Tag Archives: England

Arthur Baer’s Family in America: From Refugees to A Renowned Scholar

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In the last post we saw that four of the Baer siblings were in Baltimore by 1940: Paula, Fred, Klara, and Eugen.

After the war they were joined in Baltimore by their brother Arthur, his wife Erna Kraemer, and their son Eric(h), who had all spent that war years in England. We know that Arthur and his family had left Germany for England by September 29, 1939, because they are included on the England and Wales Register that was enumerated on that date.

In researching their son Eric Baer, who became a well-known scientist (more on that below), I found this quite comprehensive biography online at Grokipedia, an AI generated competitor to Wikipedia. The biography focuses primarily on Eric’s career, but includes this statement about his early life in England:

The Baers emigrated from Germany to England on August 28, 1939, just days before Britain’s declaration of war sealed further entry. In London, they endured the hardships of the Blitz, the sustained German bombing campaign from 1940 to 1941 that killed over 40,000 civilians and tested the resolve of recent refugees.

The source cited for this was just a family genealogy report, so I can’t vouch for its accuracy.  Wikipedia had this additional information about Eric’s early life:

Baer’s formal education began in the early spring of 1941 after the family’s move to England when he was approaching nine years of age.  He entered elementary school and was placed in classes with six-year-old children.  He quickly skipped grades and was accepted into the prestigious Church of England Dunstable Grammar School in the autumn in 1942.

Ship manifests1 establish that Eric and his parents Arthur and Erna left England on December 19, 1947, two and a half years after the war ended when Eric was fifteen, and arrived in the US on December 24, 1947. They were traveling with Arthur’s cousin, Julius Baer and his wife. Arthur listed his occupation as a tool maker.

Arthur Baer and family, 1947 ship manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ship or Roll Number: Queen Mary, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957

By 1950 the family had settled in Baltimore where Arthur was working as a jobber in his own business, presumably acting as a middleman between manufacturers and importers and retail businesses selling their goods.2

Eric graduated from Baltimore City College in 1949 when he was only seventeen,  and then he received a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in engineering in 1957. He worked for  E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company in Wilmington, Delaware, until 1962 when he joined the faculty of what is now Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and he still is listed as a faculty member in the Case Western engineering department on their website. Eric has had a long and distinguished career in polymer science with an impressive resume of publications and a long list of patents.3

Eric Baer, Ph. D., By Salomedit – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=98534378

On the personal side Eric married Ana Golender in 1956. She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on January 11, 1934, to Miguel Golender and Fania Kritman. Eric and Ana had two children together.4

Eric’s father Arthur Baer died on November 11, 1978, at age 73.5 Arthur’s wife Erna outlived him by almost thirty years; she was 101 when she died on April 4, 2008.6 Eric Baer was widowed twice; his first wife Ana Golender died on December 11, 1995, when she was 61.7 He remarried in 1999, and his second wife,  Phyllis Anne Hiltner, was a colleague at Case Western in the polymer science field. Sadly, she died on September 6, 2010, at the age of 69.8 Eric has survived both his parents and his first two wives. On July 3, 2016, he married Jane Glaubinger.9

Isn’t this a remarkable story? A young boy is forced to leave his home in Germany with his parents when he was only seven years old. They escape to England, where he starts his formal schooling at age nine and is placed with a class of six year olds. But he soon catches up with students his age. Then at 15 he is uprooted again to come to the US, where he continues his education and ends up getting a Ph.D. from one of the best universities in the US by the time he is 25. And then he becomes a renowned scholar in his field, winning many accolades and obtaining many patents, while a professor at another top university. And it appears that even now in his nineties he continues to be a faculty member there.

This is just one small example of what Germany lost by its persecution of Jews. Not just the war and its reputation with the world, but people like Eric Baer, brilliant scientists who could have contributed to their society. Fortunately for Eric and for his students and colleagues and fellow scientists, he escaped to America, and we here in the US have been the beneficiaries of his work.

Today is Veterans Day. Although I despise the fact that countries go to war and that young men and women get killed or injured in those wars, I appreciate and mourn the sacrifices made by those soldiers. It is particularly awful when those wars are pointless and resolve nothing, as so many are and have been. But I am very grateful to all those soldiers from all the Allied countries who fought against and defeated Nazi Germany. I can’t imagine what would have happened if Hitler had won that war.

  1. Arthur Baer and family, The National Archives; Kew, Surrey, England; BT27 Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and Successors: Outwards Passenger Lists; Reference Number: Series BT27-164282, Month: Dec, Ancestry.com. UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960. See also image above. ↩
  2. Arthur Baer and family, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: 4572; Page: 5; Enumeration District: 4-827, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩
  3. See biographies here and here. Also, the biography on his faculty page at Case Western University can be found here. ↩
  4. See Note 3, supra. See also Ana Goldender, Gender Female, Race White, Birth Date 11 Jan 1934, Birth Place Buenos Aires, Argentina, Death Date 11 Dec 1995,
    Father Miquel Golender, Mother Fania Kritman, SSN 216328431, Death Certificate Number Ssa721, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007. ↩
  5. Arthur Baer death notice, The Baltimore Sun, November 12, 1978, p. 143; Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35818591/arthur-baer: accessed 1 Nov 2026), memorial page for Arthur Baer (28 Aug 1905–11 Nov 1978), Find a Grave Memorial ID 35818591, citing Chevra Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, Randallstown, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by Lauren A. Hubberman Cohen (contributor 49135178). ↩
  6. Erna Baer, Social Security Number, 213-74-7589, Birth Date 22 Aug 1906, Issue year 1973, Issue State Maryland, Last Residence 21208, Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, Death Date 4 Apr 2008, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014; Erna Kramer Baer death notice, The Baltimore Sun, April 7, 2008, p. B4; Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35818591/arthur-baer: accessed 1 Nov 2026), memorial page for Arthur Baer (28 Aug 1905–11 Nov 1978), Find a Grave Memorial ID 35818591, citing Chevra Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, Randallstown, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by Lauren A. Hubberman Cohen (contributor 49135178). ↩
  7. Ana Baer [Ana Golender], Gender Female, Race White, Marital Status Married
    Death Age 61, Birth Date 11 Jan 1934, Death Date 11 Dec 1995, Death Place
    Cleveland Heights, Cuyahoga, Ohio, USA, Death Hospital, Industry Miscellaneous Professional and Related Services, Occupation Chemists, Except Biochemists, Education 4 Years College, Father Golender, Certificate Number 095647, Time of Death: 12:10 Am, Ohio Department of Health; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio Deaths, 1908-1932, 1938-1944, and 1958-2007, Ancestry.com and Ohio Department of Health. Ohio, U.S., Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2022 ↩
  8. See Note 3, supra. See also Eric Baer, Gender Male, Age 66, Birth Year abt 1933, Marriage Date 7 Feb 1999, Marriage Place Ohio, USA, Marriage License Place
    Cuyahoga, Residence Place Cuyahoga, Times Married 1, Spouse Anne Hiltner, Certificate Number 3124, Volume Number 18147, Ohio Department of Health; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio Marriage Index, 1970 and 1972-2007, Ancestry.com. Ohio, U.S., Marriage Abstracts, 1970, 1972-2022. See also Phyllis A Hiltner, Gender
    Female, Race White, Marital Status Married Death Age 69, Birth Date 18 Mar 1941,
    Birth Place, Ohio, USA, Residence Place, Ohio, USA, Death Date 6 Sep 2010, Death Place Ohio, USA, Death Hospital Inpatient, Industry University Professor, Occupation
    Professor, Education Master’s Degree, Father Hiltner, Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics; Columbus, OH, USA; Index to Annual Deaths, 1958-2018,
    Ancestry.com and Ohio Department of Health. Ohio, U.S., Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2022. ↩
  9. Jane Glaubinger, Age 69, Birth Year abt 1947, Marriage Date 3 Jul 2016, Marriage Place Ohio, USA, Times Married 2, Spouse Eric Baer, Ohio Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio Marriage Index, 2008-2022, Ancestry.com. Ohio, U.S., Marriage Abstracts, 1970, 1972-2022 ↩

Arthur Baer Leaves Germany

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By the end of July 1938, only two of the eight Baer siblings were left in Germany: Arthur and Eugen. Five (Klara, Selma, Jenny, Paula, and Meyer) were in the US, and Julius was in France. This post will tell more about what I’ve learned about Arthur Baer and a correction to what I once thought.

