My Family's Holocaust Martyrs

I want to tell you about my grandparents, Edgar Bodenheimer and Brigitte Levy. They were German Jews. They survived the Holocaust. They came to America, built a life, had children and grandchildren, and eventually I came along to pester everyone with genealogy questions.

This post is not about them, exactly. It's about everyone around them who didn't make it.

I wrote about why my family never talked about any of this back in 2015 — the silence, the survivor's guilt, the names I found entirely on my own because no one had ever mentioned them. If you want that backstory before diving into the list, start there. "We got out, we were the lucky ones," was all they ever said. What follows is what that sentence was covering up.

I have spent years tracing these connections — through Yad Vashem, the German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv Gedenkbuch), the Czech Holocaust Database, Find a Grave, and Geni.com — documenting each person by name, with the facts of where they lived, how they were taken, and where they died. What follows is not a list of strangers. Every single person here was connected to my grandparents by blood, by marriage, or by the bonds of extended family that stretched across Germany and were severed forever between 1938 and 1945.

They are numbered not for bureaucratic tidiness, but for weight. Count them.

Edgar's Family

Edgar Bodenheimer was born in Berlin. His father was Siegmund Bodenheimer born in Heidelberg. Siegmund's siblings — Edgar's aunts and uncles — and their extended families were dispersed across Germany. The Nazis found them in Frankfurt, Cologne, Berlin, and beyond.

The Uhlfelders 

Selma was Edgar's aunt — his father Siegmund's sister. She and her husband Philipp Feist Uhlfelder were deported together from Frankfurt in September 1942. Philipp's first wife, Klara Pauline Lövy, had already perished at Gurs internment camp in France the year before. Their daughters Tilde and Gertrude — Edgar's first cousins — survived the war and settled in New York, where they married and became part of the extended family circle centered around Central Park West. Neither had children. The Uhlfelder line ended with them.

Selma and Philipp at Benno's birthday 1915. Composite from a larger family photograph.

1. Selma Uhlfelder née Bodenheimer — Born Heidelberg, 1874. Deported Frankfurt → Theresienstadt, September 15, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, December 2, 1942. Age 68.
2. Philipp Feist Uhlfelder — Born Würzburg, 1870. Deported Frankfurt → Theresienstadt, September 15, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, November 5, 1942. Age 72.
3. Klara Pauline Uhlfelder née Lövy — Philipp's first wife. Born Alzey, 1878. Deported to Gurs internment camp, France. Died Gurs, 1941. Age 63.
4. Adolf Uhlfelder — Philipp's brother. Born Würzburg, 1875. Deported Frankfurt → Theresienstadt, August 18, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, December 24, 1942. Age 67.

The Rubens

Klara Ruben née Bodenheimer was Edgar's aunt — his father Siegmund's sister. She and her husband Albert were deported from Cologne to the Lodz ghetto on October 22, 1941, and murdered together at Chelmno extermination camp on May 6, 1942. They had one child — a daughter, Lotte, who survived. Albert had served in the German Army in World War I. It did not save him. Albert's siblings were spread across the Rhine provinces, and the Nazis found nearly every one of them. The photographs here come from Lotte's family albums, preserved by her son.

