Category: Eva Goldenring

Post 98, Part 1 (Stories): The Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik (Sugar Factory) Outside Ratibor (Part V-Chilean Descendants)

 

Note: In this post I relate the story about a German gentleman born in Santiago, Chile in 1944 and now living in Bonn, Germany, Mr. Roberto Hirsch, who is the great grandnephew of Sigmund Hirsch, the co-owner of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik outside Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]. Roberto contacted me through my Blog and filled in gaps in my understanding of the fate of some of his ancestors, adding nuance, color, and some fascinating context to a horrific period in history. I will not pretend to readers I can do justice to Roberto’s family story, nor tell a comprehensive story. Rather, I will highlight aspects that augment the story of some people I have previously written about or examine lesser-known facts of my extended family’s survival during WWII.

 

Related Posts:

Post 27: Jewish Deportations from Gurs, France in 1942

Post 36: The Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik (Sugar Factory) Outside Ratibor (Part I-Background)

Post 36, Postscript: The Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik (Sugar Factory) Outside Ratibor (Part I-Maps)

Post 55: The Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik (Sugar Factory) Outside Ratibor (Part II-Restitution for Forced Sale by The Nazis)

Post 59: The Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik (Sugar Factory) Outside Ratibor (Part III—Heirs)

Post 61: The Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik (Sugar Factory) Outside Ratibor (Part IV-Grundbuch (Land Register))

 

Figure 1a. A postcard of the Woinowitz sugar factory as it looked in the early 1900’s

 

 

Figure 1b. The still-standing Woinowitz sugar factory in 2014

 

In multiple earlier posts, I have spoken at length about the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik (sugar factory) (Figures 1a-b), located outside Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland], the town where my father was born in 1907. Prior to the forced sale of the plant during the Nazi era, the business was co-owned by Adolph Schück (1840-1916) (Figure 2) and his brother-in-law Sigmund Hirsch (1848-1920). (Figure 3) Adolph and Sigmund were married to sisters, and they and their wives died in Ratibor and were interred there in the former Jewish Cemetery.

 

Figure 2. Adolph Schück (1840-1916), co-owner with Sigmund Hirsch of the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik
Figure 3. Sigmund Hirsch (1848-1920)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Given the general inaccessibility of records from Jewish ancestors who wound up in South America, it is always gratifying when surviving descendants with connections there send me messages. Such was the case when I was contacted by Roberto Hirsch, born in Santiago, Chile in 1944 but living in Bonn, Germany for the past 50 years. For context, he explained that his great-grandfather, Jakob Hirsch (1842-1905) (Figure 4), was one of Sigmund’s older brothers, and that he was married to Auguste Hirsch née Hirsch (1849-1935). (Figure 5)

 

Figure 4. Sigmund Hirsch’s older brother, Jakob Hirsch (1842-1905) (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)
Figure 5. Jakob Hirsch’s wife, Auguste Hirsch née Hirsch (1849-1935) (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roberto told me ample stories and gave me enough enticing clues about some of his ancestors that it sent me down one of the deepest rabbit holes I have ever climbed into seeking primary source documents, my gold standard for accuracy. As readers will learn in the second part of this two-part Blog post, I accessed historic records on Roberto’s ancestors that were practically indecipherable. Fortunately, my German friend, Peter Hanke, the “Wizard of Wolfsburg,” confirmed they were pertinent and translated them. Including Roberto’s generation, I have incredibly now found seven generations of his family, going all the way back to 1739!! For Jewish families, this covers a long span.

 

Figure 6. Sigmund & Selma Hirsch in Ratibor with their three children from left to right: Henrietta (Frieda), Robert, and Helene (Lene)

 

Sigmund Hirsch was married to Selma Braun (1856-1916), one of 14 children the Ratibor brewery owner Markus Braun (1817-1870) had with two wives. Sigmund and Selma had three children, Helene “Lene” Goldenring née Hirsch (1880-1968), Robert Hirsch (1881-1943), and Henrietta “Frieda” Mamlok née Hirsch (1883-1955). (Figure 6) Prior to being contacted by Roberto Hirsch, I had already learned the fate of all three children. From Lene Goldenring’s (Figure 7) post-WWII German compensation file, I knew she had died in 1968 in Newark, New Jersey, that her brother Robert perished in Valparaiso, Chile in 1943, and that her sister Frieda had passed away in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1955. (Figure 8)

 

Figure 7. Sigmund Hirsch’s daughter, Helene “Lene” Goldenring, in New York at Christmas 1950
Figure 8. Sigmund Hirsch’s daughter, Henrietta “Frieda” Mamlok née Hirsch, with her husband Dr. Alfred Mamlok on their wedding day in the early 1900’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Among the relatives Roberto first told me about was his namesake, Robert Hirsch, Sigmund’s middle child. Robert had studied electrical engineering in Berlin but had unspecified problems there, so his parents arranged to send him to Spain to work for AEG, “Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft.” The company was founded in 1883 in Berlin by Emil Rathenau, and according to Roberto, the Rathenau had ties to the Hirsch family from Ratibor. Possibly a business relationship existed between the families connected to the Woinowitz Zuckerfabrik and maybe this facilitated Robert Hirsch obtaining a position as general manager for AEG in Bilbao, Spain? So far, I have been unable to find the thread.

Robert Hirsch was not the only member of the Hirsch family to find refuge in Spain before or during WWII. In Post 27, I talked at length about Robert’s niece, Eva Zernik née Goldenring (1906-1969) (Figure 9), who made her way to Madrid after walking away or escaping from the French detention center in Gurs, France. As I pointed out in Post 27, security at Gurs was lax, and because Eva spoke impeccable French, she likely managed to cross the nearby Spanish border illegally using money she had squirreled away to bribe human smugglers. She remained in Madrid until 1947 when she emigrated to America.

 

Figure 9. Sigmund Hirsch’s granddaughter, Eva Zernik née Goldenring (1906-1969), in Florence, Italy in June 1938 standing alongside my father, Dr. Otto Bruck, with whom she partnered in tennis

 

 

Roberto Hirsch’s parents, Fritz Hirsch (1908-2006) and Margarete Hirsch née Janzen (1914-1992), also made their way to Spain. Prior to the ascendancy of the Nazis, it had been envisioned that Fritz would take over the family fashion business in Bonn, established by his father Hermann Hirsch (1876-1943) (Figures 10-11) at the turn of the 20th Century; named “Wittgensteiner,” this store was famous throughout Germany for its fine apparel from England, France, and elsewhere. (Figures 12a-d) After it quickly became apparent the store would be expropriated by the Nazis, Fritz escaped to France to join his older brother Kurt Hirsch (1905-1993) (Figures 13-14) who had tried to establish a new life in Paris after his PhD. was revoked by the Nazis in 1933. Like my own father, Kurt joined the French Foreign Legion, but unlike my father who was shipped to Algeria, Kurt remained hidden in the south of France until 1945, eluding the German occupiers for five years and experiencing innumerable adventures.

 

Figure 10. Roberto’s father and grandfather, Fritz Hirsch (1908-2006) and Hermann Hirsch (1876-1943), in 1928 (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)
Figure 11. Roberto’s grandfather, Hermann Hirsch (1876-1943) with his two sons, Kurt Hirsch (1905-1993) and Fritz Hirsch (1908-2006), in 1932 in Colmar, now a part of Alsace, France but formerly belonging to Germany (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 12a. Hermann Hirsch’s fashion store in Bonn, “Wittgensteiner” (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)
Figure 12b. Hermann Hirsch’s fashion store in Bonn, “Wittgensteiner” (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 12c. Hermann Hirsch’s fashion store in Bonn, “Wittgensteiner” (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)
Figure 12d. Hermann Hirsch’s fashion store in Bonn, “Wittgensteiner” (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 13. Roberto Hirsch’s uncle Kurt Hirsch (center) (1905-1993) at his bar mitzvah in 1918, amidst his family, many of whom were murdered in the Holocaust including veterans of WWI (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

 

Figure 14. Roberto’s uncle Kurt Hirsch (1905-1993) in Paris in 1984 (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

Because Fritz’s residence permit in France only allowed for a three-month stay, he tried to get to Spain. There he knew some people with whom he had studied in Bonn that had good connections to Spanish Government officials. Through this channel, Fritz obtained an unlimited residence permit for Spain. Several months later Roberto’s mother, only 21 at the time, left Germany by train and joined her future husband there. Roberto’s mother, incidentally, was Protestant, and, on account of her relationship with Fritz Hirsch, was considered by the National Socialists as a “Judenliebchen,” a Jew’s lover, strictly forbidden under Nazi law.

Roberto tells a few fascinating stories about his parents’ time in Spain.

Roberto’s parents lived mostly in small towns in the northern part of the country. In the mid-1930’s, Spain was a cultural and social backwater with limited outside contacts. Arriving speaking not a word of Spanish and having no money Fritz still managed to land himself a job as a traveling salesman selling office supplies. Armed with only a small dictionary, he traveled around his sales district, speaking his broken Spanish to comical delight and endless derision. Nonetheless, the Spaniards, a joyful people by nature, were so amused by the situation, they bought more supplies than they needed. Thus, Fritz was able to provide for himself and his wife.

Roberto’s parents were in touch with Robert Hirsch during their four-year stay in Spain between 1935 and 1939. By virtue of Robert’s position as general manager for AEG, he had more freedom of movement, which allowed all to meet periodically. Based on Roberto’s aunt’s surviving address book, Fritz Hirsch lived for a time in Bilbao. (Figure 15) Given that Robert, Fritz, and Margarete’s stays in Spain overlapped with almost the entirety of the Spanish Civil War, which began on the 17th of July 1936 and ended on the 1st of April 1939, I was particularly curious how the conflict might have affected their lives.