As I wrote earlier here, Arthur was eventually able to escape from Germany to England, but I was wrong when I wrote that he had been arrested after Kristallnacht. Hanno Muller’s entry for Arthur Baer in his book about the Jewish families in Butzbach1 states:

He was born in Griedel, married in Nieder-Weisel, and was a merchant (ready-made clothing business together with his brother Julius Bär in Butzbach at Wetzlarerstraße 31 and Römerstraße 27; F[ather]: Adolf Bär in [Butzbach]). He was a member of the Griedel gymnastics club (Turnverein Griedel) (WOLF, 1998 p. 14) and was a witness to the death of Berta Kaufma[nn] Speyer, who died in his apartment. During the night of September 16 to 17, his house was defaced with the word “Jude” (Jew) written in oil paint (WOLF, 1988 p. 49). Best men (wedding witnesses) were Leopold Krä[mer] from Nieder-Weisel and Julius Bär from Butzbach. The family relocated on June 27, 1938, to Bad N[auheim], thereafter to England, and later to the USA (WOLF, 1988 p. 55). The wife was born in Nieder[-Weisel], F[ather]: Adolf Krämer II. The son was born in the Johanniter Hospital in Nieder-Weisel.

I wrote to the archivist in Butzbach to see if they would scan those two pages (49 and 55) from the source Muller referred to, that is, Dieter Wolf’s book Zur Geschichte der Juden in Butzbach (On the History of the Jews in Butzbach), which was published in 1988. I was hoping that those pages would clarify exactly when Arthur Baer’s house was vandalized and when they left Bad Nauheim for England.

The archivist, Gerd Becker, graciously sent me the scans of those two pages. 2 On page 49, it lists events for 1935 and says as to September 16/17 the following:

16./17. September:

During this night, the house at Wetzlarerstraße 31 is defaced with the oil paint inscription “Jude” (Jew); the local group leader (Ortsgruppenleiter) of the NSDAP (Nazi Party) intends to point out the cessation of such “isolated actions” (Einzelaktionen) at the next members’ meeting. – Smearings of antisemitic content are also frequently applied to other Jewish houses and businesses at night.

Wetzlarerstraße 31 was the same address Muller cited as the location of the clothing business owned by Arthur Baer and his brother Julius. It is also the address given for Arthur on p. 55 of Wolf’s book, which confirms that Arthur and his family left Butzbach on June 27, 1938.3

This residence card from Butzbach further confirms that they left on June 27, 1938.

Stadtarchiv Butzbach, Butzbach, Germany. Bestände des Einwohnermeldeamts: Meldekarten der jüdischen Einwohner. Registration card for Arthur Bär (born 28 August 1905), recording residential changes and family details from 1929 to 1938. Digital Images 1 & 2.

But did they go directly to Bad Nauheim and when did they leave Bad Nauheim? Gerd Becker suggested I contact someone in Bad Nauheim for that information, and I wrote to the archivist there, but he never wrote back. Now I have written to another person and am hoping that I will get a response.

For now, I know that Arthur and his family were in Germany until at least June 27, 1938, when they left Butzbach. And it seems that they were in England by September 29, 1939, when the England and Wales Register was taken and compiled.

Arthur Baer 1939 England and Wales Register, The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/625D, Enumeration District: AYBQ, Ancestry.com. 1939 England and Wales Register

The marked-out name underneath Arthur and Erna’s names must have been for their son Erich; names of those who were minors in 1939 were covered over for privacy reasons when these records were released.

As we will see, Arthur Baer and his family later went to the United States and joined the relatives who were already there.

  1. Hanno Muller, Familienbuch Butzbach Band V: Judenfamilien in Butzbach und seinen Stadtteilen (Family Book Butzbach Volume 5: Jewish Families in Butzbach and its Districts). Translation by Google AI. ↩
  2. Dieter Wolf, Vor 50 Jahren brannten die Synagogen: Aus sieben Jahrhunderten jüdischen Lebens in Butzbach und Umgebung (Butzbach: Stadtarchiv und Museum Butzbach, 1988), 49, entry for 16./17. September 1935. Translated by Google AI. ↩
  3. Dieter Wolf, Vor 50 Jahren brannten die Synagogen: Aus sieben Jahrhunderten jüdischen Lebens in Butzbach und Umgebung (Butzbach: Stadtarchiv und Museum Butzbach, 1988), 55, entry for 27 June 1938. ↩

Siegmund Rothschild: Escape from Nazi Germany

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It’s been a few weeks since I wrote about the family of Gelle Blumenfeld Rothschild, given the breaks for some updates, Passover, and our trip to England. Today I return to Gelle’s story, specifically the story of her son Gerson Rothschild. In my last post about Gerson, we saw he died in 1930 and was survived by his wife Fanny Kugelmann and eight children.

In my next series of posts, I will write about the eight surviving children of my cousin Gerson Rothschild and his wife Fanny Kugelmann. Only three of those children survived the Holocaust, making this task a very painful one. But I can start with one of those three who survived, the oldest child of Gerson and Fanny, their son Siegmund.

As we saw, Siegmund married Elise Olga Block on December 22, 1919, in Frankfurt, and they had two sons, Ernst, born March 1, 1922, and Werner, born January 12, 1928, both in Frankfurt. There is a wonderful resource about this family on the Projekt Judische Leben Frankfurt am Main website. Based in part on information obtained during a visit to Frankfurt by Werner Rothschild in 2019, the website details the family’s life before, during, and after the Nazi era. Much of the information in this post came from that website.

According to that website, Siegmund Rothschild moved to Frankfurt in 1911 and was known as “a valued historian with good contacts abroad and president of the liberal main synagogue in Frankfurt.”  He taught at Philanthropin, a free Reform Jewish school founded in 1804 in Frankfurt. An article from the Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture abstracted here states that the school was “one of the most significant German Jewish Reform projects in the first half of the 19th century.” Siegmund’s wife Elise also taught at Philanthropin on and off between 1913 and 1939.

UPDATE: I learned from Siegmund’s grandson Alex that Siegmund fought for Germany during World War I. Here is a photo of him from that time.

Siegmund Rothschild c. 1915
Courtesy of the family

Siegmund and his family were living a good life in Frankfurt, identifying more as German than Jewish, until Hitler came to power in 1933. Siegmund’s son Werner recalled that one friend joined Hitler Youth and stopped talking to him. Another time while visiting family in Borken, he and his cousins were tormented by Hitler Youth.

Here is the family in January 1938:

Siegmund, Werner, Ernst, and Elise (Bloch) Rothschild, January 1938.

As for Ernst, the older son, according to the Projekt Judische Leben Frankfurt website, he had always dreamed of being a dentist, but under Nazi persecution he was not allowed to pursue the studies to reach that goal. Instead he ended up working as an apprentice in a leather dressing business after leaving school in 1937. But when that business was Aryanized in 1938, Ernst lost his job.

The family’s situation became even more dire in November 1938 with Kristallnacht.  As reported on the Projekt Judische Leben website, “For Werner… the worst day of his young life was the so-called “Reichskristallnacht.” He saw furniture fly out of the windows and buildings burn. Immediately afterwards, his father was picked up by the Gestapo. They gave [Siegmund] ten minutes to pack his things, then they deported him to Buchenwald. Fortunately, [Ernst] was not at home or he would have been arrested too.” Elise did everything she could to get Siegmund released; he was released in December 1938 with orders to leave Germany quickly.

The Projekt Judische Leben Frankfurt website continued, “Siegmund was a broken man when he came home and it took weeks and intensive care from his wife before he regained his strength. As soon as his health permitted, he traveled to England with his son Ernst, with ten Marks in his pocket. More was not allowed per person. The only contact there was with two of Elise’s brothers who had emigrated from Ratibor in 1935 and opened a dental practice in London.”

Meanwhile, Elise and Werner remained in Frankfurt until Elise arranged in 1939 for Werner to leave Germany as part of the Kindertransport program. Werner took the train alone to Hamburg and was forced to strip naked so that the Gestapo could check to be sure he wasn’t taking anything prohibited with him. In Hamburg he took a ship to England, where he  was placed in a youth hostel.1

Once Elise also was able to escape to England, the family was reunited in London and Werner was able to attend school.   The 1939 England & Wales Register shows Siegmund and Elise living in London.2 But after the war started against Germany in September 1939, Ernst was interned as an enemy alien; Siegmund and Elise, however, were exempted from internship. Werner was just a child.

Siegmund Rothschild, The National Archives; Kew, London, England; HO 396 WW2 Internees (Aliens) Index Cards 1939-1947; Reference Number: HO 396/238, Piece Number Description: 238: Dead Index (Wives of Germans Etc) 1941-1947: Rosenber-Schitz, Ancestry.com. UK, World War II Alien Internees, 1939-1945

Elise Rothschild, The National Archives; Kew, London, England; HO 396 WW2 Internees (Aliens) Index Cards 1939-1947; Reference Number: HO 396/238, Piece Number Description: 238: Dead Index (Wives of Germans Etc) 1941-1947: Rosenber-Schitz, Ancestry.com. UK, World War II Alien Internees, 1939-1945

Ernst Rothschild, The National Archives; Kew, London, England; HO 396 WW2 Internees (Aliens) Index Cards 1939-1947; Reference Number: HO 396/193, Ancestry.com. UK, World War II Alien Internees, 1939-1945

Ernst was eventually released, and the family was finally able to immigrate to the United States in the summer of 1940, as we will see. Then they had to start their lives all over again. More on their life in the US in the next post.

