Joseph Lammfromm

Joseph Lammfromm

Joseph Lammfromm was born on March 18th, 1888 as the oldest son of Israel Lammfromm (1863–1930) and Cilly Lammfromm (1865–1934), née Graf, in Buttenwiesen. The Lamm­fromm family was one of the long-established Jewish families in Buttenwiesen: their genealogy extends back over several generations. The father, Israel Lammfromm, was very active in the community. His publication “History of the Buttenwiesen village”, published 1911, is still the standard history book of Buttenwiesen. The family lived in house number 32 (today Marktplatz 7). Joseph had three siblings:

• Selma (born July 1889), deported and murdered in 1942
• Jonas (born October 1892, died October 8th, 1939 in Heidelberg). His wife Dora, née Grinbaum, was murdered in Auschwitz. Their son Avraham Alfred Lammfromm survived and migrated to Israel
• Hugo (born in August 1902). Hugo Lammfromm committed suicide in Buttenwiesen on April 21st, 1938 after his business premises had been searched by the police. His wife Siegfriede (born December 20th, 1905 in Bamberg) and his son Erwin (born April 10th, 1934 in Buttenwiesen) were both victims of the Holocaust.¹

Maria Sindl, a Christian woman who lived on the market square, was employed for "half a century" by Israel and Cilly Lammfromm as a nanny/household help. She was close to the Lammfromm children. When she died in 1941, Josef Lammfromm wrote a touching condolence letter to the Sindl family.² From this letter it becomes clear that friendships between Jewish and non-Jewish families existed and were maintained also during the Nazi era.

In World War I, Josef Lammfromm served in the German army. He married Bertha Birnzweig (born December 8th, 1891 in Wiesbaden) on December 15th, 1919 in Fürth. Their only child, Siegfried, was born May 25th, 1921 in Oberhaching).³

Josef Lammfromm was an accountant by profession and moved to Unterbaar⁴ on November 1st, 1930 with his wife and 9-year-old Siegfried to begin a position at the castle brewery. Gustav Einstein, who was also Jewish and from Buttenwiesen, had acquired the castle estate, including the Unterbaar brewery, on February 17th, 1928.⁵ Certainly, Gustav Einstein and Josef Lammfromm were previously acquainted, so that Josef found a new job as accountant and a new home in Unterbaar. The Lammfromm family lived in the so-called “Hoarihaus”, at number 8a, today Hauptstraße 13, in an apartment building owned by the Sedlmeier family.⁶ According to the address book of 1935 there were four other families living in the building.⁷ Xaver Angerer, a butcher, lived with his wife Katharina and their children in the apartment right next to the Lammfromms, and they became friends. In their house and the neighborhood, the Lammfromms were known as upright and friendly people.⁸

However, not long after the move, the political climate changed in the villages of Unter- and Oberbaar (today Baar / Swabia). Gustav Einstein saw the signs of the times and fled to America via Switzerland in the spring of 1933 with his wife and daughter. His property was taken over by Dresdner Bank and sold to Hans Emslander in autumn 1933.⁹

The Lammfromms continued to live in Unterbaar and it seems that Josef Lammfromm was able to continue to work in the office of the brewery. According to the 1938 address book he was still registered at House 8a as accountant.¹⁰

On the evening of November 9th, 1938, NSDAP Nazi party members from Unter- and Oberbaar gathered noisily in front of the Lammfromm home. The house was struck by sticks and windows broken by rocks. The frightened Berta Lammfromm ran to Katharina Angerer's neighboring apartment and brought her over to the Lammfromm apartment. The window of their bedroom had been broken by a rock. A brick had landed on Josef Lammfromm's bed. However, on this day, he was ill and was sleeping in a different, heated room. That night, sleep was out of the question. All the neighbors were woken up by this noise which would be remembered in German history as the “November Progroms”. The assailants from Baar moved on to at least two other houseswhose residents were to be “taught to be afraid”. They also planned to go to Buttenwiesen and create some trouble there.¹¹

Josef Lammfromm did not stay long after in Unterbaar. Less than two months later, on December 31st, 1938 he and his family were forced to move to Augsburg where they lived at Hermanstraße 3.¹²

On August 14th, 1939 they had to move again and went to Maximilianstraße 14/2nd floor, a so-called “Jewish house”.¹³

The food supply became difficult. Jews were only allowed to shop during very limited hours. Some people from Baar, including Katharina Angerer, visited the Lammfromms in Augsburg and brought them food, such as butter and eggs. The fear of the SS did not deter Frau Angerer from making several visits there. In case she was checked, she planned to make the excuse that being from the country, she had lost her way. However, Mrs. Angerer was glad that she always got in and out of the house without being questioned.

On her last visit the couple no longer accepted the food. They said that the apartment would be searched by the SS and that they would have to tell who was supplying them. As another reason they mentioned was that the "move to the east" was imminent. The couple promised to send a card as soon as the relocation to the east was due. One day an unsuspicious greeting card from the Lammfromms arrived. Mrs. Angerer never heard again from those people she had befriended.¹⁴

From Maximilianstraße 14, Josef Lammfromm had ended the condolence letter to the Sindl family on October 24th with the words

Please excuse that this letter is typed, but my hands are so stiff (from work) that I can hardly write by hand. May the Lord save you all from further strokes of fate, may time be good to you and may there be peace for us all soon!

Sincerely, we remain

Your faithful family

Josef Lammfromm¹⁵

Josef Lammfrom was deported on April 2nd, 1942 from Augsburg to Munich-Milbertshofen and from there on April 4th to the Piaski ghetto where he was murdered.¹⁶ The date of his death is unknown.