Trude Herrmann

Trude Herrmann was born on April 11, 1925 in Augsburg, as the second daughter of Josef Herrmann and Cilli, née Stern (see biographies of Cilli and Josef Herrmann). Her father managed a factory for belts and suspenders on Obstmarkt. Trudi, as the family called her, grew up with her sister Margot – four years her senior - at 33 Völkstrasse in a distinctive upper-middle class apartment building. The building, designed by Adam Keller in the neo-Renaissance style, had been commissioned by Rudolf Nathan in 1902.

Family life was very affectionate. The Herrmanns led a traditional Jewish life. Visiting the Shabbat service in the nearby Synagogue and keeping the weekly day of rest were normal practices, as was observing the dietary rules. Usually, the Herrmanns celebrated Shabbat with the extended family. Its members were Cilli Herrmann’s brothers Justin and Max Stern. They and their families lived close by. Justin Stern (Alzenau 1885 – New York 1949) with his wife Erna, née Nußbaum, and their two sons Manfred (1924-2014) and Heinz (born 1927) lived at Mozartstrasse 7; Max Stern (Harburg 1881 – London 1955) and his wife Frieda (Wenings in Hessen 1893 – London 1958) with their son Martin (Augsburg 1921 – London 1983) lived at Hermanstrasse 7.

Of all the children, Trude was the second youngest and Heinz’s beloved companion: “Trudi was my playmate. We were always together”, Heinz, a contemporary witness, explained during a Lebenslinien (lifeline) project of the Jewish Museum in 2013.¹

When the National Socialists assumed power, Trude was only eight years old. Like her sister, she attended St. Elisabeth Catholic Primary School.² Whether the parents were successful in shielding the little girl from the growing antisemitic atmosphere in town, is unknown. Her older cousins suffered hostilities and even physical assaults. It happened to Ten-year-old Heinz and his mother, while shopping, were accosted by a group of who threw rocks at them, chanting a cruel old taunt: “Jew, Jew! Hep, hep! If only the devil got you!“

In 1933, the Jewish Community expanded the facilities of the Jewish Sports Club in the south of the city for Jewish young people who had been excluded from the public clubs. These facilities now became the only retreat for the entire Augsburg Jewish population, where they were safe from a hostile environment. Trude and her older sister also liked to go there.

The violent riots on November 10, 1938 and the following days made it clear for the family, that they could no longer remain in Germany and be sure of their lives. The parents desperately strived to emigrate. Trude and Margot were offered the possibility to go to England with a so-called Kindertransport, like their cousin Manfred who was one year older than Trude. When he said farewell, however, and Trude saw that Heinz stayed with his parents, neither she nor Margot wanted to embark on a journey into the unknown. They stayed in Augsburg, hoping that the required papers would come soon. But they never did. On April 2, 1942, the National Socialists deported the family to the east. The transport was destined for the transit ghetto Piaski near Lublin. In 1948, Trude Herrmann was declared dead by the Augsburg district court. There is no grave for her. Manfred, who succeeded in emigrating to the USA via England, later wrote a poem for Trude and Margot Herrmann:

For Margot and Trudi
Their holy dust awaits me.
Hands cannot hold or form it
Into that soft frame
The laughter of these girls
Whose lives were doomed from the outset
Beaten by racial nonsense and hate
Lips that piously spelled
French and Latin verbs
And bent knees to friendly nuns.
O stones, build me a hill in their name
From a grove of cedars
A pass to walk on, sea on one side
Mountains on the other.
I do not remember what their eyes were like
Or how their hands composed music
Of their being. Now their soft voices
Bend in the wind reciting Heine.
My cousins, Margot and Trudi
Were killed in the Holocaust.³

Benigna Schönhagen (Translation by Michael Bernheim)