  1. Werner Rothschild, Gender Male, Record Type Refugee List, Birth Date 12 Jan 1928, Residence Place Frankfurt, Document Date 22 Mär 1939 (22 Mar 1939)
    Permit Number 3813, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; Washington, D.C.; Series: Selected Records Relating to Kindertransports; Record Group: RG-59.075; File Number: mh55-704.00000088, Ancestry.com. UK, Selected Records Relating to Kindertransport, 1938-1939 (USHMM) ↩
  2. Siegmund Rothschild, The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/244E, Description Enumeration District: Akde, Ancestry.com. 1939 England and Wales Register ↩

Six Days in Merry Old England

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We just returned from a wonderful trip to England where our daughter Maddy ran her eighth marathon and her first one outside of the United States. It was, as it always is,  a bit nerve-racking to think of her running 26.2 miles, especially alone and in a foreign country, but as always she came through, despite the unusually warm weather and the unknown city. We were delighted to see her at Mile 6 and then after she finished in St. James Park.

We are so grateful to Maddy for getting us to go to England, our first trip outside the country since COVID (and England was the last place we visited outside the US before COVID in 2019). We kept this tour focused on fun and new adventures, a tour of Notting Hill (and we’d watched the movie this winter together to refresh our memories) and a pub tour of SoHo.

Notting Hill tour:

Ben, our guide, in front of George Orwell’s house in Notting Hill

Banksy art in Notting Hill

Notting Hill—where parts of the Paddington Bear movies were filmed

Alas, Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts were not around…

SoHo pub tour:

Carlos, our guide, and most of the tour group enjoying one last beer

After Maddy left to return to Boston, we traveled north to Liverpool, fulfilling a definite bucket list item for me. I fell in love with the Beatles in February 1964 when I was eleven, and that love has never faded. Seeing where the four young teenagers lived and met and first played together was heartwarming and exciting. Little eleven year old Amy could not believe she played Paul’s piano or stood in the churchyard where Paul and John first met or met Pete Best’s nephew, who gave us a tour of the Casbah where the Beatles (with Pete, not Ringo) first played together as a band.

Mural dedicated to Ringo down the alley from where he grew up

St Peter’s Church where Paul first met John playing with the Quarrymen at a church festival

Did you know there was a real Eleanor Rigby? She is buried in the graveyard at St Peter’s where John was a choirboy and where he first met Paul

John’s childhood home

The kitchen in John’s home

Outside John’s home

Paul’s childhood home

Paul’s backyard and outhouse

Paul’s piano (which I played!) where he and John wrote many of their early songs

George’s childhood home

Alley where George lived

Gate to Strawberry Fields

There are stones with quotations from John’s songs throughout Strawberry Fields

Inside the Casbah on a tour with the nephew of Pete Best, the original drummer for the Beatles

The Casbah stage

If you know the lyrics to Penny Lane, you’ll know what this store is.

Some of you have likely seen some of these photos on Facebook, but I wanted to share these with those blog readers who may not be on Facebook with me.

Special thanks to my cousin Mark Morreau, who met us in Notting Hill and helped us navigate the Underground back to our hotel, and to our tour guides in London and Liverpool, Ben, Carlos, and Dave.

Update on Jenny Blumenfeld Warburg from World Jewish Relief, A New (to Me) Research Tool

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In my April 25, 2023, post about my cousin Jenny Blumenfeld Warburg, I described how I was able to establish through the anecdotal evidence from several cousins and from records from Israel that Jenny had married Siegmund Warburg in Israel/Palestine sometime between 1940 and 1950, but I had not been able to locate an actual marriage record. I still haven’t. But I have been able to find one more document that may relate to Jenny’s life.

I wrote in that earlier post that “In her [Shoah Foundation] testimony, [Jenny’s sister] Hilde [Blumenfeld Meinrath] said that Jenny left Germany and first went to England, where she met Siegmund Warburg and his family. They did not marry, however, until they were in Palestine/Israel.” I also wrote that I had not been able to find any record for Jenny in England. But now, thanks to the World Jewish Relief organization, I think I have.

First, let me tell you about this organization and how it can be a helpful research tool for anyone searching for information about relatives who escaped Nazi Germany to England in the 1930s and thereafter. According to their literature, World Jewish Relief was “[f]ounded in 1933 as the Central British Fund for German Jewry (CBF) … [and] helped bring around 65,000 Jewish refugees, predominantly from Germany and Austria, to Britain. Once here, [they] provided a welfare system, helping refugees find housing, employment, receive medical care and making sure they had enough money to survive. Through this work, the charity established a trusted relationship with the Home Office and lobbied Parliament to allow them to instigate schemes such as the Kindertransport, which rescued 10,000 children, and The Kitchener Camp, which was a means to bring approximately 4,500 Jewish men into the country, many from concentration camps.”

After the war, the organization continued to provide relief to Jewish survivors, bringing children who had survived the camps to England for care and education and rehabilitation. According to their literature, the charity “continued to help Jewish refugees throughout the twentieth century, including those fleeing Egypt, Iran, Czechoslovakia and Bosnia. From funding flights to finding them accommodation, we always provided a safe place for our global Jewish family.”

The charity changed its name to World Jewish Relief in the 1990s and has continued its mission of providing aid and assistance to people of all backgrounds from all over the world who have “survive[d] the consequences of conflict and disaster, to thrive and rebuild their lives.”

In addition to this important charitable work, the organization also provides research assistance to those like me who are looking for information about their family members who escaped to England as refugees from Nazi Germany. Although its files are not comprehensive, there are registration slips for 65,000 refugees and case files for about 35,000 of those refugees.

For Jenny Blumenfeld, there was not a complete case file, just a registration slip. But it provided me with a few more snippets of information about a woman named Jenny Blumenfeld, who probably was my cousin.

Jenny Blumenfeld registration slip from World Jewish Relief

From this brief document, I learned that a Jenny Blumenfeld arrived in England on May 2, 1934, and left for Palestine in 1935. Of course, this document isn’t necessarily for the same Jenny Blumenfeld. The one entry that gives me pause is that she was last living in Lueneburg, Germany, which is 230 miles from Kirchhain, where my Jenny was born and raised. What would a young single Jewish woman have been doing there in 1934? The card also doesn’t have an exact birth date, just an age, 26. Jenny was born on June 23, 1907, so would have been 26 (almost 27) on May 2, 1934.

I am not sure what the other two dates on the card refer to. There is a notation of “16-2-42” that is crossed out. And then on the reverse it says “Addr[ess?] Unknown rce?. reh? left? 24-5-44.” I don’t know the relevance of those two dates, but I know that Jenny was by that time living in Palestine. I asked Sharon Adler, the volunteer with the World Jewish Relief Archives who sent me the registration card, what she thought the dates meant, and she hypothesized that it might have been times that others were inquiring about Jenny’s whereabouts. But she could not be certain.

It’s too bad that World Jewish Relief does not have a complete file on Jenny so that I could be more certain that this is my cousin Jenny Blumenfeld Warburg. But since Hilde did say that Jenny first went to England before going to Palestine, there is enough here to give me some reason to believe that Jenny left Germany and went to England on May 2, 1934, and then left for Palestine the following year. Maybe these dates will lead to more information. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

I am grateful to Sharon and the World Jewish Relief organization for their help, and I hope other researchers will also take advantage of this wonderful resource.

 

Moritz Werner And Family, Part III: After The War

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After the war Max Werner, now 25 years old, married Klara Reiss on January 5, 1947, in London, England.1 Klara (known by the family as Klari) was born in Vienna, Austria, on September 27, 1920, to Ida Spergel and Salomon Reiss. According to his granddaughter Joyce:2

Salomon Reiss had made a fortune in Vienna and was a well-known multi-millionaire. After the Anschluss (March 1938) [he] was arrested at the seder table [and] stripped of his Austrian wealth, and the family managed to escape to Prague (not at the time under German control and where my grandfather owned assets).

Klara’s brothers were able to immigrate to Palestine, but Klara didn’t want to leave her parents so stayed with them in Prague. But as things became more dire, she was able to obtain a visa to go to England, as seen on her exit visa from Prague shown below. As Joyce noted, Klara left Prague “quite late in August 1939. Her entry Visa in Dover is stamped 30st August. The curtain came down [two days later started on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland and World War II started.]”

Klara Reiss 1939 visa for travel to England

Klara’s parents were, however, stuck in Prague once the war started and unable to escape. They were eventually deported to Theriesenstadt and then from there on one of the last transports from Theriesenstadt to Auschwitz, where they were murdered.3

Klara met Max Werner eight years later in England. As Joyce tells the story,

Our parents met at a friend of Moritz and Jenny on a Shabbat afternoon in 1946. The couple were cousins of Klari’s father and, apparently, when [Max] got home, he told his parents he had met the girl he was going to marry. He was two years younger than Klari, involved with Klari’s cousin, and Klari told him to go away. Repeatedly. My father did not take no for an answer and pursued her relentlessly. She gave in and went on a date with him. The rest is history.