 

Figure 15. Page from Margarete “Gretel” Hirsch’s address book showing her brother Frederico (Fritz), Roberto’s father, lived in Bilbao (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

Roberto relates one amusing story about an unnerving encounter his mother had towards the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. At the time, at least in northern Spain, the conflict was a low-key affair. Young men from opposing sides would gather in an open field and start shooting at one another with their ancient and off target rifles; neither side could afford more accurate arms, so damage and injury was limited. One day Roberto’s mother was returning from shopping and came upon this scene. Suddenly, a voice shouted, “stop shooting, the lady wants to pass.” And the boys did precisely this, allowing her to walk through with trembling knees, whereafter the same voice shouted, “now we can continue!”

According to Roberto’s parents, the conflict became more gruesome when the Germans, Italians, and Soviets began to send troops and more sophisticated arms. At the time, Fritz and Margarete lived in a small town not far from Guernica. Students of history know this town was the scene of an infamous April 26, 1937 bombing, the first aerial bombing by the German Luftwaffe carried out at the behest of Francisco Franco’s Nationalist faction; the number of casualties ranged from about 150 to more than 1600, depending on which faction was reporting.  This incident was the inspiration for Pablo Picasso’s famous painting “Guernica.”

At some point, Roberto’s father had to renew his German passport and was forced to visit the German consulate in Bilbao, which was evidently staffed by Nazis. While Fritz’s passport was eventually renewed, it did not happen before anti-Semitic epithets were hurled at him and he was told that Berlin would be informed of his whereabouts. I have on occasion uncovered vital documents for some Jewish ancestors with their location outside of Germany noted. Roberto’s story is independent confirmation that this in fact took place, ostensibly because the Nazis expected one day to invade these yet unoccupied countries and round up Jews living there. No doubt, Fritz and other Jews living in Spain were worried about this eventuality.

As the Spanish Civil War intensified and Franco’s forces captured larger cities, Roberto’s parents moved further west towards Portugal. Approaching the end of their stay in Spain in 1939, Roberto’s parents lived in La Coruna, the capital of Galicia in the northwest of Spain by the sea, in a zone already captured by Franco. (Figure 16) Each morning, they could hear shooting on the nearby beach as Franco’s forces executed Republican prisoners.

 

Figure 16. Page from Margarete Hirsch’s address book showing her brother Frederico (Fritz) later lived in La Coruna (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

It was at this moment that Roberto’s parents decided to flee Spain. One day they told their neighbors they were traveling to Portugal for the weekend and took with them only two suitcases. Using $3,000 they had saved over the years, they left for Lisbon. Upon their arrival, they started visiting the various consulates trying like thousands of other Jewish refugees there to obtain an exit visa. Everywhere, they were turned down until they visited the Chilean Embassy. Upon their arrival, the Ambassador was out, so a young staffer received them and started flirting with Roberto’s attractive mother; she reciprocated, and this miraculously resulted in Roberto’s parents being granted a visa for Chili. Within a week, by April 1939, they had boarded a ship bound for Buenos Aires, Argentina, a transit point. (Figures 17a-f)

 

Figure 17a. The cover of Fritz Hirsch’s 1936 German passport (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

Figure 17b. The inside page of Fritz Hirsch’s German passport with a big red “J” and “Israel” added to his name, both indicating he was Jewish (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

Figure 17c. Page from Fritz Hirsch’s German passport with visas dated the 3rd of October 1936 and the 7th of October 1936 from La Coruna, Spain authorizing his stay there until the situation normalizes in Bilbao (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

Figure 17d. Pages from Fritz Hirsch’s passport with March 1939 passport stamps for entrance into Portugal and Lisbon (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

Figure 17e. On the left page is the entrance visa for Chile, and on the right side the transit visa for Argentina (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

Figure 17f. On these pages are various passport stamps showing Fritz Hirsch left Portugal on the 14th of April 1939 aboard the ship “Asturias” headed for Buenos Aires, Argentina; left Buenos Aires the 26th of May 1939; and arrived in Chile on the 1st of June 1939 (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

Upon Fritz and Margaret Hirsch’s arrival in Santiago, Chile in June 1939, they were met by Robert Hirsch. (Figure 18) Roberto knows nothing about Robert’s departure from Spain and eventual emigration to Chile. Robert was apparently living with a Spanish woman named Carmen to whom he left a large sum of money upon his departure. Robert’s sister, Helene Goldenring née Hirsch, would eventually also go to Chile via an unknown route from Germany. While I already knew that Robert had died in Valparaiso, Chile on the 7th of October 1943, Roberto explained that his namesake had committed suicide because of a severe persecution complex. This resolved yet another unanswered question I had.

 

Figure 18. Roberto’s mother Margarete Hirsch née Janzen (1914-1992) and Robert Hirsch (1881-1943) in Chile in 1942 with Roberto’s sister in the pram (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

Helene Goldenring lived not with her brother Robert in Valparaiso but with Roberto’s parents (Figures 19-20) in Santiago until she left for America on the 3rd of July 1947 (Figure 21), never having learned to speak any Spanish. Oddly, after her departure, Roberto’s parents never again heard from her.

 

Figure 19. Roberto’s parents, Fritz Hirsch (1908-2006) and Margarete Hirsch née Janzen (1914-1992) in Santiago, Chile in 1975 (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)
Figure 20. Roberto Hirsch with his father in Santiago, Chile in 1998 (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 21. Passenger list showing Helene Goldenring née Hirsch’s departure from Valparaiso, Chile on the 3rd of July 1947 headed to New York

 

As to some of Roberto’s relatives who did not escape from Europe, I will briefly relate the heartbreaking story of Roberto’s grandparents, Hermann Hirsch (1876-1943) and Ida Hirsch née Sollinger (1874-1944). (Figures 22-23) Erroneously concluding the Nazis would have no interest in them because of their age, like many other elderly Jews, they consciously decided to stay in Germany. However, by 1939, Hermann and Ida were forced to move to a special house for Jews in Bonn where they paid high prices for water, electricity, and gas. Most of their money had been confiscated, and only a small sum remained from which paltry monthly withdrawals could be made. Around this time their son Fritz began corresponding with his parents from Santiago, Chile, retaining carbon copies of his letters. By 1941, Roberto’s grandparents were again forced to move, this time to a convent in Bonn where the nuns had been evicted. The posts came to a stop in June 1942, when his grandparents were deported to Theresienstadt.

 

Figure 22. Roberto’s grandfather Hermann Hirsch (1876-1943) ca. 1902 (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)
Figure 23. Roberto’s grandparents, Hermann Hirsch (1876-1943) and Ida Hirsch née Sollinger (1874-1944) in 1935 in Bonn, Germany; both later died in Theresienstadt (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roberto graciously shared with me the last correspondence the family ever received from his grandmother. (Figure 24 a-c) It is an exceptional document, a typed postcard written on the 20th of December 1943 from Theresienstadt to Roberto’s family in Geneva. Dictated by Ida Hirsch who was already nearly blind, she wrote that her husband had died of cardiac arrest; the family would later learn from survivors his real cause of death had been suicide, which it was forbidden to write. Preposterously, Ida’s postcard was first sent by the Nazis to Berlin to the “Oberkommando der Wehrmacht” to be censored before being forwarded to Geneva, as though an elderly blind woman could divulge military secrets. It is astonishing the Nazis would allow Jewish internees of the concentration camps any communication with the outside world.

 

Figure 24a. Front of 1943 typed postcard written by Roberto’s grandmother, Ida Hirsch née Sollinger (1874-1944) from Theresienstadt (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

Figure 24b. Text of last postcard ever written by Roberto’s grandmother, Ida Hirsch née Sollinger (1874-1944), from Theresienstadt (photo courtesy of Roberto Hirsch)

 

Figure 24c. Translation of text of December 1943 postcard from Ida Hirsch née Sollinger

 

I am profoundly grateful to Roberto for sharing some of his family’s stories, pictures, and documents. I like to think this has been a mutually beneficial exchange since I have uncovered additional ancestors of which he was unaware including their fates. Roberto’s grandfather had three siblings, only two of which he knew about; the three he knew about were all murdered in the Holocaust, and the fate of the fourth has yet to be worked out.

In the second installment of Post 98, I will describe and illustrate some of the historic documents I recovered from various sources related to Roberto Hirsch’s family that have allowed me to track a few of his relatives to the 18th Century.

 

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VITAL STATISTICS OF SIEGMUND HIRSCH AND HIS RELATIVES

 

