Benzion Wolff David in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of Hannah Wende.
Benzion Wolff David was a bit of a mystery, even to his son, who could vaguely recall meeting one of his uncles, but knew little more than that his father came from the north of Germany.
Thanks to records preserved in the City Archive we know that Benzion’s father, Selig Wolff David, born September 9, 1820 in Friedrichstadt, was a butcher, a member of the civil defense corps (lance division) and a friend of the sports club. Selig owned property (10 Prinzenstrasse) and exercised his right to vote (for mayor and state parliament). He and his wife, Selde Behrend Levy, born on February 25, 1832/33 also in Friedrichstadt, had eleven children. Only three boys (David Selig, born January 14, 1861, Benzion Wolff, born December 20, 1870, and Löwe Juda Selig, born October 20, 1875) survived beyond childhood. In December 1874, Selig received a fine for failing to sand his icy street. In November 1875, Selig was fined for failing to report, in a timely fashion, the birth of a child, his fifth to die in infancy. Selde died at age 49 on January 23, 1882. Selig died on April 8, 1900 and was buried two days later. Notice of his funeral appeared in the local papers, as well as an ad expressing the gratitude of his family to his comrades-in-arms.1Family documents from the Museum “Alte Münze” in Friedrichstadt
Benzion Wolff David was born in Friedrichstadt on December 20, 1870. He was described as a businessman when he married Rosa Freund in Breslau on November 28, 1907. When his children were small, he was a general insurance agent and, in 1918, had an account with the Bank für Handel und Industrie. A year after the outbreak of the First World War, at age 45, he was called up. His own description of his war service: “From the 12th of July 1915 until the beginning of September, in Russia, Etappe, because of illness, returned to Germany; from February 1917 until 12 November 1918, first in the combat zone in Romania, then with the occupying army in the same place.”2Zahlkarte für Kriegsteilnehmer, Centralna Biblioteka Judaistyna, Breslau. He walked home from Romania, his health ruined by the malaria, to which hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the Eastern Front were exposed.3Malaria‘s Contribution to World Ward One—the Unexpected Adversary Benzion died on January 20, 1930 and was buried in the Cosel Cemetery, section 18 number 187-186. Eight months later, his widow ordered a simple gravestone in light Silesian granite from Karl Neustadt, Bebelstraße 1. She paid an additional 25 RM to have ivy planted all around.
Thank you to Christiane Thomsen in the Museum “Alte Münze” in Friedrichstadt for her help with documents from the museum’s collection.
Avraham Granot was born Abraham Granovsky in Făleşti, Bessarabia in the Russian Empire (today Moldova). He attended Gymnasia Herzliya in Tel Aviv. In 1911, he traveled to Switzerland to study law and political economy at the University of Fribourg and University of Lausanne, graduating with a PhD in 1917.
He moved to Jerusalem in 1922 to continue his work for the Keren Kayemet, the Jewish National Fund. Two years later he officially immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. He also lectured at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on agrarian policy. In 1940 he was appointed director-general of the JNF. Granot was a member of the New Aliyah Party and one of the signers of the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948. In 1949, he was elected to the first Knesset as a member of the Progressive Party (the successor of the New Aliyah Party). He was reelected in 1951, but resigned from the Knesset six weeks after the election. He was head of several public corporations, and sat on the Board of Governors of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Weizmann Institute of Science. In 1960, Granot was elected chairman of the JNF Board of Directors.
Born 1863 in Dubrovna, Russia, he was one of tne first and foremost leaders of the Zionist movement and President of the Jewish National Fund (KKL) from 1921 up to his death in 1941.
After graduating as an engineer in Moscow in 1889, he resided in Yekaterinoslav. A Zionist since his early youth, he was among the founders of BILU and of the Moscow branch of the Hovevei Zion. He was also a member of the Bnei Moshe society founded by Ahad Ha-Am. He first visited Palestine in 1891. Four years later he joined Theodor Herzl and the political Zionist movement, but became a strong opponent of the leader when the Uganda issue was fought out at the 6th Congress. He organized the opposition to Herzl in Russia and later opposed his successor, Wolfsohn as well. An uncompromising fighter for practical steps to implement the Zionist cause, he was one of the Jewish delegates to the Paris peace conference after World War I. In 1920 he was appointed head of the Zionist Commission in Palestine and in that capacity he initiated many land purchases. Two years later, under his dynamic guidance, the Jewish National Fund (KKL) became the main instrument for redeeming and reclaiming the soil of the ancient homeland on behalf of the Jewish people.
As the President of the Jewish National Fund, Ussishkin was involved in the design and production of the Golden Book V.
Bronze bas-relief by Eliezer Strich, possibly a self-portrait. (Thank you to Ivantiques in Jerusalem for permission to photograph this work.)
Born in Latvia, Eliezer Strich studied art in Petrograd, St. Petersburg and Paris. In 1914, at the age of 35, he was invited to head the department of metalwork at the Bezalel Arts Academy in Jerusalem, where he remained until 1915. In 1918, following his service in the “Hebrew Battalion” against the British Mandate, he returned to teaching at Bezalel until 1921. In 1923, he moved to Haifa and taught painting at The Hebrew Reali School and the Technion.