Judith provided these additional insights:

My mother liked my Dad when they met but felt that as a sophisticated dress designer she was way too old for the very young looking Max. She had a career path that she had worked very hard to carve out for herself and was in line to go to Paris for her firm.  She wasn’t interested in marriage at that point in her life especially after learning what happened to her parents. I believe her long range plan was to join her brothers in Israel. When however my Dad persisted, she relented…. They were married 6 months later on 5th January, 1947.

Joyce and Judith shared these photographs of their parents Max and Klara:

Max and Klara Werner Courtesy of the family

Max and Klara Werner Courtesy of the family

At the time of his marriage, Max was working for his father Moritz in the Benlo company in London. In 1949, Moritz was able to buy back LS Brinkmann from the man who purchased it. As his son Max told the story (and as I previously shared here),

A Catholic named Rhode from Kassel, who produced goods for the armaments industry, had bought L.S. Brinkmann. After the war, when Rhode was terminally ill, he developed feelings of remorse and tracked down my father Moritz in England. Mr. Rhode asked for a visit and my father and he made a contract, i.e. my father bought the company back – that was at a time when there was no official reparation! In 1949 the takeover was perfected. …

When my father had celebrated his 25th anniversary with the company in 1931, the staff had donated a bronze plate with a dedication and two knitting hands for him. During the forced sale [1939] the plate suddenly disappeared.

In 1949, when my father was sitting in his office again for the first time, there was a knock at the door and a small delegation of employees came in… They struggled to carry a box containing this bronze plate. Before taking over the company, these employees had fastened the plate in the chimney with strong wires and thus hidden it.

Joyce and Judith shared this photograph of the plaque that had been given to honor Moritz in 1931 and then hidden by his employees to keep it safe from the Nazis.

Moritz and Jenny did not remain in Germany, but Moritz did continue to oversee LS Brinkmann from England. He gave a large share of the business to his sister Elsa Werner Loewenthal, wife of Julius Loewenthal, whom I wrote about here.

Meanwhile, according to Judith, there were problems within the partnership of Benlo; contrary to an informal agreement between Moritz and his partner, the partner brought a new partner into the business, and together they took over control of the business and away from Moritz. Eventually, the two other partners drove Moritz out of the business and moved his son Max from company headquarters in London to a sales job, which he found to be unsatisfying and a dead end position.

Here is a photograph of Max and Klara in the early 1950s:

Max and Klara Werner c. 1953 Courtesy of the family

Thus, in 1953, Max decided to move to Germany and take over LS Brinkmann after his father Moritz retired. By that time, both Judith and Joyce were born, and Judith was already in school. Max, Klara, and Joyce went to Eschwege, and Judith stayed behind with her grandparents Moritz and Jenny in England to continue her schooling. Under Max’s leadership, LS Brinkmann once again became a highly successful knitware company.

But after a relatively short time, Klara and Joyce returned to England as Klara was not happy living in Eschwege, where there was no longer a Jewish community after the Holocaust. Max would come to England periodically, usually for Jewish holidays, and Klara and their daughters would spend the summers in Eschwege.

Joyce and Judith have wonderful memories of spending summers in Eschwege. Judith wrote:

Part of the perks of working for LSB was reduced rental flats on the factory property. It was great fun for us children of the workers. Every afternoon and early evening when the workday was over we would gather in the courtyard and play all kinds of games, including hide and seek and different ball games.

Judith shared this photograph of the LS Brinkmann grounds along with this description:

On the far left are the worker residences including ours. Bottom right is the green house. The larger tree in front of the white knitting operation was a delicious pear tree under which our pet dog Cracky was buried. The other greenery were apple, pear, plum, and cherry (not seen) trees. We had all kinds of berries that I used to spend many hours picking and eating. In the distance is the very picturesque town of Eschwege.

LS Brinkmann factory grounds Courtesy of the family

Joyce added this memory:

I also remember those holidays as a time of freedom. We played with local children as Judy said and were left largely to our own devices. Judy and some of the older kids would take me along to the local swimming pool or they Iet me trail along and join in with whatever they did. My own age group was a group of dare-devil boys. In the foreground (front left side) [of the photograph] is a grey roof above the dustbins [trash cans] with a drop of about 6 to 7 feet to the rear exit road below. All the boys and I used to play a ‘chicken’ type game jumping off with as much bravado as possible.

By 1958, Moritz Werner’s health had declined, and he and Jenny decided to leave England for a better climate and move to Lugano, Switzerland. He died eight years later in 1966 at the age of 78. This photograph of Moritz was taken at the celebration of the 100th anniversary of LS Brinkmann’s founding in 1965.

Moritz Werner 1965 Courtesy of the family

Jenny kept the apartment in Lugano and remained there, although she spent the first year after Moritz’s death living with Klara and the girls in London. Eventually, when she could no longer live alone, she moved to an assisted living facility in Zurich, where she died in November 1987 at the age of 93. Here is a beautiful photograph of Jenny:

Jenny Kahn Werner Courtesy of the family

Max Werner eventually retired from LS Brinkmann and returned to England. Judith shared this memory with me:

My father had a fantasy of living in Devon, England on the coast. He had fallen in love with the Devon and Cornwall coastline when he was a very young man. So when he was about 55 [about 1977], he sold [the home in] London and bought a house in Devon. He proceeded to knock most of it down and rebuilt it to his own specifications. This home was on the top of the hill that he owned overlooking the channel. On this hill he had an area for a pool and a rock garden. And when we swam in this pool, you could overlook this beautiful seaway.

Max Werner and his wife Klara died within eight months of each other. Klara died at age 90 in April 2011 in Devon, England, and Max died in December of that year, also in Devon, England. He was 89.4

I am so deeply grateful to Judith and Joyce for sharing their family’s stories and photographs. The story of their grandparents and parents is one of persistence and strength despite being subjected to harassment, theft of their business, and loss of their home and their homeland. Somehow they rebuilt their lives and their business and found ways to survive both before, during, and after World War II.

  1.  Max H Werner, Registration Date: Jan 1947, Registration Quarter: Jan-Feb-Mar, Registration District: Hendon, Inferred County: Middlesex, Spouse: Amalia K Reiss, Volume Number: 5f, Page Number: 529General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: 5f; Page: 529, Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 ↩
  2. As with the two prior posts, most of the information in this post came from a series of emails exchanged among Max and Klara’s daughters Judith, and Joyce and myself during May and June, 2022. ↩
  3. https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=4788092&ind=1; https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=4783626&ind=1 ↩
  4. These dates came from Max and Klara’s daughters Joyce and Judith. ↩

Don’t Believe Everything You Read on Public Records: An Update on Albert Kaufmann

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It’s always good to be reminded that “official records” are only as accurate as the person who creates them and the information that person was able to obtain.

Back in December 2021, I wrote about Albert Kaufmann, the son of Hedwig Blumenfeld Kaufmann. He was married first to Dorothy Schimmelfennig in Germany in 1928, but they divorced in 1932. Albert had immigrated to Brazil sometime after his divorce from Dorothy and married a woman named Georgina Correa, who was born in 1921 and almost twenty years younger than Albert. I assume they married sometime in the 1940s, but I have no record. Albert died in Brazil in 1986 at the age of 84.

I did not believe that Albert had had any children in part because I could find no birth records or any other record for a child and also because Albert’s death record reported that he had no children. Thus, I reported originally on my blog that Hedwig had no living descendants since her daughter Anna and her entire family had been killed in the Holocaust and because her son Albert had not had any children.

Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Registro Civil, 1829-2012,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6QQP-KV?cc=1582573&wc=9GYK-DPJ%3A113334201%2C120190503%2C122537201 : 7 January 2019), Rio de Janeiro 02ª Circunscrição Óbitos 1985, Nov-1987, Jan image 172 of 304; Corregedor Geral da Justicia (Inspector General of Justice Offices), Rio de Janeiro.

But it turns out that Albert’s death record was wrong. And I never would have known except for the good fortune that another Blumenfeld cousin, Gail Levy, found my blog. Gail is the granddaughter of Hedwig Blumenfeld Kaufmann’s brother, Ernst Blumenfeld. Thus, Gail’s father Paul Blumenfeld was Albert Kaufmann’s first cousin. Not only did Gail help me fill out Paul Blumenfeld’s branch of the family tree, she shared with me correspondence she’d had with another cousin, Paul St. George, who was, according to that correspondence, the grandson of Albert Kaufmann and Dorothy Schimmelfennig and thus Gail’s second cousin and my fifth cousin, once removed.

I contacted Paul, and he confirmed what he had told Gail—that his mother Inge Kaufmann was the daughter of Albert and Dorothy—and he shared with me Inge’s birth record from Berlin. She was born on November 23, 1928, nine months after her parents married on February 10, 1928.

Birth record of Inge Kaufmann. Courtesy of Paul St George

Transcribed birth record of Inge Kaufmann. Courtesy of Paul St George

Thus, the Brazil death record was wrong. Albert Kaufmann did have a child and does have living descendants, including my cousin Paul.