NAME EVENT DATE PLACE SOURCE
         
Sigmund Hirsch (self) Birth 18 November 1848 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Family History Library Karlsruhe Microfilm Roll 1256447 (p. 441 of 748)
  Death 14 October 1920 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Headstone from former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]; Family History Library Ratibor Microfilm Roll 1184448
Selma Hirsch née Braun (wife) Birth 11 July 1856 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Headstone from former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]; Family History Library Ratibor Microfilm Roll 1184449
  Death 11 July 1916 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Headstone from former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]
Helene Goldenring née Hirsch (daughter) Birth 25 March 1880 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Helene Goldenring’s Hesse, Germany Post-War Compensation File
  Death 12 January 1968 Newark, New Jersey Helene Goldenring’s Hesse, Germany Post-War Compensation File
Robert Hirsch (son) Birth 31 October 1881 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Ratibor birth certificate: Mittweida, Germany 1904 Residence Register
  Death (suicide) 7 October 1943 Valparaiso, Chile Roberto Hirsch (personal communication)
Henrietta “Frieda” Mamlok née Hirsch (daughter) Birth 8 February 1883 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]  
  Death 29 July 1955 Montevideo, Uruguay Roberto Hirsch Family Papers
Emanuel Hirsch (father) Birth About 1805 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Karlsruhe, Germany death certificate
  Marriage 27 May 1834 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Family History Library Karlsruhe Microfilm Roll 1256447 (p. 251 of 748)
  Death 25 March 1880 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Karlsruhe, Germany death certificate
Henriette “Jette” Hirsch née Ettlinger (mother) Birth 1808 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Karlsruhe, Germany death certificate; Germany Find a Grave Index
  Marriage 27 May 1834 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Family History Library Karlsruhe Microfilm Roll 1256447 (p. 251 of 748)
  Death 2 August 1882 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Karlsruhe, Germany death certificate
Bernhard Hirsch (aka Leonhard Hirsch) (brother) Birth 26 August 1836 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Family History Library Karlsruhe Microfilm Roll 1256447 (p. 272 of 748); Karlsruhe, Germany death certificate
  Marriage (to Sofie Reutlinger) 17 August 1871 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Karlsruhe, Germany marriage certificate
  Death 7 December 1888 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Karlsruhe, Germany death certificate
Jakob Hirsch (brother) Birth 8 November 1842 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Family History Library Karlsruhe Microfilm Roll 1256447 (p. 357 of 748)
  Marriage 30 July 1874 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Karlsruhe, Germany marriage certificate
  Death 1905 Neuwied, Germany (buried in Bonn, Germany Jewish Cemetery) Roberto Hirsch (personal communication)
Auguste Hirsch née Hirsch (sister-in-law) Birth 14 January 1849 Ilvesheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Family History Library Ilvesheim Microfilm Roll 1271220 (p. 260 of 403); Karlsruhe, Germany marriage certificate
  Marriage 30 July 1874 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Karlsruhe, Germany marriage certificate
  Death 1935 Bonn, Germany Roberto Hirsch (personal communication)
Hermann Hirsch (nephew) Birth 19 August 1876 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Karlsruhe, Germany birth certificate
  Deportation (to Theresienstadt) 27 July 1942 Trier-Köln, Germany Jewish Victims of Nazi Persecution, 1933-1945
  Death (suicide) 16 February 1943 Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia Roberto Hirsch (personal communication); Ida Hirsch’s 1943 postcard sent from Theresienstadt
Ida Hirsch née Sollinger (wife of nephew) Birth 1874 Einbeck, Germany Roberto Hirsch (personal communication)
  Death 1944 Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia Yad Vashem Shoah Victims
Sophie Hirsch (niece) Birth 3 April 1875 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Yad Vashem Page of Testimony
  Death UNKNOWN UNKNOWN Yad Vashem Shoah Victims
Bernhard Hirsch (nephew) Birth 7 December 1877 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Karlsruhe, Germany birth certificate
  Death UNKNOWN UNKNOWN  
Karl Hirsch (nephew) Birth 15 February 1879 Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Karlsruhe, Germany birth certificate
  Deportation (to Auschwitz-Birkenau) 10 September 1944 Auschwitz-Birkenau Yad Vashem Shoah Victims
Fritz Hirsch (great-nephew) Birth 20 January 1908 Bonn, North Rhine-Wesphalia, Germany Hirsch Janzen family tree; Roberto Hirsch (personal communication)
  Death 11 January 2006 Santiago, Chile Hirsch Janzen family tree; Roberto Hirsch (personal communication)
Margaret Hirsch née Janzen (wife of great-nephew) Birth 12 January 1914 Elbing, Germany [today: Elbląg, Poland] Hirsch Janzen family tree
  Death 29 February 1992 Santiago, Chile Hirsch Janzen family tree
Roberto Hirsch (great-great-nephew) Birth 3 September 1944 Santiago, Chile Roberto Hirsch (personal communication)
         
         
         

 

 

POST 35: FATE OF SOME JEWISH GUESTS WHO STAYED AT THE VILLA PRIMAVERA (FIESOLE, ITALY), 1937-1938

UPDATED MAY 18, 2021

(UPDATES IN RED)

 

“I should like someone to remember that there once lived a person named David Berger.” (David Berger in his last letter, Vilna 1941, quoted from www.yadvashem.org brochure)

NOTE:  This post examines the fate of some of the Jewish residents and guests who stayed at the Villa Primavera in Fiesole, Italy, between roughly March 1937 and September 1938, the period during which my aunt Susanne Müller née Bruck co-managed the property as a bed-and-breakfast with a Jewish emigrant formerly from Austria and Germany, Ms. Lucia von Jacobi.  Investigating what became of the guests who stayed at the Villa Primavera during this time wound up upending my preconceived notion that the boarders were all Jewish emigrés permanently fleeing Germany.

Related Post:  Post 21: Aunt Susanne & Dr. Franz Müller, The Fiesole Years

Surviving historic records archived at the “Archivio Storico Comunale,” the “Municipal Historic Archive,” in Fiesole, place my aunt Susanne and my uncle Dr. Franz Müller’s arrival there in about March 1936, and their departure in mid-September 1938.  Beginning approximately a year after their arrival, that’s to say, in March 1937, and continuing until they left for France in mid-September 1938, registration logs from the Villa Primavera record numerous guests.  I was surprised at the large number of visitors who stayed there, mostly Jewish, and just assumed my aunt and uncle hosted them as they tried to escape Europe and Nazi persecution.  While I eventually came across a reference indicating my aunt and Ms. Jacobi had run the Villa Primavera as a bed-and-breakfast, explaining the multiple boarders, this did not initially alter my view that the Jewish guests had already permanently fled Germany, Austria, Belgium, and Switzerland, never to return.

Figure 1. “Soggiorno degli Stranieri in Italia” (Stay of Foreigners in Italy) form for my great-aunt Franziska Bruck

To remind readers, during Italy’s Fascist era, all out-of-town visitors to Fiesole and elsewhere were required to appear with their hosts at the Municipio, or City Hall, provide their names and those of their parents, declare their occupation, state when and where they were born, show their identity papers, give their passport numbers, divulge their anticipated length of stay, and complete what was called a “Soggiorno degli Stranieri in Italia,” or “Stay of Foreigners in Italy.” (Figure 1) As readers will rightly conclude, collecting this information represented a vast invasion of privacy, although forensic genealogists can glean an enormous amount of useful ancestral data.  While virtually all the Soggiorno forms state the reason for the guest’s visit as “turismo,” tourism, I concluded this was a “cover” for their real purpose, planning their escape to America or elsewhere.  There can be little doubt in examining the Soggiorno forms that most guests were educated and accomplished people of means, likely with good personal and professional contacts elsewhere in the world who could sponsor them and help them obtain travel visas.  That said, this did not ensure that Jews were able to obtain such outside help or even intended to leave Europe.

Figure 2. My aunt Susanne Müller née Bruck, murdered in Auschwitz in September 1942
Figure 3. My great-aunt Franziska Bruck, suicide victim of the Holocaust in January 1942

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 4. My first cousin twice-removed, Auguste “Gusti” Schueck, murdered in the Theresienstadt Ghetto in May 1943

With the Soggiorno forms and Fiesole registration ledgers in hand, using ancestry.com, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem Holocaust victims’ databases, as well as general Internet queries, I set out to try and determine the fate of as many of the guests of the Villa Primavera as possible.  With respect to my own family, I already knew what had happened to them, in particular that my beloved aunt Susanne (Figure 2) and my great-aunt Franziska Bruck (Figure 3) had both died in the Holocaust; similarly, I already knew that one of my first cousins twice-removed, Auguste “Gusti” Schueck (Figure 4), had died in the Theresienstadt Ghetto in Czechoslovakia on May 28, 1943.  But, I was very curious whether other individuals who had passed through the Villa Primavera suffered a similar fate or managed to find sanctuary elsewhere.  The findings upended my preconceived notion that the guests at the Villa Primavera were on a one-way journey out of Europe at the time they stayed in Fiesole.

Below is a table, alphabetically-arranged, of the Jewish residents and boarders who stayed at the Villa Primavera between March 1937 and September 1938, with comments as to their destiny, where discovered. Below the table, I highlight a few individuals, discussing some interesting things I’ve learned about them, including pictures, where found. 

NAME (NATIONALITY) DATE & PLACE OF BIRTH DATE & PLACE OF DEATH COMMENT
       
Argudinsky née Fleischer, Elisabetta (UNKNOWN) 11/24/1873 Reichenbach, Germany Unknown Destiny: Unknown
Bachrach née Bachmann, Elvire (SWISS) 9/15/1872   Karstein Unknown Destiny: Unknown
Baerwald née Lewino, Charlotte Victoria (GERMAN) 8/6/1870        Mainz, Germany 3/16/1966                St. Gallen, Switzerland Destiny: Immigrated to America, died in Switzerland      (Figure 5)
Berend, Eduard (GERMAN) 12/5/1883 Hannover, Germany 1973  Marbach, Germany Destiny: Left Germany in 1939, returned after WWII
Bergmann née Neufeld, Amalie  (GERMAN) 4/16/1881       Posen, Germany Unknown Destiny: Unknown
Brieger née Elias, Else           (GERMAN) 2/19/1888      Posen, Germany Unknown Destiny: Unknown
Bruck née Berliner, Else (GERMAN)(Figure 6) 3/3/1873      Ratibor, Germany 2/16/1957             New York, NY Destiny: Immigrated to America
Bruck, Eva (GERMAN)     (Figure 7) 8/19/1906 Barcelona, Spain 8/15/1977    Ainring, Germany Destiny: Immigrated to Spain, died in Germany             (Figure 8)
Bruck, Franziska (GERMAN) 12/29/1866 Ratibor, Germany 1/2/1942          Berlin, Germany Destiny: Suicide victim of the Holocaust
Bruck, Otto (GERMAN)    (Figure 42)
 4/16/1907   Ratibor, Germany 9/13/1994            New York, NY Destiny: Immigrated to America
Cohn née Pollack, Caroline  (GERMAN) Unknown Unknown Destiny: Unknown
Cypres, Jacques (BELGIAN) 10/29/1904 Antwerp, Belgium Unknown Destiny: Immigrated to America        (Figure 9)
Donath, Ludwig (GERMAN) 3/6/1900      Vienna, Austria 9/29/1967            New York, NY Destiny: Immigrated to America
Donath née Camsky, Maria Josefa      (GERMAN) 8/20/1902    Vienna, Austria 4/21/1975      Vienna, Austria Destiny: Immigrated to America, returned to Austria after her husband’s death
Elias, Dr. Carl Ludwig    (GERMAN) 9/19/1891       Berlin, Germany 1942         Auschwitz, Poland Destiny: Murdered in Auschwitz
Fleischner née Schoenfeld, Gabriele Ann Sophie  (AUSTRIAN)(Figures 10a &b) 10/12/1895  Vienna, Austria 9/22/58 Massachusetts Destiny: Immigrated to America, died Gabriele Anna Fleischner-Lawrence
Fleischner, Dr. Konrad George (AUSTRIAN)(Figures 11a& b) 10/12/1891   Vienna, Austria 9/1963 Massachusetts Destiny: Immigrated to America, died Conrad Lawrence
Goldenring, Eva (GERMAN) 10/29/1906   Berlin, Germany 12/1969 Wilmington, DE Destiny: Left Germany for France & Spain; eventually immigrated to America
Goldenring, Fritz (GERMAN) 9/11/1902 12/15/1943 Shanghai, China Destiny: Left for Shanghai where he died in the Shanghai Ghetto
Goldenring née Hirsch, Helene (GERMAN) 3/25/1880   Ratibor, Germany