Hermann Struck cut a “splendid figure with [his] handsome, aristocratic head with its keen eyes, aquiline nose and Van Dyke beard.”1Newman, Elias, Artist in the Yishuv…Herman [sic] Struck. The Jewish Press [New York], September 7, 1945, p. 62. His easy, unencumbered manner and abundant personal gifts that “encompassed the whole range of his manly virtues, from his international artistic prestige to his ability to hold his liquor”2Zweig, Arnold, Herman Struck – Ein Meister der Grafik; Zum 80. Geburtstag des Künstlers, Bildende Kunst, Verband Bildender Künstler der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik , 1956, p. 148-150. made him a charismatic emissary in Europe and the United States for the Mizrahi movement. He was no less appreciated by—and generous to—colleagues, students and friends. (Struck tutored older, more famous colleagues, like painters Lovis Corinth, Lesser Ury and Max Liebermann, as well as younger ones, like Marc Chagall and Jacob Steinhardt.) Critic Max Osborn, called Struck “the best, most selfless companion.”3Osborn, Max, Hermann Struck: Ein grosser Maler und ein frommer Mann, Aufbau [Omaha, Nebraska], January 21, 1944, p.9. And all of this is merely in addition to his copious etchings, drawings and paintings, most famously, a portrait of Theodor Herzl that gave Struck an honored place in countless Jewish homes and, as much as anything else, earned him the designation “the artistic soul of Israel.”4Rittenberg, Louis, The Brush of a Master. The American Hebrew: A Magazine for American Jews [New York], Marc 9, 1928, p. 609
Born in Berlin to well-to-do orthodox parents, Hermann Struck remained devoutly observant his entire life, often to the wonderment of his more secular associates. After studying at the Berlin Academy of Art with Hans Meyer, who introduced Struck to etching, and Max Koner, a well-known portraitist, he met and befriended Jozef Israëls, who became his mentor. Israëls’ etchings are among those featured in Struck’s landmark Die Kunst des Radierens (The Art of Etching), published to universal acclaim in 1908. Struck exhibited in internationally, including as one of eleven artists at the Fifth Zionist Congress (1901) in Basel. He was a member of the Berlin Secession and, almost uniquely (as a German), the Royal Society of Painters, Etchers and Engravers of Great Britain. He created incisive portraits of Richard Dehmel, Gerhard Hauptmann, Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud, to name a few of the cultural and intellectual giants he encountered in his Berlin years. After enlisting in the German army in 1915, his assignment brought him into first hand contact with Eastern European Jews, for whom he developed a profound affinity. On issues concerning them, Struck acted as consultant to the German delegation at the Versailles Peace Conference. In 1920, over 50 etchings of the people he had seen and their way of life appeared in Das ostjüdische Antlitz (The Face of Eastern Jewry), with text by Arnold Zweig. Another postwar publication of wartime drawings was Kriegsgefangene (Prisoners of War). In contrast to the tenderness and admiration that suffuses Das ostjüdische Antlitz, these one hundred lithographs, done at the behest of the authorities and with the participation of anthropologist Felix von Luschan, are tainted with then prevalent ethnological biases and racial theories.
In 1922, Struck and his wife Wally established a home in Haifa, where he turned more intensively to painting landscapes and welcomed a steady stream of visitors. He taught at the Bezalel School, although according to Zweig, he was never fully embraced by Palestine’s younger more expressionistic and less realistic art world.5Zweig, Arnold, Herman Struck – Ein Meister der Grafik… 1956, p. 148-150. In November 1931, Struck, a very active member of the Board of the Jewish National Fund, and the two other members of the jury (Shaul Tchernichovsky and S.A. Van Vriesland) awarded first place in the competition to design a cover for the JNF’s fifth Golden Book to Ismar David. David lived in Struck’s villa in Hadar Carmel and worked in his workshop while executing the work.
A trace of Herman Struck’s life in Berlin can be found in its Hansaviertel, a short walk from the Bellevue S-Bahn stop:
Plaque, mentioning Herman Struck, Berlin. Photographed in 2024.
On September 6, 1896, on this piece of land, the house of worship of the “Synagogue Society of Moabit and the District of Hansa,” was dedicated by Rabbi Dr. Adolf Rosenzweig (1850-1918). Prof. Albert Einstein, Prof. Ismar Elbogen, Prof. Mittwoch and the graphic artist Hermann Struck took part in religious services here. The last rabbi to serve here was Dr. Chaim Heinrich Cohn (1898-1966).
On the night of the pogrom between November 9 and 10, 1938, this synagogue was also plundered and destroyed. Many of its members were murdered in concentration camps.
By her own account, Rosa Freund David had an ideal childhood in a warm and loving family circle. Born in Breslau, she didn’t leave the city until 1940, when she was forced to flee her homeland. Rosa lived through WWI, Germany’s hyperinflation, the death of her husband, the suicide of her oldest son, and the privation and degradation of the war years as a refugee in Shanghai, to finish her life modestly and quietly in Israel.
Rosa Freund was born on the evening of January 16, 1875, the seventh child in a grand total of twelve, to Isidor Freund and Caecilie Nothmann Freund. Her parents were prosperous and deeply religious. Two of Rosa’s brothers attended the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau and were ordained as rabbis. Samuel Freund (1868-1939) became a senior rabbi in Hannover as well as the landrabbiner, chief rabbbi of the entire German state of Lower Saxony. Ismar Freund (1876-1956), who graduated from the Silesian Friedrich Wilhelm University as well, was a jurist, historian and leader in the Berlin Jewish Community. Brother Benno, a sock manufacturer, was active in the leadership of Breslau’s Jewish community.
Just shy of 32 when she married Benzion Wolff David, Rosa may have been a teacher, although her marriage certificate states she had no profession. Three children followed in relatively quick succession: Felix (February 15, 1909), Ismar (August 27, 1910) and Selma (September 12, 1912). The family was religiously orthodox, culturally German and solidly middle class. A servant girl also lived with the family and when the children were small, they had an adored nanny.
Benzion Wolff David was an independent general insurance agent. During his military service from 1915 to 1918, Rosa carried on with the business. She and the children all pitched in the years of his declining health after his return from the war. After Benzion’s death in 1930, the Breslau telephone book listed Rosa as an insurance agent.
Living in Berlin in 1932, son Ismar was eager to try his chances outside of Germany and emigrated to Palestine when the opportunity presented itself. As racial laws slowly strangled the Jewish population, he attempted to aid his family without success. Felix refused to leave his position in Stuttgart. Selma and her family got approval to travel to Shanghai on November 3, 1938. Then, on November 12, 1938, shortly after Reichskristallnacht, Felix and his family were found dead from suicide in their apartment. Rosa, who had sworn she would not leave Germany while she had a child still living there, somehow endured until January 16, 1940, when she received permission to exit the country to join Selma in Shanghai. Rosa’s sister Martha was not so fortunate. She was deported from Breslau on July 7, 1942 to Theresienstadt and on September 23 to Treblinka. Of Rosa’s other 10 siblings, Benno had died in 1914, Hugo, was missing in action and presumed dead in 1917, Johanna had died in 1921, David in 1935, Selma in 1937 and Samuel in 1939. Brother Ismar with his wife and three children had fled to Palestine in November 1938.
Travel permit photo of Rosa David, 1947. Courtesy of Hannah Wende
After six years in Japanese-occupied China, the relationship between Rosa and her daughter was severely frayed. Relatives in Australia made it possible for Selma and family to leave China in May of 1945. In the second half of 1947, the Jewish Agency arranged Rosa’s passage to Palestine, via the U.S. She arrived in San Francisco on the S.S. General W. H. Gordon, a converted troop ship at the end of November. After a transcontinental train ride, she had what must have been a bittersweet reunion with her surviving son at Grand Central Station, before continuing on to Haifa. She spent her remaining years in Israel and died on March 29, 1956.
The eighth of twelve children, Ismar Freund grew up in busy and pious atmosphere, where societal and religious responsibilities were upheld. He earned a degree in law from the University of Breslau and was ordained a rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary. As impressive as this is, his elder (by seven and a half years) brother, Samuel, had also studied at both institutions. While Samuel become a practicing rabbi in Hannover, Ismar entered the political and civic life of the Jewish community in Berlin and became one of its leaders. He was an expert on law covering the relationship of church and state and wrote extensively about it. He lectured and was a co-founder of the Preussische Landesverband juedischer Gemeinden.