I asked Paul what he knew about his grandfather, but he had never met his grandfather and knew little about him. He only has one photograph of his grandfather, and he obtained it from Gail. It’s a 1980 photograph of Albert with his second wife Georgina or Gina with a New Year’s greeting on the reverse:

Albert and Gina Kaufmann. Courtesy of Paul St George

I also asked Paul about his grandmother Dorothy and his mother Inge. I knew from my research that Dorothy Schimmelfennig was born in England, married Albert Kaufmann in 1928, and died on March 31, 1938, in Berlin when she was a month shy of her thirtieth birthday. But I didn’t know the cause of her death. I had also wondered why she would have been in Berlin in 1938, given what was going on in Germany.

Paul told me that his grandmother Dorothy and his mother Inge went to England in 1933 and lived in London. But in 1938 Dorothy returned to Berlin, apparently just a few days before her untimely death on March 31, 1938.1 Paul told me that her death is listed as a suicide in the memorial book for victims of the Holocaust.  Also, the Arolsen Archives include a document that lists Dorothy’s cause of death as from poisoning (“Veronslvergiftug”).

AJDC Berlin Card File (Deportations) Subcollection 1.2.1, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives.

In addition, Paul told me that Dorothy is listed as a forced suicide in a 2007 book by Anna Fischer, Erzwungener Freitod: Spuren und Zeugnisse in Den Freitod Getriebner Juden der Jahre 1938-1945 in Berlin (translation: Forced Suicide: Traces and Testimonies in The Suicides of Driven Jews of the Years 1938-1945 in Berlin) (2007: Berlin : Text Verlag Edition Berlin).  Yad Vashem lists Dorothy as both murdered and as a suicide. There do not appear to be any more details, but it seems entirely possible that Dorothy felt hopeless and helpless in the face of Nazi persecution and became too despondent to go on with life in a world filled with so much hatred and fear. But as Paul wrote, it remains a mystery.

But what happened to young Inge Kaufmann, just ten years old at the time of her mother’s death in 1938? She was still in England, and Paul shared what happened to her after her mother’s death:2

My mother was looked after in England by a Jewish Charity (Central British Fund for German Jewry (CBF)). Some Jewish people in England could see the problems in Germany as early as 1933. They petitioned the UK government for permission to bring Jews from Germany to England. The UK government agreed but with strict rules. The refugee had to be self-supporting, looked after to a certain standard, and so on.

So this is why my mother did not live with a relative. Many if not most of these refugees did not live with a relative in England. Reasons against included over-crowding, too poor, etc. But a relative (Charlotte Pick) was a sponsor. She paid money to the charity and the charity bought clothes, shoes, etc. for my mum. My mother would have been housed in a series of homes in the Hemel Hempstead area. By housed I mean she had a room and meals. Those who provided the children with a place to live were not there to look after the children they housed. The charity did that. Also, my mother would have attended a normal local authority school near to the digs. The charity (now called World Jewish Relief) sent me her case file and that lists the monies and the check-up visits and so on.

Inge later attended the well-known St. Martin’s School for the Arts where she studied fashion and developed friendships with several people who became well-known artists. Paul, a well-known artist himself, recalls visiting the grand homes of these artists as a child, describing them as “full of clutter and the smell of oil paint and cake.”3

After she graduated, Inge became a costume designer for the theater, where she met Paul’s father, an acrobatic tap dancer born George Alexander Bernard, who adopted his stage name Buster St. George as his legal name. He was born in Manchester, England, to Alexander Bernard and Doris Matz on January 16, 1913. Inge and Buster were married in 1953 and had two sons, Julian and Paul. Paul was born in Norway while the theater group which employed them was on tour for performances of Kiss Me Kate. Inge and Buster divorced in 1957. Inge Kaufmann St. George, my fifth cousin, died on November 9, 2000; she was 71. Buster St. George died on October 10, 1986.4

I am very grateful that I was able to connect with my cousin Paul (via our mutual cousin Gail) and to learn that Hedwig Blumenfeld Kaufmann’s son Albert did have a child, his daughter Inge, and that thus today Hedwig has living descendants, unlike what I believed before finding Gail and thus Paul. This experience was an important lesson in remembering that just because a record records a “fact” does not necessarily make it true.

 

  1. Email from Paul St George, January 13, 2022. ↩
  2. Email from Paul St George, January 7, 2022. ↩
  3. Email from Paul St. George, January 13, 2022. ↩
  4. Emails from Paul St George, January 7, 13, and 17, 2022. Buster St George
    Registration Date: Jul 1953, Registration Quarter: Jul-Aug-Sep, Registration District: Brighton, Inferred County: Sussex, Spouse: Inge Kaufmann, Volume Number: 5h
    Page Number: 280, General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: 5h; Page: 280,
    Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005. Paul St. George Ancestry Family Tree, located at https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/171856232/family/familyview?cfpid=122230313195&fpid=122231826460&usePUBJs=true ↩

The Diaries of a Young Boy: An Update on the Family of Arthur Rapp

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Before I move on to the last child of Meyer Goldschmidt, his son Falk, I have two updates that relate to Meyer’s two other sons, Jacob Meier Goldschmidt and Selig Goldschmidt. Today’s involves descendants of Jacob Meier Goldschmidt.

Once again I have had the good fortune of connecting with a Goldschmidt fifth cousin, my cousin Greg. Greg is the great-grandson of Helmina Goldschmidt Rapp, the youngest child of Jacob Meier Goldschmidt. Greg’s grandfather was Helmina’s son Arthur Rapp, and his father was Gordon (born Gunther) Rapp.

Greg shared with me numerous photographs and documents, including his father’s diaries written during World War II when he was a teenager. Greg also put together a timeline of his family’s travels from Germany to Italy to England to Brazil and finally to the US, all between the years of 1934 to 1941 or from when his father was eight years old until he was sixteen. In other words, the Rapp family lived in five countries in the span of seven years.

Although I have already written most of the skeleton of the Rapp family story in my earlier post, after reviewing the materials Greg shared and speaking with him, I want to supplement that post because I can now better describe the family’s life in Frankfurt and the journey that finally brought them to the US in 1941.

Arthur Rapp and his wife Alice Kahn were married in Frankfurt on May 6, 1921. This photograph might be their wedding photograph, but Greg wasn’t certain.

Wedding of Alice Kahn and Arthur Rapp 1921. Courtesy of Greg Rapp

It was Arthur’s second marriage, and he had a daughter Rita from that first marriage who was born in 1908. Then Arthur and Alice had two sons, Helmut, born in 1923, and Gunther, born in 1925. These photographs of the family in the years before they left Germany in March 1934 illustrate their comfortable lifestyle with family vacations to the shore and to the mountains. I don’t have exact dates for these photographs but can only estimate from the presumed ages of Helmut and Gunther.

Helmut and Gunter Rapp c. 1926
Courtesy of Greg Rapp

Helmut Rapp c. 1924 Courtesy of Greg Rapp

The two brothers were very close:1

Helmut and Gunther, c. 1933 Courtesy of Greg Rapp

Helmut and Gunther Rapp, c. 1933 Courtesy of Greg Rapp

Helmut and Gunther Rapp c. 1933 Courtesy of Greg Rapp

They went to the mountains:

Gunther and Helmut Rapp with unknown woman c. 1930 Courtesy of Greg Rapp

The beach:

Rapp family beach c. 1930 Courtesy of Greg Rapp

Rapp family c. 1930

And skiing and ice skating:

Arthur Rapp skiing  Courtesy of Greg Rapp

Alice and Arthur Rapp Courtesy of Greg Rapp

Alice and Arthur Rapp Courtesy of Greg Rapp

Alice and Arthur Rapp Courtesy of Greg Rapp

During these years Arthur was working for the H. Fuld Telephone company as a director and salesman. H. Fuld was started by Arthur’s first cousin Harry Fuld, about whom I wrote in this blog post.

Gunther Rapp started school in Frankfurt on April 6, 1932, when he was six, and spent two years in school in Frankfurt, ending on February 23, 1934, as seen on this report card his son Greg shared with me. His first year was at the Holzhausen School, and his second year was at the Philanthropin School.

Courtesy of Greg Rapp

Then, one year after Hitler had become Chancellor of Germany, the Rapp family left their comfortable life in Frankfurt and moved to Milan, Italy, where on March 2, 1934, Gunther was enrolled in a Swiss school in Milan, as seen in this report card:

Courtesy of Greg Rapp

The family lived in Milan until about December 1937. Greg wasn’t sure what his grandfather was doing at that time but speculated that since the H. Fuld Telephone Company was international, he was continuing to work for that company during this time.

