Alabama Holocaust Survivors

As our survivor community continues to dwindle, the BHEC is working feverishly to preserve the words and fragments of this vanished world. We hope to transform these “victims” into eye-witnesses of history and symbols of the strength and resilience of the human spirit.

Please be patient, as this information is still being input and updated.

If you have any information about these Holocaust survivors or know of others not listed here, please contact the BHEC.

Aaron, MartinSapinta, Romania Martin was born in the Czechoslovakian village of Tereshva in 1927, but home was across the Tisa River in Sapinta, Romania, a town with about 100 Jewish families. In 1940, Romania was forced to cede northern Transylvania to Hungary, and conditions for the Jews deteriorated rapidly: public school was forbidden, businesses confiscated, travel restricted, and, ultimately, forced labor. Martin was fifteen in 1944 when the Jews were taken by wagon to Tyachev. This was a ghetto in every sense of the word. After several weeks, Martin’s family was put on a train for two days and nights, arriving at Auschwitz II (Birkenau). This was the last time Martin and his older brother, Moshe, would ever see his parents, two sisters, and two younger brothers again. The boys were settled into deplorable barracks, when guards came looking for prisoners with skills. Anxious to get out, Martin and Moshe called themselves mechanics, and after a week, were transferred to a labor camp in Bunzlau, Germany. It was here that Martin was given the number 46006 as his identity. The boys worked mixing cement to build foundations for factory walls. Had he remained at Bunzlau, Martin would have been freed by the Soviets in a few days. Instead, Martin was marched for five or six weeks through Germany to Gurlitz, Leipsig, then Nordhausen. Of the 100 men who began the journey, fewer than twenty-five survived. Moshe stayed at Bunzlau and was liberated from there, eventually immigrating to Israel, but died shortly thereafter, succumbing to the ravages of his concentration camp hardships. Skeletally thin and so weak that he could hardly stand, Martin was put on a train to Bergen-Belsen. Several days later, on April 15, 1945, the British liberated the camp. Martin is certain that he would not have survived another day. He was taken by medical truck to Celle for recuperation and then brought back to Bergen-Belsen, which had been organized into a Displaced Persons (DP) Camp. An aunt and uncle in New York saw a notice in the Jewish paper about Martin’s search for relatives; they sponsored his immigration. On March 3, 1948, Martin arrived in New York City. He was drafted by the U. S. Army during the Korean conflict and after discharge, settled in Birmingham, married Sylvia Gerber, and had one son. Sylvia died suddenly in 1967. In 1974, Martin met and married Shirley Beck Zalla, also widowed with one son. Together they became a family. Martin worked at Berman Brothers Iron and Metal Company for thirty-five years. Addendum: Martin Aaron passed away on October 20, 2018. Martin Aaron Hirsh Maier Aron Hirsh Maier Aron Martin Aaron Leah Cig Aron & Mendl Baer Aron Baila, Moshe Shmuel, Rachel Ecca, Pinchas, David Baruch Sylvia Gerber (died). Shirley Beck Zalla, married in Birmingham, June 9, 1974. Marvin Barry Aaron (Jennifer), David Harold Aaron April 21, 1927 (Note: All of his papers show 1929 due to modification of his birthday in DP Camp Herzog) Săpînţa [Rom], Szaploncza [Hun], Spinka ספינקא [Yid], Sapunka [Slov], Szaplonca, Săpânta Jewish Jewish Tyachev Alternate names: Tiacheva, Tesco (Yiddish), Tachovo, Tetsh (German), Tech (Hungarian), Tacovo (Czech), Tachovo, Tiaczovo (Polish), Tiachevo (Russian) and Tiachev (Ukraine) Auschwitz II – Birkenau (May 1944), Bunzlau (sub-camp of Gross-Rosen), Nordhausen, Bergen-Belsen British / April 15, 1945 Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen (British Zone) / 1945-46 Camp Herzog, Hessisch-Lichtenau, near Kassel, Germany (American Zone) / 1947 March 3, 1948 / New York, New York / SS Marine Flasher Birmingham October 20, 2018 Birmingham Click here to download map PDF USC Shoah Foundation Interview April 27, 1997, Birmingham, AL
Aizenman, HenryPrzytyk, Poland Henry Aizenman. One man with two birthdays: the first, to celebrate his arrival in the world in Warsaw, Poland, in 1931. The second, to celebrate his “rebirth”: the chance to begin life anew after his liberation by American troops in 1945 from Wöbbelin Concentration Camp near Ludwigslust, Germany. Like other Polish Jews in the early 1930’s, Henry was no stranger to antisemitism in the small town of Przytyk where he was raised. His educated and Zionistic parents had hoped to immigrate to Palestine to help establish a Jewish homeland there, but because British policies mandated that they would have to leave their savings behind, they opted instead to remain in Europe, a decision that would cost them their lives. The family became victims of the Nazi’s policy of using concentration camp inmates to keep the German war machine humming along. Henry’s mother died in a munitions factory fire in Pionki, where, following the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Jews were rounded up and sent off to perform hard labor. Henry’s father, having survived Auschwitz because of his skills as a mechanic, later died at another work camp at Braunschweig. Prisoners at the camp told Henry that his father, having fallen ill, had been sent to the infirmary, where he had been murdered by the doctor, who injected him with a bubble of air. Until then, young Henry had managed to endure the terror and starvation of incarceration because of his father’s presence: whether crammed together with other prisoners in the cattle cars that conveyed them from camp to camp … journeys lasting at times for over a week … or using as barter the sliver of pound cake mercifully thrown to Henry by an old woman as he walked to work his twelve-hour night shift, father and son had had each other. Now orphaned, and following his liberation, Henry sailed to America. He moved to Birmingham in 1958, where he and his wife raised three children. Somehow Henry managed to put the memories of the atrocities he had witnessed into what he called “little boxes,” keeping them tightly locked until some trigger pried one open. But he maintained that despite the horrors he experienced, he still believed in the basic goodness of humanity. Addendum: Henry Aizenman passed away on March 15, 2008. Henry Aizenman Chaim Ajzenman (Henryk) Henry Aizenman Boruch and Hana Ajzenman none David B. Aizenman, M.D. (Teri) Shari Aizenman (Clive Brown) Mark J. Aizenman (Sally) March 10, 1931 Jewish Jewish Jedlinsk Ghetto (Poland) Auschwitz II (Poland), Braunschweig (Germany), Fürstengrube (Poland), Pionki (Poland), Ravensbrück (Germany), Wöbbelin (Germany) United States / May 2, 1945 Ludwigslust, Germany yes At Auschwitz II, Henry was tattooed with the number B-21. Henry's emigration was part of Eleanor Roosevelt's program to relocate Jewish war orphans after World War II. January 18,1948 / SS Marine Flasher / New York City 1957 Birmingham March 15, 2008 Birmingham Click here to download map PDF
Bass, JackBernkastel, Germany Born in 1923, Jack was subjected to antisemitic name-calling in school even before Hitler came to power. His mother hoped he would become a doctor like his father, but Jack’s schooling would become a series of interruptions. Following his father’s death in 1932, Jack, his sister, and his mother moved to Trier, then Cologne, and finally to Berlin, each time moving to a larger city in an effort to remain anonymous, each time forced to attend Jewish schools. Jack’s mother remarried, and recognizing the bleak future, Jack’s step-father left for the U.S. in 1938 to arrange the family’s emigration. During Kristallnacht in Berlin, Jack was almost killed in the streets. His step-father did not return to Germany. Two months before the war started, Jack’s sister left for England, taking a job in a children’s hospital. With school no longer an option for Jack, forced labor became his education. Jack and his mother made leather knapsacks for the German troops, paid only half the wage of non-Jewish Germans. In mid-1942, Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda, promised to make Berlin “Judenrein” (free of Jews) by Hitler’s April birthday. Jack and his mother were arrested in late 1942. Separated during deportation, he was sent by railroad cattle car to Auschwitz; his mother was sent to her death. Because he was young and strong, Jack was selected for slave labor in five different camps: Auschwitz III (Buna or Monowitz), Auschwitz I, Dachau, Gross-Rosen, and Mühldorf. Each move was hastened by the approaching Russian forces. Jack worked building factories and sorting human hair to be used in the manufacture of mattresses. On May 8, 1945, Jack was liberated from Mühldorf by American troops. Now twenty-two, he weighed only sixty pounds. After liberation, Jack searched for his family with no success and immigrated to New York in 1947. His family in Atlanta and a cousin working for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in New York were instrumental in his immigration. Jack has said that he could not have lived in the South during that period because the Jim Crow Laws were constant reminders of the persecution he had endured. With the ability to speak German and some French, English, and Yiddish, Jack wasted no time finding work. Jack met and married his wife, Phyllis, in New Jersey. In 1994, they moved to Adamsville to be near family and escape the cold northern winters. Addendum: Jack Bass passed away on May 3, 2010. David P. Boder interviews Jürgen Bassfreund (Jack Bass) Jürgen Bassfreund Adamsville and Birmingham May 3, 2010 Click here to download map PDF
Beressi, JosefSalonika, Greece Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Josef Beressi Josef Beressi Never Married Moson and Gracia Beressi October 10, 1924 Jewish Jewish Warsaw Ghetto Auschwitz, Dachau Tattoo No. 136970 on left arm December 27, 1950 on USNS General W. C. Langfitt/ New Orleans, Louisiana Birmingham 1985
Berger, Frieda KahnNiederzissen, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Frieda Kahn Berger Frieda Kahn Frieda Kahn Berger Josef Kahn (1867-1942) and Minna Gottschalk (1877-1945) Max Kahn 1901-1942 (Auschwitz) Salomon Kahn 1904-1993, married Grete [Margarete] Friedman (b. 1907) from Ludwigsburg, Germany (emigrated to Palmira, Colombia then later moved to Cali, Colombia) Julius Kahn 1905-1974 (emigrated to Shanghai, then to Selma, AL) Jetta Kahn (Leo Abraham) 1907-1942 (Minsk); daughter Ruth also died in Minsk Julia Khan 1909-1909 Lina Kahn 1910-1942 (Auschwitz) Dora [Dorothea] Kahn 1912-1981, married Ludwig Lewy (emigrated to Shanghai, then to Selma, AL) Sally Kahn 1914-1973 (emigrated to Shanghai, then to Palmira, Colombia) Hermann Berger, born Burgbrohl, Germany, November 6, 1904. Married December 26, 1937 in Burgbrohl, Germany. Hanna Leone, born February 19, 1942, Selma March 19, 1902 Jewish Frieda's parents, Josef and Minna Kahn, were sent to Theresienstadt. Josef died there. Minna was then sent to Auschwitz where she was killed. Frieda also lost three siblings in the Nazi death camps. Frieda and her husband Hermann Berger, a tailor, were sent from New York by the National Refugee Service and sponsored by Synagogue Mishkan Israel after a Jewish tailor died in Selma. After the war ended, the Bergers sponsored Frieda's brother Julius Kahn, her sister Dora Lewy, and brother-in-law Ludwig Lewy, all of whom had immigrated to Shanghai, China in 1939. March 4, 1938, New York City on the SS Washington 1938 Selma June 1, 1998 Selma 1938-1998
Berger, HermannBurgbrohl, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Leopold Berger (1874 - 1942, Auschwitz) and Johanna Friesem Berger (1876-1919) Herta Berger (Bertram Shaw), (1906-1988), escaped to London Joseph Berger (1908-1942, Auschwitz) Max Berger (1918-1942, Auschwitz) Wife, Frieda Kahn Berger, born March 19, 1902, Niederzissen, Germany. Married December 26, 1937 in Burgbrohl, Germany. Hanna Leone, born February 19, 1942, Selma. November 6, 1904 Hermann lost his father, stepmother Emma, and two of his brothers in Nazi death camps. His mother, Johanna, died before the Nazis came to power. He was sent from New York by the National Refugee Service and sponsored by Synagogue Mishkan Israel after a Jewish tailor died in Selma. The synagogue agreed to sponsor Berger, a tailor by trade, and helped to establish Berger's shop after he arrived in September 1938, allowing him to build his business for the first year. In just a little over two years, Berger had repaid the congregation in full for the loan on his business. March 4, 1938, New York City on the SS Washington. 1938 Selma January 10, 1971 Selma 1938-1971
Bilitzerkovsky, Artem AbramovichDonetsk, Ukraine Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Bronya Alex Bilitzerkovsky Mrina Bilitzerkovsky Vladimir Bilizerkovsky 1932 Birmingham
Blatt, HerbertBerlin, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Herbert Blatt Horst Joachim Blatt Herbert Blatt Bernard Blatt (1875-1942 / Auschwitz) and Johanna Mamroth Blatt (1885-1940/Holland) Heinz Blatt (1910-1942/Auschwitz) Rudy Albert Blatt (1912/Holland-1992/Pennsylvania) married Ruth Herdle Rose Lande Blatt, married December 23, 1945 in Birmingham Paul Blatt, October 10, 1952-1985 Barbara Blatt (Kessler) June 6, 1921 Entered the US Army on January 20, 1942 September 13, 1938 / New York / SS Veendam Birmingham March 11, 2006 Birmingham
Blum, Roger NathanBrumath (Alsace), France Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. Wife, Evelyn Sellers. Married 1947 September 23, 1920 June 11, 1939 / New York City / Camplain Birmingham
Bromberg, Sonja AdelbergMagdeburg, Germany Born on March 8, 1930, to Freda and Samuel Adelberg, Sonja had one sister, Helen, and an older brother who died as an infant. Sonja’s memories of Nazi Germany are the lasting, emotional impressions of a young child. The cruel and evil expression of Adolf Hitler looking out into the crowd during a parade she watched at the age of seven. Bombs dropping, people screaming, and the terror of Nazis grabbing people out of their homes. To this day, Holocaust films evoke a deep, guttural pain for Sonja. At the age of six, Sonja’s mother passed away. Her father hired a housekeeper to care for her and her eleven-year-old sister. When he caught the housekeeper stealing, Sonja’s father decided to take his daughters to stay with the nuns where he felt the girls would be safer, given the perils of Nazi Germany. Sonja remembers the kindness and love shown to all the children by the nuns. He later placed the girls in an orthodox Jewish orphanage. “For my father to put us in the orphanage was love; he gave us away so we could be safe,” she says. With applications completed for the girls’ visas, it was now a waiting game. Sonja and Helen finally obtained their visas through the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). The girls traveled with ten other Jewish children on a voyage by sea that Sonja describes as an adventure. She was given a banana for the first time and “ate the whole thing, peeling and all.” After the fourteen-day journey, the girls arrived at Ellis Island on January 17, 1940, and were greeted by their paternal grandmother and several aunts. Sonja recalls what a delicious cook her grandmother was. Her favorite dishes were chicken and sponge cake. When Sonja was sixteen, she was reunited with her father. He had left Germany earlier than his daughters on the ill-fated S.S. St. Louis bound for Cuba but was sent back to Belgium where he met and married a German woman. When the Nazis invaded Belgium, they escaped to France and were hidden by French patriots. He developed a heart condition due to poor nutrition and Sonja recalls that he was very sickly when she saw him in America. Sonja married Hyman Bromberg and settled in Montgomery, Alabama. They were married for forty-seven years. Their only son died in 2004 at the age of forty-two. Addendum: Sonja Bromberg passed away on October 26, 2018. Sonja Adelberg Bromberg Sonja Adelberg Sonja Adelberg Bromberg Samuel Adelberg and Freida (Freda) Prazatka Adelberg Helen Adelberg Schultz, born April 10, 1925 David Kolin, married January 6, 1950, Bronx, NY Hyman (Hymen) Bromberg, married 1960 David Barney Bromberg (died 2004), married Fabianne Tomaz March 11, 1930 Burg Bei Magdeburg Jewish (non-observant) Christian After their mother died in 1936, Sonja and her sister Helen were placed in a convent for safety and so their father could work. Samuel Adelberg had owned 2 clothing stores, "Adelberg's," which were forced to close after Kristallnacht. He tried to come to the US, traveling on the SS St. Louis in May 1939. After being turned away in Cuba and the US, he returned to Brussels and then France. January 17, 1940 / New York / SS Vulcania (sponsored by their paternal grandmother) 1968 Montgomery October 26, 2018 Montgomery 1968-2018 Click here to download map PDF
Brück, Else NeumeyerEyb, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Huntsville
Buchbinder, JiriLidice or Ležáky, Czechoslovakia Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. 1925 Majdanek Had six-numbered tattoo on left arm. 1950s / New York City Birmingham