 

 1/12/1968     Newark, NJ Destiny: Left for Chile & eventually immigrated to America
Grödel, Emilie (GERMAN) Unknown Unknown Destiny: Unknown
Hayoth HAYDT, Dr. Eugen (GERMAN)

 

 4/19/1906

Metz, France

 Unknown

1/17/1973

Sydney, Australia

 Destiny: Unknown

Arrived in Sydney, Australia on 2/6/1939 aboard the ship “NIEUW HOLLAND”;

Died as Alvin Eugene Werner Haydt or A.E.W Haydt
Hayoth HAYDT née Winternitz, Lilly (GERMAN) 8/12/1908

Vienna, Austria

 Unknown

2/4/1997

Sydney

 Destiny: Unknown

Arrived in Sydney, Australia on 2/6/1939 aboard the ship “NIEUW HOLLAND”

 
Heilbronner, Dr. Paul Milton (GERMAN)  (Figures 12 & b) 11/22/1904 Munich, Germany 4/6/1980           Santa Barbara, CA Destiny: Immigrated to America, died as Paul Milton Laporte
Heilbronner née Wimpfheimer, Sofie         (GERMAN)  (Figures 13a & b) 3/18/1876 Augsburg, Germany 3/26/1965              Los Angeles, CA Destiny: Immigrated to America, died as Sofie Broner
Herz, Dr. Phil. Emanuel Emil (GERMAN) 4/5/1877         Essen, Germany 7/8/1971   Rochester, NY Destiny: Immigrated to America      (Figure 14)
Herz née Berl, Gabriele (GERMAN) 4/26/1886   Vienna, Austria 1957           Rochester, NY Destiny: Immigrated to America
Hirschfeldt née Wolff, Katharina (GERMAN) 4/16/1866      Berlin, Germany Unknown Destiny: Unknown
Jacobi née Goldberg, Lucia von (GERMAN) 9/8/1887      Vienna, Austria 4/24/1956   Locarno, Switzerland Destiny: Fled to Switzerland where she died after WWII
Kleinmann née Lewensohn, Gretchen (GERMAN) 12/31/1894 Hamburg, Germany Unknown Destiny: Unknown
Kleinmann, Dr. Phil & Med. Hans (GERMAN) 9/28/1895     Berlin, Germany Unknown Destiny: Unknown
Kleinmann née Luvic, Sophie (GERMAN) 11/27/1863   Memel, East Prussia Unknown Destiny: Unknown
Kuhnemund née Goldschmidt, Helene Ida (GERMAN) 3/15/1901       Berlin, Germany Unknown Destiny: Unknown
Leven née Levÿ, Johanna  (GERMAN) 6/25/1866 Koenigshoeven, Germany 7/2/1942 Theresienstadt Ghetto, Czechoslovakia Destiny: Murdered in Theresienstadt Ghetto
Leyser née Schueck, Auguste  (GERMAN) 1/26/1872    Ratibor, Germany 10/5/1943 Theresienstadt Ghetto, Czechoslovakia Destiny: Murdered in Theresienstadt Ghetto
Locker, Dine Martha       (POLISH) Unknown Unknown Destiny: Unknown
Maass, Margarete (GERMAN) 2/16/1880 Friedberg, Germany Unknown Destiny: Unknown
Matthias, Julius (GERMAN) 5/15/1857 Hamburg, Germany 5/16/1942 Hamburg, Germany Destiny: Died in Germany during WWII
Müller, Dr. Franz (GERMAN)    (Figure 15) 12/31/1871      Berlin, Germany
 10/1/1945     Fayence, France Destiny: Left for Italy & France, where he died
Müller née Bruck, Susanne  (GERMAN)    (Figure 42)
 4/20/1904  Ratibor, Germany ~9/7/1942 Auschwitz, Poland Destiny: Murdered in Auschwitz
Nienburg née Niess, Emmy (GERMAN) 8/16/1885      Berlin, Germany Unknown Destiny: Appears to have died in Germany after WWII
Oppler née Pinoff, Gertrude (GERMAN) 1/13/1876     Görlitz, Germany 3/9/1952   Frankfurt, Germany Destiny: Died in Germany after WWII; (granddaughter of Marcus Braun, subject of Post 14)
Rosendorff, Friederike Elfriede (GERMAN) 11/28/1872     Berlin, Germany Unknown Destiny: Appears to have died in Germany after WWII
Sakheim née Plotkin, Anuta (PALESTINIAN)(Figure 16) 2/15/1896         Lodz, Poland 8/1939                      Tel Aviv, Palestine Destiny: Suicide
Schoop, Paul (SWISS) 7/31/1907      Zurich, Switzerland 1/1/1976     Van Nuys, CA Destiny: Immigrated to America
Steinfeld née Blum, Jenny       (GERMAN) 10/24/1865 Deutsch Eylau, West Prussia 8/27/1942        Berlin, Germany Destiny: Suicide victim of the Holocaust
Figure 5. Report of Charlotte Victoria Baerwald’s Death in Switzerland in March 1966
Figure 6. My grandmother Else Bruck née Berliner in 1925

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 7. Eva Bruck in Barcelona in May 1950
Figure 8. Eva Bruck’s Death Certificate from Ainring, Germany, August 1977

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 9. Manifest of Alien Passengers showing Belgian Jew Jacques Cypres’s arrival from Porto, Portugal to NYC in July 1941
Figure 10a. Gabriele Fleischner’s 1940 Naturalization Record
Figure 10b. Gabriele Fleischner in 1940

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 11a. Konrad Fleischner’s 1940 Naturalization Record
Figure 11b. Konrad Fleischner in 1940

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 12a. Paul Heilbronner’s 1939 Naturalization Record
Figure 12b. Paul Heilbronner in 1939

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 13a. Sofie Heilbronner’s 1944 Naturalization Record
Figure 13b. Sofie Heilbronner in 1944

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 14. Emanuel Emil Herz’s 1938 Swiss Emigration form
Figure 15. My uncle Dr. Franz Müller on his 70th birthday in December 1941 in Fayence, France

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 16. Anuta Sakheim who committed suicide in Palestine in August 1939
Figure 17. My aunt Susanne & her husband Dr. Franz Müller in 1938 at the Villa Primavera in Fiesole, Italy
Figure 18. Lucia von Jacobi in 1936-37, at the Villa Primavera in Fiesole, Italy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the case of several people associated with the Villa Primavera, including my aunt and uncle (Figure 17), Lucia von Jacobi (Figure 18), and Charlotte Baerwald, their intent had been to stay in Fiesole “per sempre,” forever.  In the case of most guests, however, their anticipated length of stay typically varied between a few weeks and two months.

 

Eduard Berend

 

Figure 19. Eduard Berend in 1939

Eduard Berend (Figure 19) was an eminent editor of the works of Jean Paul (1763-1825), a German Romantic writer.  After fighting in WWI, Berend pursued an academic career, but on account of anti-Semitism, he was rejected as a teacher at three German universities.  In 1927, the Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften, the Prussian Academy of Sciences, eventually commissioned him with the historic-critical edition of the works of Jean Paul.  By 1938, he had completed 20 of the 32 planned volumes, works that established Jean Paul as one of the most important writers of German classicism, alongside Goethe and Schiller.  Still, he was dismissed by the Prussian Academy in 1938.  Soon thereafter he was sent to the concentration camp of Sachsenhausen, and was only released on the condition that he leave Germany immediately.

Prior to WWII, Eduard Berend had developed an unlikely friendship with a Heinrich Meyer, a Goethe scholar at the Rice Institute in Houston with Nazi sympathies.  Desperate, Berend turned to Meyer for help in December 1938.  In spite of Henrich Meyer’s Nazi leanings, which landed him in prison in Texas in 1943 and ultimately got him fired, Meyer secured an affidavit for Berend to leave Germany for Switzerland where he even supported Berend financially.  After the war, Berend continued his work on Jean Paul.  He went back to Germany in 1957, and by the time of his death in 1973, had completed twenty-eight volumes.