I think these photographs were probably taken during the time they were in Italy from March 1934 until December 1937, or from the time Gunther was eight until he was twelve; on the other hand, they might have been taken in England, their next home:

Gunther and Helmut Rapp c. 1936 Courtesy of Greg Rapp

Gunther and Helmut Rapp c. 1936

Then the family moved again, this time to London. Gunther was now twelve, his brother Helmut was fourteen. Having learned Italian and studied French while in Milan, the boys now had to learn a fourth language, English. When he started school in England in January 1938 at the Normandie Preparatory School in Bexhill-on-the-Sea, Gunther knew only three words: please, thank you, and yes.2

Gunther’s report card a year later in December 1938 showed just how much progress he had made in English and in school in general (despite the comment about how he was doing in Scripture). Perhaps most telling is the comment at the bottom: “He is losing his shyness and beginning to talk more readily.”

Courtesy of Greg Rapp

Gunther celebrated becoming a bar mitzvah that December as well, delivering his bar mitzvah speech in German, which he later translated to English. His speech was primarily an expression of gratitude to his parents and his grandmother for the way they instilled joy and love into all their lives. A note at the bottom contained Gunther’s admission (possibly added years later) that the rabbi wrote most of his speech (something that may be true for many bar/bat mitzvah students).

And then nine months later on September 1, 1939, World War II started. The headmaster of Gunther’s school wrote to his parents, trying to persuade them to keep Gunther at the school.

Courtesy of Greg Rapp

Two things are of particular interest: first, the fact that the school had built a trench so that the students never had to go outside. And secondly, the letter assured Gunther’s parents that the fact that he was German-born would not be an issue, noting that, “We all know that you have exactly the same feelings as an Englishman about the tyrant in Germany….”

But the Normandale School was on the south coast of England on the English Channel, and the Rapps decided that boys would be safer elsewhere. Gunther and his brother Helmut were sent to High Bullen Farm in Lynton, Ilkerton-Devon, on the west coast of England. The farm had no electricity, only kerosene lamps, and water had to be pumped by hand. The Rapp brothers helped on the farm—milking cows, hunting rabbits, and watched the slaughtering of a pig.3

Starting in January 1940, Gunther began to keep a diary. The three months of the first year of his diaries are, interestingly, written in German, not English; many of the entries simply say he went to school or he was sick in bed or he played football (soccer, I assume) or hockey or golf.  In April 1940, he switched to English, which I found noteworthy. I wonder whether England being at war against Germany had anything to do with that or whether he just finally felt fluent enough in English to use it. There is no mention of the war, however, until May 8, 1940, when he included a small news clipping about the war after entering his activities for that day: “Go to school. Play cricket. Became a prefect.”

Courtesy of Greg Rapp

But his parents were already looking to get out of England:

Courtesy of Greg Rapp

From then on, Gunther made occasional entries about the progress of the war or entered news clippings, but mostly he reported on going to school and engaging in sports. In June 1940, he and Helmut left Devon and returned to the family home in Stanmore where their parents had built a house with a bomb shelter in the backyard to keep them safe.4

On June 26, 1940, Gunther wrote the following brief entry: “Pa is interned at 10 o’clock. Mu [his mother, I assume] is very worried. Read. Mu goes to Consuls and tries to get a visa.” On Friday, August 2, 1940, Gunther wrote, “We get a ‘phone call that we will shortly get the visa.” On August 16, he spoke of men coming to pack and of an air raid warning. There are then several more references to air raid warnings, and on August 29, he noted that his diary had been checked by a censor as the family was preparing to leave England.

Courtesy of Greg Rapp

And then on September 6, 1940, he described their departure from England, commenting in part that “We are all very pleased. Pa came out of the internment camp.” They were headed to Sao Paulo, Brazil, Gunther’s fourth country in six years. He was not yet fifteen years old.

From his description of the trip from England to Brazil, you would think he was on a pleasure cruise with his diary entries repeatedly saying, “Lie on deck. Read and play,” with an occasional reference to learning Portuguese—his fifth language after German, Italian, French, and English.

The Rapp family’s time in Brazil was relatively short, and Gunther’s diary entries mostly refer to learning Portuguese, going to the museum, exploring Sao Paulo, and engaging in some project with marble blocks. He also commented on Helmut’s fascination with watches and clocks and his work at a clock repair store. Then in December he started school and commented, “I hardly understand anything the teachers say.” But that same week in December, 1940, Gunther wrote about going with his parents to the American consul to get a visa to travel to the US.

Courtesy of Greg Rapp

The 1941 diary began by noting that he was going to school each morning to learn Portuguese and taking typing lessons in the afternoon. But meanwhile the family was preparing to sail to the US. Helmut continued to repair watches. On his last day at the school in Brazil, January 31, 1941, Gunther wrote, “I’m glad I don’t have to go there any more because I didn’t like it there.”  Overall, he seemed not to be the least bit sad when they left Brazil on February 5, 1941, and sailed to the United States.

On February 17, 1941, the ship arrived in New York harbor. Gunther wrote on that day:

“We are getting nearer our destination. On our left and our right, we can see strips of land, with a blanket of snow on it. Hardly visible through the fog is the imposing statue of liberty, which guards the entrance of the N. York harbor. … We step ashore at 330 and are welcomed at the quay by aunt Alice [Rapp, his father’s sister] and [her husband] Sally and one or two other friends. It’s snowing and terribly cold. …. We go with Uncle Sally and Mr. Drey to the Whitehall Hotel by U-ground, which isn’t as nice as in London [ed.: that is still true today]. I haven’t seen much of N.Y. yet, but from what I have seen, I think I’m going to like it.”

He in fact lived the rest of his life in the greater New York City area, moving only as far as New Jersey in the mid-1970s.

Gunther (who became Gordon in the US) continued to keep his diaries through 1945, and when I have time I hope to read through more of them. But for now I have told the part of the story I wanted to share—the story of a boy who left his homeland at eight for Italy, then at twelve moved to England, at fourteen left for Brazil, and finally in February 1941 when he was fifteen, moved to the United States, where he spent the rest of his life.

As I wrote in my earlier post about the Rapp family, both Gunther/Gordon and his brother Helmut/Harold lived long and successful and productive lives in the US—Harold rising from doing watch repairs to becoming the president of Bulova International, Gordon obtaining degrees from Cornell University and Purdue University and becoming a product and marketing manager with Corn Products Corporation.

From reading the diaries, looking at the photos, and reading the letters written about him by his teachers, it truly seems that Gunther Rapp’s bar mitzvah speech was truthful—even if the rabbi wrote much of it. Gunther seems to have always felt safe and secure with his parents and brother, well-loved and filled with joy, despite all the turmoil and changes going on in his external circumstances.

Thank you so much to my cousin Greg for sharing this incredible archive of photographs, diaries, and other documents. By doing so, he has brought his father to life for me and, I hope I have been able to honor the memory of this man whose boyhood was interrupted, but who never seemed to lose his joyfulness or his desire to succeed.

  1. Conversation with Greg Rapp, December 17, 2020. ↩
  2. Email from Greg Rapp, December 17, 2020. ↩
  3. Email from Greg Rapp, December 17, 2020 ↩
  4. Conversation with Greg Rapp, December 17, 2020. ↩

Children Orphaned by the 1918 Flu Epidemic: The Family of Clementine Goldschmidt Sondheimer, Part II

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In the last post we saw that after Clementine Goldschmidt Sondheimer died in 1918 and then her husband Nathan Sondheimer died in 1933, there were three children left orphaned: Manfred, Erich, and Augusta. They were still just teenagers at the time. But fortunately for them their grandmother Selma Cramer Goldschmidt and their extended family in Frankfurt cared for them as did their stepmother Anna.

All three were able to escape from Nazi Germany in time. We saw that  Augusta ended up in the US in early 1939 and lived with her stepmother Anna and her aunt Selma Ettlinger Oppenheimer until she married Walter Levy in 1942.

As for Augusta’s older brothers, Manfred and Erich, by 1939, they were living in England, according to the 1939 England and Wales Register. The Sondheimer brothers were living in Surrey with a couple named Friedrich and Ruth Hirsch, who were not much older than they were; Friedrich was a metal broker. Manfred was working as the secretary and Erich as a clerk for a company identified as Messrs. Tonerde on their enemy alien registration cards (see images below). That was the same company where their cousin Ernst Bodenheimer was employed.

Manfred and Erich Sondheimer, The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/1938C, Enumeration District: DNEA, Ancestry.com. 1939 England and Wales Register

Manfred married another Frankfurt native, Ruth Blumenthal, on June 16, 1940, in the Hendon district of London; Ruth was born on June 4, 1920, to Samuel Blumenthal and Gutta Spangenthal. She had come to London after finishing school in Germany.1 Their daughter, my fifth cousin Daniela, kindly shared a scan of their marriage registration:

Marriage certificate of Manfred Sondheimer and Ruth Blumenthal

Both Manfred and Erich were eventually interned as enemy aliens on the Isle of Man. Here is Manfred’s enemy alien registration card showing that he was then living in Surrey and working for Messrs. Tonerde. Although he was originally found to be exempt from internment, he was later interned on the Isle of Man, where he was put in charge of one of the barracks,2 and released on September 8, 1940.

