The Family of Leopold & Zilli (née Flörsheim) & Jenny (née Mayer) Bamberger

The history of the Bamberger family begins at the end of the 18th century, when Isaak Bamberger was granted protection in Muschenheim. Numerous gravestones in the Jewish cemeteries “In den Kappesgärten” and “Bei der Lehmkaute” bear witness to the history of this family.

Stumbling stones for Leopold Bamberger, his wife Jenny (née Mayer) and their sons Julius and Hugo were laid in front of the house at Alter Rathausplatz 7 on November 20, 2024.

Register entry for the marriage of Leopold Bamberger and Jenny Mayer.

Leopold Bamberger was the son of Nathan I and Fanny (née Strauss) Bamberger. Their gravestones can also be found in the Jewish cemetery “In den Kappesgärten.” Nathan Bamberger was a merchant. His son Leopold also became a merchant in the livestock trade, haberdashery and general merchandise.

Leopold Bamberger’s first marriage was to Zilli Flörsheim, who unfortunately died in 1897 at the age of just 28, six weeks after the birth of her son Julius. Leopold Bamberger married a second time two years later after Zilli’s death. On April 9, 1899, he married Jenny Mayer from Wohnbach, born on May 18, 1877, daughter of David and Karoline (née Steg) Mayer. Their son Hugo was born on February 11, 1900. Their daughter Flora, who was born two years later, was only 8 years old.

Data on the Bamberger family has been thankfully supplemented by the project “Jews in Muschenheim”, which the then Muschenheim vicar Dieter Quick, now Dr. Quick, compiled in the summer of 2002 after his own research and conversations with contemporary witnesses in Muchenheim. People in Muschenheim were told about Leopold Bamberger: Leopold was always well-dressed and had a good reputation in the village. He was the lead singer in the small Jewish community. In their store, Leopold and Jenny sold fabric, buttons, suspenders, elastic, etc. In the afternoons, Leopold went to Birklar and Bettenhausen with his vendor’s tray.

The sons Julius and Hugo Bamberger were no longer living in Muschenheim before 1933. In 1925 Julius married Elsa Hahn, born May 29, 1902 in Bergen. Their son Erich was born in Bad Homburg on October 12, 1927. In 1930 Julius lived in Bad Homburg at Wallstrasse 30.

Entry for Julius Bamberger in the 1930 address book of Bad Homburg.

Sometime afterwards, Julius, Elsa and Erich moved to Frankfurt. Both sons were employed by a Frankfurt credit institution and supported their parents from there, who were not in need as a result.

When the attempts at intimidation in Muschenheim became more and more obvious, Leopold and Jenny Bamberger also moved to Frankfurt. In 1939, they lived on the second floor at Thomasiusstrasse 11.

Entry for Leopold Bamberger in the 1939 Frankfurt a/Main address book

*****

Hugo Bamberger was able to emigrate to the USA via Rotterdam on September 10, 1938, i.e. before the pogrom night of November 9/10, 1938. He lived in New York.

But Julius was still in Germany in the fateful month of November 1938. On November 11, 1938, Julius was arrested and deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Arolsen Archive, imprisonment documents on Julius Bamberger (1897) in Buchenwald concentration camp.

He was released again on November 30, 1938.

Arolsen Archive, imprisonment documents on Julius Bamberger (1897) in Buchenwald concentration camp.

A year later, on November 6, 1939, the family – Julius, Elsa and Erich – were able to immigrate to the USA.

*****

Leopold and Jenny could not leave. In 1941, they were still living at Thomasiusstrasse 11/I in Frankfurt a/Main.

Entry for Leopold Bamberger in the 1941 Frankfurt a/Main address book
HEV, P. 1.
HEV, p. 2 Source: C. Lehmann, Sikaron.

On September 10, 1942, they had to pay a so-called “Home Purchase Contract (HEV)” for their future accommodation and care in “communal accommodation” in the Theresienstadt ghetto in the amount of over 4000 Reichsmark.

On October 17, 1942, they were deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto. They were murdered there in the Theresienstadt ghetto, Jenny on October 6, 1942, Leopold a week later. Jenny was 65 years old, Leopold 77.

*****

Julius and Hugo continued their lives in America. Julius became an American citizen on July 4, 1945.1 Ohio, Southern District Naturalization Index, 1852-1991. Salt Lake City, UT, USA: FamilySearch, 2016. On July 31, 1950, Eric (now without the “h”), the son of Julius and Ella, married Ellen Schwerin in Cuyahoga, Ohio. Ellen, born May 10, 1929 in Pirmasens in the Rhineland, “was the daughter of Alfred Schwerin, who wrote his memoirs ‘From Dachau to Basel’ in exile in Switzerland in 1944. She herself was sent from Pirmasens to La Guette in France as a 9-year-old child on a Kindertransport. Together with 130 other children, she found a temporary home there.” Eric and Ellen had two children, Linda and Mark Bamberger.

On January 6, 1964, Julius Bamberger was seriously injured in a car accident2The Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati, Ohio – Saturday, December 05, 1964 and on March 13, 1964, he died, aged 67. Elsa Bamberger (née Hahn) died on February 02, 1982.

On July 11, 1989 Eric died in Cincinnati/Ohio, on February 02, 2020 Ellen died.

*****

1928 Photo by Clare Rothschild.

Hugo married Claire Rothschild in America. Claire was born “Klara” on August 24, 1906 in Schlüchtern/Hesse, daughter of Jakob and Kettchen (née Braunschweiger). She immigrated to the USA alone on May 1928 at the age of 28. Claire and Hugo married in August 1940.

They lived in Queens/New York and had no children. Hugo died on August 1971, Claire died in July 1973.

 

Gravestone of Hugo and Claire Bamberger, Beth-El Cemetery, Paramus, Bergen County/NJ

 

Descendants List of Leopold Bamberger