Caro, AlfredSamter, Germany Alfred Caro was born July 27, 1911, to Sally and Frida Caro in Szamotuly, Poland. The family then moved to Berlin, Germany, where Sally, a decorated veteran of World War I, bought a butcher shop. Alfred had three sisters, Cecila, Jenna, and Nora and two brothers, Alex and Siegbert. Alfred had fond memories of his childhood in Berlin, where he was raised in a conservative Jewish home. In public school, Alfred was one of the only Jewish students. He participated in a number of local sports clubs and particularly enjoyed boxing. After Alfred completed his compulsory education, he studied to be a butcher in Halberstadt, Germany, for three years, returning to Berlin in 1928. Alfred recalled that shortly thereafter, the depression hit Germany hard, and the Nazi party rose to prominence. Once Hitler came to power in 1933, Alfred noticed changes taking place around him, including antisemitic legislation. About this time, Alfred’s father’s business failed when his non-Jewish clientele dwindled. In 1935, after the Nuremberg Laws stripped the Caro family of its citizenship and rights, they became Zionists and tried to find ways to flee Germany, but it was too expensive to leave. In 1938, while being falsely sought as a political opponent, Alfred turned himself in to Nazi authorities, hoping his actions would protect his brothers. Upon arrival in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Alfred was forced to do hard labor amid primitive conditions and brutal treatment, all the while witnessing the arrival of new transports from all over Germany. After six weeks of appealing to the police in Berlin, his mother managed to orchestrate his release from Sachsenhausen in July of 1938. HICEM, a large aid organization in Berlin, helped Alfred get a visa to immigrate to France where he lived in Paris with other refugees until he and about 500 other German and Austrian refugees were granted permission to live and work in Colombia. After two weeks aboard a ship called Cuba, Alfred arrived in Colombia with no money, possessions, nor the ability to speak Spanish. Until he caught malaria, Alfred worked in the gold mines deep in the Colombian jungle. Later Alfred moved to Bogota, where he became very successful, eventually owning a restaurant and butcher shop with an affluent clientele. In 1952, Alfred decided to join his sister, Norma, who had earlier immigrated to America, settling in New York and learning English while working as a butcher for a German-owned delicatessen. Around this time, while on vacation, Alfred met his future wife, Helen, a divorcee living with her son, Allen, in Alabama. After a quick courtship, Alfred joined his new family in Anniston, Alabama, where he opened Caro’s Restaurant. Alfred and Helen had a daughter, Alice. The Caro’s enjoyed living in Anniston, especially the warmth of the local people and donating to many local causes, particularly the YMCA. (taken in part from the Echoes and Reflections curriculum) Alfred Caro Avram ben Shlomo Frida and Sally Caro 3 sisters: Cecila, Jenna, Nora 2 brothers: Alex, Siegbert Helen Nathan Arkus Caro, born July 22, 1913, Emmerich, Germany. Married September 4, 1954, New York, NY. (Helen is the sister of Greta Nathan Kemp. Helen had a son from a previous marriage, Allan) Alice Paulette Caro (Burkett), born August 10, 1955, Anniston July 27, 1911 Today Szamotuly, Poland Conservative Judaism Reform Judaism Sachsenhausen Berlin Immigration to Anniston sponsored by his wife's mother's brother, Lee Freibaum. Nov. 8, 1952/ New York, New York / by airplane Anniston July 29, 2007 Anniston 1954-2007 USC Shoah Foundation Interview July 31, 1997, Anniston, AL
Caro, Helen NathanEmmerich, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Helen Nathan Caro Herta Nathan Helen Nathan Arkus Caro Felix and Regina (Friebaum) Nathan Heinz (Henry) Nathan, Margareta Sybilla (Greta) Nathan Nat Arkus, married September 1945, Anniston, AL. Died 1951. Alfred Caro, married 1954, Anniston, AL. Died 2007. Allen Arkus, born December 1, 1947 Alice Paulette Caro Burkett, born 1955 July 22, 1913 Jewish Jewish Immigration to Anniston sponsored by her mother's brother, Lee Freibaum. 1936/New York, New York 1936 Anniston March 28, 1967 Anniston 1936-1967
Cohen, Jenny FriedČeská Lípa, Czechoslovakia Jenny Cohen was born in Česká Lípa, Czechoslovakia on August 16, 1912. At the age of four, her father died. Her mother took a job as a housekeeper in a neighboring town in order to support her daughter, while Jenny went to live with her grandmother in Lovosice. In 1938, Hitler took over the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, including Lovosice. All of the Jews, including Jenny, lost their jobs. Jewish businesses were confiscated. Their Christian friends would not associate with them. Afraid to leave the house during the day, they went outside at night to breathe the fresh air. Jenny, who had blond hair and blue eyes, moved to Hamburg, Germany hoping to “disappear” in the city and find work. She had several grueling jobs and in 1940 married Ludwig Cohen. Their son, Victor, was born later that year, and the young family began the arduous task of applying for visas to the US. Even with family sponsors in the US, the Cohen’s lacked the funds to obtain visas. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) stepped in and procured the necessary visas and paid their fares. The Cohens escaped Germany, leaving behind their family and everything they owned. They traveled by train to Barcelona, Spain, only to discover that their visas had expired one day before their ship’s scheduled departure. Heartbroken, they were not permitted to leave. In Barcelona, the JDC found them a place to stay, but as illegal immigrants, they were not eligible for ration cards. They subsisted on one meal a day. After countless efforts to renew their American visas, the Cohens were finally allowed to leave Spain on August 6, 1941. They boarded the Spanish freighter Navemar – a ship built to carry twenty-eight people that was converted to take on 1,000. The voyage was terrible and the food wretched. Many passengers died on the ship. Jenny struggled to keep baby Victor alive. “We could only stand this voyage because it meant our salvation.” Jenny and Ludwig settled in Kingston, New York, and Jenny gave birth to daughter Marion six months later. Their son, Victor, married a Birmingham girl and when Ludwig retired in 1978, they, too, moved to Birmingham. Jenny and Ludwig Cohen lost twenty-six family members in the Holocaust. Addendum: Jenny Cohen passed away on January 5, 2015. Jenny Fried Cohen Jenny Fried Jenny Fried Cohen Jonas Fried (Vienna) and Ida Furhmann, married August 6, 1911 None Ludwig Viktor Cohen (Louis) Married January 1, 1940 in Hamburg, Germany Victor Denny Cohen (Mickie), born November 17, 1940, Hamburg, Germany Marion Cohen Auerbach, born March 12, 1942, Kingston, NY August 16, 1912 Orthodox Judaism Conservative Judaism September 12, 1941 / New York, NY / SS Navemar 1978 Birmingham January 5, 2015 Birmingham, AL 1978-2015 Click here to download map PDF
Cohen, Ludwig ViktorNeustadtgödens, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. Ludwig (Louis) Viktor Cohen Ludwig Viktor Cohen Viktor Cohen and Marianne Wolff Julius Viktor Cohen (1914-1927) Emma Cohen (1919-2006) Rose Cohen Mary Cohen Bella Cohen Wilhelm Cohen Jenny Fried Cohen Married January 1, 1940 in Hamburg, Germany Victor Denny Cohen (Mickie), born November 17, 1940, Hamburg, Germany Marion Cohen Auerbach, born March 12, 1942 October 6, 1907 Orthodox Judaism Conservative Judaism September 12, 1941 / New York, NY / SS Navemar 1978 Birmingham May 16, 1987 Hollywood, FL 1978-1987
Cohen, Zehava SchneiderBerlin, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Gerda Schneider Zehava Cohen Irving Cohen, born March 28, 1919 in Jerusalem. Married October 10, 1954 in Tel Aviv. Jonah Cohen, born March 27, 1958, Birmingham Judy (Judith) Cohen Liman, born September 12, 1959, Birmingham April 23, 1929 Jewish Jewish January 4, 1957 / New York, NY (from Israel) / Queen Mary Birmingham August 22, 2013
Danziger, Elvira RechaBerlin, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Erich Danziger, born July 19, 1901, Berlin. Married September 20, 1938, Berlin. January 31, 1913 April 23, 1939 / New York City / SS President Roosevelt Birmingham
Danziger, ErichBerlin, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Elvira Recha Danziger, born January 31, 1913, Berlin. Married September 20, 1938, Berlin. July 19, 1901 April 23, 1939 / New York City / SS President Roosevelt Birmingham
Davidson, Pauline MerensteinLublin, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Montgomery
Dembo, Regina RothVienna, Austria Regina Roth Dembo’s story begins with a series of losses and separations from a comfortable life and from people she loved. How does a young girl of twelve cope with her father’s disappearance at the hands of the Nazis, with her forced immigration to America while caring for two younger sisters, and with a fear that proved to be true: that she would never again see her mother and brother? Regina began her life in Vienna, Austria. As Austrian natives, she and her siblings qualified for the Austrian quota of immigrants permitted to come to the United States. Their parents, born in Poland, were unable to procure the necessary papers to leave. Trying to access the required paperwork was tedious; the lines were interminable. Regina’s father was arrested and forced to leave Austria. He returned to Poland, but ultimately disappeared. The Germans confiscated his business, his car, and their apartment with all of their belongings. They found their life changing rapidly from one of comfort to one of struggle for survival. “Life changed. Doctors and lawyers were scrubbing the streets. The Nazis had a good time making the Jews miserable,” she recalls. Just a week before the war broke out in 1939, the three girls left Austria for the United States. Years later, Regina wondered how her mother could bear to send them away – three young girls ages twelve, ten, and eight. They assumed that their mother and brother would follow them shortly – no one realized how horrendous it would become for the Jews – there had been so many pogroms, and they had survived all of those atrocities. They never imagined that their mother and four-year-old brother would be sent to a camp and gassed. Their trip to America reflected their transition from childhood to adulthood. Not a soul helped them during their journey. They arrived in New York City not speaking a word of English. After living with an uncle for several months, they were placed in an orphanage. “We learned English in a great big hurry, then,” she says. Three year later, they were placed in three different foster homes. Regina expressed a desire to go to college and her foster parents encouraged her to do so. In 1951, Regina married Michael Dembo. They eventually settled in Huntsville, Alabama, where they had two children. Regina had finally come home. Regina Roth Dembo Regine Roth Rivka (Hebrew) Regina Roth Dembo Isidore and Maryam (Mina) Roth Herta Roth (Leonard Walcoff), born April 23, 1929 Susi (Suzanne) Roth (Amos Bernstein), born October 2, 1931 Erwin Roth, born 1935 Michael M. Dembo Married May 19, 1951, New York Margaret Dembo (Richard Gore), born May 7, 1953, Boston Elizabeth Dembo (Solomon Miller), born November 10, 1956, Boston October 1, 1926 Reform Judaism Reform Judaism August 21, 1939 / New York / SS Laconia 1968 Huntsville Click here to download map PDF
Diament, Helen SzawzynBialystok, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Helen Szawzyn Diament Helene Szawzyn Helen Szawzyn Diament Sigmund Diament, born November 30, 1917, Sieradz, Poland Married June 5, 1946, Marktredwitz, Germany Sarah Lea Diament Goodwin (Alan Richard Goodwin) November 15, 1921 April 5, 1949 / New Orleans / USAT General Harry Taylor Montgomery November 9, 2003 Montgomery 1949-2003
Diament, SigmundSieradz, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Joseph and Leah Diament Helene Szawzyn Diament, born November 15, 1921, Bialystok, Poland Married June 5, 1946, Marktredwitz, Germany Sara Lea Diament Goodwin (Alan Richard Goodwin) November 30, 1917 Served in Polish military during World War II where he was captured by the Nazis and help as prisoner of war in Auschwitz. April 5, 1949 / New Orleans / USAT General Harry Taylor 1949 Montgomery July 1, 2010 Montgomery 1949-2010
Einstein, Erna Frederike KempenichEmmerich, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Erna Frederike Kempenich Einstein Erna Frederike Kempenich Erna Einstein Max & Margarete Kempenich Erich Kempenich, Heinz (Henrique) Kempenich, Rudolph (Rudy) Kempenich Dr. Alfred Leopold Einstein, married December 24, 1925. Klaus (later Claude) Max Einstein, born in Mannheim, Germany, 1902 Jewish Jewish June 3, 1941/ New York/ Cleveland, Ohio 1970′s- summers & 1980′s full-time Anniston 1980′s until death in 1990
Eisenberg, Susan K.Miskolc, Hungary Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Susan K. Eisenberg Zsuzsanna Martha Petrov two October 16, 1924 Reform Judaism Non-practicing Dachau (Kaufering), October 1944 April 1945 Wolfratshausen, Germany Marched nearly 100 miles with a group of Hungarian Jews from Budapest to Hegyeshalom, Hungary. Marched from Dachau to Wolfrathausen just before liberation. 1948/New York, NY Montgomery September 16, 2008
Eldodt, EmelieBreuna, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Emelie Goldwein Eldodt Amelia Goldwein Emilie Goldwein Eldodt Moritz (Morris) Eldodt, born November 4, 1876, Koerbecke, Germany Joseph (Joe) Eldodt, born April 25, 1908, Breuna, Germany Max Eldodt, born July 6, 1914, Breuna, Germany November 7, 1880 Jewish May 13, 1938 / New York, NY / SS Manhattan 1938 Selma July 6, 1940 Selma 1938-1940
Eldodt, JosephBerlin, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Joseph (Joe) Eldodt Joseph Eldodt Moritz (Morris) Eldodt and Amelia (Emilie) Goldwein Eldodt Max Eldodt, born July 6, 1914, Breuna, Germany Lenore (Lola) Braunsberg Eldodt, born May 13, 1926, Berlin. Married August 4, 1945 in England. Joan Eldodt (Berger), born May 10, 1946, Selma Linda Eldodt May 13, 1926 Jewish Jewish Sponsored by the Tepper Brothers in Selma and later worked in their Department Store. Fought for US military in England, where he met his wife Lola. November 8, 1934 / New York, NY / SS Bremen 1934 Selma May 17, 1980 Dallas
Eldodt, Lenore (Lola)Berlin, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Lenore (Lola) Eldodt Lenore Braunsberg Lenore (Lola) Braunsberg Eldodt Joseph (Joe) Eldodt, born April 25, 1908, Breuna, Germany. Married August 4, 1945 in England. Joan Emily Eldodt (Berger) Linda Eldodt May 13, 1926 Jewish Left Germany on the Kindertransport to England. Met her husband, Joe, in England, where he was stationed as an American GI. January 30, 1946 / Fort Fairfield, Maine / via airplane 1946 Selma
Eldodt, MaxBreuna, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Max Eldodt Max Eldodt Moritz (Morris) Eldodt and Amelia (Emilie) Goldwein Eldodt Joseph (Joe) Eldodt Never married July 6, 1914 Jewish Sponsored in US by Tepper Brothers Department Store (Teppers were cousins who came in the 1800s) and later employed there. March 5, 1937 / New York, NY / SS Washington 1937 Selma October 7, 1974 Selma 1937-1974
Eldodt, Moritz (Morris)Koerbecke, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Morris Eldodt Moritz Eldodt Amelia (Emilia) Goldwein Eldodt, married June 26, 1907, Volkmarsen, Germany Joseph (Joe) Eldodt, born April 25, 1908, Breuna, Germany Max Eldodt, born July 6, 1914, Breuna, Germany November 4, 1876 Jewish Came to US with his wife to join their 2 sons already in Selma. May 13, 1938 / New York, NY / SS Manhattan 1938 Selma November 28, 1951 Selma 1938-1951
Fisch, MarkusLwów, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Maria Fisch Elsbieta (Elizabeth, Suzie) Fisch, born April 16, 1932, Lemberg, Poland. Erwin Fisch, born November 12, 1934, Lemberg, Poland. September 16, 1902 Lviv, Lemberg July 17, 1950 on the USNS General H. Taylor Birmingham
Fisch, MiriamLwów, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Miriam Fisch Markus Fisch Elsbieta (Elizabeth/Suzy) Fisch, born April 16, 1932, Lemberg, Poland. Erwin Fisch, born November 12, 1934, Lemberg, Poland. June 10, 1906 Lviv, Lemberg July 17, 1950 on the USNS General H. Taylor Birmingham
Fisher, Alma Maria Anna WeissMunich, Germany At the outset of the World War I in 1914, Alma Weiss was in first grade in Munich, Germany. Her father, Moritz, was a businessman; her mother, Vilma, a homemaker. The Weisses were cultured, comfortably off, patriotically German. Moritz served the Kaiser in Vienna during the war. “Eva Braun’s father was my first-grade teacher,” Alma said. “The Brauns lived around the comer from us, and Eva’s mother always said, ‘If you need anything, come.'” Alma learned English, French, and Italian, and played piano, loving Chopin, Mozart, and Liszt. She hoped to attend Munich’s Academy of Music, but first secured a business degree at the insistence of her pragmatic father. Going on to the academy, she excelled and was invited to teach. She aspired to be a concert artist. Like others in her circle of friends, Alma had not lost sight of Eva Braun. While working in a Munich photo shop in 1929 at age 17, plump, blonde Eva had been introduced, as she’d later recount, to “a man with a funny mustache,” who’d offered her “a lift in his Mercedes.” The suitor was the 40-year-old leader of Germany’s National Socialist Party, and she soon was meeting him in his Munich apartment. Eva Braun had become the mistress of Adolf Hitler. “One day, my teacher came and said 1 had to write a letter to ask for my resignation on account of health problems. I would not have done it if my teacher, who I adored, and admired, would not have told me.” Alma added dryly: “He turned out to be a pretty good Nazi.” Alma became engaged to a young, non-Jewish airman, but Hitler’s 1935 Nuremberg Laws deemed it unlawful for Jews and non-Jews to wed. So, they rendezvoused in secret, depending on friends to provide cover for them. But the war was pulling them apart. Alma was in Munich on September 1, 1939, when Hitler’s army invaded Poland. That same night, the mother and brother of her fiancé came to take her to their rural estate. She stayed with them for several months – the family was soon harboring other Jews – until she sensed problems. “Somehow the people around must have found out they were hiding people,” Alma said. Not wanting to cause problems, Alma moved back to a Munich boarding house. Thousands of German Jews were trying to emigrate. Alma put money down to secure her own passage, but the world’s doors were open only to so many. Her sister had married an Italian in 1932 and moved to Italy. Her father had passed away in 1936. Her mother went to live in Yugoslavia with Alma’s great-uncle and grandmother, planning to join Alma in America or France. Witnessing the possibility of deportation, Alma turned to Eva Braun’s mother. “When it looked dangerous, that we would all be shipped from Munich, I went to her and asked her if there was anything she could do for me. The answer from Eva’s mother came back soon enough: “Unfortunately, there’s absolutely nothing she can do for anybody Jewish.” Alma was eventually seized and taken to a compound that had been a cloister. She became a “forced labor” in a telephone factory. She kept her head down and did what she was told. One day “a transport” was readied to carry Jews to the East. She missed that transport that went to Riga. “Nobody returned from there.” It