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Dortmund

Sternlager

6 June 2020 by John Löwenhardt Leave a Comment

Hermann Kleeblatt died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, in its section named Sternlager, ‘Star Camp’. He was seventy years of age and the last of his family to fall prey to the Nazis. All were dead: his son Arthur with his own family in Auschwitz, September 1942; his son Walter in Sobibor (April 1943) and his wife Lina who had died in Westerbork Transit Camp in The Netherlands on 28 December 1943. The youngest son, Richard, born in 1906, was the only one to survive.

Hermann was brother to my great-grandmother Hannchen ten Brink-Kleeblatt (1861-1930). Most likely he was also the person who introduced her oldest daughter Julia to his young neighbour in Dortmund-Lindenhorst, butcher Adolf Löwenhardt. Julia and Adolf married in 1912.

In official documents such as the Gedenkbuch (‘Memorial Book’) of the German National Archives, Hermann is listed to have died on 12 September 1944. That was his seventieth birthday… which made me suspicious. A coincidence? Would he really have passed away on his seventieth birthday? Bergen-Belsen was not an extermination camp but it knew extreme hunger and a deadly typhus epidemic. Whoever was weak or lost hope, whoever gave up the fight to survive, whoever became apathetic, died. Had Hermann Kleeblatt lost all hope on the eve of his birthday?

Probably the only picture of Hermann Kleeblatt and his wife Lina in their grocer store in Dortmund-Lindenhorst

Reading the book by historian Evelien Gans on Jaap and Ischa Meijer made me write to the Bergen-Belsen Memorial in Germany. In her book, Gans presents an extensive impression of ‘life’ in the Sternlager. But was Hermann really housed in this part of the camp? And why in Bergen-Belsen after all? It was a so-called exchange camp, meant for Jews, mainly from The Netherlands, who the Nazis planned to exchange against Germans from abroad. Hermann was the only member of my extended family who ended up in Bergen-Belsen. Why?

The name Sternlager refers to the fact that its inmates were allowed to wear their civil clothes but had to carry a ‘Jew star’ on their chest. Family members could stay close to each other and for the elderly, there was a separate barrack, the ‘Altersheim’. Is this where they would have put Hermann?

On 24 February 2014 I receive an email sent by Elfriede Schulz of the Bergen-Belsen Memorial. She has been so kind to research Hermann Kleeblatt’s stay at the camp. To my question of why he was sent to Bergen-Belsen she has no answer. It remains a mystery. But she confirms that he was indeed in the Sternlager. And then her surprise: Hermann died on 2 January 1945, having stayed in the camp for eleven months. This is shown on a list made by Josef Weiss.

For four months in late 1944 and early 1945, Josef (‘Jupp’) Weiss (1893-1976) was Judenältester, ‘Senior Jew’ or leader of the Jews in the Sternlager. Weiss, too, had fled Germany for The Netherlands and had been deported to Bergen-Belsen via Westerbork Transit Camp. He had been at Westerbork for twenty months when on 29 September 1943 Hermann and his wife Lina arrived. Lina died three months later, and on 11 January 1944 Josef Weiss and his family were deported to Bergen-Belsen. Hermann Kleeblatt, now a widower, was put on the next transport, on 1 February. Hermann and Josef may have known each other. Both had come from North Rhine-Westfalia and their deportation histories showed partial overlaps.

Josef – ‘Jupp’ – Weiss

Both during and after the war, Weiss enjoyed an excellent reputation. As ‘Judenältester’ he was the pivot between the camp commander and the inmates. Some predecessors had abused this position, but in his behaviour ‘Jupp’ Weiss showed to be a ‘Mensch’ who was respected by both inmates and camp guards. Every day he used to walk alongside the cart on which Sternlager’s deceased were taken away, saying kaddish.

Weiss kept secret lists, one of these with names and dates of the deceased. This list shows Hermann Kleeblatt, born 12 September 1874 and died 2 January 1945. Two months down the same secret list are Margot Frank and her sister Anne.

Josef Weiss himself died in Jerusalem in 1976, aged 83. The day of his death was 12 September, Hermann Kleeblatt’s birthday.