Klara and Albert Ruben, circa 1930

Hans and Else de Beer with daughter Irena, circa 1941

5. Klara Ruben née Bodenheimer — Born Heidelberg, 1886. Deported Cologne → Lodz ghetto, October 22, 1941; transferred → Chelmno extermination camp. Murdered May 6, 1942. Age 55.
6. Albert Ruben — Born Bruttig, 1875. Deported Cologne → Lodz ghetto; transferred → Chelmno extermination camp. Murdered May 6, 1942. Age 66.
7. Ida Oster née Ruben — Albert's sister. Born Bruttig, 1882. Deported Trier-Cologne → Theresienstadt, July 27, 1942; transferred → Treblinka. Died September 19, 1942. Age 59.
8. Leopold Oster — Married to Ida Ruben. Born 1873. Deported → Theresienstadt, July 27, 1942; transferred → Treblinka, September 19, 1942. Age 69.
9. Else de Beer née Oster — Daughter of Ida Oster née Ruben. Murdered.
10. Hans de Beer — Husband of Else de Beer née Oster. Murdered.
11. Irena de Beer — Daughter of Else and Hans de Beer. Aged two. Murdered.
12. Emilie Levy née Ruben — Albert's sister. Born Bruttig, 1876. Deported Cologne → Theresienstadt, June 15, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, November 16, 1943. Age 67.
13. Mathilde Wendel née Ruben — Albert's sister. Born Bruttig, 1867. Deported Cologne → Theresienstadt, June 15, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, November 13, 1943. Age 76.
14. Rudolf Robert Ruben — Albert's brother. Born Bruttig, 1878. Died Theresienstadt, October 5, 1944. Age 65.
15. Adele Ruben — Albert's sister. Born Bruttig, 1893. Fled to France; deported Drancy → Auschwitz, August 12, 1942. Age 49.
16. Lina Ruben — Albert's sister. Born Bruttig, 1896. Deported to Gurs internment camp, 1940; transferred Drancy → Auschwitz, August 12, 1942. Murdered at Auschwitz. Age 46.
17. Jakob Nachmann — Albert's cousin. Born Langenlonsheim, 1880. Deported Cologne → Riga ghetto, December 7, 1941. Died in Riga. Age 61.
18. Berta Nachmann née Adler — Jakob's wife. Born 1879. Deported Cologne → Riga ghetto, December 7, 1941. Fate uncertain; possibly Stutthof. Age 62.
19. Hedwig Wolf née Scheuer — Albert's first cousin once removed. Born Heldenbergen, 1903. Deported Darmstadt → Treblinka, September 30, 1942. Officially declared dead. Age 39.

The Rosenzweigs 

Bella Rosenzweig née Bodenheimer was Edgar's aunt — his father Siegmund's sister. On December 7, 1941, the Nazis loaded the entire immediate family onto a single transport from Cologne: Bella, her husband Felix, and their daughters Inge and Lolo. They were sent first to the Riga ghetto, then eventually to Stutthof concentration camp. Bella died there on January 4, 1945 — four months before the war ended. Felix, Inge, and Lolo died there too.

The portrait of Felix and Bella was taken in 1915 at the 75th birthday celebration of Bella's father, Benno Bodenheimer — Edgar's grandfather. The entire family was there that day, all of Benno's children gathered in one photograph. Neither Lolo nor Inge had yet been born. Thirteen years later, in 1928, the two sisters were photographed in Cologne at Carnival — Inge was five, Lolo was ten, and their first cousin Edgar was twenty in Berlin.