was in 1942 when Alma was put on the second transport deep into Poland, to Auschwitz. There were 300 others on her transport — only 50 of them entered the camp with her. She was told later that the others had gone up the chimneys. Alma was one of only three from her transport who would survive. “When we arrived in Auschwitz, they took everything away, clothes, shoes. We were naked. They shaved your hair, put a tattoo on your arm. You didn’t feel anything because you’re so numb. Completely paralyzed. You didn’t realize it can be true.” They were given cast-off pants, shirts and dresses: “Clothes that didn’t fit and shoes that ruined your feet – that had belonged to the dead.” For months, “sleeping on wooden planks, in stalls,” she’d rise in the bitter cold, and tramp out past a German “oom pah” band playing patriotic songs. Her labor was mindless — “cutting grass, working in fields. “The food? Horrible! Potato peel boiled in water.” Not knowing the fate of her mother, or her fiancé, Alma nursed the hope she would be reunited with both if she could only endure. Little did she know that, even after months of hard labor, the war still had three years to go. By freakish luck, Alma was placed in a camp job that could save her. Her lifeline was the business degree from Munich, the one her father had insisted upon. An SS guard, she believes, had seen her paperwork and knew that she could work with records and files. She lived like the other prisoners, only she reported every day to the Auschwitz office. She joined a staff of other women prisoners whose job it was to chronicle the gruesome facts of the Auschwitz killing machine. Under penalty of death, Alma was not allowed to divulge anything of what she saw. The depth of misery in the camp was so great that the tiniest gesture of kindness was seen by Alma as “a miracle” — a German soldier, who’d been transferred to the Auschwitz office after suffering a war wound, handed Alma a gift from his wife one day. “It was,” she remembers as though speaking of a treasure, “a piece of apple.” Some days later, she took a risk. She asked the soldier to send a message to the family of her fiancé, telling of her whereabouts. Remarkably, he did, bringing word back of their acknowledgment. By January 1945, Russia was pushing deeper into Poland, beating back Hitler’s forces. The Nazis began to abandon the camp, taking with them the 58,000 victims who were still alive. “For seven days and seven nights we were running from the Russians. Anyone who could not walk anymore, or was sitting down, was shot.” “I was close to giving up,” she said. Then another prisoner, a stranger beside her — “somebody I never knew before, and never saw afterward” — picked her up and carried her on his back. Those who survived the march arrived at another camp, this one deep inside Germany, just north of Berlin — Ravensbrück. Here, in April, Alma heard that President Franklin Roosevelt had died. “We thought that was the end of the world,” she says. “All we had hoped for was that Roosevelt would save us, then he was dead.” Within days, Alma was sent on a second death march; Ravensbrück was being evacuated. On this march, chaos ensued. The SS guards, fearing their own capture now, abandoned the prisoners, threw away their uniforms and fled. “We went into houses that were left alone, opened the doors, went in, slept, and tried to feed ourselves. We dug potatoes out of the earth and ate those raw. The Russians came and left, fortunately. “Then the Americans came.” With the Allied forces victorious, Alma made her way back to Munich. But there was nobody for her there anymore. She soon learned that in the spring of 1941, when the Germans occupied Yugoslavia, her mother and grandmother were deported. She went to see her fiancé’s family in the countryside but learned that he had been killed in action. Alma was now 38 years old. Alma was given a government job in Munich right after the war. Soon, as a “displaced person” under the Truman Act, she boarded a ship to New York. On Alma’s forearm there was a scar where the tattoo of her concentration camp serial number used to be. She had it removed at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York after coming to America. “Everybody around me stood there crying. They had never seen anything like it.” Like the tattoo long gone but forever marking her – her experiences left an indelible scar. In New York, she was invited for coffee by friends from Munich on the same evening as a Yugoslavian named Tony Fisher, also scarred by the Holocaust. He was working in the lumber business in North Carolina. Tony kept calling on her, and soon asked her to marry him. They moved to Mobile, where he had connections. “It was easy to get the home feeling here,” she says. “We want to live, and we want to forget.” One day, when she was practicing piano in her new home, a stranger passed by, heard her and told educators at Barton Academy about her. One thing led to another and Alma became a performer with the Mobile Symphony Orchestra and a piano teacher at Murphy High, Spring Hill College, and the University of South Alabama. Alma and Tony were active in social and civic affairs. Tony was president of the local theater company, the Joe Jefferson Players; Alma was Mrs. Frank in the play “The Diary of Anne Frank.” “Life made it up to me,” she whispered, exhausted from her tale, yet unburdened of it now. “God made it up to me.” The girl who lived around the corner from Alma in childhood — and once coldly denied her help — of course found a husband, too. On April 29, 1945, in a wedding ceremony in the fuehrer’s bunker beneath Berlin, Eva Braun finally became Eva Hitler. One day later, as the world would cheer, the bride put poison into her mouth, and the groom a bullet into his head. -Edited from “Out of Auschwitz,” by Roy Hoffman, Mobile Press Register, July 19, 1998 Alma Fisher Alma Maria Anna Weiss Alma Fisher Moritz (1872-1936) and Vilma (Löbl) Weiss (1886-1942) Giannini Weiss, sister, married an Italian man in 1932 and moved to Italy Anthony (Tony) Fisher, born June 27, 1901, Nasice, Yugoslavia Married December 25, 1948, Blue Ridge, Georgia None May 12, 1907 Auschwitz, 1942-1945 Ravensbruck, 1945 Fled death march from Ravensbruck Death march from Auschwitz Eva Braun's father was her first grade teacher - they lived around the corner from the Weiss family. She had her tattoo from Auschwitz removed after coming to the US. She performed with the Mobile Symphony Orchestra and taught piano. June 18, 1946 / New York City / SS Marine Flasher Mobile March 24, 2001 Mobile
Fisher, AnthonyNasice, Yugoslavia Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Anthony (Tony) Fisher Ante Fischer Makso and Ilka Fischer Pavao Fischer (1908-1941) Regina Fischer (1904-1943) Alma Maria Anna Weiss, born May 12, 1907, Munich, Germany. Married December 25, 1948, Blue Ridge, Georgia. June 27, 1901 November 30, 1943 / Toronto then Buffalo, NY / M.C.R.R. Mobile November 29, 1991
Forman, Helen HermanKatowice, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Alice Sarah Sankiewicz Herman & Paul Herman Michele Forman Birmingham
Franks, AliceGoettingen, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org February 17, 1907 October 7, 1952 / New York City / SS Queen Mary Montgomery
Freibaum, MetaGiershagen, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Meta Freibaum Meta Freibaum Never Married Salomon Freibaum & Rosalie Hagedorn Freibaum Regina “Ina” Freibaum Nathan, Lee Freibaum, Paula Friebaum, and Gustav Freibaum Never married June 19, 1890 Jewish Jewish December 1, 1937/New York, New York / SS Washington 1937 Anniston March 20, 1968 Anniston 1937- 1968
Freibaum, SalomonGiershagen, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Salomon Freibaum Saloman Freibaum Rosalie Hagedorn Freibaum (1858-1897) Meta Freibaum, Lee Freibaum, Gustav Freibaum, Ina Freibaum & Paula Freibaum December 24, 1849 Jewish Jewish December 1, 1937 / New York, NY / SS Washington 1937 Anniston January 28, 1944 Anniston 1937 - 1944
Friedberger, BenjaminKonigsberg, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Benjamin (Ben) Friedberger Henia Kotler Friedberger, born November 15, 1922, Konigsberg, Germany. Married October 10, 1941, Kovno, Lithuania. Gita (Gloria) Friedberger, born July 19, 1946, Austria. Lillian Friedberger, born March 1, 1949, Mobile, AL. May 5, 1919 November 14, 1947 / New York City / SS Marine Perch 1947, Mobile Mobile
Friedberger, Henia KotlerKonigsberg, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Benjamin Friedberger, born May 5, 1919, Konigsberg, Germany. Married October 10, 1941, Kovno, Lithuania. Gita (Gloria) Friedberger, born July 19, 1946, Austria. Lillian Friedberger, born March 1, 1949, Mobile, AL. November 15, 1922 November 14, 1947 / New York City / SS Marine Perch 1949, Mobile Mobile
Friedman, Frieda SingerKrakow, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org First husband killed by Nazis. Married Salomon Friedman in 1946. Plaszow, Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen Mobile
Friedman, SalomonZarnowiec, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Salomon Friedman Szlama Frydman Salomon Friedman Mailach Friedman and Chana L. Larhten Frieda Singer Married 1946. October 3, 1911 Bergen-Belsen January 10, 1952 / New York / M/S Gripsholm Mobile March 9, 1993 Mobile
Fuld, Margot Eva Klappholz LimmerBiography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org December 12, 1910 Birmingham April 11, 1998 Birmingham
Gerson, Tobi KomornikSzczerców, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Tobi Gerson Tauba Komornik Tobi Kamor Gerson Ephraim Komornik and Esther Choda Komornik Oldest to youngest: Monela (Emanuel) Komornik- survived and came to US and changed name to Manuele Kamor Avram Yoseph Komornik (13 years older) Tauba (Tobi) Komornik Chaya Komornik Gitle Komornik Max Gerson (Moszek, Moshe, Gerszonowicz), born June 30, 1909 in Szczerców, Poland. Herbert Edward Gerson, 1948 Ervin Harold Gerson, 1951 Esther Chana Gerson (Levy), 1953 June 27, 1925 Stertzev (Yiddish) Jewish Jewish Praszka Ghetto (Fall 1939-August 1942) Lodz Ghetto (August 1942-August 1944) Auschwitz (August 1944, few weeks) Krupp Factory/ Neukölln Division, Berlin (September or August 1944; 7-9 months) Ravensbruck (April 1945, week or so) Swedish Red Cross, April 22-28, 1945 Malmo, Sweden April 8, 1946/ from Gotaborg, Sweden to New York City / SS Drottningholm 2001 Birmingham October 27, 2006 Birmingham, AL 2001-2006
Golubova, ZinaBalta, Ukraine Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Birmingham
Green, Erica SchreierVienna, Austria Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Deborah and Moses Lieb Schreier Max ? (son of first marriage to ?) Debra Green (Goldstein) April 8, 1929 Birmingham
Guttman, HelgoZella-Mehlis, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Huntsville
Hagedorn Jr., Gustav (Gus)Magdeburg, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Gus Hagedorn, Jr. Helmunt Hagedorn Wally and Gus Hagedorn May 2, 1937 January 6, 1938 / New York City / SS Washington Gadsden
Hagedorn Sr., Gustav (Gus)Giershagen, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Gus Hagedorn, Sr. Gustav Hagedorn Wally Lucie Marder Hagedorn, born March 29, 1903, Magdeburg, Germany, married April 21, 1934, Hoheguis, Germany. Hulmunt (Gus Jr.) Hagedorn, born May 2, 1938, Magdeburg, Germany. October 13, 1900 Jewish Jewish April 29, 1937/ New York, New York on SS Washington Gadsden
Hagedorn, Wally Lucie MarderMagdeburg, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Gus Hagedorn, born October 13, 1900, Giershagen, Germany. Married April 21, 19334, Hoheguis, Germany Helmunt Hagedorn (Gus Jr.), born May 2, 1937, Magdeburg, Germany. March 29, 1903 January 6, 1938 / New York City / SS Washington Gadsden
Herschthal, ArthurSzepesopalu, Czechoslovakia Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Arthur Herschthal Artur Herschthal Baruch Simpsen Alte Rachel Gross None August 25, 1906 Orthodox Judaism Conservative Judaism Dachau July 1, 1947 / New York, NY / SS Mauretania Birmingham February 23, 2002 Birmingham
Herschthal, Rachel GrossKarlsruhe, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. Rachel Rose Herschthal Rosel Gross Rosel Rachel Herschthal Arthur Herschthal None July 1,1913 Orthodox Judaism Conservative Judaism July 1, 1947 / New York, NY / SS Mauretania 1947 Birmingham Birmingham
Herzel, MaxAntwerp, Belgium Max Herzel was born in 1930, the son of Oscar, a diamond cutter, and Nachama, a seamstress. Ten-year-old Max’s journey through one of history’s darkest periods began when Belgium was invaded by the Germans on May 10, 1940. After traveling seven days and nights in a crowded boxcar, Max, his parents, and older brother, Harry, found refuge in Southern France. Soon after, France was invaded by Germany, and the Herzels were moved to the internment camp of Agde in southern France. When Adge burned down, they were transported to Rivesaltes, a pipeline to the concentration camps. Determined to arrange for his family’s escape, Oscar used bribery to flee to Marseilles. Oscar and Harry were ultimately caught by the French police and were sent to a work camp. Upon their release, Harry joined the French Underground and Oscar went into hiding. Max’s mother, overwhelmed by the trauma, attempted suicide. She was placed in a psychiatric hospital where she remained for the duration of the war. All alone, young Max was sent to a series of four orphanages. When these became too dangerous, an underground Jewish agency, OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants) place him on a remote farm in Sironne in the French Alps. Posing as a Catholic orphan, he worked for his food and lodging. After the Allies regained France in 1944, all the hidden children were gathered by the OSE in an effort to reunite them with their families. Max’s father had escaped to Italy, but was captured and taken to Auschwitz and later Buchenwald where he died at the age of forty-four, just six weeks short of liberation. Also lost were Oscar’s family of seven siblings and their children, as well as thirteen of Max’s mother’s family. Max and his brother immigrated to the United State in 1948 and settled in New York. His mother arrived five years later. He served four years in the U.S. Air Force, married Cecille Herman in 1955, and had two children. Job opportunities brought Max to Birmingham where he was an executive with the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Birmingham and a past Lions Clubs District Governor. Max is an active member of the Alabama Holocaust Commission and the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center. Oscar Herzel (Stanislow, Poland) and Nachama Salomon Herzel (Slonim, Poland). Married in Antwerp, 1925. Henri (Harry) Herzel (September 26,1926 - February 22, 2019) Cecile Herzel Elliott Herzel Caryl Herzel May 3, 1930 Modern Orthodox Judaism Conservative Judaism Max was in numerous children's home, under his real name and an assumed name. October 1944 Sironne, France December 23, 1948 / New York, NY / SS Washington 1972 Birmingham Click here to download map PDF
Hirsch, AisicMogielnica, Poland Aisic Hirsch experienced more terror and loss than any innocent child should ever have to endure. In 1939, at the age of nine, Aisic witnessed German troops invade his small Polish town of Mogielnica. They set fire to both synagogues and, assisted by Poles, publicly shamed, shot, and hung the two Hassidic rabbis. Thousands stood by and watched. In 1941, after more than year in a local ghetto, Aisic, his mother, five-year-old brother, and grandmother were herded into the Warsaw Ghetto, the largest ghetto in Poland. There, amidst “absolute misery,” where “rats and sickness were everywhere,” he watched helplessly while his brother and grandmother died of typhus, and his mother slid into madness. Although he did not want to leave his mother, she pushed him out of the ghetto under the auspices of “Save the Children,” a Jewish organization that paid off German and Polish guards. Upon his release, the little boy was on his own. After several nights of walking, eleven-year-old Aisic was taken in by family friends who hid him briefly in their barn. Fearing German retaliation, he was told he had to leave. Aisic moved on to the village of Goszczyn, arriving on a Sunday morning. Where else does one go on Sunday mornings, but to the local church? Thanks to his blond hair and blue eyes, Aisic blended in with the congregation. It was here that he found the noblest of humanity. When Aisic knelt for confession, all he could do was cry. The young priest, suspecting the child was a Jew, touched his head through the confessional window and said, “This world will not go on forever. It will end. One day you will find all your loved ones again.” The clergyman gave Aisic a “real” Polish name and birth certificate and taught him Catholic prayers that would one day save his life. He helped Aisic find work on a Polish farm of a half-German woman whose two sons worked for the Gestapo. Before he got the job, he had to prove he could correctly recite his Catholic prayers. He was saved again. Aisic remained on the farm for three years until his liberation by the Russians in May 1945. “That priest was my guardian angel. He saved my life. It is because of him that I am here today,” he says. Aisic immigrated to Israel and in 1948 fought in the War of Independence. He met and married Riva Schuster in 1950. In 1962, the family of four moved to New York, and in 1992, they moved to Birmingham to be nearer their two children and four grandchildren. Addendum: Aisic Hirsch passed away on March 7, 2014. Aisic Hirsch Riva Schuster Hirsch Harold Z. Hirsch (Felice), Sheryl Hirsch Perlstein (Jay) August 15, 1930 Jewish Jewish Warsaw Ghetto Birmingham March 7, 2014 Birmingham, AL Click here to download map PDF
