Berta Lammfromm, née Birnzweig

Berta Lammfromm, née Birnzweig

Berta Lammfromm, née Birnzweig, was born December 8, 1891 in Wiesbaden.¹ Her parents were Daniel Birnzweig and Rosa Birnzweig, née Weiss. She came from a family which had lived in Wiesbaden since the beginning of the 17th century. Berta grew up with several siblings. Two brothers died as soldiers for the German army in the First World War.

Her sister Helene Birnzweig (born April 1, 1893 in Wiesbaden) married the businessman Rudolf Schwarz from Binswangen. The couple had two sons, Otto (born 1921) and Manfred (born 1922). Rudolf Schwarz was arrested after the November pogrom in 1938 and brought to Buchenwald, he returned seriously ill in December 1938.

The two sons lost their jobs as mechanics, but were able to flee to Sweden in August 1939. Helene and Rudolf Schwarz were deported from Wiesbaden in 1942 and murdered.²

Berta’s older sister Martha Birnzweig (born May 26, 1890 in Wiesbaden) married Alfred Ellinger from Hohensalza / Posen.³ They had a son, Helmut Daniel. The Ellinger family, as well as Helmut's fiancée, Hedwig Woller, were deported from Wiesbaden in 1942 and murdered.⁴

Berta married Josef Lammfromm of Buttenwiesen on December 15, 1919 in Fürth. Their only child Siegfried was born on May 25, 1921 in Oberhaching / Munich, two months after his cousin Otto was born in Wiesbaden.⁵

On November 1st, 1930 Berta, her husband and her son moved to Unterbaar, a small Bavarian village in today’s Aichach-Friedberg district.⁶ Josef Lammfromm was an accountant by profession and had a job in the castle brewery. At that time, the owner of the Unterbaar estate and brewery was Gustav Einstein, who, like Josef Lammfromm, came from Buttenwiesen.

The Lammfromms, lived in an apartment building, house no. 8a, – today, Hauptstrasse 13, along with four other parties.

Berta was a housewife and looked after Siegfried, who was then in school-age. The Jewish family maintained good neighborly relations with the housemates, especially with the direct neighbor Katharina Angerer, who worked as a seamstress. Mrs. Angerer had several children; one son was also named Siegfried. In their house and the neighborhood, the Lammfromms were known as upright and friendly people.⁷

Nazi propaganda and anti-Semitism also spread in Unter- and Oberbaar (today Baar / Swabia). Gustav Einstein recognized the dangers and fled with his wife and daughter in spring of 1933 via Switzerland to America. His property passed to Dresdner Bank and was sold to Hans Emslander in the autumn of 1933.⁸

Berta and her family continued to live in Unterbaar in house number 8a.⁹ Siegfried had attended secondary school, which was forbidden from 1938 onwards. He was also denied attendance at the regular school. The teacher of the regular school, Mr. Fuchs, was a party member and head of the local Hitler Youth chapter. In the evening of November 9th, 1938, rioting and noisy citizens from Unter- and Oberbaar gathered in front of the Lammfromm house. Sticks struck the house and stones were thrown at the apartment windows. The startled Berta Lammfromm ran to Katharina Angerer's neighboring apartment and brought her over to her apartment. The two women found a brick that had been thrown through the bedroom window on Josef Lammfromm's bed. Berta's husband was ill, however, and therefore had slept in a different, heated, room. That night, sleep was out of the question, neither for the Lammfromm family nor for some others who were also attacked by the mob.¹⁰

Berta and her family weren’t to stay in Unterbaar much longer. On December 31st, 1938 they had to move to Augsburg. Their first place of residence was Hermanstrasse 3.¹¹ On August 14th, 1939 they had to move again to a so-called “Jewish house” in Maximilianstraße 14/2nd floor.¹²

Shortly afterwards, Berta's nephews Otto and Manfred Schwarz managed to escape to Sweden. Her mother, Berta's sister Helene, had written an overjoyed greeting card to her sons:
"Dear children!
With great joy we received your arrival card in our hands today. “G. s. D.” (thank God) you arrived safe and sound at your destination. We'd rather write this to Melli, who keeps asking, but if you would do it (too), it would be better. Aunt Berta's address is: Maximilianstraße 14/2nd floor. “G. s.D.” I can report good things about us, let us hope to God that there is always Scholaim (well-being). Helmut was now writing about his papers, so things with him are going on now.
Now, dear children, stay healthy and happy and be kissed a million times by your mom. "¹³
The former neighbor Mrs. Angerer and other Baar residents visited the Lammfromms in Augsburg and brought them food. On their last visit - at the request of the Lammfromms - Berta and her husband no longer accepted butter, eggs, etc. Controls would be carried out and if food was found, they would have to inform the SS about the suppliers. As another reason they mentioned was that the "move to the east" was imminent. Berta Lammfromm gave her sewing machine to her former neighbor, Katharina Angerer, because she was a seamstress. The couple promised to send a card as soon as the relocation to the east was due. Mr. Angerer picked up the sewing machine in Augsburg a few days later.

After a while, the promised unsuspicious greeting card from Lammfromms arrived. Mrs. Angerer never heard again from those people she had befriended.¹⁴

On April 2nd, 1942 Berta Lammfromm, her husband and son were deported from Augsburg to Munich-Milbertshofen and from there on April 4th to the Piaski ghetto. There were 989 people in the transport. They arrived in Piaski on April 6th, 1942.¹⁵ Berta stand auf Blatt 37 mit der Nummer 686 auf der Transportliste.¹⁶ On the transportation list, Berta was on page 37 with the number 686.¹⁷

Gernot Römer wrote about the Piaski ghetto in Poland: “Those who did not fall victim to the living conditions in the ghetto or to forced labor in peat cutting died in the extermination camps. None of the Bavarian deportees returned alive."¹⁸

Berta was murdered.¹⁹ The date of her death is unknown.

Angela Hakelberg; translation by Johannes Heidecker