Bella and Felix Rosenzweig, 1915

Inge and Lolo Rosenzweig, Carnival 1928, Cologne

20. Bella Rosenzweig née Bodenheimer — Born Heidelberg, 1887. Deported Cologne → Riga ghetto, December 7, 1941; transferred → Stutthof concentration camp, October 1, 1944. Died Stutthof, January 4, 1945. Age 57.
21. Felix Rosenzweig — Born Cologne, 1875. Deported Cologne → Riga ghetto, December 7, 1941. Died possibly Stutthof, late 1944/early 1945. Age 69.
22. Inge Rosenzweig — Daughter of Felix and Bella. Born Cologne, 1923. Deported Cologne → Riga ghetto, December 7, 1941; transferred → Stutthof, October 1, 1944. Murdered. Age 20.
23. Lolo Rosenzweig — Daughter of Felix and Bella. Born Cologne, 1918. Deported Cologne → Riga ghetto, December 7, 1941. Died possibly Stutthof, late 1944/early 1945. Age 26.
24. Alfred Rosenzweig — Felix's cousin. Born Cologne, 1879. Deported Cologne → Riga ghetto, December 7, 1941. Officially declared dead; possibly Stutthof. Age 65.
25. Else Rosenzweig née Schiff — Alfred's wife. Born Gronau, 1884. Deported Cologne → Riga ghetto, December 7, 1941. Officially declared dead.
26. Hans Rosenzweig — Alfred's son. Born Cologne, 1911. Deported Cologne → Riga ghetto, December 7, 1941. Died in Riga.
27. Margarete Horwitz née Schiff — Else's sister. Born Gronau, 1885. Fled to Netherlands; deported Westerbork → Auschwitz, February 9, 1943. Died February 12, 1943. Age 57.
28. Alex Horwitz — Margarete's husband. Born Bünde, 1877. Fled to Netherlands; deported Westerbork → Auschwitz, February 9, 1943. Died February 12, 1943. Age 65.
29. Clara Rosenzweig — Felix's cousin. Born Cologne, 1875. Deported Cologne → Riga ghetto, December 7, 1941.
30. Walter Rosenzweig — Felix's nephew. Born Ludwigshafen, 1905. Deported Berlin → Minsk ghetto, November 14, 1941. Missing.
31. Hildegard Stern née Rosenzweig — Felix's niece. Born Berlin, 1915. Deported Berlin → Auschwitz, January 29, 1943.
32. Walter Max Stern — Hildegard's husband. Born 1901. Deported Berlin → Auschwitz, January 29, 1943. Died 1943. Age 41.
33. Gerson Stern — Son of Hildegard and Walter. Born 1941. Deported Berlin → Auschwitz, January 29, 1943, as an infant. Murdered 1945. Age approximately 2 at deportation.
34. Bertha Elkan née Lucas — Felix's cousin's wife. Born Höngen, 1871. Deported → Theresienstadt, July 25, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, October 20, 1944. Age 73.
35. Ernst Elkan — Felix's cousin's son. Born Setterich, 1908. Fled to Belgium; deported Malines → Auschwitz, October 31, 1942. Officially declared dead.
36. Else Elkan née Mathes — Ernst's wife. Born Brand, 1913. Fled to Belgium; deported Malines → Auschwitz, August 25, 1942. Died Auschwitz, September 14, 1942. Age 29.
37. Josef Mathes — Else's father. Born Aachen, 1881. Deported → Sobibor extermination camp, June 15, 1942. Officially declared dead.
38. Tina Mathes née Daniel — Else's mother. Born Drove, 1882. Deported → Izbica ghetto. Officially declared dead.
39. Erich Mathes — Else's brother. Born Brand, 1926. A student. Deported → Sobibor extermination camp, June 15, 1942. Officially declared dead. Age 16.