Hirsch, Riva SchusterNovaseletz, Romania It was 1941 when the Germans occupied seven-year-old Riva Schuster’s village. Forewarned by a gentile friend of approaching danger, Riva’s parents fled with their children through the forest toward their grandparents’ home in Chotin. They never made it. They were captured, marched to Sukarein, and forced into cattle cars headed for a camp in Moghilev, on the border between the Soviet Republic of Ukraine and the Romanian province of Bessarabia. Thrown from the train, separated from her parents and two brothers, Riva was ferried across the Dniester River to a camp in Luchinetz. She arrived hungry; stricken with malaria, typhus, and lice; her feet frozen and bleeding. At the camp, she saw her mother again and witnessed her being beaten with a rifle while trying to keep the Germans from taking her husband away. One night partisans rescued some of the girls. Riva was instructed to “play dead,” and was placed in a wagon of hay and taken to a Catholic convent in Tulchin. For two years, she remained alone in a six-foot, square bunker with rats and mice her only company, eating bread and pork provided by the nuns every few days. Her only comfort was a blanket that was used for “everything.” In 1945, at the age of twelve, Riva was liberated. She was suffering from malaria and typhus and had lost all her teeth. The nuns carried her weak body to the road and left her there. Picked up by some other survivors on the road, she was taken to Chernovitz, where she was handed over to the Red Cross. One miraculous day, her father appeared, although she could hardly recognize him. He had been captured and placed in a work camp, from which he had run away, only to be captured again. In time, they managed to find her mother and two brothers. In 1946, Riva’s boat to Palestine was captured by the English. The passengers were sent to a refugee camp in Cypress, where Riva remained for two more years. Riva finally arrived in Israel in 1948 and was reunited with her family. She was now fifteen. In Israel, Riva met her husband, Aisic Hirsch, also a survivor. They married in 1950 and had two children. In 1962, Riva and Aisic moved to New York. In 1992, they moved to Birmingham to be closer to their two children and four grandchildren. Riva Hirsch Rivka Schuster Riva Hirsch Feige Goldie Lebes Schuster and Josel (Josef)Aaron Schuster Mordecai (Marc) Schuster Itzhak Schuster Aisic Hirsch Harold (Chaim) Hirsch (wife: Felice) Sheryl (Shulamit) Hirsch (husband: Jay Perlstein) August 9, 1933 Novoselytsia, Novosedlice, Novoselytsya, Noua Sulitsa, Novoselitsa Today in Ukraine. Jewish Jewish Chotin (Khotyn), Secureni (Sukarein), Moghilev-Podolski, Luchinetz (Luchinets, Luchynets, Lucinet) 1943-1945: Tul'chin (Tulchin, Tulchine) in a convent Russians, 1945 Convent in Tul'chin From Hertsa, Ukraine, Riva traveled to Burgas, Bulgaria where she boarded a ship - either the Pan York or Pan Crescent on December 27, 1947, headed to Palestine. The ship were diverted to Cypress, arriving December 31, 1947. On Cypress she was held in a camp until May 1948 when she was allowed to come to Israel. Met her husband Aisic in Israel and married in 1950. They had 2 children in Israel. 1967 Birmingham Click here to download map PDF
Israel, Walter MeyerHannover, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Walter Meyer Israel Else & Paul Israel Margie Israel & Herbert Alfred Israel Jantje Middendorp, married July 5, 1951 in New Orleans. Paul Israel & Else Israel Goodman June 15, 1917 Conservative Judaism Jewish January 19, 1949/Houston, Texas/New Orleans, Louisiana on SS Albasserdik 1951 Anniston Anniston
Israelsohn, Rosalie HagedornWestheim, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Hedwig Israelsohn (Stern) May 3, 1866 Westphalia Opelika September 29, 1960 Opelika, AL
Kahn, JuliusNiederzissen, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Julius Kahn Josef Kahn (1867-1942) and Minna Gottschalk (1877-1945) Max Kahn 1901-1942 (Auschwitz) Frieda Kahn 1902-1998, married Hermann Berger (emigrated to Selma, AL) Salomon Kahn 1904-1993, married Grete [Margarete] Friedman (b. 1907) from Ludwigsburg, Germany (emigrated to Palmira, Colombia then later moved to Cali, Colombia) Jetta Kahn (Leo Abraham) 1907-1942 (Minsk); daughter Ruth also died in Minsk Julia Khan 1909-1909 Lina Kahn 1910-1942 (Auschwitz) Dora [Dorothea] Kahn 1912-1981, married Ludwig Lewy (emigrated to Shanghai, then to Selma, AL) Sally Kahn 1914-1973 (emigrated to Shanghai, then to Palmira, Colombia) Never married July 22, 1905 Jewish Jewish Julius's parents, Josef and Minna Kahn, were sent to Theresienstadt. Josef died there. Minna was then sent to Auschwitz where she was killed. Julius also lost three siblings in the Nazi death camps. Julius emigrated to Shanghai, China in 1939 with his brother Sally and his sister and brother-in-law, Dora and Ludwig Lewy. After the war he left Shanghai and went to Selma, where he and Dora and Ludwig Lewy were sponsored by his sister and brother-in-law, Frieda and Hermann Berger of Selma. Sally went on to Colombia, where his brother Salomon lived. January 21, 1947 / San Francisco / SS General Gordon 1947 Selma August 28, 1974 Selma 1947-1974
Katz, Elaine SchoenbergerLuxembourg City, Luxembourg Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Elaine Schoenberger Katz Elaine Ginette Schoenberger Elaine Schoenberger Katz Rabbi Davin Schoenberger and Ilse Fuchs Schoenberger None George Katz Married August 1957, Selma, AL Oldest to Youngest: Theodore "Teddy" Samuel Katz (Lisa) Caroline Katz Pearlstein (Jonathan) Jonathan Saul Katz (Holly) February 13, 1936 Reform Judaism Reform Judaism November 16, 1940 / Boston, MA / SS Nerissa 1955 to Selma Selma, Northport
Kemp, Margareta Sybilla NathanEmmerich, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Greta Nathan Kemp Margareta (Greta) Sybilla Nathan Greta Kemp Felix and Ina Nathan Henry Nathan Helen Nathan Rudolph Kempenich (Kemp), married October 10, 1935, Emmerich, Germany. Alfred (Fred) Max Kempenich, born February 10, 1939, Anniston, AL Donald (Don) Lee Kemp, born 1943 Jeanne (Margaret Jean) Kemp, born 1947 & a baby that died as an infant June 1, 1912 Jewish Jewish December 11, 1937/ New York, NY / SS Washington 1937 Anniston December 29, 2007 Anniston 1937- 2007
Kemp, Rudy AlfredEmmerich, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Rudy Alfred Kemp Rudolph Alfred Kempenich Max and Margarete Kempenich Erich Kempenich, Heinz (Heinrich) Kempenich, & Erna Kempenich Margareta (Greta) Sybilla Nathan, born June 1, 1912, Emmerich, Germany, married October 10, 1935, Emmerich, Germany. Rudy and Greta met at the family department store where Greta worked (Nathan and Gompertz). Rudy and Greta were the last couple to be married in the synagogue in Emmerich, two years before they fled across that bridge over the Rhine. Standing on a pedestal in front of them on their wedding day was the four-foot tall brass Emmerich menorah. Alfred (Fred) Max Kemp, born February 10, 1939, Anniston. Married Madalyn Tonkel and had 1 son: Jonathan Eric Kemp, and 2 daughters: Michelle Kemp Nordell (David) who lives in Kfar Ya'avetz, Israel and Candice Kemp Mudd (Eric) of Roswell, GA. Donald (Don) Lee Kemp born November 17, 1942, Anniston. Jeanne Kemp May 4, 1911 Jewish Jewish Rudy's father Max, along with a business partner, owned the largest department store in Emmerich. In the US, Rudy would go on to found Tapecraft Corporation, which manufactured narrow tape zippers, clothing, labels,and book bindings. 27 members of Rudy's family died in concentration camps. Of the 100 Jews in Emmerich, only 32 escaped. December 11, 1937/ New York, NY / SS Washington 1937 Anniston July 16, 1999 Anniston 1937 – 1999
Kimerling, Rosa AltmannVienna, Austria Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Gaston Kimerling (brother of Max Kimerling) Paia Kimerling Left Vienna in 1940. Birmingham
Knurr, ErichAurich, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Eric Knurr Erich Knurr Lippman Knurr and Ida Bienheim 1 of 7 siblings Melanie Nussbaum, married March 5, 1935, Hanover, Germany Werner Knurr Evelyn Gerta Knurr January 7, 1900 October 27, 1938 / New York / SS Manhattan Montgomery January 7, 1964 Montgomery
Knurr, Melanie NussbaumMainstockheim, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Melanie Melanie Knurr Nathan Knurr and Rosa Strupp 4 sisters and 2 brothers. Erich Knurr, married March 5, 1935, Hanover, Germany Werner Knurr Evelyn Gerta Knurr March 22, 1910 Jewish October 27, 1938 / New York / SS Manhattan Montgomery March 28, 1978 Harrisburg, PA
Knurr, WernerAurich, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Werner Knurr Werner Knurr Melanie Nussbaum and Erich (Eric) Knurr Evelyn Knurr, born 1943 in Montgomery Goldie Lou Preville 3 sons (Alexander, Eric and Jordan) and a daughter (Sharon). January 29, 1936 Jewish Jewish October 27, 1938 / New York / SS Manhattan Montgomery
Koch, Irma KernHeilbronn (am Nekar), Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. Irma Kern Koch Irma Kern Berta and Albert Kern Regina Kern (Signmund Rosenfeld) Elise Kern, perished in Holocaust Gertrude Kern, perished in Holocaust Harry Heinrich Koch, married October 11, 1942, also a Holocaust survivor Howard Koch February 11, 1918 Jewish Jewish March 25, 1939 / New York City / SS President Roosevelt Birmingham January 2, 2011 Birmigham
Kohn, Ernest Ferdinand MarkusFrankfurt on Main, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Ernest Ferdinand Kohn Irene Simon Kohn & Leo Kohn Herbert Kohn September 24, 1923 Jewish Jewish Buchenwald Kristallnacht 1940/ New York City on the Cunard 1940 Demopolis, Anniston 1940 -
Kohn, HerbertFrankfurt, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Herbert Kohn Demopolis, Anniston
Levy, JosephNiederemmel, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Joe Levy Josef Levy Frieda and Karl Levy Claire (Klara) Levy, younger sister Paula B. Levym married 1953 Elaine Levy Mitleider (Alan) Haran Levy (Cheryl) December 25, 1928 Family moved to Berlin in late 1930s. Soon after Kristallnacht they immigrated to the US, joining family in NYC. Served in US Army. 1939 / New York, NY / SS Manhatan 1963 Birmingham January 17, 2019 Birmingham 1963-2019
Lewy, Dora KahnNiederzissen, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Dora Kahn Lewy Dorothea Kahn Josef Kahn (1867-1942) and Minna Gottschalk (1877-1945) Max Kahn 1901-1942 (Auschwitz) Frieda Kahn 1902-1998, married Hermann Berger (emigrated to Selma, AL) Salomon Kahn 1904-1993, married Grete [Margarete] Friedman (b. 1907) from Ludwigsburg, Germany (emigrated to Palmira, Colombia then later moved to Cali, Colombia) Julius Kahn 1905-1974 (emigrated to Shanghai, then to Selma, AL) Jetta Kahn (Leo Abraham) 1907-1942 (Minsk); daughter Ruth also died in Minsk Julia Khan 1909-1909 Lina Kahn 1910-1942 (Auschwitz) Sally Kahn 1914-1973 (emigrated to Shanghai, then to Palmira, Colombia) Ludwig Lewy Married December 13, 1938 in Trier, Germany No children January 13, 1912 Jewish Jewish Dora's parents, Josef and Minna Kahn, were sent to Theresienstadt. Josef died there. Minna was then sent to Auschwitz where she was killed. Dora also lost three siblings in the Nazi death camps. Dora emigrated to Shanghai, China in 1939 with her husband (and one or two of his brothers) and her brothers, Julius and Sally. After the war, Sally went on to Colombia where his brother Salomon lived, while Dora, Ludwig, and Julius traveled to Selma, sponsored by Dora's sister and brother-in-law, Frieda and Hermann Berger of Selma. January 21, 1947 / San Francisco / SS General Gordon 1947 Selma December 16, 1981 Selma 1947-1981
Lewy, LudwigLeiwen, Germany, Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Ludwig Lewy Dorothea (Dora) Kahn Lewy (1912-1981) Married December 13, 1938 in Trier, Germany No children May 11, 1910 Ludwig emigrated to Shanghai China in 1939 with his wife and her brothers, Julius and Sally Kahn as well as one or two of his own brothers. After the war, Dora, Ludwig, and Julius came to Selma sponsored by Dora's sister and brother-in-law, Frieda and Hermann Berger of Selma. January 21, 1947 / San Francisco / SS General Gordon 1947 Selma August 24, 1983 Selma 1947-1983
Liberman, Lola BorzykowskaBędzin, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. Lola Liberman Lola Borzykowska Lola Borzykowski Liberman Herschel (Hersch) David Tzvi Borzykowski and Breina Borzykowska, both murdered at Auschwitz Sara Borzykowski (Rogowski), older half-sister, mother was Bila Borzykowska Tova (Tauba) Borzykowska, younger full sister, murdered at Auschwitz Solomon (Zalman, Zalma, Zygmunt) Liberman (Libermann), born December 12, 1908, Wodzislaw, Poland Married March 24, 1946, Będzin, Poland Chawa Zelda (Eva) Liberman (Wilensky), born Munich, 1946 Saul David (David) Liberman, born New Orleans, 1953 March 10, 1918 Bendin (Yiddish), Bendzin (German/Russian) Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Jewish Labor subcamps of Gross Rosen: Peterswaldau Bolkenhain Funfteichen Markstädt May 8, 1945 Russian Zone Sister Sara Borzykowska tried to get to Palestine on the Exodus, but when turned away, returned to Munich and stayed with Lola and Solomon until she could immigrate legally to the new state of Israel. January 29, 1950 / Chalmette, LA (New Orleans) / USAT General M.H. Hersey 1973 Birmingham April 9, 2013 Birmingham, AL 1973-2013
Loeb, Esther LitwinBydgoszcz, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Joseph Litwin and wife. Edwina Loeb Samuel Julius Loeb, born October 12, 1912, Lattnache, Louisiana. Married May 2, 1955, Springhill, TN Jesse Michael Loeb, born October 20, 1959, Mississippi. 1924 Mobile
Loeb, Karola KoppelMünchen-Gladbach, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Mendel and Cicilia Koppel 6 siblings Joseph Loeb, from Zeibrucken, Germany. Married October 25, 1941 Joan Loeb, born January 28, 1943 Jean Loeb, born January 28, 1943 July 20, 1915 July, 1938 / SS Manhattan Mobile
Löwenberg, William FrederickBerlin, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org William Frederick Löwenberg Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf Löwenberg Karl Löwenberg and Martha Jacobus Esther Annie Feldser (1917-2002) Married December 23, 1945, Birmingham, AL August 22, 1906 December 14, 1938 / New York City / Volendam Birmingham March 6, 1983 Birmingham
Lubliner, MendelWarsaw, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org December 17, 1904 Tattoo left arm. October 14, 1949 / Boston, MA / SS General Hersey Mobile
Lyublinskaya, Khaya DralukChernovtsy, Ukraine Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. German: Czernowitz; Romanian: Cernǎuţi Birmingham
Maisel, BertaRokitho, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Leiba and Szyfra Pieszczanska Sister Brother March 20, 1912 Mobile
Maisel, DavidHantsavich, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Bertha Maisel September 15, 1906 Mobile
Mautner, Hella RoubicekPraha (Prague), Czechoslovakia Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Hella Mautner Helena Roubickova Hella Roubicek Mautner Julius Roubickova and Ernestine Popper Joseph Roubickova (later Roubiček), 1898-1981. Married Leta Beitman from Birmingham. Ada Roubickova (later Roubiček), 1899-1944 Dr. Leo Mautner, born March 3, 1891, Brno, Czechoslovakia Married December 9, 1923, Praha (Prague), Czechoslovakia Willy Mautner, born February 24, 1927, Vienna, Austria Nelly Mautner (Urbach), born February 21, 1931, Vienna, Austria September 6, 1896 Jewish Jewish March 9, 1939 / New York City / SS Veendam 1939 Birmingham November 2, 1983 Arlington, VA
Mautner, LeoBrno, Czechoslovakia Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Dr. Leo Mautner Leo Mautner Helena Roubickova (Hella Roubicek Mautner), born September 6, 1896, Praha (Prague), Czechoslovakia Married December 9. 1923, Praha (Prague), Czechoslovakia Willy Mautner, born February 24, 1927, Vienna, Austria. Nelly Mautner, born February 21, 1931, Vienna, Austria. March 3, 1891 March 9, 1939 / New York City / SS Veendam 1940 Birmingham September 2, 1944 Birmingham 1940-1944
Mautner, WillyVienna, Austria Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Willy, William Hella and Leo Mautner Nelly Mautner, born February 21, 1931, Vienna, Austria Norma Ham, married September 3, 1950 February 24, 1927 March 9, 1939 / New York City / SS Veendam 1939 Birmingham June 21, 1996 Birmingham
May, RobertCamberg, Germany Robert was born in 1926, the youngest of three boys. For several generations, the family owned a dry goods store. A small synagogue served 12-15 Jewish families, and his father served as unofficial cantor. When Hitler came to power in 1933, antisemitism exploded. Der Stürmer, the antisemitic Nazi tabloid, was prominently displayed about town. The neighborhood grocer would no longer sell to the family. Classmates joined the Hitler Youth, and fear became part of daily life. By 1936, school had become intolerable, requiring Robert to leave. He moved with his Aunt Emma to Frankfurt and attended a Jewish Day School, the Philanthropin. Robert recalls Kristallnacht in Frankfurt, November 1938. He and his aunt were warned by a neighbor to get out of their apartment. While wandering the streets, the apartment was ransacked, and Robert’s school and synagogue were burned. A month later, Robert traveled to Brighton, England, to attend a Jewish boarding school, Aryeh House. This was facilitated by the British Kindertransport, which allowed children under seventeen to enter Britain as long as they could obtain private funds to support themselves. Funding for Robert came from his Uncle Siegmund, who had previously escaped Germany to Holland. Robert recalls his relief when the train crossed the German border. In Brighton, Robert learned English and studied for his Bar Mitzvah, a milestone marked with no family. Two days before the war started, Robert’s parents left Germany with only two suitcases. They traveled to London and made plans to come to the U.S. In August 1940, amidst U-boat attacks, Robert and his parents left England for Havana, Cuba, then New Orleans. Robert remembers standing by the ship’s lifeboats with life jackets and reciting the Sh’ma (Jewish prayer) … everyone believing they would die! Upon landing in Havana, passengers were placed in prison camps in an extortion attempt. Ultimately released, they arrived in New Orleans on September 9, 1940. In the U.S., Robert continued his schooling, becoming a medical doctor and serving in the U.S. Air Force. He married his wife, Anita, in 1953, moved to Birmingham, and practiced obstetrics and gynecology for close to fifty years. They were blessed with three children and eight grandchildren. Aunt Emma and Uncle Siegmund perished at Auschwitz. Robert (Bob) May Robert Markus May Flora Turkheimer May and Hermann May Paul David May, born March 27, 1914, Camberg, Germany Martin Moses May, born June 29, 1919, Camberg, Germany. Anita Wynne May, born July 17, 1933, Bainbridge, Georgia. Married September 6, 1953, Bainbridge, Georgia. Harvey Lee May, born July 22, 1954, Birmingham, AL. Ann May Mollengarden, born August 20, 1957, Birmingham, AL. Julie May Broday, born April 28, 1959, Birmingham, AL. February 17, 1926 Jewish Jewish Moved to Frankfurt, Germany in 1936 to attend a Jewish day school, the Philanthropin. January 1939 moved to Brighton, England to attend a Jewish boarding school, Aryeh House. September 9, 1940/ New Orleans, LA / SS Santa Marta 1953 Birmingham 1953-present Click here to download map PDF