A poster for the twenty-fifth wedding anniversary of Ismar and Elise Freund.
He married Elisa Graetzer, on February 11, 1905 in Gross-Strehlitz. Their children, Peter (b. 1906), Paul (b.1909) and Marianne (later Miriam, b. 1913) were all born in Berlin.1Thank you to Peter Crosby’s massive family tree. In 1938, Freund’s son Peter was among those seized by the Gesapo after Kristallnacht. Freund and his wife rushed to Erfurt to rescue him. Father and son were both imprisoned in Buchenwald where Freund witnessed beatings and torture. Upon his release two weeks later, he and his family sought the help of the British consul and emigrated to Palestine. Freund considered his imprisonment as a sign from God, without which he probably would have remained in Germany and perished.2Joachim Rott, Ismar Freund, Jüdische Miniaturen, Band 225. Leipzig: Hentrich & Hentrich, 2018, p.43.
Undated photo of Elise Graetzer Freund.
While attending the Kunstgewerbe- und Handwerkerschule Berlin-Charlottenburg, Ismar David lived in Auerbachstrasse 2, a building owned by his uncle and aunt. Ismar David spoke warmly of his aunt, Elise Grätzer Freund, and was close to three cousins.
Undated photograph of Ismar Freund and two of his children, probably in Berlin.
The reseach of Doris Neu, on behalf of Stuttgart’s Stolpersteininitiative Fildervororte, pointed the way to Olaf Wittenberg’s perceptive article, “Drittes Reich: Ausgezeichnete Lebensrettung durch einen Juden” in Militaria, 29. Jahrgang, Heft 5, September/Oktober 2006, which in turn opened the door to this further research.
Selma and Felix David with their aunt Martha Freund Hirschberg. Photo courtesy of Evelyn Beckman and Debbie Beckman Bloch.
The tragedy of Felix David is one that we will never fully understand. He was certainly aware of the urgency of his family’s situation—he taught at schools that explicitly prepared students for new lives abroad. He had, for years, been an active participant in the Zionist youth movement, yet given the opportunity to leave Germany to join family in Palestine, he did not go. Felix was gifted and, we may suppose, ambitious. He wrote articles, gave lectures and participated in civic organizations. He was a responsible educator, who showed courage and quick-wittedness when he saved the life of a drowning woman. Why a young man of 29, two days after the pogrom of November 1938, simply gave up, not only on his own account, but on that of his wife and two very young sons, remains an enigma. Our only witness in Stuttgart at the time was shocked and appalled. Today we can hardly do more than speculate and assemble a virtual scrapbook of his press clippings and the cold police report of his family’s demise.
Childhood and Youth
Ismar, Selma and Felix David with their beloved fräulein.
Felix David was born on February 15, 1909 in Breslau, the first of three children, to Benzion Wolff David, an insurance agent, and Rosa Freund David, a teacher. His mother’s family was prosperous and prominent. Uncle Benno owned a stocking factory and was a member of the Kultuskommission I, one of two administrative bodies within Breslau’s Jewish community. Uncle Ismar was a jurist and author, member of the board of the Berlin Jewish Community and a co-founder of Prussian State Association of Jewish Communities; Uncle Samuel, a prominent rabbi in Hannover. Family history tells us that Felix was good-looking and “an absolute mathematical genius.”1According to niece Hannah Wende. He excelled in König Wilhelm Gymnasium, the alma mater of physicist and mathematician Max Born, who graduated in 1901. (The secular school was generally known for its equitable treatment of Jewish students.)2Garz, Detlef & Gesine Janssen p. 35 Über den Mangel an Charakter des deutschen Volkes. In the normal course of events, we may expect that he graduated in 1927 and must have then gone on to an institution of higher learning, but we don’t, as yet, know where.
1930
On March 16, 1930, the Jewish community in Breslau dedicated a new youth home, of which it was justifiably proud. The project had been a challenging undertaking, but the result was a modern, light-filled building with library, assembly room, darkroom, club rooms, central heating and garden plus living accommodations for eleven youths on the third floor. The young manager of the facility, Felix David, had recently relocated from Cologne. In his own short address in Breslau’s community newspaper, Felix noted the success the center enjoyed right from the outset and that he was available for consultation on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Various reports make it clear, however, that the “soul”3Breslauer Jüdisches Gemeindeblatt, April, 1930, Nr. 4, p.56. of the center was its director and founder, Paula Ollendorff, teacher, social activist and first woman in Germany to become a town councilor. During his time at the youth home, Felix held meetings of the National Jewish Youth Circle (1)(2) and supported the Keren Kayemet Le-Israel, the Jewish National Fund, giving 6 DM himself. He was just 21 years old.
1931
In the February issue of the community newspaper, the synagogue board posted an announcement that it was looking for an unmarried manager for its youth home to begin on April 1. The Bar Kochba Sports Club addressed what the Jüdische Zeitung für Ostdeutschland called the “David case” in its general meeting on February 25 and the assembly unanimously passed a resolution protesting Felix David’s dismissal. They noted that the synagogue board has fired him although he had won the trust of the youth at the home and although the committe responsible for his position had refused to approve his removal. The resolution went on to commend Felix’s merits and his ability to build an uplifting educational program from the many poliltical-philosophical streams of Jewish youth groups.
Felix soldiered on. On Sunday evening, February 14, in a meeting of the National Jewish Youth Ring, he gave a talk on the topic: “Zionism and Messianism.” On March 23, despite a boycott by a few groups on the left, more than sixty youths gathered to hear a talk by a proponent of Revisionist Zionism (a more right wing movement, seeking to revise Herzl’s practical Zionism, by focussing on statehood). Felix was there representing the German Misrachi (orthodox religious) Zionist point of view, but he was also described as a “friend of Poale Zionism” (Marxist socialist Zionism). Just as he had done at the youth home, he demonstrated his ability to work with competing Zionist ideologies. The speakers were well received and the evening ended at 1 in the morning with applause for all involved. During a youth semimar from April 11-19, Felix delivered an address on “The Non-Zionistic Solutions to the Jewish Question.”
1932-33
Notwithstanding the unexplained action of the Breslau community board, the Ollendorffs must have liked what they saw, because Felix led classes, alongside Paula Ollendorff’s son, Fritz, at the newly-founded Jewish Youth School in Cologne, slated to open in October 1932. The leadership at the school sought to provide Jewish students with the “language, literature and history” that was their inheritance and to keep costs affordable for anyone who wanted to attend. Felix’s classes included: “Introduction to the Culture of Ancient Israel, illustrated by selection from the Book of Judges” and “The Genesis of Christianity (with regard to Modern Liturature).” He may also have been the housemaster of the school.