Extended Bodenheimer connections — through marriages and cousins traced across the Bodenheimer and Lauchheimer lines.

40. Anna Caspary née Lychenheim — Mother of Ernst Caspary, who married Edgar's cousin Helene née Lauchheimer. Born Lübeck, 1880. Deported Hamburg → Auschwitz, 1943. Officially declared dead. Age 64.
41. Bella Lauchheimer née Leiter — Sister-in-law of Uncle Henry Lauchheimer. Born Aufhausen, 1883. Deported Stuttgart → Riga-Jungfernhof, December 1, 1941. Shot in Rumbula Forest, Latvia. Officially declared dead.

The Maass family — connected to Edgar through his mother's side. Uncle Oskar Maass took his own life in 1939 before deportation came for him.

42. Uncle Oskar Maass — Born Berlin, 1889. Resident of Frankfurt. Died by suicide, June 23, 1939, rather than face what was coming.
43. Eva Mannheim née Lachmann — Edgar's mother's cousin. Born Berlin, 1895. Resident of Hamburg. Murdered.
44. Walter Mannheim — Eva's husband. Born Ahlden, 1890. Resident of Hamburg. Murdered.
45. Hertha Mannheim — Daughter of Eva and Walter. Born 1922. Murdered.
46. Vilma Mannheim — Daughter of Eva and Walter. Born 1924. Murdered.
47. Ruth Mannheim — Daughter of Eva and Walter. Born 1928. Murdered.
48. Adele Maass — Second cousin twice removed. Born Berlin, 1863. Deported Berlin → Theresienstadt, August 19, 1942; transferred → Treblinka, September 26, 1942. Murdered. Age 79.
49. Hedwig Maass née Potzernheim — Married into the Maass family. Born Fürstenberg, 1884. Deported Berlin → Riga, August 15, 1942. Died August 18, 1942. Age 57.
50. Dr. Eugen Nathan Wolff — Second cousin twice removed. Born Berlin, 1856. Deported Berlin → Theresienstadt, January 29, 1943. Died Theresienstadt, March 15, 1943. Age 86.
51. Alice Wolff née Lehmann — Eugen's wife. Born Berlin, 1872. Deported Berlin → Theresienstadt, January 29, 1943. Died Theresienstadt, April 25, 1944. Age 72.
52. Lilli Hirschland née Maass — Third cousin once removed. Born Berlin, 1889. Deported Berlin → Theresienstadt, August 14, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, April 15, 1943. Age 53.
53. Otto Hirschland — Lilli's husband. Born Essen, 1871. Deported Berlin → Theresienstadt, August 14, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, September 15, 1943. Age 72.
54. Johanna Edith Ewer née Maass — Third cousin once removed. Born Berlin, 1890. Deported Berlin → Riga, August 15, 1942. Died August 18, 1942. Age 52.
55. Margarete Behrens née Maass — Third cousin once removed. Born Berlin, 1878. Deported Berlin → Theresienstadt, July 30, 1942; transferred → Auschwitz, May 16, 1944. Murdered upon arrival. Age 65.
56. Fritz Joseph Behrens — Margarete's husband. Born Berlin, 1872. Deported Berlin → Theresienstadt, July 30, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, November 28, 1942. Age 70.
57. Friedrich Aberle — Third cousin once removed. Born Berlin, 1892. Imprisoned Sachsenhausen 1938–1940; transferred → Dachau, September 6, 1940. Died Dachau, December 28, 1940. Age 48.
58. Frieda Lachmann née Ginsberg — Great-aunt (wife of Minna's brother Norbert, who survived). Born Berlin, 1868. Deported Berlin → Theresienstadt, April 19, 1943. Died Theresienstadt, November 8, 1943. Age 75.
59. Herta Bruck née Falkenberg — Edgar's cousin Helene Caspary's husband's cousin. Born Zempelburg, 1899. Lived in Amsterdam. Murdered at Sobibor, May 7, 1943. Age 43.