Mendel, Helga StraussMunich, Germany Helga’s personal biography can be found in the Photos/Documents section. Helga Strauss Mendel Helga Strauss Helga Mendel Fanny Steifeneder Strauss (Landau, Germany) and William Strauss (Heinsheim, Germany) none Manuel Mendel (divorced) Gayle Mendel Gordon (Jack Gordon) Judy Mendel Garfinkel (David Garfinkel) William (Bill) Mendel August 30, 1928 Jewish Jewish November 16, 1938 / SS Manhattan / from Hamburg to New York City Sometime 1949-52 Birmingham June 13, 2010, Buried in Birmingham, AL Overland Park, Kansas
Minkinow, StanLodz, Poland Born on October 6, 1932, Stan was the only child of a Jewish mother and a Greek Orthodox father who converted to Judaism. Living a very comfortable, non-religious life, Stan watched from the sidelines as Jews, including his wealthy maternal grandfather, Hein, were transported to the Lodz Ghetto. Stan’s family was temporarily spared by claiming Russian heritage. Two years later, on January 13, 1942, they were taken as well, able to bring only the coats on their backs. As a convert, Stan’s father could have remained on the outside, but chose to stay with his family. Stan remembers being received by the Chairman of the Jewish Council, Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, moving into his grandfather’s small room, and having to wear the Star of David for the first time. Rumor had it that if you had money, you could buy anything in the Warsaw Ghetto, so this was the preferred place to be. The Minkinows bribed their way out of the Lodz Ghetto for $300 in gold. Stan recalls the SS using dogs and whips to hurry the prisoners onto the trucks that would transport them to Warsaw. His father shielded him and his mother by climbing on top of them. The family made a daring escape from the Warsaw Ghetto. Without even a suitcase, they approached the gate guarded by three policemen: one Jewish, one Polish, and the third, German. Stan’s father showed the German his passport, while his mother showed the Pole a booklet with cash inside. The family fled to the village of Radość, outside Warsaw, renting an apartment using their maid’s last name and living as Poles. After the Russians liberated Poland, Stan’s father was arrested for his involvement with the Polish government in exile. After a year, in yet another escape, Stan’s mother bribed a Polish guard to take her husband to Berlin. Stan recalls hearing gun shots as he and his mother were smuggled across the border sometime later. For a short time after the war, the family lived in a DP camp in Berlin. Stan learned that is grandfather, Hein, had died at Auschwitz. In 1948, working and attending school in Bad Reichenhall near Munich, Stan saw a U.S. Army recruiting film. Unable to speak English, but ready for a new challenge, he enlisted in the U.S. military, earning his American citizenship under the Lodge Act. He met his wife, Doris Elaine, at a U.S.O. dance, and in 1955 they were married and later had three children. Stan completed a distinguished twenty-seven year Army career and retired to Huntsville, Alabama, where he opened Alexander’s Jewelry. Huntsville Click here to download map PDF
Mohr, Sarah FiesTrimbach, Departement du Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Sarah Mohr Sarah Fies Sarah Mohr April 14, 1860 February 3, 1939 / New York, NY / SS Aquitania Birmingham August 19, 1950 Birmingham
Mohr, Wilhelm (Willy) LeopoldNeustadt an der Weinstraße, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Willy Mohr Wilhelm Leopold Mohr Sarah Fiew Mohr Mathilda Mohr Nathan Never married December 21, 1894 Formerly known as Neustadt an der Haardt Jewish January 12, 1945 / Philadelphia / SS Serpa Pinto Birmingham
Nagrodzki, Helen FryszerNifka, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Helen Nagrodzki Chaja Sarah Fryszer Chaja Helen Nagrodzki Szymon Nagrodzki Married July 20, 1946, Feldafing, Germany Cerla (Shirley) Mechla Nagrodzki, born September 16, 1947, Feldafing, Germany Louise Nagrodzki (Abroms) Paul Nagrodzki September 15, 1923 Birmingham
Nagrodzki, SzymonDrobin, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. Majer and Cirel Nagrodzki Binem Nagrodzki (sister) Chajim Nagrodzki (brother) Duwid Nagrodzki (brother) Fiscel Nagrodzki (brother) Sarah Nagrodzki (sister) Szeja Nagrodzki (brother) Toba Nagrodzki (brother) Towie Nagrodzki (brother) Helen (Chaja) Nagrodzki, born Nifka, Poland, September 15, 1923. Married July 20, 1946, Feldafing, Germany. Cerla (Shirley) Mechla Nagrodzki, born September 16, 1947, Feldafing, Germany Louise Nagrodzki (Abroms) Paul Nagrodzki April 12, 1917 Radom (Kielce, Poland) Auschwitz (Poland) Dachau (Germany) Skarzysko-Kamienna (Poland) November 15, 1949 / New Orleans / USAT General M.B. Stewart Birmingham
Nathan, Ernest BernhardNeustadt an der Weinstraße, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Ernest Bernhard Nathan Ernst Bernhard Nathan Mathilda Mohr Nathan & Moritz Nathan Walter Max Nathan 1. Agnes Ilene Shields (married May 9, 1946) 2. Hilde Brücke September 21,1924 Formerly known as Neustadt an der Haardt February 3, 1939 / New York, NY / SS Aquitania Birmingham, Huntsville February 2, 2009 Huntsville
Nathan, FelixEmmerich, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Felix Nathan Ewald Felix Nathan (Hebrew: Shmuel ben Yaakov) Konrad and Sybilla Nathan Nathan Oldest to Youngest: Balduin Nathan Salomon Nathan Julchen Nathan Moritz Nathan Siegmund Nathan Karl Nathan Isaak Nathan Sophie Nathan Hermann Nathan Karl Nathan *Felix Nathan Regina Freibaum, married September 12, 1911 in Giershagen, Germany Margarete Sybilla (Greta) Kempenich, born June 1, 1912. Herta (Helen) Nathan Caro, born July 22, 1913. Heinz (Henry) Nathan, born December 16, 1920. July 30, 1886 Jewish Jewish April 16, 1937 / New York, NY / SS Manhattan 1937 Anniston June 4, 1977 Anniston 1937 – Death
Nathan, Henriette PollackAachen, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Henriette (Henny) Pollack Nathan Henriette Pollack Henriettte (Henny) Nathan 2 sisters March 3, 1877 Jewish Jewish Theresienstadt 1947/ via Switzerland 1947 Anniston November 24, 1957 Anniston 1947- death 1957
Nathan, HenryEmmerich, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Henry Nathan Heinz Nathan (Hebrew: Yaakov ben Shmuel) Felix Nathan and Regina Freibaum Nathan Helen (Herta) Nathan Caro & Margarete Sybilla (Greta) Nathan Kempenich (Kemp) Sophie Nathan Nathan, married in Anniston, November 3,1946 Mark Nathan, born 1952 George Nathan, born 1949 December 16, 1920 US Army Air Force, 1943-1945 (Yugoslavia and Italy) May 28, 1936 / New York, NY / SS Washington 1959 Anniston, Birmingham (1959) June 18, 1974 Birmingham 1936-1974
Nathan, Hilda Brück Ceigler HarrisMunich, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Hilda B. Ceigler Harris Nathan Hilde Ruth Brücke Elsa Neumeyer and Max Bruck (killed at Auschwitz) Eugen Kurt, born 1920 in Munich. Died in Auschwitz Werner, born 1922 in Munich. Died 1936 of natural causes. 1st Husband (married 1948): Harvey Eugene Ceigler (died 1956) from Nashville 2nd Husband (married 1961): Howard D. Harris (died 1984) 3rd Husband (married 1992): Ernest Nathan (born September 21, 1924, Neustadt, Germany; died 2009) Michael Ceigler (Anne Shlay); Carolyn Ceigler Clift (Robert) Step-children: Robert Harris (Suzanne), Paul Harris (Cindy), David B. Harris Andrew (Andy) Nathan (Beverly or Buffy), Michael Nathan October 9, 1925 Jewish Jewish Father and brother Eugen were taken to Dachau after Kristallnacht. Upon their return, they fled to Luxembourg until the Nazis invaded. They then fled to France where they were deported for forced labor. Both were murdered at Auschwitz. Forced labor in Germany. June 28, 1941 / New York City / SS Ciudad De Sevilla 1963 Huntsville October 27, 2018 Johns Creek, Georgia 1963-1973, 1992-2017
Nathan, Ilse ScheuerSinzenich, Germany Ilse was nine and Ruth was six when Hitler came to power in 1933. Over the next twelve years, the sisters would lose their family and their youth. Born in Germany, the Scheuer sisters spent their formative years in relative peace and comfort until November 1938, when the events of Kristallnacht resulted in their father escaping to Bilthoven, Holland, to avoid arrest. He joined their brother, Ernst, who was already in school and living there. In late August 1939, Ilse, Ruth, and their mother joined their father in Holland, planning to obtain visas for passage to England and then America. Before they had the chance to leave, the war began, and the borders were closed. They were trapped. Germany invaded Holland in May 1940, and Mr. Scheuer was sent to Westerbork, a refugee/transit camp. Two years later, the family voluntarily reported to Westerbork rather than be deported. They were all given jobs at the camp. Every Tuesday morning, 1,000 people were sent out by train to the unknown, but with jobs, the family was safe. In January 1944, Ernst was arrested for not removing his cap in the presence of a German officer. He was slated for transport; the family decided to stay together. Mr. Scheuer’s Iron Cross from World War I allowed them to be taken to Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia. One month later, the Scheuer’s were transported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz II (Birkenau), an extermination camp. Selected for work, the girls and their mother were forced to undress and turn in all personal belongings. They were given striped clothing, a bowl, and consecutive tattoos. During a later SS selection, the girls were separated from their mother, never seeing her again. It was in Birkenau that they last saw their father, after he managed to slip them the address of a cousin in America and to poignantly bless them. Ernst was also sent to work, but later died at a camp in Germany, days before liberation. The girls worked carrying bricks from one end of the compound to the other for hours at a time. Ilse sewed gun covers and uniforms as well. Working close to the crematory ovens, they saw the mountains of shoes. For the first time, they realized that their fellow prisoners were being killed and cremated. In July 1944, Ilse and Ruth were sent to the concentration camp of Stutthof in Poland, where they were forced to sleep outside. By midsummer, they were transported on to Praust, Poland, to clear runways for German planes. During the freezing winter, the girls were given a blanket which was used resourcefully to sew slacks for warmth. In February 1945, with Russian troops advancing, 800 girls were taken on a four-week death march toward the Baltic Sea, where presumably they were to be drowned. Only fifty survived that march, the others died en route. With the Russian Army approaching, the girls were abandoned by their captors. Weak, ill, and with nowhere to go, they were left on the side of the road to die. They walked through some fields to the first farmhouse they found, but to their dismay, SS troops answered the door and took them in. The next morning, abandoned in the house to die, the sisters contemplated suicide. “We didn’t want to suffer any more.” They were kept alive by the hope that family members may have survived. The girls connected with a liberating soldier on the street and were taken to Russian headquarters. They were transported to a hospital in Putzig, Poland, where Ruth could recover from typhus, typhoid, and an infection resulting from an earlier beating by an SS woman. Both girls began to heal and gain weight. They were transferred to a Russian hospital in Krakow, but ran away, becoming stowaways on a coal train heading for Prague. They found the Dutch Army in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, and were directed to Bamberg, Germany, to get proper documentation to return to their home in Holland. The number on their arm served as their train ticket. Upon returning to Utrecht in Holland, the girls were able to locate their mother’s brother and younger sister, who had both survived by hiding. It was here that the girls re-established their lives. Remembering their father’s wish to have them move to America, the sisters contacted family members in Omaha and Brooklyn. In July 1946, they arrived in Mobile, Alabama, traveling on to Omaha. A few weeks later, they accepted a cousin’s invitation to move to Brooklyn, New York. They settled there, working in a glove factory and learning English at night school and by watching movies. Both girls met and married German-born Jews in 1949. Ilse married Walter Nathan and they had two children and five grandchildren. Ruth married Walter Siegler and they had three children and seven grandchildren. In 1960, Ruth and Walter moved to Birmingham to be closer to Ilse, who had moved there with her husband in 1949. Both women were subsequently widowed. Ilse and Ruth were so close in the camps, that to avoid confusion, friends would call them each Ilse-Ruth. Sisters and best friends, they remain close to this day. Ilse Scheuer Nathan Ilse Scheuer Ilse Scheuer Nathan Jakob Scheuer (Sinzenich, Germany) and Helen Daniel Scheuer (Flamersheim, Germany) Ernst Scheuer, born February 23, 1923, died April 16, 1945 in Schwartzheide, a subcamp of Sachsenhausen. Ruth Scheuer Siegler (Walter), born April 22, 1927 Walter Max Nathan (Neustadt, Germany), married January 2, 1949 in Birmingham, AL. Diana Lynn Nathan Goldstein (David Goldstein), born July 20, 1950, Birmingham, AL. Sharon Marlese Nathan Ayres (Robert Ayres), born October 10, 1952, Atlanta, GA. February 20, 1924 Orthodox Judaism Conservative Judaism Westerbork (The Netherlands), Theresienstadt (Czechoslovakia), Auschwitz II (Poland), Stutthof (Poland), Praust (Poland) Mid-March 1945 Somewhere in Poland February 1945, from Praust, as Russians were approaching. Maastricht, The Netherlands Moved to Bilthoven, The Netherlands in August 1939. Voluntarily entered Westerbork, where her father was working. Remained with her sister, Ruth, throughout the Holocaust. July 11, 1946 / Mobile, AL / SS City of Alma Birmingham (Click here to download map PDF)
Nathan, KarlEmmerich, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Karl Nathan Karl Nathan Konrad and Sybilla Nathan Nathan Oldest to Youngest: Balduin Nathan Salomon Nathan Julchen Nathan Moritz Nathan Siegmund Nathan Karl Nathan Isaak Nathan Sophie Nathan Hermann Nathan *Karl Nathan Felix Nathan Henriette Pollack Nathan December 18,1878 Jewish Jewish Theresienstadt 1947/ via Switzerland 1947 Anniston July 7, 1960 Memphis, TN 1947-1960
Nathan, Mathilda (Tillie) MohrNeustadt an der Weinstraße, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Tillie Nathan Mathilda Mohr Sarah Mohr Moritz Nathan (married December 28, 1919 in Neustadt an der Haardt, Germany) Walter M. Nathan, Ernest B. Nathan August 25, 1890 Formerly known as Neustadt an der Haardt Jewish February 3, 1939 / New York, NY / SS Aquitania Birmingham July 18, 1979 Birmingham
Nathan, Moritz (Maurice)Altdorf, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Maurice Nathan Maurice Nathan Mathilda Mohr (married December 28, 1919 in Neustadt an der Haardt, Germany) Walter M. Nathan, Ernest B. Nathan April 6, 1885 Altdorf, Südliche Weinstraßener Landkreis, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany February 3, 1939 / New York, NY / SS Aquitania Birmingham December 29, 1947 Birmingham
Nathan, Regina (Ina) FreibaumGiershagen, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Ina Freibaum Nathan Regina (Ina) Freibaum Regina Nathan, married September 12, 1911 in Giershagen, Germany Salomon Freibaum and Rosalie Hagedorn Freibaum Oldest to Youngest: Levi (Lee) Freibaum Meta Freibaum *Regina (Ina) Freibaum Gustav (Gus) Freibaum Paula Freibaum Ewald Felix Nathan Margarete Sybilla (Greta) Kempenich, born June 1, 1912. Herta (Helen) Nathan Caro, born July 22, 1913. Heinz (Henry) Nathan, born December 16, 1920. March 6, 1892 Jewish Jewish April 15, 1937 / New York, NY / SS Manhattan 1937 Anniston December 10, 1983 Anniston 1937 – 1983
