I never thought of my Jewish great grandmother Lotte (Charlotte) Thannhauser as a holocaust victim. I thought she had just died, long widowed, of old age at 70 (which now seems young to me!). It turns out that she probably lost interest in living after her beloved only child, son Siegfried, was put on leave from his professorship because he was Jewish in April 1933, and so succumbed to her illness.

I have just returned from a trip to Munich where she was honored with a plaque on the current building at the address where she once lived, along with her sister and niece Josie. Many of my American and Israeli cousins were there too. Click here for the story about this on the Münchner Wohnen website. Lotte and her sister Lina’s descendants could be found because I keep a web site with our family history which I have been researching for many many years.

Charlotte Langermann Thannhauser, perhaps her brother Max, and Lina Langermann Thannhauser playing cards

I received an email this past January from a German historian, Dr. Christiane Fritsche, who was researching the residents of the building my great grandmother Lotte lived in. She found me online. The Munich housing authority (Münchner Wohnen) was planning on adding plaques to the buildings there. They provided Dr. Fritsche with a group of interns who were assigned to do the research. I forwarded her email to my double third cousin Nava in Israel because her great grandmother Lina, the sister of Lotte, was truly a holocaust victim. She did not want to leave Germany until it was too late.

Each honoree had a poster with their story at the ceremony in the courtyard. This is the one for Josie.

Lina had been evicted from Prinz-Ludwig-straße 6 when it was taken over by a Nazi organization. She and her daughter Josie (Josefa) then moved to another address which they later had to leave also. Next they went to live in a Jewish community building. From there Josie was taken, among 1000 jews, first to the Milbertshofen barracks camp outside of Munich, then via train to Piaski in Poland. Soon after that, Lina committed suicide in 1942 at the age of 76. These details are from the research of the interns who also told us of the horrific conditions the deportees encountered. No one from that deported group survived. Our family story is that Josie died on the train. The painful details of those camps in the dead of winter were unknown to us before this.

Lina’s other daughter, Bella, a doctor, had left for Palestine in 1933. Lina disapproved and offered no financial support, ” How can you take my granddaughter to die in the desert?” Bella was divorced from her non-Jewish husband. My grandfather, who was like a brother to Bella and her sister, thought it was foolish also and that it would all blow over. Fortunately the German Jewish community in Jerusalem wanted her to come and lent her the money.

Life in Munich in 1933 got increasingly more difficult for the Jewish population. Click here for a link which shows the holocaust timeline.

My grandmother’s will dated February 17, 1933 sounds like she knew she had a terminal disease. The research the intern Felix did, found that Lotte died in the Klinikum links der Isar hospital after an illness. He told me that, although he had studied the Nazi era in school, doing this research made it real through the stories of the individuals. I have often thought that if my great grandmother had not died when she did, my grandfather would not have left for America in time. He would not have left her behind. He was offered several professorships all over the world. My grandmother picked Boston.

cousin Yisca, cousin Naama, Dr Fritsche, cousin Jonathan. Plaques on wall behind Naama

Coming to Munich was a special experience for me. I met three of my Israeli double third cousins and walked the streets of my ancestors. Munich is a lovely and vibrant city; there were many bicycles and good public transport. The old town has been reconstructed and is charming. The day before the ceremony we had a tour which included the store at the address of the shop of our great grandfathers. Both of them had passed away before 1920.  This was followed by a dinner where we met the interns who had done all the research. The next day, the ceremony was in a lovely courtyard with many moving speeches. Then we walked to each building and and heard the interns reading the biographies in German and then English of the Jewish residents being remembered. I was extremely moved by it all.

interns: unknown woman and Felix, then Lotte’s descendants: me, cousin Marty, her daughter Lindsay  … photo (c) Münchner Wohnen, Foto Jonas Nefzger