The Blau and Marcus families — connected to Edgar through his brother-in-law Teddy, whose family was scattered across Berlin and Vienna.

60. Ernst Johann Marcus — Brother-in-law Teddy's uncle. Born Berlin, 1883. Fled to Belgium; deported Drancy → Auschwitz, August 31, 1942. Age 59.
61. Rosa Blau — Brother-in-law Teddy's aunt. Born Vienna, 1864. Deported Vienna → Theresienstadt, July 28, 1942. Murdered. Age 78.
62. Robert Blau — Brother-in-law Teddy's uncle. Born Vienna, 1867. Deported → Theresienstadt; transferred → Treblinka, 1942. Age 75.
63. Regine Anna Ehrenfest née Egger — Brother-in-law Teddy's cousin once removed. Born Vienna, 1867. Died Theresienstadt, February 9, 1945. Age 77.

The Waibstadt Bodenheimers — cousins of Edgar's father traced back to the ancestral Bodenheimer home in Waibstadt, Baden. Several had fled to the Netherlands, where the Nazis ultimately found them.

64. Isaak Bodenheimer — First cousin twice removed of Edgar's father. Born Waibstadt, 1854. Fled to Rotterdam in 1939. Died Rotterdam, August 27, 1941. Age 86. A Stolperstein was placed in Waibstadt in his memory in 2012.
65. Emanuel Haas — Husband of Hermine Bodenheimer (Isaak's daughter). Born Guntersblum, 1874. Deported Darmstadt → Theresienstadt, September 27, 1942; transferred → Auschwitz. Died May 18, 1944. Age 69.
66. Willy Schlamm — Husband of Jenny Bodenheimer (Isaak's daughter). Born Gembitz, 1882. Deported Darmstadt → Treblinka (presumed), September 30, 1942. Officially declared dead.
67. Regina Schlamm née Kahn — Willy's second wife (Jenny died in 1924). Born Rhaunen, 1890. Deported Darmstadt → Treblinka (presumed), September 30, 1942. Officially declared dead.
68. Berthold Bodenheimer — Second cousin once removed of Edgar's father. Born Waibstadt, 1885. Lived in Rotterdam. Died Auschwitz, June 14, 1943. Age 58.
69. Rosa Paula Bodenheimer née Baer — Berthold's wife. Born Mannheim, 1888. Died Auschwitz, January 14, 1943. Age 54.
70. Madeleine Marianne Bodenheimer — Daughter of Berthold and Rosa Paula. Born Rotterdam, 1924. Died Auschwitz, January 11, 1943. Age 18. Her photograph and a letter appear in the book Koude Voeten by Bill Minco.
71. Eliane Hanna Bodenheimer — Daughter of Berthold. Born Rotterdam, 1928. Died Auschwitz, January 14, 1943. Age 14.
72. Julia Kälbermann née Bodenheimer — Daughter of Berthold. Born 1912. Died Auschwitz, October 12, 1942. Age 30.
73. Hugo Kälbermann — Julia's husband. Born Grosseicholzheim, 1904. Deported → Auschwitz, 1942. Died October 9, 1942. Age 37.
74. Rosie Kälbermann — Daughter of Julia and Hugo. Born Rotterdam, 1935. Died Auschwitz, October 12, 1942. Age 7.
75. Emanuel Kälbermann — Julia's father-in-law. Born Grosseicholzheim, 1865. Imprisoned in a mental institution; taken under the Nazi euthanasia program. Murdered at Hadamar killing facility, February 4, 1941.
76. Ludwig Frank — Third cousin (son of Bertha Bodenheimer and Hermann Frank). Born Mannheim, 1914. Deported to Gurs, 1940; transferred Drancy → Auschwitz, August 26, 1942; later transferred to Gross-Rosen. Died January 31, 1945. Age 30.
77. Kati Frank — Ludwig's wife. Born Munich. Murdered.
78. Ruth Frank — Ludwig's daughter. Born circa 1935. Murdered as a child.
79. Hans Frank — Ludwig's son. Born circa 1935. Murdered as a child.
80. Julchen Julia Frank — Sister of Ludwig's father Herman. Born Neckarbischofsheim, 1884. Deported to Gurs, 1940; transferred Drancy → Auschwitz, August 10, 1942. Age 57.
81. Max Frank — Brother of Ludwig's father Herman. Born Mannheim, 1884. Deported to Gurs, 1940. Died Gurs internment camp, France, circa 1943.
82. Helene Kafski née Frank — Sister-in-law of Bertha Bodenheimer Frank. Born Neckarbischofsheim, 1881. Died Paris, 1942. Age 61.
83. Katharina Frank née Uhlmann — Wife of Sigmund Frank, brother-in-law of Bertha Bodenheimer Frank. Born Munich, 1886. Deported Munich → Kowno (Kaunas), Fort IX, November 20, 1941. Murdered November 25, 1941. Age 55.
84. Alexander Siegmund Bodenheimer — Second cousin once removed. Born Waibstadt, 1865. Deported to Gurs, 1940; transferred to Recebedou internment camp near Toulouse. Died Recebedou, December 31, 1941. Age 76.
85. Helene Simon née Bodenheimer — Fourth cousin. Born Waibstadt, 1902. Deported to Gurs, 1940; transferred Drancy → Auschwitz, August 14, 1942. Officially declared dead.
86. Heinrich Simon — Helene's husband. Born Mannheim, 1902. Deported to Gurs, 1940; transferred Drancy → Auschwitz, August 14, 1942. Officially declared dead.

Distant cousins — connections traced through extended family branches.

87. Lazarus Louis David Loewenthal — Born Laupheim, 1865. Deported Stuttgart → Theresienstadt, August 22, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, June 23, 1943.
88. Doris Loewenthal née Klein — Lazarus's wife. Born Roth bei Nürnberg, 1876. Deported Stuttgart → Theresienstadt, August 22, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, September 6, 1942, just days after arrival. Age 65.
89. Paul Berthold Breslau — Born Frankfurt, 1877. Deported Frankfurt → Lodz ghetto, October 20, 1941. Died April 6, 1942. Age 64.
90. Klara Breslau née Auerbacher — Paul's wife. Born Kippenheim, 1892. Deported Frankfurt → Lodz ghetto, October 20, 1941. Fate unknown.
91. Lore Breslau — Daughter of Klara and Paul. Born Frankfurt, 1923. Deported Frankfurt → Lodz ghetto, October 20, 1941. Age 17.
92. Dr. Raphael Kaufmann — Born Merzig, 1871. Deported Frankfurt → Theresienstadt, September 1942. Died Theresienstadt, August 11, 1943. Age 71.
93. Ida Kaufmann née Isay — Raphael's wife and cousin. Born Cologne, 1881. Deported Frankfurt → Theresienstadt, September 1942. Died Theresienstadt, April 9, 1943. Age 61.

Brigitte's Family

Brigitte Levy's family was rooted in Berlin. Her father was Ernst Levy. Her mother's side connected through the Wolff and Mayer families. The numbering continues.

The Wolff family — Fritz Georg Wolff was Brigitte's uncle (brother of her mother Marie Levy née Wolff). He was married twice; both wives were deported. Fritz himself was deported in 1943.