Nathan, Sophie NathanEmmerich, Germany Sophie Nathan was born in the small town of Emmerich, Germany on November 7, 1921. Sophie and her younger sister, Emmi, were raised in a Conservative Jewish home by their parents, George and Thea Nathan. George was a successful businessman running his own business. Other family members, uncles, aunts and cousins lived in various other parts of Germany. Growing up, Sophie wanted to be a children’s nurse. Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power when Sophie was in high school and her non-Jewish friends soon deserted her. After the introduction of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, Sophie found herself having to do more domestic chores, as Jewish families were restricted from hiring help. Other Jewish families soon began to leave Emmerich. After graduating high school in 1938, Sophie studied in Cologne for a year. After Kristallnacht, Sophie’s father was briefly imprisoned. Returning home in May of 1939, Sophie had difficulty finding work. Through an uncle who lived in Hannover, she found work caring for children in a preparation camp for youth going to Israel. At that time, World War II started and Sophie experienced the horrors of the Allied air raids. Sophie and her family soon heard reports of Polish Jews being deported from Germany. Family members living in Belgium were also deported to a camp in southern France. In November 1941, her parents received deportation orders and Sophie returned to Emmerich once more. In December, the family reported to the local railway station, where they were sent to Dusseldorf, Germany. From Dusseldorf, they were put on a transport of around 1,000 Jews and sent to Riga, Latvia. Interred in a ghetto, they found evidence that the previous occupants had made a hurried departure. Life in the ghetto was hard, the weather was exceptionally cold, and there was very little food. Around them, people begin to disappear amid rumors of mass gassings and shootings. Sophie and Emmi were pressed into slave labor, sorting belongings taken from murdered Latvian Jews. In May 1942, Sophie’s father passed away from complications of frostbite in his feet. The hospital in the ghetto had no medication to treat his injuries. Sophie and her sister were employed in various tasks, including shoveling snow on the railroads and as housekeepers for German officers. During this time, the Latvian people smuggled food to them. The work crews were paraded past prisoners hanging on gallows as they came and went from the ghetto. This served as a continual reminder of the punishment for breaking the rules. In the summer and fall of 1942, Sophie worked in the nearby peat fields. The Germans began to thin the ghetto population by selecting prisoners to send to the nearby Kaiserwald concentration camp. Sophie was only narrowly saved from a selection when her mother convinced a soldier to let Sophie come work with her and Emmi for the army instead. The same soldier later saved Sophie’s mother from another selection. As the tide of war turned and the Russian Army closed in from the East, the prisoners in Riga were evacuated to Libau, Latvia. Then in February of 1945, they were sent by boat to Hamburg, Germany. There, they were interred in Fuhlsbuttel prison under heavy Allied air attacks. In April, the prisoners were sent on a death march of approximately 60 miles to Kiel, Germany, to a camp Sophie describes as the worst one she endured. They were made to work on lice infested blankets and there were no facilities for prisoners to clean themselves. Many people died in Kiel in the closing days of the war and her mother became desperately ill. On May 1, 1945, the prisoners were suddenly told to prepare for evacuation. Although certain that it was a rouse; they were loaded onto white buses with red crosses and taken over the Danish border, given food, and put on a train to Copenhagen. From Copenhagen, they were taken to Malmo, Sweden. In Malmo, the Red Cross and the local Jewish community welcomed the liberated prisoners. Sophie, her mother, and her sister began the long road to recovery. The family reconnected with an aunt and uncle living in Stockholm and Sophie and her sister soon began working as maids. In due course, other family members in the United States sent the money and the paperwork needed to immigrate. Sophie, Thea, and Emmi arrived in the US in April 1946. (from the Cuba Family Archives of the Breman Museum, Atlanta, GA) Sophie Nathan Nathan Hebrew name: Sprintz bat Yaakov Sophie Nathan Nathan Georg and Thea Nathan Emmi Nathan Loewenstern Henry Nathan, married in Anniston, November 3, 1946 Mark Nathan, born 1952 George Nathan, born 1949 November 7, 1921 Jewish Jewish Riga, Latvia 1941-1943 ABA (Armee Bekleidungs Amt) in Riga 1943-1944 Liepaja (Libau), Latvia 1944-1945 Kaiserwald, Latvia 1943 Fuhlsbuettel Prison in Hamburg (subcamp of Neuengamme) 1945 Kiel, Germany 1945 Danish Red Cross - Count Bernadotte of Sweden / May 1, 1945 Kiel, Germany (Arbeitserziehungslager Nordmark) Fuhlsbuettel (Hamburg) to Kiel, Germany, April 12-15, 1945 Malmo. Sweden 1945 Holsbybrunn, Sweden 1945-46 New Orleans, mid-1960s, War Crimes Trial Came to the US with her mother and older sister Emmi. April 8, 1946/ New York / SS Drottningholm 1946 Anniston 1946-1959, Birmingham 1959-1999 January 20, 2002 Atlanta 1946-1999
Nathan, Thea BendixBurgsteinfurt, Westphalia, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Thea Bendix Nathan Thekla (Terzia) Bendix Thea Nathan Adolph Bendix and Emilie Strauss Bendix Oldest to Youngest: Moritz Bendix Louis Bendix Paula Bendix *Thea Bendix Georg Nathan (Emmerich, Germany), married October 20, 1920 in Burgsteinfurt, Germany. Died May 10, 1942 in the Riga Ghetto. Sophie Nathan (Nathan), born November 7, 1921, Emmerich, Germany. Emmi Nathan (Loewenstern), born February 19, 1925, Emmerich, Germany. July 28, 1892 Jewish Jewish Riga, Latvia 1941-1943 ABA (Armee Bekleidungs Amt.) in Riga 1943-1944 Liepaja (Libau), Latvia 1944-1945 Kaiserwald, Latvia 1943 Fuhlsbuettel Prison in Hamburg (subcamp of Neuengamme) 1945 Kiel, Germany 1945 Danish Red Cross- Count Bernadotte of Sweden/ May 1, 1945 Kiel, Germany (Arbeitserziehungslager Nordmark) Fuhlsbuettel (Hamburg) to Kiel, Germany, April 12-15, 1945 Malmo, Sweden 1945 Holsbybrunn, Sweden 1945-46 April 8, 1946/ New York / SS Drottningholm 1946 Anniston November 6, 1983 Philadelphia 1946-1980
Nathan, WalterNeustadt an der Weinstraße, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Mathilda Mohr Nathan & Moritz Nathan Ernest Bernhard Nathan Ilse Scheuer Nathan (married December 29, 1948 / Birmingham) January 8, 1921 Formerly Neustadt an der Haardt April 25, 1938 / New York City / SS Queen Mary Birmingham August 13, 1993 Birmingham
Nesselroth, Dora RozencwajgSkarzysko-Kamienna, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. Dora Nesselroth Dwora Rozencwajg Dwora Dora Nesselroth Miriam and Itzrak Rozencwajg Brother: Abus Josef Ross Sisters: Miriam Rozencwajg, Lydia Cwynar, Helen Rozencwajg Max Nesselroth Rosalie Nesselroth Agrow (Bart) Ruth Nesselroth Urytski (Misha) April 22, 1922 Skarzysko-Kamienna, Poland Tschenstochau, Poland Soviet armed forces Tschenstochau, Poland Birmingham
Nesselroth, MaxWodowice, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Max Nesselroth Maks Nesselroth Dora Rozencwajg Nesselroth March 19, 1918 Near Krakow. Birmingham
Oppenheimer, Berta (Bertha) EldodtKörbecke, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Bertha Eldodt Oppenheimer Berta Eldodt Bertha Eldodt Oppenheimer Joseph Eldodt and Goldine Kuglemann Eldodt Meier Fritz Oppenheimer, born February 23, 1869. Married January 10, 1897, Essen, Germany. Isidor Heinrich (Henry) Oppenheimer, born December 6, 1897, Essen, Germany January 10, 1875 Coeerbecke, Westphalia Jewish Husband Fritz was deceased when Berta came to the US with her son Isidor. December 2, 1947 / New York, NY / SS Nieuw Amsterdam 1947 Selma October 16, 1969 Selma 1947-1969
Oppenheimer, Isidor Heinrich (Henry)Essen, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Henry I. Oppenheimer Isidor Heinrich Oppenheimer Meier Fritz Oppenheimer and Berta (Bertha) Eldodt Oppenheimer No siblings Never married December 6, 1897 Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Jewish During World War II, Henry hid from the Nazis in ditches and culverts under road during the day and in the attic of a Belgium family at night. He did this for 3 years before he finally escaped to the US. December 2, 1947 / New York, NY / SS Nieuw Amsterdam 1947 Selma November 24, 1988
Pappenheim, FritzCologne, Germany Fritz Pappenheim studied economics, sociology, and philosophy at the Universities of Cologne, Kiel, and Freiburg, receiving his PhD in 1929. He worked in the fields of labor and adult education, lecturing regularly and taking part in panel discussion on the Frankfurt radio. After the Nazi’s took power in Germany in 1933, he escaped to Spain, where he worked as a freelance writer in Barcelona. In 1939, at the end of the Spanish Civil War, he fled to southern France where he was interned in a concentration camp. Deprived of German citizenship by the Nazis, Dr. Pappenheim had great difficulty in getting a passport and visa to the US. Pappenheim came to the US in 1941, a few months before America’s entrance into World War II, and lived in Cleveland doing settlement work with young people. From 1945-1952, Pappenheim taught social sciences at Talladega College, where he was appointed professor of economics in 1945. While he was determined to remain in Alabama, Pappenheim was denied tenure because of his openly Marxist orientation and was forced to leave the South for Cambridge, MA in 1952, where he wrote The Alienation of Modern Man (Published by the Monthly Review Press). He remained in Cambridge until his death in 1964. The Fritz Pappenheim Academic Freedom Award was established at Talladega College in 1997 by family, friends, and colleagues of Dr. Pappenheim. Fritz Pappenheim Fritz Pappenheim Leopold Pappenheim and Lilly Hoffmann Pappenheim Erich Pappenheim (b. 1899) Kurt Pappenheim (b. 1905) Martha Pappenheim (b. 1911) Yvonne L. Blumenthal (Pappenheim) Married June 20, 1951 in Peekskill, NY, on the Blumenthal country "farm" May 18, 1902 August 20, 1941 / New York / SS Ciudad de Sevilla 1944-1952 Talladega July 31, 1964 Cambridge, MA
Perel, Dora JacobsonJacobshan, Latvia Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Ida Workel Jacobson and Yehuda Jacobson 1. ? Mina Jacobson? Rose Jacobson Moses Jacobson David Jacobson David Perel Fred Perel Ida Perel December 29, 1894 Birmingham
Pollack, CharlesHorn, Austria Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Kurt Viktor Pollatschek Theodore Pollatschek and Rose Bernstein Ernestine Pollack (Frankel) Charles, Jr. August 30, 1930 Sponsored by Harry Maring, Sr. of Selma, his mother's mother's brother who came in the early 1900s. December 6, 1939 / New York/ SS Gripsholm Selma
Pollack, ErnestineHorn, Austria Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Ernestina Pollatschek Theodore Pollatschek and Rose Bernstein Kurt Viktor Pollatschek (Charles V. Pollack) Donald Frankel Married July 15, 1951 October 11, 1931 December 6, 1939 / New York/ SS Gripsholm Selma April 26, 1981
Pollack, Rose BernsteinLazdijai, Lithuania Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Rose Pollack Chaja Reisa Rosa Pollatschek Theodore Pollatschek (Pollack) Kurt Viktor Pollatschek (Charles V. Pollack) Ernestine Pollack (Frankel) May 16, 1906 Sponsored by Harry Maring, Sr. of Selma, his mother's mother's brother who came in the early 1900s. December 6, 1939 / New York/ SS Gripsholm Selma
Rasmussen, Lore MayLampertheim-am-Rhein, Germany Lore May Rasmussen’s Biography Lore May Rasmussen Lore May Ludwig May (1886-1964) and Karoline (Lina) Dewald May (1886-1921) Erna May (Isler) (half-sister) Werner May (half-brother) Donald Edwin Rasmussen (1916, Illinois-2013) Married June 4, 1940 Oldest to youngest: Peter Rasmussen (Wei) David Rasmussen (Tamara) Steven Rasmussen (Felicia) May 9, 1920 Jewish Both Lore and her husband taught at Talladega College. January 18, 1938 / New York / SS Berengaria 1942-1956 Talladega January 23, 2009 Berkeley, CA
Safyanova, GenyaBalta, Ukraine Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Isaak Grigoreivich Kishinevski and Faina Moiseevna Koshina Balta Ukraine March 28, 1944 / Soviet Union Balta, Ukraine Birmingham
Sanders, EdithKaiserslautern, Germany Full biography is currently unavailable. Please see 1990 interview under Photos/Documents. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Edith Goetz Sanders Edith Goetz None Ernest Sanders (previously Ernest Zandolovski, also a survivor). Married 1944. Dorothy Sanders (born 1946, Honduras) Roy Sanders (born 1953, US) April 16, 1923 Conservative Judaism Reform Judaism Edith and her family traveled to Italy in 1937 following the Nazi party's rise to power in Germany. In 1938, the family was forced to leave Milan, and in 1939, they immigrated to Honduras. 1948 / New Orleans, LA 1980 Montgomery
Sanders, ErnestBreslau, Poland Full biography is currently unavailable. Please see 1990 interview under Photos/Documents. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Ernest Sanders Ernest Zandolovski None Edith Goetz Sanders. Married in 1944. Dorothy Sanders (born 1946, Honduras) Roy Sanders (born 1953, US) December 27, 1913 Modern day: Wrocław Breslau was part of Austrian Silesia. Today part of modern day Poland. Reform Judaism Reform Judaism Ernest and his father were arrested on November 9, 1938 during the Kristallnacht pogrom. Ernest and his parents fled to Honduras, and were required to stay in Guatemala for a two-week period. 1948 / New Orleans, LA 1980 Montgomery
Schattner, FriedrichRoznow, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Nesche Schattner, born July 15, 1901, Brody, Poland Married February 26, 1933, Vienna, Austria April 1, 1940 / New York / SS Britannic
Schattner, NescheBrody, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Nesche Schattner Nesche Seven Siblings. Friedrich Schattner, born February 2, 1902, Roznow, Poland Married February 26, 1933, Vienna, Austria July 15, 1901 Experienced World War I and II ( in Vienna) April 1, 1940 / New York / SS Britannic Birmingham November 15, 1991 Birmingham
Schlosberg, Nachama Salomon HerzelSlonim, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. Nachama Schlosberg Nachama Salomon Nachama Herzel, Nachama Schlosberg Oscar Herzel, married 1925 Morris Schlosberg, married ? Henri (Harry) Herzel, born 1926 Max Herzel, born 1930 January 29, 1907 Jewish Jewish December 22, 1953 / SS Queen Mary / New York City Birmingham March 13, 2002
Schniper, ChaimRovno, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. Chaim Schniper Chaim Schnipper Leib Schniper (1889-1938) and Chana Chasin Schniper Ziendel Schniper, survived and moved to Israel First wife and 2 daughters murdered during the Holocaust. Chana Bruztberg Schniper, married March 5, 1944 in Cherson, Ukraine Jakob (Jack) Schniper, born March 18, 1945, Cherson, Ukraine Abraham (Abe) Schniper, born April 19, 1947, Ulm, Germany Steve Schniper, 1955, Birmingham, AL January 15, 1906 Rowno, Rivne Jewish Jewish Work camps With partisans until captured Escaped a work camp with wife and year-old son Stuttgart, Germany (1945-1950) Family name used to be spelled Schnipper January 29, 1950 / New Orleans, LA / USAT General M.L. Hersey 1950 Birmingham December 22, 1972 Birmingham 1950-1972
Schniper, Chana BruztbergRovno, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. Chana or Hana Chana Bruztberg Chana Bruztberg Schniper Abram (Abraham) Bruztberg and Sara Harz Bruztberg Sister, died in Holocaust Chaim Schniper, married March 5, 1944 in Cherson, Ukraine Jakob (Jack) Schniper, born March 18, 1945, Cherson, Ukraine Abraham (Abe) Schniper, born April 19, 1947, Ulm, Germany Steve Schniper, 1955, Birmingham, AL October 19, 1920 Rowno, Rivne Jewish Jewish Various work camps. Fought with the partisans until captured Hidden with her mother and sister on a Polish farm Escaped a work camp with her husband and year-old son Stuttgart, Germany (1945-1950) January 29, 1950 / New Orleans, LA / USAT General M.L. Hersey 1950 Birmingham April 12, 1984 Birmingham 1950-1984
Schniper, JackCherson, Ukraine Jack was born in a Ukrainian work camp on March 18, 1945. His mere existence is a miracle. Although he never knew the uncertainty and hardships his parents experienced, he lives with that legacy every day. The story begins in Rowno, Poland where Jack’s father, Chaim, was born in 1906. The Nazis invaded in 1939 and anti-Jewish legislation resulted in Chaim’s expulsion from medical school. In 1941, 15,000 Jews of Rowno were killed. During one of these purges, Chaim lost his wife and two young daughters. He was left for dead but rescued by a Catholic family. Chaim fled Poland and eventually ended up in a work camp in Cherson, Ukraine. Jack’s mother was also from Rowno, born in 1920. After the Germans invaded Rowno, Chana, her mother, and her sister with her year-old baby had to separate and go into different hiding places. Chana was hidden for a year by a Christian farmer. She lived in a pit in the ground, emerging only at night. She later learned her mother, sister, and little nephew and been captured and killed; she was the only survivor from her immediate family. Although the interim events are not known, Chana was in the Cherson work camp as well, where she met and married Chaim. Jack was born in the camp three months before the war ended. The young family was able to escape one night, ultimately ending up in Germany after the war. Jack’s brother, Abe, was born in Ulm, Germany, two years later. A third brother, Steve, was born in the U.S. in 1955. The Schnipers came to Birmingham in 1950, sponsored by the Jewish community. Chaim and Chana loved America. They learned English in night school, but still spoke Yiddish at home. Chaim packed home furnishings in a warehouse, and with help from the Jewish community, opened Schniper’s Dry Goods. In 1955, the Schnipers became U.S. citizens. Jack grew up working in the family business. He attended the University of Alabama, UAB, and Samford University and served in the Air National Guard. A retail man like his dad, Jack started his career at Blach’s Department Store while in school, and later became an independent wholesale representative. He married his wife, Leigh, in 1969; they have three sons and two grandsons. Chaim and Chana rarely discussed their past with their children. Jack says he survived only because of his parents. Their story is his story. Jack Schniper Jakob (Jacob) Schniper Jack Schniper Chaim Schniper and Chana Bruztberg Schniper Abraham (Abe) Schniper, born April 19, 1947, Ulm, Germany Steve Schniper, born 1955, Birmingham, AL Susan Leigh Thompson Schniper Married May 31, 1969, Bristol, VA Adam J. Schniper Jordan D. Schniper Matthew C. Schniper March 18, 1945 Kherson Jewish Jewish Born in a Nazi work camp Escaped as an infant with his parents from a work camp Stuttgart, Germany (1945-1950) Family name used to be spelled Schnipper January 29, 1950 / New Orleans, LA / USAT General M.L. Hersey 1950 Birmingham Click here to download map PDF
Schoenberger, Ilse FuchsLuxembourg City, Luxembourg Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. Ilse Fuchs Schoenberger Ilse Bianca Fuchs Ilse Fuchs Schoenberger Samuel Fuchs and Alice Fuchs Rabbi Davin Schoenberger Married March 18, 1930 in Luxembourg. Elaine Schoenberger Katz (George) May 30, 1905 Reform Judaism Reform Judaism November 16, 1940 / Boston, MA / SS Nerissa Selma, Birmingham December 6, 1997 Birmingham, AL Watch Ilse Schoenberger’s Shoah Testimony
Schoenberger, Rabbi DavinNordhausen, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. Phillipp Schoenberger and Helene Hirsch Schoenberger Ilse Fuchs Schoenberger, born 1905 in Luxembourg. Married March 18, 1930 in Luxembourg. Elaine Schoenberger Katz (George) March 26, 1897 Reform Judaism Reform Judaism Was chief rabbi in Aachen, Germany (1926-1938). Before World War II he was a widely published poet, scholar, and lecturer. He performed the marriage ceremony of the parents of Anne Frank. On November 9, 1938 (Kristallnacht), he saw his synagogue burned to the ground by the Nazis. In the US, his chief pulpit was in Chicago, but he later served Temple Mishkan Israel in Selma, AL. Lived in Birmingham since his retirement in 1960. November 16, 1940 / Boston, MA / SS Nerissa Selma, Birmingham December 5, 1989 Birmingham, AL https://bhecinfo.org/wp-content/uploads/We-The-Six-Million_Audio.mp3 “We the Six Million Murdered Speak,” a poem by Rabbi Davin Schoenberger, as read by Brian Kurlander (3:22).