1934
In 1934, Felix was a probationary teacher in Beuthen, now Bytom in Poland, a city with a large Jewish community, an imposing synagogue and a municipal Jewish primary school. On March 13, the local Zionist group hosted a presentation by senior teacher, Dr. Goldstein-Gleiwitz. She spoke movingly of the anguish of Jewish children having their skulls measured in biology classes, as well as suffering numerous other indignities and neglect in non-Jewish schools. Felix took part in the general discussion that followed, in which all participants agreed to the urgency of founding of a Jewish middle school in Beuthen.
Under the auspices of the Local Organization of Jewish Youth Associations, an audience of over 40 people heard Felix lecture on “The Philosophy of the Bible, Job and Koheleth” as well as on “Halevi’s Book of the Kuzari and Maimonides’ Guide For the Perplexed.” When a performance of Jakobs Traum concluded the winter season of events for the organization, Felix introduced the work and praised the participating groups, who had come together to present an affirmatively Jewish work, selected to express a sense of Jewish history and the comfort it could provide.
1935-36
The Stuttgart Jewish School had been founded in March of 1934, with its new school building dedicated the following year on April 17. Architects Oskar Bloch and Ernst Guggenheimer managed, within a constrained budget and under difficult political circumstances, to erect a modern and modest (in keeping with the necessity to keep a low profile) edifice. The community rejoiced in having a relatively safe haven for their children and teachers made every effort to create an environment that was free of the existential anxiety then present in every Jewish home.4Zelzer, Maria p. 176 Weg und Schicksal der Stuttgarter Juden. Ein Gedenkbuch, 1964. The school administration was keenly aware of its responsibilities in response to National Socialist policies and stressed learning English, Spanish and modern Hebrew, as well as the general curriculum of Wurttemberg. The school, like Stuttgart’s Jüdisches Lehrhaus, taught manual skills, too, reflecting the conviction that intellect in a new culture was not marketable and one had better be prepared to work with one’s hands.
Der Israelit, November 1, 1934. Advertisement for a teacher—only first class applicants with the best references will be considered. Those capable of teaching manual skills, drawing, athletics, singing, nature studies and French language are desired.
Exactly when Felix started teaching at the Jewish School in Stuttgart is a little nebulous. According to Maria Zelzer,5Zelzer, Maria p. 522 .ibid. Felix was a staff member in April 1935, however he gave a talk (“What Do the Current Times Demand of Jewish Parents?”) in Gleiwitz on January 26 and spoke at a week-long conference for leaders of Jewish youth groups there in July. (His topic was “How Do We Promote Jewish History in the [Youth] Leagues?,” in which he used Biblical examples and critically examined the books used to teach history.) At a cultural event on November 24, again in Gleiwitz, “Felix David, Beuthen” gave a talk entitled, “Our Current Situation and Nevertheless…Cultural Zionism” and the Judische Zeitung continued to identify him as probationary teacher, when on Feb 17, 1936, he gave a lecture, again for the Local Zionist Group. (The talk was on Leo Pinsker. Felix compared Pinsker’s ideology to Ahad Ha’am and Theodor Herzl and discussed the spiritual construction of Chibbath Zion philosophy and the concept of political Zionism.) The credit for his article,Suggestions on the Selection and Distribution of Materials in Jewish History Classes, appearing in the Jüdische Schulzeitung, June 1936, still placed him in Beuthen. (This article is a stark expression of Felix’s Zionism. He criticizes the handling of Jewish history in schools, which he sees as colored by a desire for assimilation and a rejection of the idea of a Jewish national culture. He posits that the Bible should not just be mined for religious fables for young children, but, more importantly, utilized for older children as a basis for history lessons and for instilling Palestine’s crucial place in Jewish life both in the past and the present.)
In any case, Felix was in Beuthen on August 30, 1935, when he married Ruth Rosenzweig. Ruth was born in Cologne on July 7, 1911, two years after her brother Kurt Ascher. Like Felix’s brother, Ismar, she had strabismus in one eye. She had attended a Protestant private school and a home economics school before she began a course in nursing, which she had been due to complete in the spring of 1934. However, in 1933, she emigrated to Palestine with her parents Siegmund and Martha, born Philippi, and presumably her brother. Ruth worked in a hospital as an unlicensed nurse until she left Palestine and returned to Germany in order to marry Felix David. According to her brother-in-law, she was completely dominated by her husband.
Although Felix’s name does not appear in the Stuttgart Telephone Book until 1937, a police report tells us he was certainly a teacher residing in Stuttgart, when he saved a woman from drowning (!) on June 23, 1936. As Felix told the police inspector:
I was at the public swimming area on June 23rd and happened to walk across from the stadium pool to the Neckar, just to check that none of our students was swimming in the river.
As I walked along the lower bank, I suddenly saw a woman in the water, awkwardly trying to swim on her back and apparently talking to herself. When, just then, she went under, I realized that the woman was drowning. I called to two rowers, who were lounging in their boat on the opposite bank, just in case, and went into the water. I swam to where the woman had gone under and just then come up again. As I came close to her, she tried to grab on to me. I pushed her away and shouted that she should turn on her back. I immediately succeeded in approaching her from behind and was able to pull her to the riverbank, using a rear rescue carry. In the meantime, the two rowers had arrived in their boat and helped me to carry the woman up the stairs.6Felix David in a report about the rescue. Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (HstA S): Best. E 151/01, Bü 2830.
The Stuttgarter Neues Tagblatt cited the event on the same day7According to Der Schild, July 3, 1936. and, in the days that followed, a few Jewish newspapers picked up the story. (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)
Stuttgart seems to have been a perfect fit for Felix, who continued his involvement in Zionist groups and also taught at the Jewish Sports School. (He was a good swimmer and had taken life-saving courses during his student days.)8Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (HstA S): Best. E 151/01, Bü 2830. In October, the Jüdischer Schulzeitung published a response to the article by Felix. Dr. Lotte Barschak in Berlin decried the orthodoxy of a purely Biblical and biographical Jewish history curriculum and advocated for one that showed the relationship between Jewish and non-Jewish culture. From December 9-11, 1936, he took part in two sports education courses at the othropaedic-gymnastic institute run by Alice Bloch (wife of architect Oscar Bloch).
1937
At the Regular General Meeting of Local Zionist Group on March 24, 1937, a new executive council was elected. As part of its supporting committee, Felix was responsible for culture and education. In the May issue of the community newspaper, he appealed to parents to send their children to community youth groups where crafts, reading, games and hiking, love of nature and a sense of community were offered. Felix outlined the advantages and necessity of organized youth groups in those dark times, when parents could hardly have the buoyancy of spirit to play with their children. He invited parents to meet the teachers and promised that children would not be indoctrinated politically in any way. He described the youthful optimism of the teachers and their desire to help children make their way in the Jewish world.