94. Uncle James Simon — Ernst Levy's brother-in-law (married to Anna Levy), known as "The Lost Composer." Born Berlin, 1880. Fled to Netherlands; deported Westerbork → Theresienstadt, April 5, 1944; transferred → Auschwitz, October 12, 1944. Murdered October 14, 1944. Age 64.
95. Uncle Fritz Georg Wolff — Brigitte's uncle. Born Berlin, 1880. Deported Berlin → Auschwitz, March 12, 1943. Officially declared dead. Age 63.
96. Aunt Margarete Wolff née Marckwald — Fritz's second wife. Born Wuppertal, 1900. Deported Berlin → Auschwitz, March 12, 1943. Died Auschwitz, March 18, 1943. Age 42.
97. Aunt Minna Wolff née Pfeffer — Fritz's first wife. Born Gießen, 1884. Deported Berlin → Auschwitz, October 14, 1943. Age 59.

The Neustadts — Elwina Wolff (Brigitte's aunt) and her husband Georg both took their own lives in 1937 rather than wait for arrest. Their daughter Ruth was later deported with her husband and young sons.

98. Aunt Elwina Neustadt née Wolff — Brigitte's aunt, daughter of Emanuel Wolff. Born 1887. Died by suicide, Berlin, July 14, 1937, two months after her husband.
99. Uncle Georg Neustadt — Elwina's husband. Born 1876. Died by suicide, Berlin, May 29, 1937.
100. Ernst Neustadt — Georg's brother. Born Breslau, 1879. Deported → Tormersdorf and Grüssau collecting camps. Died circa 1943.
101. Grete Neustadt née Staub — Ernst's wife, daughter of the noted jurist Hermann Staub. Born 1889. Deported with Ernst to Tormersdorf/Schlesien.
102. Cousin Ruth Kaufmann née Neustadt — Daughter of Elwina and Georg. Born Berlin, 1909. Deported Westerbork → Theresienstadt, April 5, 1944; transferred → Auschwitz, May 18, 1944. Died Auschwitz, July 7, 1944. Age 34.
103. Ernest Kaufmann — Ruth's husband. Born Cologne, 1898. Deported Westerbork → Theresienstadt; transferred → Auschwitz. Died Auschwitz, January 31, 1945. Age 47.
104. Thomas Kaufmann — Son of Ruth and Ernest. Born Chemnitz, 1933. Deported with his parents through Westerbork and Theresienstadt to Auschwitz. Died Auschwitz, July 31, 1944. Age 11.
105. Stefan Kaufmann — Son of Ruth and Ernest. Born Chemnitz, 1934. Deported with his parents through Westerbork and Theresienstadt to Auschwitz. Died Auschwitz, July 7, 1944. Age 9.
106. Bertha Kaufmann née Kaufmann — Ernest's mother. Born Merzig, 1869. Fled to Netherlands; died at Westerbork collecting camp, April 18, 1943. Age 73.

Extended Wolff family connections — the Rosenfeld, Klempner, and Joachimczyk families on Brigitte's mother's side.

107. Else Henriette Salzburg née Rosenfeld — Brigitte's mother's cousin (daughter of Eva Wolff's sister). Born Poznan, 1882. Deported Berlin → Raasiku killing field near Reval, September 1942. Murdered.
108. Grete Blumenthal née Klempner — Second cousin. Born Berlin, 1897. Resided in a sanitarium in Eberswalde from 1934; taken by the Nazis and euthanized in 1940. Age 42.
109. Heinz Werner Blumenthal — Grete's son. Born Berlin, 1926. Deported Berlin → Auschwitz, April 19, 1943. Died Auschwitz, April 1943. Age 16.
110. Hans Klempner — Second cousin (brother of Grete). Born Berlin, 1898. Deported Berlin → Minsk ghetto, November 14, 1941. Died Minsk, November 1941. Age 42.
111. Margarete Görke née Wolff — Brigitte's mother's cousin. Born Poznan, 1895. Deported Munich → Kowno (Kaunas), Fort IX, November 20, 1941. Murdered November 25, 1941. Age 46.
112. Alice Selma Wolff — Brigitte's mother's cousin (sister of Margarete Görke). Born Poznan, 1890. Deported Berlin → Lodz ghetto, October 18, 1941. Died November 5, 1941. Age 51.
113. Paul Wolff — Brigitte's mother's cousin. Born Poznan, 1871. Died by suicide, Berlin, November 28, 1942.
114. Georg Wolff — Brigitte's mother's cousin. Born Berlin, 1881. Deported Berlin → Raasiku killing field, September 1942. Murdered.
115. Doris Wolff née Joachimczyk — Georg's wife. Born Poznan, 1883. Deported Berlin → Raasiku killing field, September 1942. Murdered.
116. Lilli Rosine Joachimczyk née Oppenheimer — Doris's sister-in-law. Born Berlin, 1891. Deported Berlin → Theresienstadt, October 3, 1942; transferred → Auschwitz, May 16, 1944.
117. Elsbeth Rosa Oppenheimer née Lesser — Lilli's mother. Born Berlin, 1866. Deported Berlin → Theresienstadt, October 3, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, March 3, 1943. Age 76.