Schuster, JudelSarny, Poland Born in 1919 in Sarny, Poland, Judel (Julius) Schuster was the third of seven children born to Henya (Anna) and Avram Schuster. Avram, a disabled World War I veteran, supported his family meagerly with his disability pension. At the young age of 13, Judel became an apprentice to the tailor, Yakov Bryk. As part of his employment agreement he lived with the Bryk family and worked for Mr. Bryk in exchange for being trained as a tailor. A year later, Judel’s older sister Pesia followed her Zionist dream and moved to Palestine. In the late 30’s, the Soviet Union occupied Sarny and annexed it to the western Ukraine. Then in June 1941, the Germans invaded. Judel was conscripted into the Soviet Army as was his oldest brother Yitzhak. Judel served as a tailor, fashioning uniforms for the officers and repairing clothing for his colleagues. Although he carried a gun, his work was mostly apart from the active fighting. Life on the front was extremely difficult, with the focus always on staying alive – surviving the enemy, the elements, and finding enough food. Sarny was captured by the Nazis in July 1941. Judel’s parents and 3 of his younger siblings, Litman, Nachum, and Itka, were forced into the newly established ghetto in April 1942. Only Litman, age 14, was able to escape, surviving in a series of orphanages and Soviet labor camps, ultimately settling in the Ukraine after the war. His father Avram and brother Nachum died of starvation or disease in the ghetto. His mother Henya and sister Itka were murdered during the Sarny Massacre of August 1942. In the meantime, Judel’s unit continued to travel eastward as the Soviets retreated. They were ultimately in Stalingrad during the siege and historic battle for the city. With tremendous civilian losses, the Soviets made a concerted effort to repopulate the city with people from outside the region. In 1943, Pesia (Pauline) Rachman was relocated to Stalingrad from a Siberian labor camp, and there met Judel Schuster. They were married in April 1945 and stayed until the war was over to help rebuild the city. After the war, with the help of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (the “Joint”), they travelled westward in search of living relatives. Upon return to Sarny, they learned that Judel’s brother Yitzhak was in a displaced persons camp in Italy. Unfortunately, Judel was recognized as a Jew in Sarny and a local Ukrainian gang threw him off a streetcar. He suffered a broken femur and was delayed by several months in his quest to find his brother. After recovering from this injury, the young couple found their way to Italy where they joined Yitzhak at the Anzio Beach Colony, a DP camp. After two and a half years in the DP Camp, Judel and Pesia were given permission to immigrate to the US, sponsored by the United Service for New Americans (USNA) and assisted by Pesia’s uncles. They arrived in December of 1949 with their first child, Larry, in tow. In Buffalo, NY, Judel and Pesia had two more children, Esther and Abe, and formed a new family of “greeners” to replace the family they had lost. When the opportunity arose to move to the warmer south and be closer to their children, Judel and Pesia moved to Birmingham in 1989 and flourished in the welcoming Jewish community, surrounded by children and grandchildren. After 50 years of marriage, they celebrated with their first real wedding ceremony. From a small town in Poland, there are now Schusterim scattered throughout the world. Julius Schuster Judel Schuster Judel Oldest to youngest: Yitzhak Schuster Pesia Schuster Judel (Julius) Schuster Litman Schuster Nachum Schuster Herschel Schuster Itka Schuster Pesia (Pauline) Rachman Schuster Larry Schuster Esther Schuster Abraham (Abe) Schuster April 16, 1919 Jewish Jewish Fought with the Soviet Army Anzio Beach Colony, Italy December 22, 1949 / New York City / USAT General A. W. Greely 1989 Birmingham September 27, 1997 Birmingham 1989-1997
Schuster, Pauline RachmanUman, Ukraine Born in Uman, Ukraine in 1919, Pauline was the middle of 5 children in the well-respected Rachman household. Her father, Levy, was a local commodities broker. He bought wheat and other products from local producers and sold them to consumers. He also traded in currency. The family’s relative prosperity in Uman was easily identified by the presence of an occasionally working electric light in their house. They also owned a milk cow. By 1933, Stalin had collectivized the local farms and closed down all local Jewish institutions. Levy was briefly arrested for the crimes of capitalism and speculation. The synagogue was shuttered and Pauline proudly recalled how the Torah was entrusted to her father for safe keeping. As the Communist policies took hold, farm production diminished and severe famine set in. People died of hunger daily and Pauline recalled schoolmates dying from hunger. Pauline was a weak student and her parents thought it best to send her to Moscow to live with relatives. There would be one less mouth to feed and perhaps she would be able to work and help support the family. By 1942, Pauline learned that her older brother, David, had died in the Soviet Army and the rest of her entire family had been murdered by the Nazi Einzaztgruppen during their occupation of Uman. Pauline worked throughout the war in a number of Soviet labor camps including a lumber operation in Siberia. She seemed to have a knack for numbers and often worked as an accounting clerk. In 1943, she was relocated to Stalingrad where she met and eventually married Judel Schuster. After the war, with the help of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, they traveled westward in search of Judel’s relatives. They ultimately reunited with Judel’s brother Itzhak in a displaced persons camp in Italy. After 2 1/2 years in the DP camp they were given permission to immigrate to the United States. They arrived in the U.S. in December 1949 with their first baby, Larry, in tow. Pauline raised 3 children and lived to see 7 grandchildren. She died in 2011 in Birmingham, Alabama. Pauline Rachman Schuster Pesia Rachman Pesia Pauline Schuster Levy Rachman David Rachman Judel (Julius) Schuster Larry Schuster Esther Schuster Abraham (Abe) Schuster October 10, 1919 Jewish Jewish Anzio Beach Colony, Italy December 22, 1949 / New York City / USAT General A. W. Greely 1989 Birmingham July 14, 2011 Birmingham 1989-2011
Shilkrot, LeonidGershunovka, Ukraine Leonid was born in the small Jewish village of Gershunovka on July 23, 1930, to a religiously observant family. His brother, Yakov, was born five years later. His father, Gregory (Hebrew: Gersh), and the village where they lived were named after his grandfather, Rabbi Gersh haCohen. His parents were farmers. On June 22, 1941, the Nazis invaded Ukraine and made rapid advances throughout the land. Leonid was eleven years old when the Germans marched through his village, ending his childhood and his education. While hiding in the fields from the Nazis, neighbors plundered their home. The Nazis later expelled the Shilkrots and the rest of the Jews of Gershunovka to the Rybnitsa Ghetto. Inside the ghetto, the family lived in a one-room apartment with several other families. The Nazis took Leonid’s father to the ghetto’s prison, where he disappeared. Leonid was forced to work loading and unloading railroad cars; his mother cleaned streets. Finding food became a daily focus. He went to the ghetto’s food kitchen for meager rations. Sometimes he found produce while unloading railroad cars, other times he simply begged. One day, while secretly gathering fruit in a grove outside of town, Leonid witnessed a group of Jews (discovered by the Nazis in nearby villages) ordered to march to an unknown destiny. While hiding, he heard gunshots, and later emerged to find the entire group murdered. As conditions for Jews deteriorated, he witnessed Romanian soldiers gathering a group of women and children to transfer them to the ghetto and recalls one solider stabbing a mother and child with his bayonet. “Everyday we were alive was a holiday,” he says. In March 1944, the Soviets liberated the ghetto. The Romanian soldiers retreated, burning down the prison containing 400 prisoners as they left. After liberation, Leonid, his mother, and his brother stayed in Rybnitsa. Leonid and his brother attended school while their mother worked as a technical assistant in the pharmacy to support them. Leonid became a student mechanic, and in 1950, enlisted in the Russian Army for the required four years. Leonid married Sofia Rotenberg in 1954, finished college, and worked as a manager in a factory for over thirty years. In 1990, he moved to Birmingham with his wife and three sons and their families. Leonid’s biggest challenge was learning English. Coming from a religious family, Leonid says, “Religion was in my heart in Russia, I could not practice it openly. After I came to U.S.A., I can finally practice religion without fear.” Sofia R. Rotenberg, born May 8, 1934, Moldova. Married May 20, 1954, Kishinev. Rafail Shilkrot (Diana), 1955, Kishinev. Gregory Shilkrot (Ludmilla), 1960, Kishinev. May 8, 1990 / Birmingham May 8, 1990 Birmingham Click here to download map PDF
Shitsel, TatyanaChernovtsy, Ukraine Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Tatyana Shitsel Tatyana Grigoyevna Draluk Tuba Tatyana Shitsel Gregory Draluk and Maria Mirskovsky Khaya Lyublinskaya Zanvel Shitsel, born August 20, 1931, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine Married 1956 in Kamianets-Podilskyi Gregory Shitsel, born March 19, 1957, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraien Sofia Shitsel, born September 1, 1963, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine June 10, 1936 German: Czernowitz; Romanian: Cernǎuţi Orthodox Judaism, Sephardic Orthodox Judaism, Sephardic 1993 / Birmingham 1993 Birmingham
Siegler, Ruth ScheuerSinzenich, Germany Ilse was nine and Ruth was six when Hitler came to power in 1933. Over the next twelve years, the sisters would lose their family and their youth. Born in Germany, the Scheuer sisters spent their formative years in relative peace and comfort until November 1938, when the events of Kristallnacht resulted in their father escaping to Bilthoven, Holland, to avoid arrest. He joined their brother, Ernst, who was already in school and living there. In late August 1939, Ilse, Ruth, and their mother joined their father in Holland, planning to obtain visas for passage to England and then America. Before they had the chance to leave, the war began, and the borders were closed. They were trapped. Germany invaded Holland in May 1940, and Mr. Scheuer was sent to Westerbork, a refugee/transit camp. Two years later, the family voluntarily reported to Westerbork rather than be deported. They were all given jobs at the camp. Every Tuesday morning, 1,000 people were sent out by train to the unknown, but with jobs, the family was safe. In January 1944, Ernst was arrested for not removing his cap in the presence of a German officer. He was slated for transport; the family decided to stay together. Mr. Scheuer’s Iron Cross from World War I allowed them to be taken to Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia. One month later, the Scheuer’s were transported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz II (Birkenau), an extermination camp. Selected for work, the girls and their mother were forced to undress and turn in all personal belongings. They were given striped clothing, a bowl, and consecutive tattoos. During a later SS selection, the girls were separated from their mother, never seeing her again. It was in Birkenau that they last saw their father, after he managed to slip them the address of a cousin in America and to poignantly bless them. Ernst was also sent to work, but later died at a camp in Germany, days before liberation. The girls worked carrying bricks from one end of the compound to the other for hours at a time. Ilse sewed gun covers and uniforms as well. Working close to the crematory ovens, they saw the mountains of shoes. For the first time, they realized that their fellow prisoners were being killed and cremated. In July 1944, Ilse and Ruth were sent to the concentration camp of Stutthof in Poland, where they were forced to sleep outside. By midsummer, they were transported on to Praust, Poland, to clear runways for German planes. During the freezing winter, the girls were given a blanket which was used resourcefully to sew slacks for warmth. In February 1945, with Russian troops advancing, 800 girls were taken on a four-week death march toward the Baltic Sea, where presumably they were to be drowned. Only fifty survived that march, the others died en route. With the Russian Army approaching, the girls were abandoned by their captors. Weak, ill, and with nowhere to go, they were left on the side of the road to die. They walked through some fields to the first farmhouse they found, but to their dismay, SS troops answered the door and took them in. The next morning, abandoned in the house to die, the sisters contemplated suicide. “We didn’t want to suffer any more.” They were kept alive by the hope that family members may have survived. The girls connected with a liberating soldier on the street and were taken to Russian headquarters. They were transported to a hospital in Putzig, Poland, where Ruth could recover from typhus, typhoid, and an infection resulting from an earlier beating by an SS woman. Both girls began to heal and gain weight. They were transferred to a Russian hospital in Krakow, but ran away, becoming stowaways on a coal train heading for Prague. They found the Dutch Army in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, and were directed to Bamberg, Germany, to get proper documentation to return to their home in Holland. The number on their arm served as their train ticket. Upon returning to Utrecht in Holland, the girls were able to locate their mother’s brother and younger sister, who had both survived by hiding. It was here that the girls re-established their lives. Remembering their father’s wish to have them move to America, the sisters contacted family members in Omaha and Brooklyn. In July 1946, they arrived in Mobile, Alabama, traveling on to Omaha. A few weeks later, they accepted a cousin’s invitation to move to Brooklyn, New York. They settled there, working in a glove factory and learning English at night school and by watching movies. Both girls met and married German-born Jews in 1949. Ilse married Walter Nathan and they had two children and five grandchildren. Ruth married Walter Siegler and they had three children and seven grandchildren. In 1960, Ruth and Walter moved to Birmingham to be closer to Ilse, who had moved there with her husband in 1949. Both women were subsequently widowed. Ilse and Ruth were so close in the camps, that to avoid confusion, friends would call them each Ilse-Ruth. Sisters and best friends, they remain close to this day. Ruth Scheuer Siegler Ruth Scheuer Ruth Scheuer Siegler Jakob Scheuer (Sinzenich, Germany) and Helen Daniel Scheuer (Flamersheim, Germany) Ernst Scheuer, born February 23, 1923, died April 16, 1945 in Schwartzheide, a subcamp of Sachsenhausen. Ilse Scheuer Nathan (Walter Max Nathan), born February 20, 1924. Walter Siegler from Geroldstein, Germany. Married February 20, 1949 in St. Joseph, MO. Steven Jay Siegler, born September 20, 1952, St. Joseph, MO. Annette Elaine Siegler, born August 14, 1954, St. Joseph, MO. Daniel (Danny) Ernst Siegler, born December 5, 1960, Birmingham, AL. April 22, 1927 Orthodox Judaism Conservative Judaism Westerbork (The Netherlands), Theresienstadt (Czechoslovakia), Auschwitz II (Poland), Stutthof (Poland), Praust (Poland) Mid-March 1945 Somewhere in Poland February 1945, from Praust, as Russians were approaching. Maastricht, The Netherlands Moved to Bilthoven, The Netherlands in August 1939. Voluntarily entered Westerbork, where her father was working. Remained with her sister, Ilse, throughout the Holocaust. July 11, 1946 / Mobile, AL / SS City of Alma 1960 Birmingham (Click here to download map PDF)
Siegler, WalterGeroldstein, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. Walter Siegler Ruth Scheuer Siegler, married February 20, 1949 in St. Joseph, MO Steven Jay Siegler (Cecy Brady), born September 20, 1952 in St. Joseph, MO Annette Elaine Siegler Levy (Joel), born August 14, 1954 in St. Joseph, MO Daniel Ernst Seigler (Cindy Cohen), born December 5, 1960 in Birmingham, AL December 2, 1922 Jewish Conservative Judaism September 14, 1937 / New York, NY / SS Veendam 1960 Birmingham September 23, 1968 Birmingham 1960-1968
Skurko, Esther NoymarkBedzin, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. Esther Noymark Skurko Ester Noymark (Estera Najmark) Esther Noymark Skurko Leon Skurko (Skurka) Married August 10, 1947, Germany. Chana (Hannah) Skurko Wilner, born 1948, Passau, Germany Moses (Morris) Skurko, born 1949, Feldafing, Germany Shirley Skurko Rebarber, born 1953, Birmingham, AL Adele Sandra (Sandy) Skurko Salter, born 1956, Birmingham, AL May 8, 1926 Bendin (Yiddish), Bendsburg (German) Jewish Jewish Bedzin Ghetto Passau, Feldafing Only surviving member of her family. July 9, 1951 / New York, NY / Airplane 1951, Sponsored by Birmingham JCC Birmingham May 29, 1997 Birmingham, AL 1951-1997
Skurko, LeonLukow, Poland A proud Polish citizen, Leon Skurko fought to save his family and his country. Born in 1919 in Lukov, Poland, Leon was the third of six children in a traditional orthodox family. He trained to be a tailor like his father. No longer able to find work in Lukov due to rampant antisemitism, he moved to nearby Warsaw in 1937. His father died of illness shortly thereafter. In 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The mayor of Warsaw made a radio plea for all eligible males to cross the Vistula River and form a line of defense. Anxious to protect their homeland, Leon and his brother, Mordecai, left home. A few weeks later, the Soviets invaded Poland from the east. The brothers retreated further east into the Soviet Union to avoid the fray. After some time, Leon went back to Lukov to check on his family. Upon his return, he found that his mother had died of illness. Doing the only thing he could, Leon took his eleven-year-old sister and his seven-year-old brother to Brest-Litovsk, Russia, and placed them in a children’s home. Tragically, they died a short time later when the home was bombed. Like many of his Polish compatriots who fled to the Soviet zone, Leon was deported to a labor camp in Siberia after refusing Soviet citizenship. He worked for three years cutting trees for a future airstrip. Prisoners were forced to work long days in sub-zero temperatures with meager rations. Many froze to death. Leon’s dream of fighting for his homeland was fulfilled when the Polish government-in-exile negotiated the release of the prisoners. He was able to return to Poland, this time fighting for the Polish army. Seventeen days before the end of the war, Leon was shot in the knee by a German sniper. Eighteen months in the hospital and six operations later, Leon was on his own. Leon found his way to Pocking, Germany, a D.P. Camp in the American zone near Passau in 1947. He opened a restaurant in the camp and married Esther, a survivor from Germany. Their first two children were born in the camp. With sponsorship from the Birmingham Jewish community, Leon was able to realize his dream of coming to America in 1951. In Birmingham, he returned to the trade of his youth, becoming a successful tailor. The birth of two more children completed his family. Addendum: Leon Skurko passed away on May 12, 2008. Leon Skurka (last name spelled differently) 2 brothers and 1 sister Esther Noymark Skurko, born May 8, 1926, Bedzin, Poland. Married August 10, 1947, Germany. Chana (Hannah) Skurko Wilner, born 1948, Passau, Germany Moses (Morris) Skurko, born 1949, Feldafing, Germany Shirley Skurko Rebarber, born 1953, Birmingham, AL Adele Sandra (Sandy) Skurko Salter, born 1956, Birmingham, AL April 16, 1919 Jewish, Hassidic Family Jewish After Nazis invaded Poland, Leon fled to Russia and was imprisoned in a work camp in Siberia for three years. Served as a Russian soldier and was decorated. Pocking, Feldafing July 9, 1951 / New York, NY / Airplane 1951, Sponsored by Birmingham JCC Birmingham May 12, 2008 Birmingham, AL 1951-2008 Click here to download map PDF
Spira, Helene NeubauerVienna, Austria Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Helene Neubauer Helene Spira Salamon Neubauer and Sophie Neubauer Josef Spira, Vienna Married December 10, 1911, Vienna, Austria Heinrich (Henry) Spira Victor Spira July 9, 1888 Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Jewish August 12, 1939 / New York, NY / SS President Roosevelt July 10, 1978 Birmingham
Spira, HenryVienna, Austria Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Dr. Henry Spira Heinrich Spira Josef Spira and Helene Neubauer Victor Spira Iris Ruben Spira, married August 7, 1953, Birmingham Evelyn Spira (Andrew Rosemore) Judith (Judy) Spira (Daniel Goodman) Victoria (Vicki) Spira (Seven Bock) Jessica Spira (Robert Kahn) Lauren Spira (Jonathan Savett) April 21, 1918 Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Jewish January 11, 1939 / New York NY / SS Paris 1953 Birmingham April 2, 1981
Spira, ViktorBudweis, Czechoslovakia Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Dr. Victor Spira Victor Spira Josef Spira and Helene Neubauer Spira Henry (Heinrich) Spira Never married January 19, 1913 Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Jewish May 11, 1939 / New York, NY / SS Gerolstyn Birmingham March 10, 1991
Steinhauer, RobertBrno, Czechoslovakia Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Robert Steinhauer Mother was a Roubicek, sister of Hella Roubicek Mautner December 25, 1926 Jewish Brought to US by his aunt, Hella Roubicek Mautner. Remainder of family perished. Worked for David J. Joseph Scrap Metal in Birmingham. Killed in car accident in Anniston while there on business. August 5, 1946 / New York, NY / SS Gripsholm 1946 Birmingham May 15, 1952 Anniston 1946-1952
Steinmetz, MaxTârgu Lăpuș, Romania Between 1942 and 1945, from the time he was seventeen until he was twenty, Max Steinmetz was held in German captivity in at least five ghettos or camps. His first ghetto imprisonment was an abandoned brick factory. Jews from his home town in Transylvania had been rounded up from their homes with only what their arms could carry. He remained there approximately six months. In 1943, Max and his family were herded into cattle cars for the three-day, four-night journey to Auschwitz. The sun blazed down on the train, the prisoners crushed into a space so confining that one had to choose whether to sit or stand, as changing position was impossible. Everyone had a half loaf of bread and each car had a single bucket of water. Upon arrival at the dreaded camp, 25% of the passengers had already died. On the train platform, Max came face-to-face with the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele, the “Angel of Death.” While Max and his brother, Henry, were selected for labor, their mother, father, and younger sister were sent to the gas chamber. Taken to Dachau, then to the sub-camps of Kaufering and Landsberg, Max and Henry were forced to build roads and airplanes for Messerschmitt, all for a daily ration of a half loaf of bread and a canteen of black coffee. It was in Landsberg, on February 4, 1945, that Henry died of starvation. Subsequently, Max was re-incarcerated in Dachau. In April 1945, ten days before liberation, the Germans marched the prisoners into the Tyrolean Alps to dig fortification trenches. At 6’1” and weighing only eighty pounds, Max was sick and hallucinating. He managed to escape, wandering to a local farmhouse where the wife of an SS officer took him in. Filthy and emaciated, Max was provided with the first bath he had had in three years, food, and a bed. Max was liberated by the American forces on May 2, 1945. He says that his fight to stay alive was motivated by his desire to see the Germans lose the war and to have one good meal. He was hospitalized for several months and then checked into a Displaced Persons Camp, where he applied for a visa to the U.S. It was approved in 1948, six years after the onset of his nightmare. Max worked his way across the Atlantic in the ship’s kitchen and after arriving in New York, found a job paying twenty-four cents per hour. After brief stays in Denver and Albuquerque, he moved to Birmingham in 1955, making his living as a clothing executive. Max married his wife, Betty, in 1962, and they were blessed with three children and six grandchildren. Max Steinmetz Maximilian Steinmetz Joseph Steinmetz and Ilona Berkovits Steinmetz (2nd husband: Louis Markovits) Heinrich (Henry) Steinmetz, born February 1926 Eszter Markovits, born 1938 Betty Friedman Steinmetz, married July 15, 1962 in Birmingham Stephen Steinmetz (Stephanie) Caren Steinmetz (Donnie Fox) Lisa Steinmetz (Scott Morchower) January 20, 1925 Szaszregen Ghetto, Romania Auschwitz Dachau Dachau Subcamp: Kaufering-Lager III Dachau Subcamp: Kaufering I / Landsberg American Infantry / May 2, 1945 Near Bad Tolz, Germany April 26, 1945: From Dachau toward Bad Tolz, Germany Schwabing-Altersheim DP Hospital in Munich 1945 DP Hospital in Gauting, Germany for 8-9 months Passau, Germany Feldafing, Germany 1949 / New York City / USAT General W. C Langfitt 1959 Birmingham Click here to download map PDF VIDEO: “Meeting Max: A Holocaust Survivor’s Story”, APT Luke, a high school student, has become interested in learning about the Holocaust after watching historical black and white footage. He partners with Alabama Public Television to film an interview with Max Steinmetz, a Holocaust survivor, with hopes of going beyond the history books. This three-part series includes Max’s story about being a prisoner and a slave laborer, and finally being liberated.