From June 17-20, Felix led Bible studies at a 3-day seminar of the Zionist District Association of Baden-Württemberg, held in Haigerloch, about 70 km away from his home and arranged the celebration after the Sabbath. At a school sporting event on July 28, he guided the small children with a sure hand.
A son, Benzion Wolf, was born to Ruth and Felix David on August 31.
In the October 16th meeting of the Friends of the Jewish School, Felix was elected to the school committee. The next day, he spoke at a farewell event for first chairman of the Hakoah Sports Club, Ernst Freudenheim. Around this time, too, Felix began teaching a course at the Lehrhaus about the report of the Royal Commission on Palestine, headed by Lord Peel. When he spoke to Local Zionist Group in Stuttgart about “Palestine’s Economy in Crisis—a report from a trip to Palestine” on November 1, it seems likely that he was referring to his own trip to Palestine, which his brother Ismar, who had been living in Jerusalem since 1932, recalled. The trip must have lent resonance to his talk at a showing of Weg in die Wirklichkeit, (The Path to Reality), as well as another film, Brit Hanoar, on November 24. Weg in die Wirklichkeit, by Ernst Mayer, dealt with the acheivements of a religious kibbutz in Eretz Israel and Felix received hearty applause for his enthusiastic description of the Bachad, an orthodox-Zionist-socialist youth movement and its synthesis of “[religious] law, work and Eretz Israel.” At the Hakoah Sports Club Hannukah party on December 4, he galvanized the audience with his words about the living symbol of the menorah and the fighting spirit of the Maccabees. For the Hanukkah festivities at school, Felix adapted the midrashic tale of the fox and the wolf for young students in a way both playful and inspiring. At a plenary meeting of the Jewish Directors Office, he gave a report about the continuation of the ninth class.
1938
Jüdisches Gemeindeblatt Württemberg, January 16, 1938. Announcement including presentation of Stimmungsbilder aus Palästina by Felix David.
Felix continued his involvement with the orthodox-Zionist youth movement. Zion, the monthly newsletter of the Central Office of Independent Misrachi National Organization of Germany, noted his appearances in connection with Weg in die Wirklichkeit. It seems probable that Felix used his own photos for the basis of a talk, “Atmospheric Pictures from a Trip to Palestine,” that Felix presented to the Women’s Association for Palestine Work on January 27, 1938. At a community meeting on February 2, Felix again spoke about changes to 9th class and the emphasis on preparation for emmigration. In Göppingen, he once more provided context for Weg in die Wirklichkeit and Brit Hanoar, discussing the current status of the Palestine question and the achievements and goals of the Misrachi. The films were well recieved by an audience in Heilbronn, too, where Felix spoke about the goals of the Misrachi. In late spring, the directors of the school held an evening lecture, entitled, “The Purpose of Hebrew in the Upbringing of a Jewish Child,” a topic initiated by the community newspaper. All the speakers recognized the social, moral and cultural value of teaching the Hebrew language in school. The only disagreement was its necessity in comparison with the normal curriculum. Felix took part in the discussion that followed.
The Davids’ second son, Yizchak Gideon, was born on June 11. Almost immediately, the elated parents placed an announcement in the Jüdische Rundschau.
Jüdisches Gemeindeblatt Württemberg, September 16, 1938. Felix spoke at a showing of the sound film Der Neue Weg, (The New Way).
On September 21, Felix spoke to young people at an afternoon showing of the film Der Neue Weg (The New Path) from the Keren Kayemet, the Jewish National Fund, and thanked the speaker at the evening showing.
Felix was making 400 RM a year at the Jewish School plus an additional 50-75 RM from his teaching at the Sports School.9EA 99-001 Bü 164, Erhebungsbogen zur Dokumentation der Judenschicksale 1933-45, Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg. Despite the pleas of Ruth’s parents and the efforts of his brother, the couple had remained in Germany. What happened next, is almost unfathomable. Edith Goldschmidt, wife of the director of the Jewish School in Stuttgart and a teacher there herself, describes the events in her autobiography. On the day following the start of the pogrom, her husband had not returned home, as usual, for lunch.
Hours went by, until finally a younger colleague, Mr. David, who belonged to the orthodox community, came to me at about 4 o’clock. He told me what had happened that morning in the school. All the male teachers had been taken by the SS to a concentration camp. The camp was in Baden. He had not been in the school only by chance. Had I heard nothing about the synagogue and cemetery destruction? Now, he wanted to say goodbye.10Goldschmidt, Maria. Drei Leben: Autobiographie einer deutschen Jüdin, Stadt Steinfurt, 1992, 41.
Edith Goldschmidt goes on to write that female teachers had also been at the school and that most had already prepared to leave Germany.
The terror unleashed by the pogrom in the night of November 9 was apparently too much for Felix and Ruth to bear. Edith Goldsmith goes on to describe what happened after Felix left her.
I was so stunned from what I had just heard, that I just couldn’t really comprehend why he said goodbye so emphatically. His wife had had her second baby a month ago, and I knew that he had his travel permit for Australia in his pocket. Unfortunately, he had to leave me alone now, my colleague said to me, his wife was waiting for him. Everything looks worse than it is, one must not lose courage. Platitudes that he tried to use to hide what was really going on in his mind. He left. And two hours later, he and his wife and the two small children were found dead in their beds. He had poisoned his family and himself to escape the fate of the concentration camps—with a travel permit in his pocket. He was orthodox, observed all the religious laws down to the smallest detail, but his belief in God wasn’t enough to go from here to there. He was one of the most gifted mathematicians I have ever met. He could have saved himself and his family with a minimum of genuine piety, as we saved ourselves with God’s help, but in these hours of terrible fear and uncertainty, murder and suicide were easier than trusting in God.11Ibid., 41.
The police report states that Felix and his family were found in their apartment, dead from gas poisoning, at 8 a.m. on Saturday, November 12, two days after Edith Goldschmidt’s husband and others had been seized. (Emil Goldschmidt was released 14 days later.) Ms. Goldschmidt attended the services for the David family.
I went to the funeral of these first tragic victims of the demoralization, which now was growing rapidly. They were given an honorable burial in the Jewish Cemetery, but I will never forget the admonitory address the rabbi gave to his troubled congregation with regard to the dead.12Ibid., 41.