The Levy family — Franziska was Ernst Levy's aunt. She and her four children were all deported from Berlin; three were sent to Auschwitz. The twins Walter and Bernhard were separated: Bernhard was deported first in 1941 and died in the Lodz ghetto hospital in January 1942; Walter followed in 1943.

118. Great-Aunt Franziska Levy née Kalisch — Ernst Levy's aunt. Born Berlin, 1863. Deported Berlin → Theresienstadt, July 21, 1942 (Transport I/27: 100 deported, 96 killed). Died Theresienstadt, November 15, 1942. Age 79.
119. Charlotte Sophie Levy — Franziska's daughter (Ernst Levy's first cousin). Born Berlin, 1889. Deported Berlin → Theresienstadt, July 21, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, October 26, 1943. Age 54.
120. Ella Philippine Levy — Franziska's daughter (Ernst Levy's first cousin). Born Berlin, 1891. Deported Berlin → Auschwitz, March 1, 1943. Missing; murdered in the Shoah.
121. Walter Berthold Levy — Franziska's son (Ernst Levy's first cousin, twin brother of Bernhard). Born Berlin, 1895. Deported Berlin → Auschwitz, March 3, 1943. Missing; listed among the murdered Jews of Germany.
122. Bernhard Alfred Levy — Franziska's son (Ernst Levy's first cousin, twin brother of Walter). Born Berlin, 1895. Deported Berlin → Lodz ghetto, October 18, 1941. Died Lodz ghetto hospital, January 26, 1942. Age 46.

The Mayer family — connected to Brigitte through her Uncle Gustav Mayer. The Mayer cousins were spread across Berlin, Breslau, and Pomerania.

123. Sophie Hamburger née Mayer — Uncle Gustav Mayer's cousin. Born Prenzlau, 1875. Deported Breslau → Theresienstadt, August 30, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, March 8, 1943.
124. Otto Zacharias Hamburger — Sophie's husband. Born Breslau, 1871. Deported Breslau → Theresienstadt, August 30, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, December 4, 1942.
125. Anna Helene "Lilli" Hamburger — Gustav Mayer's niece (cousin once removed). Born Breslau, 1901. Deported Breslau → Theresienstadt, August 30, 1942. Died Theresienstadt, January 10, 1943.
126. Rosalie Daniel née Mayer — Gustav Mayer's cousin. Born Prenzlau, 1864. Deported Berlin → Theresienstadt, August 17, 1942; transferred → Treblinka, September 19, 1942. Murdered. Age 77.
127. Ascher Alexander Mayer — Gustav Mayer's cousin. Born Prenzlau, 1875. Deported Berlin → Theresienstadt, July 1, 1943. Died Theresienstadt, December 14, 1943.
128. Sophie Seelig née Mayer — Gustav Mayer's cousin. Born Prenzlau, 1869. Deported Stettin → Glusk ghetto, February 12, 1940. Died Glusk, March 25, 1942. Age 72.
129. Hugo Seelig — Sophie's husband. Born Schwedt, 1860. Deported Stettin → Glusk ghetto, February 12, 1940. Died Glusk, December 6, 1940. Age 80.
130. Alexander Mayer — Gustav Mayer's cousin. Born Prenzlau, 1873. Deported Berlin → Theresienstadt, July 27, 1942. Died Theresienstadt before December 30, 1943. Officially declared dead.

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130 people.

Connected to two people who survived.

This is one family. Multiply by six million.

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Each entry in this list has been researched through Yad Vashem, the German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv Gedenkbuch), the Czech Holocaust Database, Find a Grave, and Geni.com. Individual memorials for many of those listed here can be found in the My Family's Holocaust Martyrs virtual cemetery on Find a Grave.Where records conflict or fate is uncertain, that uncertainty is noted. These are not estimates. These are people.

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This post is the completion of research I began over a decade ago. I wrote about why none of this was ever spoken of in my family in an earlier post: The Case of the Unmentionable Holocaust (November 2015).

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