24 February 2014, edited and translated 6 June 2020

Please also read
On Adolf and Julia: Letter to George

Filed Under: Bergen-Belsen, Dortmund, Westerbork Tagged With: Adolf Löwenhardt, Arthur Kleeblatt, Hannchen ten Brink-Kleeblatt, Hermann Kleeblatt, Julia Löwenhardt-ten Brink, Lina Kleeblatt, Walter Kleeblatt

An ordinary boy

29 September 2016 by John Löwenhardt

MANFRED LOEWENHARDT, 1926 – 1965

Freddy Lowe, 1926-1965
Freddie Lowe, 1926-1965

Who was Freddie? Why should I care who he was? He was one of the very many cousins of my father Heinz Löwenhardt (1913-1989). Since both lived in Dortmund, Germany, until the mid-1930s, they will have met more than once. I never heard my father talk about Freddie – but then, neither did he talk about other relatives. Most of them had been murdered by the Nazi’s. That Freddie was special I learned only in 2011 when his brother Hans-Georg (1924-2016) established contact with me. Together they had managed to escape from Nazi-Germany in March 1939. The two boys were saved, their parents and sister Ursula (Ulla, 1930) were murdered in Auschwitz in October 1944.

[Read more…] about An ordinary boy

Filed Under: Dortmund, London, Toronto Tagged With: Hans-Georg Löwenhardt-Lowe, Ignaz Maybaum, Johanna Loewenhardt, Manfred Loewenhardt-Lowe, Margarete Löwenhardt-Hermanns, Siegmund Loewenhardt, Ursula Loewenhardt, Werner van der Zyl

Of four Juliuses

25 February 2016 by John Löwenhardt 1 Comment

Julius Löwenhardt, Oberhemer 1887 – Mühlhausen (GDR) 1973
Julius Löwenhardt (יוליוס לבנהרט), Sterkrade 1902 – Haifa (Israel) 1947
Julius (Jules) Löwenhardt, Dortmund 1907 – Deventer (Netherlands) 1971
Julius Löwenhardt (Lev-Ary?), Duisburg 1908 – Frankfurt 1960s (?)

4Juliuses

 

Considering the large number of family members, in itself it is not terribly surprising. But remarkable it is. During the first half of the 20th Century our family had four men named Julius. All were born in Germany, two of them lived in Israel for part of their lives. [Read more…] about Of four Juliuses

Filed Under: Deventer, Dortmund, Duisburg, Frankfurt a/M, Haifa, Hengelo (Gld), Mühlhausen GDR, Paderborn, Sterkrade Tagged With: Julius Löwenhardt 1887-1978, Julius Löwenhardt 1902-1947, Julius Löwenhardt-Lev-Ary 1908-1960s, Julius-Jules Löwenhardt 1907-1971

The Empire of the Chicken Jew

19 January 2016 by John Löwenhardt 4 Comments

The Jewish section of the General Cemetery in Dortmund-Wambel, Germany. The lawns are immaculately kept. On a sunny day in July 2010 I find the grave of my great-grandmother Pauline BenjamintB1931Löwenhardt, buried here in 1933. I am roaming the gravesite and suddenly I stumble upon a simple gravestone that gives me a shock. [Read more…] about The Empire of the Chicken Jew

Filed Under: Denekamp, Dortmund Tagged With: Adolf Löwenhardt, Julia Löwenhardt-ten Brink, Pauline Löwenhardt-Lennhoff

The Löwenhardt Sisters, II

31 October 2014 by John Löwenhardt 1 Comment

For the introduction to this story, please click here

Clara Löwenhardt, 1880-1964

Heinz, Johnny and (aunt) Clara Löwenhardt near Almelo, April 1949
Heinz, Johnny and (aunt) Clara Löwenhardt near Almelo, April 1949

The pictures of ‘Aunt’ Clara and myself have been preserved in a photo album made by my parents and documenting the first two years of my life. [Read more…] about The Löwenhardt Sisters, II

Filed Under: Detroit, Dortmund, Kansas City, Montevideo, United States, Uruguay Tagged With: Arthur Jägers, Clara Löwenhardt, Emma Irma Jägers, Hans Benning, Hermann Löwenhardt, Johanna Löwenhardt, Julie Löwenhardt, Levy Löwenhardt, Paula Jägers, Pauline Löwenhardt-Lennhoff, Ralph Benning, Robert Benning

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