Stolpersteins for Felix and Ruth Rosenzweig David, and their sons Benzion (Benjamin) and Gideon on Reutlinger Straße in Degerloch, Stuttgart, Germany
SOURCES
Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg, Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main: Der Israelit Frankfurt am Main; Jüdische Schulzeitung Mannheim; Gemeindeblatt der Israelitischen Gemeinde Frankfurt am Main; Zion: Monatsblätter für Lehre, Volk, Land Berlin; Gemeindeblatt der Israelitischen Religionsgemeinde zu Leipzig: Amtliches Nachrichtenblatt der Gemeindeverwaltung, Leipzig; Central-Verein-Yeitung: Blätter für Deutschtum und Judentum; C-V-Zeitung; Organ des Central-Vereins Deutscher Staatsbürger Jüdischen Glaubens, Berlin; Gemeinde-Zeitung für die Israelitischen Gemeinden Württembergs, Stuttgart; Der Israelit : ein Centralorgan für das Orthodoxe Judenthum, Mainz; Jüdische Rundschau : Allgemeine Jüdische Zeitung, Berlin; Jüdische Allgemeine Zeitung, Berlin; Mitteilungen des Reichsausschusses der Jüdischen Jugendverbände / Reichsausschuss der Jüdischen Jugendverbände; Der Schild,Berlin.
Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek Köln DIgitale Sammlungen: Gemeindeblatt der Synagogen-Gemeinde zu Köln am Rhein
Das Digitale Forum Mittel- und Osteurop (DiFMOE) https://www.difmoe.eu/d/: Jüdische Zeitung, Breslau; Jüdische Zeitung für Ostdeutschland, Breslau
Archive.org: Breslauer Jüdisches Gemeindeblätt; Informationsblätter, Herausgebeben von der Reichvertretung der Juden in Deutschland
Archiv.org: Picard Collection: Gemeindeblatt des Landesverbandes israelitischer Religionsgemeinden Hessens
Located on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem, Cabinet of Arts (קבינט אמניות) was the site of an exhibiton of arts and crafts in November of 1937. V.C., the reviewer for The Jerusalem Post wrote:
The general standard of the Exhibition of the Cabinet of Arts, Ben Yehuda St., Jerusalem, is of the highest in technical achievement and artistic arrangement that I have yet seen in Palestine. Everything shown here has a degree of finish refreshing for its own sake—all the artists concerned in this exhibition having long passed the amateur stages of their craft. Here are men and women who, whatever their pure artistic merit, have at least learnt how to handle their tools with skill and certainty.
The books bound by both Dr. Seleigmann and Miss Flasheim are a pleasure to the eye and a joy to handle. The raffia bags and belts of Lydia Deutsch have a degree of finish and charm not always seen in such work.
Metal Work
The silver and copper work, by David Gumbel, combines great technical skill and a very nice sense of form. His coffee pot and vase have real delicacy of feeling and the embossed silver cigarette box is very attractive in design. Mr. Wolpet is showing some simple “Hanuka” candle sticks. The jewelry both of Mr. Hess and Mrs. Lilien — is of a very high standard and Mr. Hess’s work is beyond criticism, though I find a greater warmth of desing in that of Mrs. Lilien. Yet Mr. Hess’s settings of precious and semi-precious stones have a dignified simplicity wholly admirable.
Playing Cards
Two Commercial Artists — Ismar David and Karl Henschel — are showing precious specimens of their work. I liked the playing cards of Karl Henschel as well as some of his trade marks that are already familiar to the public. The best of Isman [sic] David’s work is his really superb lettering, while his design and the finished lacquer wooden case of the Keren Kayemeth Children’s Golden Book is very suitable.
Toys and Weaving
The wooden toys of Schwerin and wooden objects from the Saenger turnery are already well known and deserve the appreciation they get.
Miss Keines is showing some hand weaving, the best of which is a sofa cover in black and natural colours with dull orange borders. Her work, though good craftsmanship, is on the whole inclined to be a little dull in colour.
This is an exhibition encouraging to the spectator, and worthy of all encouragement from the public.
Because of its similarity to the map for the Charlotte Shop, the map (at least) for this invitation to an exhibition of ink drawings by H. A. Kahn in 1942 appears to have been done by Ismar David.
Rosa David in undated photo. Photo courtesy of Evelyn Beckman and Debbie Beckman Bloch.
Rosa Freund David, 1875–1956, mother.
Rosa David had been in Palestine for hardly more than six months, when, a visiting doctor presented an assembly of the residents in the nursing home with a project. Dr. Straus clearly meant to alleviate their isolation and sense of loss, but she also appealed to a universal desire to communicate and commemorate. She proposed that these refugees from all parts of Germany recount their experiences. It was not meant to be a great literary endeavor, she said; the goal was rather to create a mosaic of a Jewish way of life that had effectively been eradicated by world events. To start the ball rolling, Dr. Straus told the story of her own parents’ engagement. Two women immediately joined the discussion. One of the other residents, Adolf Peritz, suggested that the group select a topic about which everyone would have something to relate. He then volunteered to speak at the next meeting. The chosen topic was: My Parents’ House. Several handwritten texts survive. What follows here is Rosa’s contribution:
Wenn ich Ihnen heute etwas aus meiner Jugendzeit erzählen will, muß ich Sie um Nachsicht bitten, denn es ist nicht viel Bemerkenswertes in dem, was ich zu sagen habe. Ich kann Ihnen nichts über das jüdische Leben in meiner Vaterstadt Breslau berichten das wird sich wohl nicht viel von dem in anderen größeren deutschen Städten unterschieden haben, auch nicht von immer neuen Eindrücken, die ich dadurch empfing, daß meine Eltern ihren Wohnort wechselten, denn das Haus in dem ich das Licht der Welt erblickte, verließ ich nicht bis meiner Heirat. So war das Elternhaus meine ganze Welt, und es war erfüllt von dem Geiste meines Vaters und meiner Mutter. Es muss wohl ein guter Geist gewesen sein, denn mehrere Jugendgenossen, denen ich im späteren Leben wieder begegnete, versicherten mir, sie hätten in meinem Elternhaus die schönsten Stunden ihres Lebens verbracht. Es war immer ein offenes Haus und immer bereit jeden aufzunehmen, der es gerade wünscht; sei es eine alte Tante, die während der Feiertage nicht allein sein wollte, oder andere Verwandte, die in unserer Stadt etwas erledigen wollten, Vettern und Kusinen, die ihre Ferien schön bei uns zubrachten, Freundinnen von uns Mädels oder