year 1922, Nativity State or Country Danzig or Germany, Citizenship Not Yet a Citizen, Residence New York, New York, Education 2 years of high school
    Civil Occupation Stock clerks, Enlistment Date 26 Mar 1943, Enlistment Place New York City, New York, Service Number 32874464, Branch No branch assignment, Component Selectees (Enlisted Men), National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland, USA; Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938-1946; NAID: 1263923; Record Group Title: Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1789-ca. 2007; Record Group: 64; Box Number: 05772; Reel: 241, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 ↩
  13. See Note 11, supra. ↩
  14. Albert Schwarz and family, 1940 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: New York, New York, New York; Roll: 6203; Page: 6; Enumeration District: 31-1913, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩

Friederike Blumenfeld Schoen’s Son Jakob: Another Family Lost in the Holocaust

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Friederike Blumenfeld Schoen died in 1927, as we saw, leaving behind her four surviving children, Jakob, Auguste, Moses, and Isaac, and her grandchildren. Thus, she was spared from experiencing the Holocaust and seeing what would happen to her children and their families.

Her oldest child, Jakob, was living a good life with his wife Hannah Freimark (sometimes known as Johanna, sometimes as Maria Anna.) Their daughter Ruth was born on New Year’s Day in 1924, as seen in this birth announcement published in Der Israelit newspaper in Frankfurt on January 3, 1924.

Der Israelit, 3 January 1924, page 7

Thank you once again to my cousin Richard Bloomfield who located this notice and the others in this post and translated them for me. The birth announcement says, “Jakob Schön and wife Hanna, née Freimark are delighted to announce the healthy [lit. happy, successful] birth of a daughter. Frankfurt am Main, Baumweg 22, 1 January 1924 / 24. Tebet 5684.”

Jakob was working as a successful butcher in Frankfurt. The ad below says, “Wanted for my store, closed on Shabbat and holidays, a young journeyman. Meat Market Jakob Schön, Frankfurt am Main, Uhlandstrasse 50.”

1925-08-27 Der Israelit, page 7

And then his life was cut short when he died on June 22, 1937, at the age of 52. His daughter Ruth was only 13 years old.

Jakob Schoen death record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Signatur: 11071; Laufende Nummer: 903
Year Range: 1937, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

Jakob’s obituary reflects how well loved he was by his family and his  community. Richard Bloomfield, who located this obituary as well as the ads and notices above, graciously translated the obituary for me as follows:

Der Israelit, July 1, 1937, p. 11

Suddenly and without warning Jakob Schön’s successful and industrious life came to an end. Together with his wife and daughter a large circle of friends mourns this dutiful man known for his unbending character and his scrupulous business practices. With hard work and great zeal Jakob Schön and his like-minded wife built up his meat market from its small beginnings into a remarkably prospering business which brought him the complete trust of the rabbinate and the supervisory board of the IRG, as well as the respect and friendship of his customers. The Reichsbund Jüdischer Frontsoldaten [National Association of Frontline Soldiers] loses with Jakob Schön an active and faithful member. In earlier years the deceased was a valuable member of the Synagogue Choir of the Jewish Community who gladly gave of his time and energy for the enriching of the worship services. May the family’s intense grief be alleviated by knowing that his memory will last and his S’chus [merit] will live on forever.

It appears that Jakob died suddenly, perhaps of a heart attack or stroke. Although there is nothing in the obituary discussing this, I wonder what effect Nazi oppression and the Nuremburg Laws had on his business and on him personally. Did the stress of dealing with persecution contribute to his sudden death? Was Jakob an uncounted victim of the Holocaust?

In any event, at least he was spared knowing what would happen to his wife and daughter in the years to come. They did not leave Germany in time, and both were murdered by the Nazis. They were deported from Frankfurt to Theriesenstadt on September 15, 1942, and then to Auschwitz, where they were murdered on October 12, 1944. Hannah was 56, and Ruth only twenty years old.

Johanna Freimark Schoen Page of Testimony, found at https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=1414651&ind=1

May their lives be remembered. May we never forget.