Figure 20. The “Soggiorno degli Stranieri in Italia” 1937 form for Eduard Berend showing his 1934 passport number
Figure 21. Eduard Berend’s 1939 Passport

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The passport on which Eduard Berend traveled to Switzerland in 1939 was different than the one on which he traveled to Fiesole in May 1937, comparing the number on the Soggiorno form (Figure 20) with that on his 1939 passport, found on the Internet. (Figure 21)

Franziska Bruck

I was able to procure a copy of my great-aunt Franziska Bruck’s death certificate from the Landesarchiv Berlin. (Figure 22)  The certificate states the gruesome way in which she killed herself on January 2, 1942, “selbstmord durch erhängen,” suicide by hanging, no doubt after being told to report to an old-age transport for deportation. (Figure 23)

 

Figure 22. My great-aunt Franziska Bruck’s 1942 Death Certificate showing her cause of death
Figure 23. My great-aunt Franziska Bruck’s Stolperstein in Wilmersdorf, Berlin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In previous posts, I’ve explained to readers that beginning in 1937-38, all German Jewish men had to be called “Israel,” and all German Jewish women had to be called “Sarah”; these names were added to official birth, marriage and death certificates.  Readers will note that on my great-aunt’s death certificate, the name “Sara” has been added.

My great-aunt Franziska spent two months at the Villa Primavera between September and November 1937.  I’ve often wondered what her fate might have been had she not returned to Berlin. I can only surmise that like many Jews, she was either in denial as to what might happen upon her return, or her options for leaving Germany were limited.

Ludwig & Maria Donath

Figure 24a. Ludwig Donath’s 1940 Naturalization Record
Figure 24b. Ludwig Donath in 1940

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 25a. Maria Donath nee Camsky’s 1940 Naturalization Record
Figure 25b. Maria Donath nee Camsky in 1940

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 26. Character actor Ludwig Donath

Ludwig Donath (Figures 24a & b) and his wife, Maria Donath née Camsky (Figures 25a & b), were among the last German Jewish guests at the Villa Primavera, staying for no more than a month in July-August 1938.  Ludwig Donath was a famous character actor (Figures 26 & 27) who’d had a distinguished career on the stages of Vienna and Berlin, before leaving Nazi Germany in 1933.  He and his wife arrived in Hollywood via Switzerland and England, departing from Liverpool for New York in February 1940.  Donath appeared in many American films, with at least 84 credits to his name, and was often typecast as a Nazi in films from 1942. (Figure 28)  He was briefly blacklisted in the 1950’s for alleged left-wing connections, but resumed steady television work in 1957 for the remainder of his life.

Figure 27. Character actor Ludwig Donath
Figure 28. Character actor Ludwig Donath in the role of Adolf Hitler

 

 

 

 

 

Carl Ludwig Elias

Figure 29. 1899 painting by Lovis Corinth of “Carl Ludwig Elias 7 1/4”

Carl Ludwig Elias was born in 1891 to a distinguished art critic, Dr. Julius Elias, who was instrumental in promoting French Impressionism in Germany.  Likely because of his father’s connections with the art world, an oil portrait of “Carl Ludwig Elias 7 ¼” by Lovis Corinth was painted in 1899. (Figure 29)  Carl Ludwig was a lawyer in Berlin and immigrated to Norway when the Nazis came to power.  Nonetheless, after the Nazis invaded Norway in December 1940, he was captured and deported with 500 other Jews from Denmark to Auschwitz in 1942, where he was murdered.

Helene Goldenring

Figure 30. 1940 Berlin Address Book listing Helene Goldenring

Helene Goldenring visited the Villa Primavera on two occasions, for about a month between May-June 1937, and, again, between December 1937 and January 1938 for two months.  Both of her children, Eva and Fritz Goldenring, who’ve been discussed in earlier posts, were also guests on separate occasions.  Helene’s name appears in a Berlin phone directory as late as 1940 (Figure 30), indicating she returned to Germany after her sojourns in Fiesole.  At some point, she seems to have joined her brother, Dr. Robert Hirsch, in Chile, before eventually immigrating to America in 1947 after his death, where she reunited with her only surviving child, Eva. (Figure 31)

Figure 31. Helene Goldenring and her daughter Eva after they reunited in America, Easter 1960

 

Eugen & Lillian Haydt

In May 2021, I was contacted by Ms. Tamara Precek, a most delightful Czech lady who has resided in Barcelona, Spain for the past 20 years. She is researching the Winternitz families that lived in Prague around 1850, of whom Lillian Haydt née Winternitz is descended. Tamara asked me to send her the “Soggiorno degli Stranieri in Italia” forms for Eugen (Figure 43) and Lillian (Figure 44), suspecting I had misread their surnames. Indeed, I had mistaken HAYDT as “Hayoth.”

 

Figure 43. The “Soggiorno degli Stranieri in Italia” form for Eugen Haydt

 

Figure 44. The “Soggiorno degli Stranieri in Italia” form for Lillian Haydt née Winternitz

 

Tamara has recently been able to learn what happened to them after their brief stay at the Villa Primavera. They managed to immigrate to Australia, arriving there on the 6th of February 1939 aboard the ship “NIEUW HOLLAND.” Dr. Eugen Haydt changed his named to Albin (Alvin) Eugene Werner (Warner) Haydt (A.E.W. Haydt) but was still generally known as Eugene Haydt. He was a tradesman, and died on the 17th of January 1973; his wife may have worked with him, and passed away on the 4th of February 1997. They appear not to have had any children.

Ms. Precek even found a picture of the apartment building where they resided in Sydney. (Figure 45)

 

Figure 45. Apartment building in Sydney where Eugen and Lillian Haydt lived after they immigrated to Australia in 1939

 

Lucia von Jacobi

Ms. Jacobi co-managed the Villa Primavera as a bed-and-breakfast with my aunt Susanne.  She fled Fiesole in 1938 in favor of Switzerland, leaving everything behind, including her personal papers, which were miraculously found in Florence and saved by a German researcher in 1964, Dr. Irene Below (see Blog Post 21 for the full story).

Johanna Leven

Figure 32. Page from the Memorial Book for Jewish Victims of Nazi Persecution for Johanna Leven

Johanna Leven stayed at the Villa Primavera for the first two months of 1938, but clearly returned to Germany after her stay.  She was eventually deported from Mönchengladbach, Germany to the Theresienstadt Ghetto in then-Czechoslovakia, where she perished in 1942. (Figure 32)

Julius Matthias

Figure 33. Julius Matthias’s May 1942 Death Certificate

Julius Matthias was among the oldest guest to have stayed at the Villa Primavera, being almost 80 when he visted there between March and April 1937.  After his days in Fiesole, he returned to Hamburg, Germany, where he died on May 16, 1942, seemingly of natural causes (i.e., senility, broncho-pneumonia).  His death certificate (Figure 33) states he was a non-practicing Jew, although this fact would not have prevented him from being deported to a concentration camp.  His death certificate assigned him the name “Israel” to identify him as a Jew.

Paul Schoop

Figure 34. Paul Schoop with unknown woman, possibly his sister Trudi Schoop

Paul Schoop was born in 1907 in Zurich, Switzerland, one of four accomplished offspring (with Max Schoop (b. 1902); Trudi Schoop (b. 1903); Hedwig “Hedi” Schoop (b. 1906)) of a prominent family.  Paul’s father, Maximilian Schoop, was the editor of Neue Zurcher Zeitung and president of Dolder Hotels.  Paul (Figure 34) came to America in September 1939, and eventually joined his three siblings in Van Nuys, California.  He was an accomplished composer, concert pianist and conductor, first in Europe and later in America.  Paul’s brother-in-law was Frederick Maurice Holländer (Figures 35a & b), the famed composer and torch song writer, who’d once been married to one of Paul’s sister, Hedi Schoop. (Figures 36a & b)

Figure 35a. Paul Schoop’s famous brother-in-law, Friedrich Maurice Holländer’s 1935 Naturalization Form
Figure 35b. Friedrich Maurice Holländer in 1935

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 36a. Paul Schoop’s sister, Hedwig “Hedi” Holländer nee Schoop’s 1935 Naturalization Form
Figure 36b. Poor quality photo of Hedwig “Hedi” Holländer nee Schoop in 1935

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I surmise the reason the Schoop children came to America is because of greater economic and professional opportunities rather than on account of Nazi persecution.

Jenny Steinfeld

Figure 37. Jenny Steinfeld’s name on a Manifest of Alien Passengers sailing from Bremen, Germany to NYC in April 1937

Jenny Steinfeld’s tale is a poignant one.  Her name appears with that of her son, Paul Steinfeld, on an April 1937 manifest of boat passengers bound from Bremen, Germany to New York. (Figure 37)  A scant five months later, between September and November 1937, she is a guest at the Villa Primavera, clearly having come back from America.  Jenny eventually returns to Berlin, and on August 27, 1942 commits suicide there, yet another victim of Nazi persecution. (Figure 38)  As with my great-aunt Franziska, who too returned to Berlin from Fiesole, one wonders why Jenny walked back into the maws of death. 

Figure 38. Page from the Memorial Book for Jewish Victims of Nazi Persecution for Jenny Steinfeld

This post deals only in passing with my immediate and extended Bruck family.  For this reason, it involved considerably more forensic research, as most of the guests at the Villa Primavera were previously unknown to me.  Still, learning more about these people was important to me.  In some small way, as the Holocaust victim David Berger wrote in 1941, I hope I have honored and recognized a few other Jewish victims of Nazi persecution so they are not forgotten.