Studiengenossen meiner Brüder, die sich alle bei uns wohlig fühlten. Dabei waren wir Geschwister an sich nicht gerade wenig, ein ganzes Dutzend, 7 Brüder und 5 Schwestern. Mein Vater war Kaufmann. er war bekannt wegen der großen Rechtlichkeit mit der er seinen Beruf ausübte, er hatte schon in damaliger Zeit eine gute deutsche Bildung, ein großes jüdisches Wissen und nahm Anteil an allen sozialen Angelegenheiten. So hatte er zusammen mit seinen Freunden den Verband zur Erziehung Hilfsbedürftiger israelitischer Kinder gegründet, in dem Kinder, die in keinem Waisenhaus aufgenommen wurden, zumeist vaterlose, erzogen werden sollten, und zwar hatte er den Plan die einzelnen Kinder in Familien unterzubringen, die ihnen das Elternhaus ersetzen sollten. In einigen Fällen erzielte man damit auch gute Resultate, und besonders in einem Haus wuchsen die Zöglinge fast durchweg zu tüchtigen Menschen heran, anderen aber wollten sich durch die Aufnahme der Kinder nur einen guten Nebenerwerb schaffen, und so ging man schließlich dazu über, alle Kinder unter Leitung eines Ehepaares in einem Haus zusammen zu fassen. Dieses Haus bestand auch nach dem Tode meines Vaters weiter, bis es durch Hitler wie so viele andere gemeinnützige Unternehmungen sein Ende fand. So lange mein Vater lebte nahm er Anteil an jedem einzelnen der Zöglinge. Er ließ sie zu sich kommen, prüfte ihre Fortschritte, ihren Gesundheitszustand und hatte immer eine besondere Freude, wenn einer im Leben Erfolg hatte. Gegen uns Kinder war mein Vater streng und duldete keinen Ungehorsam; aber er verstand es anderseits sehr, uns im Leben überall das Schöne zu zeigen. Er hatte z. B. eine sehr große Liebe zur Natur, und machte jeden Sonntag mit uns einen Ausflug in die Umgebung Breslaus und dabei machte er uns auf alles Bemerkenswerte, das uns unterwegs begegnete, aufmerksam. Es gingen immer mindestens 6-8 von uns mit, wenn mal ab und zu einer unterwegs zurückblieb, so ließ Vater im [sic] Pfeifchen ertönen, daß er zu diesem Zwecke stets bei sich trug, und bald waren wieder alle beisammen. Ein ganz besonderes Vergnügen war es wenn ihm einmal im Jahr ein Bekannter einen Krämzerwagen, d. i. ein einfacher Wagen mit Holzbänken, in dem circa 20 Personen Platz haben, zur Verfügung stellte und dann noch Freunde mitgenommen wurden. Dann ging es in die weitere Umgebung, und es gab des Singens, Lachens und sich Freuens kein Ende. Auch die Berge Schlesiens zeigte er uns, und wir alle verloren nie die Freude am Bergsteigen überhaupt an Gottes freier Natur. Bei diesen Ausflügen hielt Mutter, ohne die der Vater sonst kein Vergnügen kannte, nicht mit sie war kein gute Fußgängerin. Sonst aber unterstützte sie ihn in allen seinen Bestrebungen, fand sogar bei der eigenen Schar noch Zeit, sich der von Vater betreuten Kinder anzunehmen. Zeit hatte sie merkwürdiger Weise für alle und alles, und es ging wohl keiner, der einer Bitte an sie hatte, enttäuscht von ihr. Meine Mutter war die verkörperte Gute, ich weiß mich nicht daran zu erinnern, von ihr jemals ein böses, nicht einmal ein strenges Wort gehört zu haben. Die sang den ganzen Tag; wenn es einen Streit zu überbrücken, jemandem zu helfen, galt, war sie immer zu haben. Sie war von einer tiefen Frömmigkeit, dabei aber sehr tolerant und versuchte nie, andere zu beeinflussen. Wenn sie Arme unterstütze, achtete sie sehr darauf, daß diese nicht beschämt wurden. So wurden vor jedem Freitag bei uns Berge von Kuchen gebacken, einen Teil davon packte Mutter in Päckchen und in jedes legte sie in Papier gewickeltes Geld; wir Kinder gingen dann mit diesen Päckchen zu Bedürftigen und gaben sie mit Festagsgrüßen von den Eltern ab. Ja, Feste zu feiern verstand man bei uns, und zu jedem Feste gehört etwas Besonderes. 4 Wochen vor Pehsach ließ Vater ein Fäßchen Wein kommen; das füllte er in Flaschen ab, und wir Kinder durften helfen; welche Freude, wenn wir dann am Cederabend davon trinken durften! Und wie schön hielt Vater den Ceder ab!; ich glaube, das ist uns allen immer gegenwärtig geblieben. an Schewuaus wurde natürlich die ganze Wohnung mit Grün geschmückt, und des Nachts blieb man, wie das so in vielen Familien üblich ist, bei Kaffee und Kuchen auf zum Lernen. An Rosh ha Shanah blies mein Vater wohl 25 Jahre lang in der Synagoge, die er besuchte, Shofar. Schon 4 Wochen vorher wurde der Schofar […], dadurch sollte er reiner klingen, und den ganzen Monat blies er täglich; wir glaubten keiner hätte es so schön gekonnt. Am Ausgang des Yom Kippur fingen wir an, Schmuck für die Laubhütte zu machen bei der Ausschmückung beteiligte sich nicht nur unsere ganze Familie, sondern das ganze Haus; und wie stolz waren wir Kinder wenn unser Zukah besonders schön war. Simchas Thora war natürlich ein besonderes Freudenfest; wie immer mit Gästen und recht vielen Süßigkeiten. Auch Channukah warf seine Schatten voraus; da schnitzte Vater ein Stück von einer Bürstenstiel zurecht. er schnitzte die Buchstaben Alef [sic], Gimmel, Nun und Shin darin um ein Trendel zu gießen. Wenn der Guß fertig war, wurde es noch verschönt und wir amüsierten uns während der 8 Tage immer, wenn die Lichtlein brannten, damit, um Nüsse zu spielen und jeder wollte recht viel gewinnen. An Purim ging der Jubel schon am frühen Morgen los da trugen wir Schlachmonaus zu Verwandten und Freunden, und natürlich viel für uns Kinder allerhand ab. Am Abend kamen viele Masken zu uns; auch wir machten uns allerlei Kostüme zurecht und gingen darin zu Bekannten; wir waren dabei fest überzeugt, daß niemand uns erkennen könne. So führten wir ein frohes Leben; unsere Eltern hatten selbstverständlich auch ihre Sorgen; aber wir Kinder merkten nicht viel davon. Wir waren, wie ich schon erwähnte, 12 Geschwister alle 7 Brüder besuchten dasselbe Gymnasium und die meisten waren sehr gute Schüler; der eine wurde später Rabbiner und war aber 25 Jahre Landrabbiner von Hannover; ein anderer Bruder besuchte ebenfalls der Rabbinerseminar, studierte nebenbei Jura und Philologie und beteiligte sich viele Jahre lang an der Berliner Gemeinde. 2 der Brüder übernahmen später das väterliche Geschäft; auch die anderen wurden Kaufleute. Auch wir Mädels gingen alle in dieselbe Schule wie man das damals nannte Höhere Töchter Schule. Eine ältere Schwester und ich machten dann das Lehrerinnenexamen und ich unterrichtete dann eine Zeitlang an derselben Schule. Doch das gehört nicht mehr in meine Kinderzeit, so habe ich eigentlich nichts mehr zu sagen nur möchte ich als Abschluß ein paar Worte von mir beifügen, weil ich denke, daß sie meine Mutter so, wie sie war, schildern.