Manfred Sondheimer enemy alien registration, The National Archives; Kew, London, England; HO 396 WW2 Internees (Aliens) Index Cards 1939-1947; Reference Number: HO 396/240
Piece Number Description: 240: Dead Index (Wives of Germans etc) 1941-1947: Siderer-Steppacher, Ancestry.com. UK, World War II Alien Internees, 1939-1945

Manfred’s brother Erich Selig Sondheimer also was interned on the Isle of Man. According to his enemy alien registration card, he was living with his brother Manfred in Surrey at the time of  registration and was also working for Messrs. Tonerde. But he also was later sent to the internment camp where he was the chauffeur to the commander of the camp.3 Eric was  released from the camp on September 7, 1940, the day before his brother Manfred.

Erich S Sondheimer enemy alien registration, The National Archives; Kew, London, England; HO 396 WW2 Internees (Aliens) Index Cards 1939-1947; Reference Number: HO 396/240
Piece Number Description: 240: Dead Index (Wives of Germans etc) 1941-1947: Siderer-Steppacher, Ancestry.com. UK, World War II Alien Internees, 1939-1945

On September 9, 1940, Ruth and Manfred and Erich all left England for Cuba. They had decided they would go wherever they first got a visa, and although Ruth would have preferred to go to Palestine where her parents and sister were living, the visa for Cuba came through first.4

On the same ship were their cousins Ernst and Clementine (Eisemann) Bodenheimer, who had also been interned on the Isle of Man. According to their daughter Daniela, Ruth and Manfred had a religious wedding ceremony aboard the ship to solemnize the civil ceremony they had had in London in June.5

Ernst and Clementine Bodenheimer, Manfred and Ruth Sondheimer, Erich Sondheimer, ship manifest, Ancestry.com. UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960

On February 17, 1941, Manfred and Ruth arrived in Miami, Florida, from Cuba. Manfred reported that the person they were going to at their destination was Anna Sondheimer in New York City. Manfred stated that he was a merchant who last permanently resided in London. He could speak five languages: German, English, French, Dutch, and Hebrew.

Manfred Sondheimer, Ancestry.com. Miami, Florida, U.S., Index to Alien Arrivals by Airplane, 1930-1942

By the time Manfred filed his declaration of intention to become a US citizen on September 12, 1941, he and Ruth were living in New York City. Manfred listed his occupation as the vice-president/secretary of an importing business.

Manfred Sondheimer, Declaration of Intention, The National Archives at Philadelphia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 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: (Roll 630) Declarations of Intention for Citizenship, 1842-1959 (No 500201-501100), Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943

On his World War II draft registration, he identified that company as Campro, Inc. Manfred and Ruth had two children born in New York after the war, their son Adrian and their daughter Daniela, who has generously shared so much of her family’s story with me.

Manfred Sondheimer World War 2 draft registration, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

Manfred’s marriage to Ruth Blumenthal ended in divorce in 1966, and in 1968, he married another Ruth—Ruth Darmstadter Grunebaum.6 He became the vice-president of the Hugo Neu Company, a business that, as described on its website, “is a privately held company with deep experience in investing, building and managing businesses in recycling, real estate and related industries.” Manfred worked there for fifty years. One of his favorite charities was the Bibleland Museum in Jerusalem, and he worked hard to provide support and to obtain support from others for that institution.7

Manfred died on January 8, 2006, at the age of 91. He was survived by his children and grandchildren as well as his brother Erich. Those descendants have carried on the Goldschmidt commitment to Jewish education as both of Manfred’s children and all of his grandchildren have attended or are attending Jewish day school.8

Instead of going directly to the US from Cuba like his brother Manfred, Erich Sondheimer agreed to stay in Cuba so that another relative, one of his Sondheimer cousins, could leave for the US. Because he was unable to get a visa to the US, Erich ended up living for some years in Ecuador,9 where he married his wife Joan Charlotte Salomon on October 26, 1943. She was born in Berlin on March 31, 1912, to Herman and Gertrud Salomon.10

Erich and Joan immigrated to the US on August 22, 1946, arriving in Miami, Florida. On an information sheet filed with INS upon his arrival, Erich indicated that they were heading to Long Beach, New Jersey, where Anna Sondheimer, his stepmother, was living. (This is probably a mistake and should have been Long Beach, New York, according to Erich’s niece Daniela.) Erich described his occupation as “industrial” and noted that he, like his brother Manfred, was able to read five languages: German, Dutch, French, Spanish, and English.

Erich Sondheimer, The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Series Title: Passenger and Crew Manifests of Airplanes Arriving at Miami, Florida; NAI Number: 2788537; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787 – 2004; Record Group Number: 85, Roll Number: 133, Ancestry.com. Florida, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1898-1963

Erich (later spelled Eric in the US) and Joan settled in New York and made several trips to South America as well as other destinations over the years. They did not have children. Joan died November 22, 2009; she was 97 years old.11 Eric died March 8, 2010, less than four months after Joan. He was 94.12

Eric worked for many years for the Melanol Corporation, an oil trading business, but his niece Daniela said that his real passion was his volunteer work for an organization called Selfhelp Community Services that Selma Ettlinger Sondheimer was also involved in developing.13 Selfhelp describes itself on its website as follows:

Selfhelp Community Services was founded in 1936 to help those fleeing Nazi Germany maintain their independence and dignity as they struggled to forge new lives in America. Today, Selfhelp is one of the largest and most respected not-for-profit human service agencies in the New York metropolitan area, with 46 programs offering services throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Nassau and Suffolk Counties, and Westchester. Selfhelp provides a broad set of services to more than 20,000 elderly, frail, and vulnerable New Yorkers each year, while remaining the largest provider of comprehensive services to Holocaust survivors in North America.

In a death notice published in The New York Times on March 9, 2010, Selfhelp paid tribute to Eric Sondheimer and his long and dedicated service to their organization:14

Selfhelp Community Services deeply mourns the passing of the esteemed elder statesman of our Board, Eric S. Sondheimer. For over fifty years, Mr. Sondheimer demonstrated an unwavering commitment to Selfhelp’s historic mission of supporting life with dignity to survivors of the Holocaust. His passion for independent living is evidenced by Selfhelp’s six residences, built under his guidance and direction, which house 1,000 seniors. Mr. Sondheimer will be lovingly remembered as a true gentleman whose exceptional kindness and wit was matched only by his insightful wisdom and vision. He left an extraordinary legacy for which he will always be remembered.

Thank you to my fifth cousin Daniela for sharing her family stories and photographs, including these two of her Sondheimer family. First, a photograph of Ruth Blumenthal Sondheimer, Daniela’s mother, Selma Ettlinger Sondheimer, the widow of Nathan Sondheimer’s brother Fritz, and Joan Charlotte Salomon Sondheimer, Erich Sondheimer’s wife:

Ruth Blumenthal Sondheimer, Selma Ettlinger Sondheimer, Joan Charlotte Sondheimer. Courtesy of the family

This last photograph is of four of the Sondheimer siblings and their spouses. It includes Manfred and Eric Sondheimer’s half-siblings, Fred (previously known as Fritz) and Marion. Their sister Augusta had already died when this photo was taken.

Robert Couturier, Joan Charlotte Sondheimer, Fred Sondheimer, Marion Sondheimer Couturier, Ruth Grunenbaum Sondheimer, Manfred Sondheimer, Eric Sondheimer. Courtesy of the family.

Reading about Manfred and Eric and their sister Augusta and how successful and well-loved they all were was reassuring and uplifting. Here were three children who lost their mother as preschoolers and their father as teens and then had to escape from Nazi Germany. Eric and Manfred were both interned as enemy aliens on the Isle of Man. Both brothers then escaped to Cuba because they couldn’t get into the US as quickly due to visa issues and quotas. And then finally they both settled in New York and lived very long and productive lives.