Stencel, EliakimRypin, Poland Full biography is currently unavailable. Please see 1991 interview under Photos/Documents. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Eliakim Stencel Eliakim A. Sztencel Jakob Sztencel and Golda Friedman Sztencel Five brothers, two sisters Hinda Bram Stencel. Married May 14, 1937, Rypin, Poland. Marechek (Mayer) Sztencel, died at age three from the measles in Uzbekistan Gina Sztencel, born February 12, 1944 in Zirabulak, Uzbekistan Jakob (Jack) Sztencel, born October 21, 1947, Salzburg, Austria October 20, 1906 Orthodox Judaism Reform Judaism Hallein DP Camp in Austria November 29, 1950 / New Orleans, LA / USNS General Harry Taylor 1950 Montgomery January 8, 1993 Montgomery, AL 1950-1993
Stencel, Hinda BramDobrzyn, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Hinda Bram Stencel Hinda Bram Eliakim Sztencel. Married May 14, 1937, Rypin, Poland Marechek (Mayer) Sztencel, died at age three from the measles in Uzbekistan Gina Sztencel, born February 12, 1944 in Zirabulak, Uzbekistan Jakob (Jack) Sztencel, born October 21, 1947, Salzburg, Austria October 15, 1908 Orthodox Judaism Reform Judaism Hallein DP Camp in Austria November 29, 1950 / New Orleans, LA / USNS General Harry Taylor 1950 Montgomery June 7, 1979 Montgomery 1950-1979
Stern, ArnoldOstercappeln, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Opelika
Stern, Hedwig IsraelsohnWestheim, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Rosalie Hagedorn Israelsohn Opelika
Stern, HenryWestheim, Westphalia, Germany On his way to Opelika, Heinz Stern became Henry. He was only five years old in 1937 when he and his family of six immigrated to America on what was to be the last sanctioned ship departure of Jews from Germany until the end of the war. The rest of the family disappeared without a trace, and young Henry had no way of knowing that the next sixty years of his life would be devoted to searching for clues to discover whether any other family members had survived the atrocities of the war waged against the Jewish people. The journey to Opelika began in 1935 when Henry’s Great Uncle Julius and Aunt Amelia Hagedorn visited them in their hometown of Westheim. Their American relatives were alarmed by the increasing persecution of the Jews. They convinced Henry’s family to come to America, to Opelika, Alabama, where they lived. However, because there were restrictions on what Jews could take out of the country, Henry’s father spent two years disposing of property and valuables – converting them to cash to finance the trip. Henry recalls how warmly they were greeted by the townspeople of Opelika. Upon their arrival, the Mayor presented the family with a proclamation welcoming them to the city. Particularly touching was local school teacher, Louise Tollison, who reached out to the children by studying German prior to their arrival in order to communicate with them. Opelika opened its arms to embrace the Sterns – valuing them in a way that was in sharp contrast to their brutal treatment at the hands of Nazi Germany. Henry attended school in Opelika and returned there after attending Auburn University and serving a term in the Navy. He settled down, marrying Roslyn Brock and rearing two children. He worked as a retailer and developer and ultimately was employed by the Opelika Chamber of Commerce until his retirement. Even as he enjoyed his family and his community, Henry spent countless hours desperately searching for any family members who might still be alive. Finally, in 2004, his search yielded a wonderful discovery – his cousin Fred Hertz was living in Durham, N.C. “Can you imagine feeling so alone on earth your whole life and then six decades later finding the only other branch of your family tree to survive a brutal war and genocide?” Addendum: Henry Stern passed away on July 17, 2014. Heinz Julius Stern Opelika Click here to download map PDF
Sussman, Fred MaierLandau, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Friedrich Maier Sussman July 22, 1889 Mobile
Sussman, Stella KlebeGiessen, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Stella Alice Klebe Leopoldine Rothschild Klebe and Karl Klebe June 4, 1897 Mobile
Tennenbaum, Agnes LöwingerMiskolc, Hungary Born in 1922 in a small town north of Budapest, Agnes says, “I grew up in a happy home. I had so much love, so much attention.” Her father, Arnold Löwinger, was born in New York to Hungarian parents, but his parents returned to Hungary when he was a child. Arnold came to own the largest department store in Miskolc. Her mother, Malvina, came from a distinguished Italian Jewish family. Agnes had an older sister, Magdalena, and an older brother, Sandor. At the age of seventeen, Agnes married Andrew Weinberger, an assistant district attorney. Shortly thereafter, both her husband and father were drafted by the Hungarian Army. Upon their return, Andrew, who had contracted tuberculosis, was sent to a sanitarium. Agnes never saw him again. The Germans occupied Hungary in 1943. Magdalena had been traveling by train to another city when the Jewish passengers were removed, taken to the Danube River, and shot. A decade later, Agnes learned that Magdalena had jumped into the river before being shot, had swum to the opposite bank and found refuge with the Swedish Embassy. Agnes and the rest of the family were sent to a ghetto created in Miskolc, and later to a brick factory outside of town. “In the middle of the night, the Nazis brought in the Chief Rabbi of the village. I heard the screaming. They beat him to death.” The family became separated upon deportation. Arnold and Sandor were sent to Auschwitz first, never to be seen again. Agnes, her mother, aunt and Cousin Edith were sent days later on a grueling, two-day train trip to Auschwitz. During the selection, only her mother was sent to the left, which Agnes later learned meant she was killed in the gas chambers. Her aunt was sent to work in the forest where she was forced to dig her own grave and shot. Agnes and Edith were sent to Allendorf, a labor camp in Germany where they made munitions in an underground factory. The conditions were brutal; one guard tried to rape her. In March 1945, Agnes and Edith were liberated by American troops. Agnes made her way to Munich where she married Berek Schwarzberg, also a survivor. They had a son, Henry, in 1947 and moved to America in 1949. Agnes later divorced and married another survivor, David Tennenbaum, who died in 1985. Agnes moved to Mobile in 2006 to live with her son and his family. Agnes is very proud of her Jewish heritage. She vows to pass on the memory of those who did not survive through her poetry, writing, and public speaking. Addendum: Agnes Tennenbaum passed away on May 30, 2016. Agnes Lowinger Tennenbaum Esther Lowinger Agnes Lowinger Tennenbaum Arnold and Malvina Lowinger Magdalena Lowinger, half-sister Sandor Lowinger, half-brother Endre (Andrew) Weinberger, husband 1 Berek Schwarzberg, husband 2 David Tennenbaum, husband 3, married March 27, 1977 in Los Angeles Henry Schwarzberg December 9, 1922 Conservative Judaism Not affiliated Miskolc, Hungary Auschwitz II-Birkenau, Poland Allendorf, Germany American Forces / March 1945 Germany From Allendorf Labor Camp Yes Wrote her memoir, "A Girl Named Rose: My Holocaust Journey" Also has penned another book of poems short stories Interviewed by the SHOAH Foundation February 11, 1949 / Boston / SS Marine Flasher 2006 Mobile May 30, 2016 Mobile 2006-2016 Click here to download map PDF
Treyger, Anya Zel’tserKruti, Ukraine Anya was four years old when German soldiers occupied her village of Kruti. Jews were no longer safe there. Her family, like others, was forced to live in a barn for several weeks without food or water. Fortunately able to escape, the family sought refuge in the forest. Knocking on farmhouse doors, they were frequently turned away as Russian families feared they, too, would be killed by the Germans if they offered protection to the Jews. In 1941, Anya and her family were captured by the Germans and placed in the Jewish ghetto in Rybnitsa where they remained until 1944. They lived in a small house with two other families, their family of eight crowded into two rooms. Anya’s father left the ghetto daily, forced to work for the German army. He received no wages for this work and performed additional odd jobs to earn a little money for food. The residents of the Rybnitsa Ghetto lived in constant fear. German soldiers conducted nightly raids, using dogs to hunt and find people. Neighbors would disappear or simply be executed. During these raids, Anya’s family would hide in the attic. Suffering from whooping cough one cold winter, Anya was forced to press her face into a pillow to be certain that her cough would not alert the Nazis of their presence. In another raid, Anya’s uncle was killed. And yet another time, the Germans captured a group of boys, including Anya’s two older brothers, taking them to the concentration camp of Varvarovka. Anya’s brothers returned some months later, exhausted, emaciated, and barely alive. They were mere shadows of their former selves and barely recognizable. After the war, Anya’s family stayed in Rybnitsa. Times were very hard and they lived in poverty. Anya’s father was employed by the Rybnitsa Municipal Trade Board. Her two oldest brothers were conscripted into the Russian Army. One was killed on the front lines, the other returned as an invalid. Anya, her sister, and her brother resumed their education. Anya met and married her husband, Yefim, in Rybnitsa. They had two daughters. Anya came to Birmingham, Alabama in 1999 and proudly became an American citizen on November 17, 2005. Anya is grateful for all of the freedoms her new country affords her, especially the freedom to be a Jew. Anya Treyger Anya Itskovna Zel'tser Anya Itskovna Treyger-Zel'tser Birmingham Click here to download map PDF
Urbach, Nelly MautnerVienna, Austria Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Nelly Mautner Urbach Nelly Mautner Nelly Mautner Urbach Leo and Hella (Helen) Mautner Willy Mautner, born February 24, 1927, Vienna, Austria Stuart Urbach, died 1965 Paul Caldwell, died 2010 Lynn Ellen Urbach Jeffrey Stuart Urbach February 21, 1931 March 9, 1939 / New York City / SS Veendam 1939 Birmingham
Vaysbroyt, Bella DralukChernovtsy, Ukraine Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org. German: Czernowitz; Romanian: Cernǎuţi Birmingham
Wiesel, Annaliese WolffMannheim, Germany Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Annaliese Wiesel Anneliese Wolff Bert H. Wiesel born April 26, 1912, Tuscaloosa, AL. Married January 9, 1941, Philadelphia. October 13, 1920 September 8, 1935 / New York City / SS Columbus Tuscaloosa
Wilf, Elizabeth (Suzy) FischLwów, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Elizabeth Wilf (Suzy) Elzbieta Fisch Elizabeth Wilf Miriam and Markus Fisch Josef (Joseph) Wilf; Married June 28, 1949, Ausburg, Germany Zygmunt "Zigi" Wilf, born April 22, 1950, Ausburg, Germany Mark Wilf April 16, 1932 Lviv, Lemberg Ainring, Germany July 6, 1950 / New York City / Plane N67548 1950 Birmingham
Wilf, JosephJaroslaw, Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Joseph Wilf Josef Wilf Joseph Wilf Oscar and Ella Wilf Harry Wilf Bella Wilf (died in Warsaw Ghetto) Elzbieta (Elizabeth/Suzy) Fisch Wilf, married June 28, 1949, Augsburg, Germany Zygmunt "Zigi" Wilf, born April 22, 1950, Ausburg, Germany Mark Wilf January 10, 1925 Siberian labor camp July 6, 1950 / New York City / Plane N67548 1950 Birmingham August 3, 2016 Hillside, NJ
Zarembo, HarryWilno (now Vilnius, Lithuania), Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Eta ? Kela Lastowska With Eta: Sima, born 1937 Meir, born 1938 Mordechai, born 1939 May 3, 1908 Mobile
Zarembo, Kela LastowskaWilno (now Vilnius, Lithuania), Poland Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Kela Lastowska Chana and Shmuel Lastowski May 10, 1917 August 31, 1942 Mobile
Zinger, Raisa BorisovnaRybnitsa, Moldova Biography is currently unavailable. If you have any information to complete this profile, please contact us at 205.795.4176 or info@bhecinfo.org Raisa Zinger Raisa Borisovna Rachel Raisa Borisovna Zinger Boris Guberman and Anna M. Krasnopolska Milya Guberman Semen Avramovich Zinger Boris S. Zinger married Evdiniya "Dina" Burtman Zinger Alexander (Alex or Alik) S. Zinger, 1962-2006, married Ella (Alla) Zinger December 3, 1930 Jewish Jewish Balta Ghetto, 1941-1944 1944 Balta Ghetto September 4, 1997 September 4, 1997 Birmingham December 15, 2002 Birmingham September 1997-December 2002
Zinger, SemenKruti, Ukraine Semen Zinger was born in Kruti, a small village near the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. During his youth, Odessa had a Jewish population of 180,000 and was regarded as the chief center of the Zionist movement in the Soviet Union. In contrast, Semen’s small village was an assortment of nondescript houses and small shops built around the intersection of two crossroads. Semen’s father, Abraham ben Moshe, was a craftsman who made wooden wagon wheels for horse-drawn vehicles. He worked long hours with handmade tools, only to die at a young age leaving his wife Surra to care of their seven-year-old son. During Semen’s childhood, Joseph Stalin ruled the Russian Empire, with a policy of assimilation for all. It began with forced liquidation of Jewish religious organizations and escalated into a full-scale governmental assault on traditional Jewish culture and education. Religious instruction of children was prohibited, schools and yeshivot were closed, synagogues were seized and converted into secular buildings, rabbis and religious leaders were taxed, and the use of the Hebrew language was banned. Still, Semen was able to obtain a rudimentary Jewish education, since most of the policies were confined to the more populated areas. Semen’s formal education was permanently interrupted in June 1941, when Romanian forces, in concert with their Nazi allies, attacked and occupied Bukovina, Bessarabia, and the western Ukraine. Odessa surrendered on October 16, 1941. The majority of the Ukrainian population had detested the Communist regime for its policies that closed their churches, persecuted their leaders, and wiped out their upper class. When the Nazis arrived, they were greeted as liberators. For the Jews, other minorities, communists, freethinkers, and patriots, there was no illusion about the true intent of National Socialism. The Jews of the city were seen as subversives and within one week, nearly one-third were either executed on the pretext of being “communist agents” or simply murdered in reprisal for acts of sabotage committed against the city’s occupying forces. Many were forced to work as slave laborers. The Romanian forces, on the other hand, were content to deport the opposition and let nature take its course. To that end, an administrative area between the Dniester and Bug Rivers in the area of southern Ukraine known as Transnistria was created in December 1941, with Odessa as its capital city. Fifteen-year-old Semen and his mother were deported to a ghetto in the city of Rybnitsa, an industrial center located on the east bank of the Dniester River. The ghetto had a population of about 3,000 when Semen arrived, but random executions, deportations, starvation, and disease reduced the population to less than half that by the time they were liberated by the Red Army a little more than two years later in March 1944. The Romanian Army evacuated Odessa on April 10, 1944 without firing a shot. For Semen, liberation by the Red Army closed one chapter of his life, only to open another. Eighteen-year-old Semen was drafted into the Red Army. He was assigned to an artillery unit attached to the 1st Ukrainian Front, a group consisting of one million men. Semen was posted to the eight-man crew of a Soviet 152mm howitzer that weighed nearly eight tons. The Red Army’s final assault on the German homeland began on January 12, 1945, when the 1st Ukrainian Front swept through southern Poland and Upper and Lower Silesia. The final assault on the German capital began on April 16, 1945 and by April 30, the Reichstag was captured. Semen’s unit saw action daily, including one incident when shrapnel from a nearby explosion killed five of Semen’s comrades, including the gun’s commander, leaving him and only two others to keep their howitzer in action. In recognition of his overall contribution to the Soviet people’s victory over National Socialism, Semen became one of 160,000 Jewish solders in the Red Army to receive a military service decoration. Semen was discharged from the Red Army in 1950, after six years of faithful service. Taken from an interview by Larry Newman, found in “Shared Memories” of ESL Students of Collat Jewish Family Services, June 2004. Semen Avramovich Zinger Shloma Avram Zinger (murdered in Shoah) and Sura Leah Zinger Ehleal Zinger, 7-8 years younger, survived and moved to Germany Fania Zinger, younger Raisa Borisovna Zinger Boris S. Zinger married Evdiniya "Dina" Burtman Zinger Alexander (Alex or Alik) S. Zinger, 1962-2006, married Ella (Alla) Zinger May 3, 1926 Jewish Jewish Rybnitsa Ghetto, 1941-1944 Fought with Soviet Red Army 1944-1950 March 1944 by the Soviet Red Army Rybnitsa Ghetto September 4, 1997 September 4, 1997 Birmingham August 27, 2014 Birmingham September 1997-August 2014