If I tell you, today, something about my childhood, I have to ask for your forbearance, because there is nothing very remarkable in what I have to say. I can’t impart anything about Jewish life in my hometown of Breslau that would be much different from other large German cities, also nothing about continuously new impressions, which I would have had, if my parents had changed their place of residence, for I didn’t leave the house where I first saw the light of day until I married. Thus, my parents’ house was my whole world and it was filled with the spirit of my father and mother. It must have been a benevolent spirit, because several childhood friends, who I met later in life, assured me that they had spent the some of the best hours of their lives in my parents’ house. It was always an open house and always ready to take someone in, who at that moment wanted to come; be it an elderly aunt who didn’t want to be alone during the holidays or other relatives, who had something to take care of in our city; cousins, who spent happy vacations with us; girlfriends of us girls or school pals of my brothers, who all felt very comfortable at our house. Besides, we weren’t exactly few in number, a whole dozen, seven brothers and five sisters.
My father was a business man; he was known for the rectitude with which he conducted his profession. Even in those times, he had a good German education, a vast knowledge of Judaism and he took part in all socially-minded matters. In this way, he and his friends founded a society for the upbringing of needy Jewish children, most of them fatherless, who were not taken in by an orphanage. His plan was to place individual children with families, who could give them a home. In some cases, good results were achieved. Almost all the children under his protection grew up to be capable people, especially the ones placed in a home. But some people only wanted to make extra money by taking in children and so in the end, the plan shifted to gathering all the children in one house, managed by a married couple. This house continued to operate after the death of my father, until it met its end, like so many other charitable undertakings, under Hitler. As long as my father lived, he took an interest in every one of the children there. He had them come to him and checked on their progress and their health. He was especially happy, when one of them was successful in life.
My father was strict with us kids and didn’t tolerate disobedience, but, on the other hand, he had a knack for showing us the beautiful things in life. He had, e.g., a great love of nature and, every Sunday, took us all on an outing in the area surrounding Breslau. He pointed out all that was remarkable that we encountered on the way. At least 6-8 of us always accompanied him and when one of us occasionally lagged behind, he blew a little whistle that he always carried with him for this purpose, and soon we were all together again. It was a very special pleasure for him, if, once a year, an acquaintance made a Kremserwagon (that is, a simple wagon with enough wooden benches to accommodate about 20 people) available to him. Then he could take friends along, too, and we’d go further afield, with no end of singing, laughing and joy. He also showed us the Silesian mountains and none of us ever lost the joy of hiking in the mountains or in God’s great outdoors.
Mother, without whom Father generally didn’t enjoy himself, couldn’t keep pace on these excursions. She was no hiker. But otherwise, she supported him in all his endeavors, and even found time to tend to the children in Father’s care, in addition to her own brood. Strangely enough, she had time for everyone and everything, and scarcely anyone who came to her with a request, went away disappointed. My mother was the embodiment of goodness. I can’t remember ever having heard an angry or harsh word from her. She sang the whole day. If there was an argument to smooth over or someone to help, she was always available. She was deeply pious, but also very tolerant and never tried to sway others. When she helped the poor, she was very careful that they not feel ashamed. So it was at our house that mountains of cakes were baked before every Friday, a portion of which Mother put in little packages and in each package, some money wrapped in paper. We kids then took these packages to the needy, and delivered them with Sabbath greetings from our parents.
Yes, we certainly knew how to celebrate holidays, and each holiday had something special about it. Four weeks before Passover, my father had a barrel of wine delivered. He poured it into bottles and we kids could help. We were overjoyed when during the Seder, we were allowed to drink! And what a beautiful Seder my father conducted! I think it has stayed with us all to this day. On Shevuot, we decorated the entire apartment with green, and in the evening, like in so many families, we stayed up for coffee and cake and study. For some 25 years, my father blew the shofar on Rosh Hashanah in the synagogue that he attended. Already four weeks beforehand, the shofar was […], and for a whole month, he blew it daily, to get a purer sound. We believed no one could have done it so beautifully. After Yom Kippur was over, we began to make decorations for the Sukkah. Not only our whole family, but the whole building, took part and we kids were very proud when our Sukkah came out particularly well. Simchat Torah was naturally an especially joyous holiday, always with guests and a great deal of sweets. Hanukkah also cast a long shadow. Then Father rigged up the handle of a brush. He cut the letters Alef [sic], Gimel, Nun and Shin on it, in order to mold a dreidel. After the molding was done, we decorated it and amused ourselves during the 8 days when the little lights were burning, playing with nuts and each of us wanted to win a whole lot. On Purim, the jubilation already began early in the morning, when we carried Schlachmonaus to relatives and friends, with plenty left for us, of course. In the evening, many people came to us in fancy dress. We, too, dressed up in all kinds of costumes and went to acquaintances, totally convinced that no one could recognize us.
So we led a happy life. Our parents had their worries, of course, but we kids weren’t very much aware of it. We were, as I already said, twelve siblings. Seven brothers attended the same high school and most of them were good students. One later became a rabbi and was a county rabbi in Hannover for 25 years. Another brother also attended the rabbinical seminary, studied law and philology on the side and was involved with the Jewish community in Berlin for many years. Two brothers later took over the family business and the others became businessmen too. We girls also went to the same school, which then was called the “daughters’ high school”. An older sister and I took the teacher’s exam and I taught for a while at the same school. Anyway, that isn’t part of my childhood, so actually I have nothing more to say. Only, I would like to finish by adding a few words of my own, because I think that they show my mother as she was.
Rosa David in undated photo. Photo courtesy of Evelyn Beckman and Debbie Beckman Bloch
Transcribed and translated by Anuschka Tomat & Helen Brandshaft
from documents in the Leo Baeck Institute, Jerusalem: Versuch einer Sammlung von Memoiren aus einem jüdischen Elternheim. Adolf Peritz, Haifa, 1948.
Call/Accession Number: ME 498 MM 61 • Collection: LBIJER 1
System Number: CJH_ALEPH000200973
cjh_digitool574593