Once again I am inspired by the resilience of the human spirit and the ability of people to survive terrible losses and displacement and yet go on to find joy and meaning in life.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Ruth Blumenthal Sondheimer, Gender: Female, Race: White, Birth Date: 4 Jun 1920, Birth Place: Frankfurt, Federal Republic of Germany, Death Date: 27 Oct 1996
    Father: Samuel Blumenthal, Mother: Gutta Spagenthal, SSN: 060405088, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007. Conversation with Daniela Sondheimer Klein, December 1, 2020. Volume Number: 3a
    Page Number: 2220, General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: 3a; Page: 2220, Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 ↩
  2. Conversation with Daniela Sondheimer Klein, December 1, 2020. ↩
  3. Ibid. ↩
  4. Ibid. ↩
  5. Ibid. ↩
  6. Divorce documents provided by Daniela Sondheimer Klein. Ruth Grunebaum
    Gender: Female, Marriage License Date: 1968, Marriage License Place: Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA, Spouse: Manfred Sondheimer, License Number: 2434,
    New York City Municipal Archives; New York, New York; Borough: Manhattan, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018 ↩
  7. Death notices for Manfred Oppenheimer, The New York Times, Jan. 10, 2006, Section C, Page 17. Conversation with Daniela Sondheimer Klein, December 1, 2020. ↩
  8. Conversation with Daniela Sondheimer Klein, December 1, 2020. Manfred Sondheimer, Social Security Number: 051-18-3476, Birth Date: 27 Oct 1914, Issue Year: Before 1951, Issue State: New York, Last Residence: 10024, New York, New York, New York, Death Date: 8 Jan 2006, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩
  9. Conversation with Daniela Sondheimer Klein, December 1, 2020. ↩
  10. David Baron and Roger Cibella, Goldschmidt Family Report. Joan Charlotte Sondheimer, Birth Date: 31 Mar 1912, Age: 39, Naturalization Date: 25 Feb 1952
    Residence: New York, New York, Title and Location of Court: New York Southern District, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Index to Petitions for Naturalization filed in New York City, 1792-1989 ↩
  11. Joan Sondheimer, Social Security Number: 094-24-2094, Birth Date: 31 Mar 1912
    Issue Year: Before 1951, Issue State: New York, Last Residence: 10024, New York, New York, New York, Death Date: 22 Nov 2009, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩
  12.  Eric Sondheimer, Social Security Number: 070-24-6828, Birth Date: 10 Nov 1915
    Issue Year: Before 1951, Issue State: New York, Last Residence: 10024, New York, New York, New York, Death Date: 8 Mar 2010, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩
  13. Conversation with Daniela Sondheimer Klein, December 1, 2020. ↩
  14. Death notice for Eric Sondheimer, The New York Times, March 9, 2010. ↩

Meyer Selig Goldschmidt’s Descendants Scattered Across the World

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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.

Fanny Steindecker, Walter Goldschmidt ship manifest, The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at Newport News, Virginia; NAI Number: 2877802; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85, Roll Number: 10, Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists, 1904-1963

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.

Fanny Steindecker, Declaration of Intention, The National Archives at Philadelphia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 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: (Roll 657) Declarations of Intention for Citizenship, 1842-1959 (No 525001-525900), Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943

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.

Walter Selig Goldschmidt, declaration of intention, The National Archives at Philadelphia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 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: (Roll 660) Declarations of Intention for Citizenship, 1842-1959 (No 527701-528600), Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943

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 86th Street in New York City. He also listed his citizenship as French.

Walter Selig Goldschmidt World War II draft registration, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

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.

Arthur Goldschmidt World War II draft registration, The National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942

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.

Arthur Goldschmidt death record, National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland, U.S.A.; NAI Number: 302021; Record Group Title: General Records of the Department of State; Record Group Number: Record Group 59; Series Number: Publication A1 205; Box Number: 399; Box Description: 1960-1963 Switzerland A – L, Box Number: Box 0399: 1960 – 1962
Ancestry.com. U.S., Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1835-1974

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.)

Heinrich and Alice Eisemann, The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/564D, Enumeration District: AWAD, Ancestry.com. 1939 England and Wales Register

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.

Ernst Bodenheimer enemy alien registration, The National Archives; Kew, London, England; HO 396 WW2 Internees (Aliens) Index Cards 1939-1947; Reference Number: HO 396/167
Piece Number Description: 167: German Internees Released in UK 1939-1942: Berk-Bohr
Ancestry.com. UK, World War II Alien Internees, 1939-1945

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

Ernst and Clementine Bodenheimer ship manifest, Ancestry.com. UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960

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.

 

  1. Harry Goldschmidt, ship manifest, Year: 1933; Arrival: New York, New York, USA; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Line: 26; Page Number: 6, Description Ship or Roll Number: Ile de France, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 ↩
  2. Harry Goldschmidt, ship manifest, Year: 1936; Arrival: New York, New York, USA; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Line: 16; Page Number: 8, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 ↩
  3. Walter S Goldschmidt, Gender: Male, Marriage License Date: 29 Jan 1946
    Marriage License Place: Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA, Spouse: Nicole Meyer, License Number: 3469, New York City Municipal Archives; New York, New York; Borough: Manhattan; Volume Number: 5, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018. The marriage date itself comes from Baron and Cibella. ↩
  4. Nicole Estelle Meyer, Gender: femme (Female), Death Age: 92, Birth Date: 12 juin 1923 (12 Jun 1923), Birth Place: Paris-14e-Arrondissement, Paris, Death Date: 22 mars 2016 (22 Mar 2016), Death Place: Paris-16E-Arrondissement, Paris, France
    Certificate Number: 366, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (Insee); Paris, France; Fichier des personnes décédées; Roll #: deces-2016.txt, Ancestry.com. Web: France, Death Records, 1970-2018. Original data: Fichier des personnes décédées. France: data.gouv.fr. https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/fichier-des-personnes-decedees/:accessed 15 October, 2020. Parents’ names are from Baron and CIbella. ↩
  5. Walter Goldschmidt, Birth Date: 3 Feb 1915, Age: 33, Naturalization Date: 15 Jul 1948, Residence: New York, New York, Title and Location of Court: New York Southern District, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Index to Petitions for Naturalization filed in New York City, 1792-1989 ↩
  6. Walter Goldschmidt, Nationality: French, Arrival Age: 44, Birth Date: 3 Feb 1915
    Birth Place: Frankfurt/Main, Arrival Date: 4 Feb 1959, Arrival Place: New York, New York, USA, Destination: New York, Airline: PAA, Flight Number: 115/03, The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; NAI Number: 2848504; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787 – 2004; Record Group Number: 85; Series Number: A3998; NARA Roll Number: 140, Ancestry.com. New York State, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1917-1967 ↩
  7. Walter Goldschmidt, Social Security Number: 108-18-8193, Birth Date: 3 Feb 1915, Issue Year: Before 1951, Issue State: New York, Last Residence: 912, (U.S. Consulate) Paris, France, Last Benefit: 912, (U.S. Consulate) Paris, France
    Death Date: Oct 1982, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014. See also FindAGrave entry at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/185496471/walter-goldschmidt ↩
  8. Fanny Steindecker, Gender: femme (Female), Death Age: 95, Birth Date: 11 déc. 1891 (11 Dec 1891), Birth Place: Paris-16e-Arrondissement, Paris, Death Date: 4 nov. 1987, Death Place: Saint-Maur-Des-Fosses, Val-De-Marne, France, Certificate Number: 678, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (Insee); Paris, France; Fichier des personnes décédées; Roll #: deces-1987.txt, Ancestry.com. Web: France, Death Records, 1970-2018. Original data: Fichier des personnes décédées. France: data.gouv.fr. https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/fichier-des-personnes-decedees/:accessed 15 October, 2020. ↩
  9.  Arthur Goldschmidt, Gender: Male, Marriage License Date: 1955, Marriage License Place: Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA, Spouse: Anne Kelsen, License Number: 24215, New York City Municipal Archives; New York, New York; Borough: Manhattan, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018 ↩
  10. Anne Marie K Goldschmidt, Nationality: American, Arrival Age: 53, Birth Date: 7 Feb 1907, Birth Place: Berlin Germany, Arrival Date: 1 Apr 1960, Arrival Place: New York, New York, USA, Destination: New York, Airline: Air France, Flight Number: 0707
    Ancestry.com. New York State, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1917-1967 ↩
  11. Ibid. ↩
  12. Alice and Heinrich Eisemann, ship manifest, Year: 1952; Arrival: New York, New York, USA; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Line: 5; Page Number: 228, Ship or Roll Number: Queen Mary, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 ↩
  13. Alice Eisemann, Death Date: 18 Jan 1965, Death Place: London, England
    Probate Date: 5 Apr 1965, Probate Registry: London, England, Source Information
    Ancestry.com. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 ↩
  14.  Heinrich Eisemann, Death Age: 82, Birth Date: 7 Aug 1890,
    Registration Quarter: Oct-Nov-Dec 1973, Registration District: Islington
    Inferred County: Greater London, Volume: 5c, Page: 1806, General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: 5c; Page: 1806, Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 ↩
  15.  Clementin E. Bodenheimer, Social Security Number: 059-40-5773, Birth Date: 16 Oct 1920, Issue Year: 1964, Issue State: New York, Last Residence: 10952, Monsey, Rockland, New York, Death Date: 21 Dec 2007, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩
  16. Ernst Bodenheimer, The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/1884A, Enumeration District: DMFQ, Ancestry.com. 1939 England and Wales Register ↩
  17. Ernst Bodenheimer, World War II draft registration, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 ↩
  18. Ernst L Bodenheimer, Gender: Male, Birth Date: 5 Dec 1905, Death Date: 12 Sep 2000, Claim Date: 4 Feb 1971, SSN: 050184990, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  19.  Clementin E. Bodenheimer, Social Security Number: 059-40-5773, Birth Date: 16 Oct 1920, Issue Year: 1964, Issue State: New York, Last Residence: 10952, Monsey, Rockland, New York, Death Date: 21 Dec 2007, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