SIDEBAR

Figure 40. My first cousin once-removed, Kay Lutze, with Anja Holländer in Amsterdam, Netherlands in October 2017

Regular readers will know the enjoyment I derive making connections between people and events related to my family.  One of my German first cousins, once-removed, Kay Lutze, is friends with an Anja Holländer, living in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Figure 39)  Anja is related to Frederick Maurice Holländer, the brother-in-law of Paul Schoop, who stayed at the Villa Primavera.  In assembling this involved Blog post, I recollected this fact and also that Anja claims a relationship to my Bruck family.  I asked Kay whether he knew the relationship, and he could only tell me that the mother of a Holländer named LUDWIG HEINRICH HOLLÄNDER was a Bruck.   Curious about this, I researched this man on ancestry.com, and, indeed, discovered various historic documents that confirm the distant relationship of the Holländer family to my Bruck family.  Ludwig’s mother was HELENE HOLLÄNDER née BRUCK (1812-1876), who I think is my great-great-great-great-aunt; Helene was married to a BENJAMIN HOLLÄNDER (1809-1884).  I discovered his death certificate (Figures 40a & b), along with that of their son Ludwig (1833-1897). (Figures 41a & b)

Figure 40a. Benjamin Holländer’s Death Certificate (1809-12 May 1884) identifying his wife as Helene Bruck (misspelled as “Boch”)
Figure 40b. Translation of Benjamin Holländer’s Death Certificate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 41a. Ludwig Heinrich Holländer Death Certificate (4 Feb 1833-12 March 1897) identifying his mother as Helene Bruck
Figure 41b. Translation of Ludwig Heinrich Holländer’s Death Certificate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we speak, I am trying to learn how Anja is related to Friedrick and Helene Holländer née Bruck.  Watch this space!

Figure 42. My father, Dr. Otto Bruck, and his sister, Susanne Müller née Bruck, at the Villa Primavera in 1937 or 1938

POST 27: JEWISH DEPORTATIONS FROM GURS, FRANCE IN 1942

Note:  This story consists of extracts from a first-hand account describing deportation of Jews from the notorious WWII French detention center of Gurs beginning in August 1942.  It was written in French by one of my father’s first cousins, Eva Zernik, née Goldenring, sister of Fritz Goldenring, who perished in the Shanghai Ghetto in 1943, as detailed in Post 25.

Figure 1-My father, Dr. Otto Bruck, with his first cousin, Eva Goldenring, in Fiesole, Italy in June, 1938

When we last encountered Eva Goldenring, she was a guest at the “Villa Primavera,” in Fiesole, Italy, outside Firenze (Florence), between May and June of 1938, overlapping my father’s stay there. (Figure 1)  After leaving the Villa Primavera, Eva may have joined her mother in Rome, where Helene Goldenring was known to have gone after leaving the Villa Primavera in 1937 (Figure 2), or she may have quit Italy.  As readers will recall from Post 21, between September 2, 1938 and November 17, 1938, Italy enacted a series of racial laws, including one forbidding foreign Jews from settling in Italy.  It seems certain that by September 1938, Eva Goldenring had left for France, and her brother, Fritz Goldenring, for Shanghai.  Their mother, Helene Goldenring, may have returned to Berlin for a while because, surprisingly, her name continues to appear in Berlin Address Books in both 1939 and 1940. (Figure 3)  Regardless, the path and timing of Helene’s escape from Europe is unknown. 

Figure 2-Helene Goldenring’s “Soggiorno degli Stranieri in Italia” from Fiesole, Italy indicating she left for Rome on June 29, 1937
Figure 3-Berlin Address Book from 1940 with Helene Goldenring’s name suggesting she returned to Berlin after her stay in Fiesole, Italy in 1937

 

The reason we know Eva Goldenring went to France is that she wrote a lengthy account of the deportation of Jews beginning in August 1942 from the French detention center of Gurs, where she was interned.  Eighteen pages of a much longer chronicle, written in French, along with a series of anti-Nazi poems, written in German from Madrid following Eva’s release from Gurs, survive.  They were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Eva’s stepson, Alfred Zernik, following Eva’s death.

The circumstances and details of Eva’s immigration to France are lost to us, but, like my Aunt Susanne and Uncle Franz Müller, she may have been able to live there openly as a Jewish refugee for several years.  What is known is that Eva spoke and wrote impeccable French, judging from her account of Gurs, and this no doubt was helpful. 

The Gurs camp was located at the base of the Pyrenees in southwestern France and was originally established by the French government in April 1939 to intern political refugees and members of the International Brigade fleeing Spain after the Spanish Civil War.  It was one of the first and largest detention camps before WWII in France.  Early in 1940, the French government interned about 4,000 German Jewish refugees in Gurs as “enemy aliens,” along with French leftist leaders who opposed the war with Germany.  There seems little doubt this mass arrest of Jews swept up Eva Goldenring, wherever she was holed up.

The French armistice with Germany, which was signed in June 1940, placed Gurs under the administrative authority of the treasonous French government, the Vichy regime, the supposed “free zone.”  Conditions at the camp were appalling, overcrowded with a perpetual shortage of water, food, and clothing.  Internees were crammed into dark filthy barracks with sealed windows, rats, lice, and fleas.  During rainstorms, the roofs leaked, and the swampy land turned to mud so thick that, incredibly, prisoners couldn’t walk to the latrines for fear they might drown.  Eight-hundred internees are known to have perished in Gurs between 1940-41 from contagious diseases, including typhoid fever and dysentery, although more than 1,100 prisoners in all are known to have died in the camp.

Compounding the crowded conditions, in October 1940, Germans deported roughly 6,500 Jews from southwestern Germany (Baden-Pfalz-Saar) into the unoccupied part of France, most of whom wound up in Gurs.  This deportation, named for the two Nazi administrators who engineered it, was referred to as the “Wagner-Bürckel-Aktion.”  The day after the deportations, Wagner proudly proclaimed his area of Germany to be the first to be “Judenrein,” free of Jews, in accordance with Hitler’s desire.

Between August 6, 1942 and March 3, 1943, Vichy officials handed over 3,907 Jewish prisoners from Gurs to the Germans, the majority of whom were sent to the Drancy transit camp outside Paris.  From Drancy, they were deported in six convoys to concentration camps in German-occupied Poland, primarily Auschwitz.   Drancy is the same assembly point my Aunt Susanne was deported from on September 7, 1942, also destined for Auschwitz, although she had transited through Camp des Milles.

Much of Eva Goldenring’s account of Gurs details events surrounding the selection process related to three convoys that departed Gurs after August 1942.  Because of her language skills, this may have provided Eva a measure of personal protection.  Werner L. Frank, author of a book entitled “The Curse of Gurs: Way Station to Auschwitz,” touches on the benefit of speaking French: “Barrack and îlot chiefs were appointed to represent the interests of their constituency to the camp’s management as well as to maintain order with their jurisdictions.  Individuals having French language facility were especially valuable in assuming leadership roles.” (p. 246)

Select passages of Eva’s account of the Jewish deportations from Gurs are presented below under general categories; the complete translation of Eva’s 18-page account is attached for interested readers.

Roundups

At the beginning of the summer of 1942, the camp saw an influx of foreign Jews—mostly Polish and Czech—coming from the occupied zone, especially Paris. The newcomers told us in detail about the hunts for Jews, people being arrested in the streets, arrested while they slept in their beds at night.

This time, they [German authorities] helped themselves to men, women, youths, and even children. Families were separated. . .People told stories of a train waiting in a station outside Paris, full of little children crying, calling their mothers who were gone. A line of guards surrounded them, prohibiting anyone from approaching them or bringing them something to eat or drink.

Destroying Children’s Cultural Identity

Traces that would have allowed the children to one day be identified—even reunited with their parents, if their parents were still alive—had been destroyed. The system had been applied even to babies in the cradle.

“Illusions”

Among ourselves, we were still clinging to the illusion of the “border” that was the demarcation line [between the occupied part of France and the free zone].  The noontime new reports were always optimistic. The war could not last much longer now—we would spend the last winter at Gurs—afterwards would come the end, liberation, peace.

French Collaboration

At the end of June 1942, the camp received an almost unnoticed visit from a small commission of three or four tall, blond young men. They glanced inside a block, inspected the infirmary, the central hospital, the C.C.A.’s [Comité Central d’Assistance] office. They asked this or that prisoner their place of birth. If the response was “Germany”—they simply said “Ah—hm.” Later we learned that it was a commission of the Gestapo.

Establishing Deportation Lists

One fine evening, one of the first days of July one of the block leaders informed his colleagues on behalf of the Director that the next day the blocks would be “consigned”, which meant total prohibition from entering or leaving. This would be in order to establish lists.

Unfortunately, there was not a single directive—neither for the inmates nor for those who were making the list. No one realized how mortally important it was.

But as it was, little by little the ones making the list got tired, and we had to finish the whole thing that afternoon—it was a hot sunny day—so decisions about the lives and welfare of thousands and thousands were made without knowing why, with a levity free of qualms.

“Quotas”

 From that day on, a certain jitteriness developed in the camp. . . But, … the night of July 30-31, the English radio reported that Hitler had asked Mr. Laval to hand over to him the foreign Jews in the free zone. This piece of news was naturally not divulged in the noontime news report.

On July 31, the Camp received a visit from Mr. Lowry, President of the Nimes Coordination Committee which brought together the Red Cross, the Quakers, the YMCA, the American Joint [Distribution Committee], the Children’s Aid Society (the OSE, “Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants”) and others. As usual, the representatives of social institutions in the Camp had a meeting, at the end of which the author [I] asked Mr. Lowry if the bit of news from the English radio was in line with the truth. “Since you already know it,” he replied, “I must tell you that it is true—unfortunately.”

In exchange for the release of the French prisoners, Mr. Laval had offered Mr. Hitler the foreign Jews in the free zone. The figure was fixed at 10,000 individuals. Later, under the pretext that the 10,000 had not been delivered by the agreed-upon deadline, the Germans demanded 15,000, then 20,000; finally, it became a general measure. The Quakers offered to take the 10,000 into their care—Mr. Laval refused.

Faustian Bargain

In the camp, fears took shape more and more. . .

. . .rumors and news continued to circulate. People talked about a long train of livestock cars at the station in Oloron, about the arrival of a whole posse of trucks and buses; people reported that at Gurs a hundred or more of the new State Police had arrived.

That afternoon, sure enough, two young officers in black uniforms —modeled after the German S.S. uniforms—walked in.  At the same time, the Director went from block to block, calling many people over to ask them whether they would want to stay if their parents, children, spouses left the camp or whether they would rather go with them. They were given one minute to make their decision and sign the paper saying that they would be leaving of their own will.

 Kafkaesque Nightmare

The Director worked all night. . .making the lists.

The next morning, the blocks were consigned. The camp was surrounded by rows of “black-coats.” Even the block leaders were not allowed to go out. Through an almost unbearable silence, we heard the lists from the Directory come in. They came in around 9:30am. The barrack leaders were assembled in the block secretary’s office—the crowds waited outside. The block leader read off the names. They fell from his mouth one by one, like death sentences.

The first thing we noticed was that the list contained, in alphabetical order, almost all the people of German or Austrian nationality.

. . . Since the whole thing had been a complete secret up to the very last minute, we were so distraught, so in the dark as to the criteria for the deportation, that when this first convoy was taken away, there were practically no attempts to intervene to help this or that person affected; no one tried to hide or risk trying to escape.

We had one last meal, then the call to go to the blocks, luggage in hand—in the men’s blocks almost everyone was ready—the names were called one after another—people said goodbye to each other—the person who was called went out into the road—little by little the groups assembled. As the last one was put in order, the caravan slowly started out towards the entrance of the Camp, towards the two large train sheds—those who were left stood along the wire fences waving goodbye with their hands or handkerchiefs—many of the ones leaving tried to keep a good face on—even to smile.

It could be said that the police presence was unnecessary. Sometimes it even seemed that they disappeared, in the face of the peaceful and disciplined attitude of the prisoners. Especially during the night hours when the departures happened, when they put their helmets on, rifles in hand—really, we were surprised if we paid any attention to it at all. It was as if people’s glances landed beside them, or over their heads.

This air of silent dignity was, it is true, partly a result of the fact that some of these poor people were too weary to really realize what was happening. They had seen their fate approaching, they had trembled, fought against it—now it was decided—there was nothing more to do.

“God Did Not Hear Them”

The next day rumors circulated that the train had not left; then, that it was traveling with the doors open at a very reduced speed. Later, that the Germans had not accepted them, that they had been expecting laborers, and would send them back. In those days, such floods of prayers went up to heaven, prayers from the heart, —but God did not want to hear them.

Deportation Criteria

We knew that a second convoy was supposed to follow it two days behind. On Thursday, the block leaders and the charities’ efforts to learn the criteria governing the deportation measures were met with success. We learned that, essentially, the measures concerned all Jews of German, Austrian, Polish, and Czech origin who had entered France after 1936. It was expected that there would be exceptions for: persons over 60 years of age (later 65); members of the clergy; children under 16 without family; husbands of pregnant women; parents of French children; those who were “Aryan” (in the camp this was interpreted to mean individuals who had a non-Jewish parent or spouse); parents of children less than two years old; and individuals who had rendered some kind of service to the France nation: those who had belonged to a combat unit for at least three months, or were particularly valuable to the French government or economy.

“Matter of the Interventions”

For those who were conscientious of what was going on realized the real issue in the matter of the interventions [relative to names on the official list of deportees]: They had to hand over a fixed number. To save one meant condemning someone else in their place—and did they have that right? 

The outcome of all the brouhaha with the lists was that in the end, there were so many exceptions that it was necessary to find “new material.” The wretches in the blocks kept waking up to the sound of cars flying down the road. How many of those poor souls who thought that they had been forgotten, exempt, rescued, suddenly saw a guard next their bed: “Quick, quick, get up, get your luggage”—hearing those heavy footsteps approach already made everyone in the barracks tremble—is he going to pass by—is he going to come in here? Many stopped sleeping in their barracks.

“Errors”

In the first convoy, there being no directives—at least not that the charities or internees were aware of—a great number of people were deported who should not have been. This time the interventions tried to fix some of the errors. Not all.

A man named Max Sternmeiler left despite his Romanian papers which he had in his possession and had shown to the Director. Later, when his wife, who had been brought to the Rivesaltes camp, telegrammed to ask for a paper from the Gurs camp confirming her husband’s Romanian nationality, and thus hers as well, the husband had already left with his papers in his pocket. The woman was condemned, too.

“The best ones”

In general, we noticed that it was the best ones who had left. Among those from the old crowd who had stayed, besides the true exceptions, there were many clever types, with a lot of information and sometimes a lot of money, in a word people with connections and street girls.

“Nothing was sacred”

Nor could anyone forget the case of the Gutmann children, not that it was an isolated case. The father, being “untransportable”, had stayed in the village. The poor mother had come with her three children between 3 and 6 years old. These people could not have been rich—their clothes made that plain enough. But each one of the children was properly dressed, clean, hair neatly brushed; each one wore their little piece of ribbon in their hair. They slept all three together on a cushion on the ground, with their arms around each other’s necks—that night the mother did not leave them out of her sight for one second. What was going through her mind? Later, we saw the children again—without their mother. Nothing was sacred for them anymore, not even a mother. —-

Eva was eventually released or escaped from Gurs.  Quoting again from Werner L. Frank on the issue of camp security:  “Gurs security was somewhat loose, allowing for visits by the prisoners to nearby areas in order to conduct trade and even for off-site work.  Outsiders were permitted access to the campgrounds, including children who had been separated from their interned parents and were now living at remote safe houses.  Such laxity would suggest that an escape could be managed quite easily.  However, there were deterrents to unauthorized departures including lack of official identity documents, apprehension about leaving loved ones behind, lack of French language skills and general fear of the unknown.  Nevertheless, there were escapes. . .”  (p. 276)

Certainly, Eva’s language skills would have allowed her to blend in with the local populace had she escaped.  However, it is more likely her fluency in French made her useful to one of the aid groups operating in the internment camp, and they may have helped her procure safe conduct documents or false papers.  In any case, Eva eventually made her way to way to Madrid, Spain, where she lived until 1947 when she immigrated to America (Figure 4) and rejoined her mother, who’d emigrated from Valparaiso, Chile that same year. (Figures 5 & 6)  Eva got married in 1952 to Curt Zernik. (Figure 7).  She passed away in 1969 (Figure 8), a year after her mother. (Figure 9)

Figure 4-Eva Goldenring’s “Passenger Arrival” form indicating she arrived in New York City on May 14, 1947 from Madrid, Spain
Figure 5-“Manifest of Alien Passengers” showing Eva’s mother sailed from Valparaiso, Chile on July 3, 1947 for the United States

 

Figure 6-Mother and daughter, Helene & Eva Goldenring, Easter 1960, after they reunited in America
Figure 7-Eva Goldenring with her husband, Curt Zernik, in Wilmington, Delaware in 1958

 

Figure 8-Curt Zernik & Eva Zernik, nee Goldenring’s headstone
Figure 9-Helene Goldenring’s headstone

 

 

 

 

 

 

REFERENCE

Frank, Werner L.

2012    The Curse of Gurs: Way Station to Auschwitz. Copyright 2012 by Werner L. Frank, v.2e.

POST 25: DEATH IN THE SHANGHAI GHETTO

Note:  This tale is about another of my father’s first cousins, Mr. Fritz Goldenring.  This post provides an opportunity to explore the fate of a Jewish émigré, who, while he did not perish in a concentration camp or ghetto in Europe, is every bit as much a victim of Nazi persecution as those individuals who were murdered in these places.  How I learned about Fritz does not follow a linear path, although I’ll strive to relate my discoveries in a somewhat chronological fashion.  Like the stories of many of my relatives, there are glaring gaps in what I’ve pieced together.

Figure 1-My father, Dr. Otto Bruck, with two first cousins, Eva Bruck and Eva Goldenring and his sister (right), Susanne Müller, née Bruck, at the Villa Primavera in Fiesole on May 10, 1938

Two of my father’s photos taken in May 1938 in Fiesole, Italy, following his arrival there after fleeing Germany, show a woman identified as Eva Goldenring. (Figures 1 & 2)  I later learned she was another of my father’s first cousins.  Like most of his relatives, Eva and her mother Helene Goldenring, née Hirsch, were rarely mentioned when I was growing up, although I knew they’d survived the war and eventually immigrated to America.  Both daughter and mother stayed at the Pension “Villa Primavera” in Fiesole, Italy, co-managed by my Aunt Susanne Müller, Helene twice in 1937-38 (Figures 3 & 4) and Eva in 1938.

Figure 2-My father with one of his first cousins, Eva Goldenring, after their last tennis match together in Firenze (Florence)
Figure 3-Helene Goldenring’s “Soggiorno degli Stranieri in Italia” (Stay of Foreigners in Italy) form indicating her stay at the Villa Primavera between May 24, 1937 until June 29, 1937, when she left for Rome

 

Figure 4-Fiesole’s registration log showing Helene Goldenring’s second stay at the Villa Primavera between December 1937 and January 1938

 

Figure 5-Larry Leyser, my third cousin, once-removed

In Post 14, I discussed the Tenant Brewer, Markus Braun, from Ratibor, the town where my father was born.  Markus had a dozen children by his first wife, Caroline Spiegel, then two more by his second wife, Johanna Goldstein.  I’m distantly related to most of my American cousins through Markus Braun.  My third cousin, once-removed, Larry Leyser (Figure 5), is one such relative, and, like myself, an active genealogist.  Several years ago, Larry shared a two-page summary written by his grandmother, Katerina Leyser, née Rosenthal (Figure 6), detailing some of Larry’s ancestors.  This document provided the first mention of Fritz Goldenring and identified him as the brother of Eva Goldenring and son of Helene Goldenring; no other information was given.

Figure 6-Larry Leyser’s grandmother, Kate Leyser, née Rosenthal, whose family summary makes mention of Fritz Goldenring
Figure 7-The April 19, 1946 edition of the “Aufbau” newspaper showing Fritz Goldenring died in Shanghai on December 15, 1943

To try and learn more, I turned to ancestry.com, and happened on a tantalizing mention of Fritz Goldenring originating from Aufbau Newspaper, saying he had died in Shanghai; Fritz’s name was listed in the April 19, 1946 edition of Aufbau. (Figure 7)  Aufbau (German for “building up, construction”), I discovered, is a journal targeted at German-speaking Jews around the globe founded in 1934.  From September 1, 1944 through September 27, 1946, Aufbau printed numerous lists of Jewish Holocaust survivors located in Europe, as well as a few lists of victims.  These lists, which have been digitized, contain 33,557 names that are searchable via “JewishGen’s Holocaust Database,” “JewishGen Germany Database,” and the U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database.”  According to JewishGen, the extent of the information available on any individual varies widely. 

For Fritz Goldenring, I learned he was born on September 11, 1902 and died on December 15, 1943; intriguingly, it gave his last residence simply as “Nizza.”  Coincidentally, Nizza is the Italian name for Nice, France, a place with which my family has connections, as readers may recall.  Mistakenly believing that Fritz may last have resided here before immigrating to Shanghai, I asked an acquaintance at Nice’s l’Hôtel de Ville whether she could find any trace of Fritz Goldenring there, to no avail.  Knowing of the Goldenring family’s travels to Genoa, Italy in July 1926, I looked for a “Nizza” nearby, and discovered a place named “Nizza Monferrato” only 65 miles away; I sent the Comune there an email, received a very gracious reply saying Fritz Goldenring similarly had no connection to this place.

Realizing I was grasping at straws, I resolved to renew my search for Fritz Goldenring from the place he’d assuredly lived, namely, Shanghai.  I turned to my friend, Ms. Madeleine Isenberg, from the Los Angeles Jewish Genealogical Society, who assists fellow “travelers.”  I asked whether she could refer me to someone in the Jewish community in Shanghai, and she suggested I contact “Chabad” centers in Shanghai; Chabad is one of the largest Hasidic groups and Jewish religious organizations in the world.  I emailed three such centers in Shanghai, asking who I should contact about obtaining a copy of Mr. Goldenring’s death certificate, and almost immediately received an email from Rabbi Shalom Greenberg.  He’d forwarded my request to Mr. Dvir Bar-Gal, who leads “Tours of Jewish Shanghai.”

Mr. Bar-Gal, it turns out, is an Israeli photojournalist whose mission of tracking down traces of Shanghai’s Jewish past began by accident, when he discovered a Hebrew tombstone in a Shanghai antique shop in 2001.  He’s become known as Shanghai’s “gravestone sleuth,” tracking down Jewish tombstones scattered around the city’s outlying villages, tombstones used for everything from building beams to washboards.  Between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries, Shanghai transformed from a small fishing village to China’s largest city and become known as the “Pearl of the East.” 

The Jewish tombstones that Mr. Bar-Gal is racing the clock to save are remnants of Shanghai’s Jewish community that once numbered no fewer than 30,000 Jews.  Jews first arrived in Shanghai in 1845, built their fortunes, and quickly occupied key positions in the city, making significant social and economic contributions.  Russian Jews escaping the pogroms of the early 1900’s represented the next wave of immigrants.  They were followed by the last major group of Jewish immigrants, the most well-known of three waves, European refugees escaping Nazi terror.  At the time, China was the only country in the world where Jews did not require an entry visa, and this is certainly the reason my father’s cousin, Fritz Goldenring, sought refuge here.

Many of the Jewish refugees who arrived in Shanghai were penniless but were assisted by the wealthier and established Sephardic Jews.  After the Japanese occupied Shanghai in 1937, the Nazis applied pressure on them to deport or murder the city’s Jews, an order they refused.  Instead, they confined the roughly 20,000 stateless Jewish refugees to the Shanghai Ghetto, formally known as the “Restricted Sector for Stateless Refugees,” an area roughly one square mile in the Hongkou district.  About 23,000 of the city’s Jewish refugees were restricted or relocated to the area between 1941 and 1945 by the “Proclamation Concerning Restriction of Residence and Business of Stateless Refugees.”  The Shanghai Ghetto was never walled, and Jews were housed alongside local Chinese, who lived in equally deplorable conditions.

The first Jewish cemetery was established in 1862, and by the 1950’s four Jewish cemeteries existed in Shanghai containing 3,700 graves.  As the city expanded, in 1958, it was decided to systematically transfer the graves to a newly constructed international cemetery to the west of the city.  The few Jews who remained after the Communists came to power were supposed to assist in these transfers, but during Mao Zedong’s “Cultural Revolution,” the international cemetery was instead destroyed, and the gravestones scattered.  These uprooted tombstones are the traces of Shanghai’s Jewish past that Mr. Bar-Gal is striving to relocate and preserve.

So, as readers can clearly conclude, referral to Mr. Bar-Gal was fortuitous.  While unable to provide a death certificate for Mr. Goldenring, Mr. Bar-Gal provided two valuable clues.  He told me that before being expelled from Germany, Fritz had last worked in Darmstadt, Germany as a journalist.  He recommended I contact Darmstadt to obtain his death certificate, so I sent the Rathaus (City Hall) there an email.  My request was eventually forwarded to the Stadtarchiv, or City Archive, in Darmstadt, and finally, in October 2017, they responded.  They could find no evidence that Fritz Goldenring had lived in Darmstadt, but they did find a reference to him in on-line directory at the Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, the Hesse Central State Archive, in Wiesbaden.  They added one additional clue, namely, that Fritz was born in Berlin.

Figure 8-A letter from the International Committee of the Red Cross, dated November 30, 1961, included in Helene Goldenring’s compensation file, confirming the date and cause of her son’s death in Shanghai

With this new information, I next contacted the Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv.  They eventually responded telling me there exists an Entschädigungsakte, a claim for compensation file, submitted by Helene Goldenring, née Hirsch, as the heir of her son Fritz Goldenring. (Figure 8)  After paying a fee, I was able to obtain a copy of this 160-page file, a document that ultimately filled in some holes.

This file includes typed and handwritten pages, all in German, so I convinced one of my cousins to review and summarize the highlights.  The compensation file, while leaving many facets of Fritz’s life in doubt, did answer some questions.  It confirmed Fritz had been born in Berlin; attended grammar and high school there; apprenticed as an office worker in Nordhausen; and worked in Hamburg for Schenker & Co., a transport and logistics company dealing with planes, ships and trucks.  He eventually became a journalist, as I’d learned from Shanghai.  As his situation in Germany became increasingly tenuous, he hoped to parlay his possession of perfect pitch and musical talents into a ticket elsewhere, so in 1938 he went to Berlin.  While there, he was apparently arrested for jay-walking and jailed for three days.  In a classic example of a “Catch-22,” upon his release, he was deemed to have been “previously convicted” and forced to leave Germany.

Knowing Fritz’s sister and mother had both stayed at the “Villa Primavera” in Fiesole, I re-examined the Pension’s guest logs, and discovered Fritz had also stayed there, registering for a month-long visit on May 16, 1938. (Figure 9)  I surmise after he was deported from Germany, Fritz first went to Fiesole before eventually making his way to Shanghai.  While in Fiesole, he even played in a men’s tennis tournament because, among my father’s personal papers, I discovered a newspaper clipping showing my father and Fritz’s results. (Figure 10)

Figure 9-Fiesole’s registration log showing Fritz Goldenring registered for a month-long stay at the Villa Primavera on May 16, 1938
Figure 10-My father and Fritz Goldenring’s tennis results at a tournament both played in Firenze

 

It’s not clear how long Fritz Goldenring stayed in Italy, but like my aunt and uncle, he likely left no later than September of 1938, probably from Genoa aboard a luxurious Italian or Japanese cruise ship headed to Shanghai.  I became curious whether Mr. Bar-Gal could tell me when Fritz arrived there, so I again contacted him.  There exists an Emigranten Adressbuch for Shanghai, dated November 1939, listing Fritz Goldenring, which Mr. Bar-Gal sent me a scan of, proving Fritz was there no later than late 1939. (Figures 11a & 11b)

Figure 11a-Shanghai’s November 1939 “Emigranten Adressbuch” (Emigrant Address Book) listing Fritz Goldenring’s name, occupation, place of origin in Germany and address in Shanghai

 

Figure 11b-Shanghai’s November 1939 “Emigranten Adressbuch” (Emigrant Address Book) listing Fritz Goldenring’s name, occupation, place of origin in Germany and address in Shanghai

 

The Japanese designated the Shanghai Ghetto on February 18, 1943 and compelled those who’d arrived after 1937 to move there by May 18, 1943; many relocated Jews lived in group homes called “Heime,” including Fritz, who lived at “Alcockheim 66,” along with 60 other men.  Helene Goldenring’s compensation file explained Fritz’s cause of death, namely, Sprue and Avitaminose.  Avitaminosis is a disease cause by a deficiency of vitamins, and is closely associated with sprue, a chiefly tropical disease characterized by diarrhea, emaciation, and anemia.  Fritz is recorded as having died on December 15, 1943 at the Ward Road Hospital in Shanghai; apparently, the winter of 1943 in Shanghai was severe, and hunger was widespread.

Figure 12-Passenger list from the S.S. Maipo showing Helene Goldenring sailed from Valparaiso, Chile on July 3, 1947

Fritz’s mother’s compensation file, together with immigration records available from ancestry.com for his family, illustrate how widely the Goldenring family was dispersed during WWII.  Fritz’s sister, Eva Goldenring, for reasons I’m striving to understand, survived incarceration in the notorious French detention center of Gurs at the base of the Pyrenees in southwestern France; Eva would eventually live in Madrid before immigrating to America in 1947.  Fritz’s mother, Helene, made her way to Valparaiso, Chile, where her brother, Robert Hirsch, an engineer, had immigrated in 1939 from Bilbao, Spain.  Robert died in 1943 in Chile, and on July 3, 1947, Helene immigrated to New York (Figure 12), where she was reunited with her daughter. (Figure 13)

Figure 13-Mother and daughter, Helene & Eva Goldenring, Easter 1960, after they reunited in America