Suhl - Sander Family Memoirs En

7/31/2019 Suhl - Sander Family Memoirs En

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Hilde Schatz (ne Sander) Memories from SuhlEdited by Gadiel Schatz (Hilde's Son)

Memoirs from Suhl

My FamilyKarl & Hedwig Sander

at the turn of

The 20 th century

By Hilde Schatz (ne Sander)1970 / 1982

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I am trying to tell about my parents, mysisters and my brother, In Suhl in Thuringia

(Germany). I hope I willnot forget to attach apicture of our housewith its 13 rooms. Thegarden was no lessimportant than the Villa itself but there are nopictures of it. It rained alot in Suhl , because theclouds were sailingtowards the mountainsand poured over our city,but in my memory I see our garden as always inthe sunshine. This does not necessarily have thehidden reason that I loved it so, but simply thatwe had to remain inside when it rained.

The most decorative part wasthe row of tall roses on a grassystrip along the beautiful wrought-

iron fence. The most belovedwere the yellow Marshal Nile roses. Before the winter set in,the stems were bent to theground and covered with pineneedles against snow and frost.The path along the turf washemmed with a row of white carnations and strawberry bushes behindthem. In the back were bushes of white and purple lilacs. The path led tothe lilac bowl , a semicircle of white and purple lilacs. I especially loved

their scent. Regretfully it does not thrive in Israel. Mother used to give awayhuge bouquets, and we also brought some to our teachers.

In front of the lilacs was a path leading to the Grotte (the Cave) , asemi-circle of large stones, a protective wall for the garden furniture. Fatherused to sit there quite often, playing Chinese checkers with our neighbor,Miss Nanny Schneider. She was an unmarried teacher, a true maiden ,always dressed in gray, and took every loss to heart, to the amusement of my father, for whom it was noting to care about. Then there was a nice,small garden shed, on a somewhat elevated ground, furnished with benches

and a table.

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Most of the area was covered by a lawn, on which scattered appletrees were growing. Behind the cave there was a big tree of Reine Claude (we pronounced it Renne-Kloden ), a delicate, yellow plum. This we shouldnot take without permission. I think they were used for the most part forconserving. Our sister Selma had a private game she called to mouse . Ifound out only later it meant the mousing from the forbidden tree. Of themany different varieties of apples we could take as much as we wanted,with the exception of the Gravensteinern of which there was only one tree.These apples were the favorite of our father and were kept for him. Theyare truly the finest apples I know: with delicate yellow skin and pinkcheeks, juicy, firm flesh and a wonderful aroma. The next most popularwere the elongated pineapple apples , the Strawberry apples , then earlyvarieties, and especially those for cooking and baking. I have in memoryone of those golden autumn days, when the fruit shone out through thefoliage. Lothar and I were picking apples. He sat in the tree and handed orthrew them to me and I put them in baskets. A lovely game.

Then there was a lane of pears: Niel's butter pear and good Louise ,all wonderfully juicy. At the end of the lane there stood a real gazebo, asmall temple with benches and a table, where you could sit also in the rain.Plums ripened seldom in the somewhat harsh climate. Cherries we gotenough from Aunt Meta. She had big old cherry trees in her garden.

After the apples were picked, mother used to fetch - one after

another - all the children of the working people in our neighborhood, and filltheir skirts (or aprons, which were worn in those days) with apples.Sometimes we would tease mother if she had not forgotten anyone. Theharvest was stored in the apple cellar on trays. It smelled wonderful! Somevarieties became shriveled, these Doris liked particularly.

I am afraid my description is too detailed, but I have to mention alsothe various kinds of berries. Opposite the drying hall there was a square of berries: gooseberries of different varieties, white, red and black currants, ahedge of raspberries. Each of us had favorite varieties. We ate the

gooseberries when they were press ripe , meaning they were soft when alittle squeezed. Later on, when I was accustomed to the sweet fruits of Israel, I tried currants in Europe and found them terribly sour. Mother usedto bake such good currant cakes. Not at all sour for our taste.

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The rooms in the housewere big. On the first floor, therewas only the dining room, but itwas used only on ceremonialoccasions. For daily use we atein the children's room . On itsside was a threshold with anopen door, bridged with aPersian rug. Then there was the

master sitting room , then alittle parlor in which the pianostood and then was the children's room . In this room were, apart from thelarge dining table also our little writing desks. The tall narrow windows wereadorned with fruits garlands. Along the wall was a frieze running with, Ithink, a fish pattern. Then there was the big kitchen and behind it were twostorage rooms. You can have an idea about the size of the room if youconsider that the bridge filled the living room. In the master sitting room and the dining room were beautiful big Persian carpets. I think they went toBella and Lothar in Africa.

In the basement lived the janitor Mr. Zeiss. He tended to the gardenand the central heating, but his main occupation was a railway official. Helooked indeed like a real Prussian signalman, big and stout, with alreadygraying hair and a nice, big mustache. He had always his blue cap on, at

work as well as at home. Mr. Zeiss had a rabbit coup in the back corner of the garden. He fed them with a mash of bran, chopped green and water. Iliked the smell of the bran. One of the rabbits was white with red eyes(actually an albino). His wife, also big and strong, did the shopping for ourhousehold, with a pannier , a large basket carried on the back. Bear inmind, we were 11 people on average.

Behind the house there was the laundry room in a separate littlehouse. There, in a brick kiln, a large, round metal tank was installed inwhich the laundry was boiled. There were wooden vats on racks, with their

grater boards. A primitive staircase led to a dirt floor where wood forheating was stacked. Early on, on laundry days, our maids had to see thatthere was a supply of hot water and enough of the big, yellow soap barsand that the laundry was ready in the laundry room. Then thewasherwomen, two strong women, appeared. They would have 2 days of hard work. They were treated with big cups of coffee with milk and sugarand a lot of thick sandwiches. Soon, the laundry room was filled with cloudsof steam and the hands of the laundresses became puffy and wrinkled.They lifted the large, steaming pieces with a stick from the boiler into thewash tubs. Next to the laundry room was the dry hall where the laundry

was hung. It was open on two sides, with a corrugated iron roof, about 15m long, with a concrete floor. With our frequent rainy weather it was an

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But she cared wonderfully for us and was proud of her flock. Our dailyclothes were sewn by a seamstress from our neighborhood. For the good clothes she would go by train to Erfurt to the best store for kids' clothes andpick out a selection that was then sent to us. A big excitement there waswhen the package arrived, and we sent to the lounge to try them on.Sometimes we were 5 girls all dressed alike. Sometimes the two big ones got something else. I recall an occasion when we got beige dresses, withmatching fine, high, beige shoes, with black painted soles. Elegant, is itnot? When Dirndl dresses (Swiss style) came into fashion, mother let thosedresses be made not only forus but also for our largepuppets. She held a Dirndl

garden party for us andthe neighbor kids, withlanterns on the lawn andgramophone music (theGramophon was borrowedfrom aunt Meta), and wedanced in the garden andsurely there were alsorefreshments.

My mother did not lackin imagination. She had two

coffee parties , a Jewish one and a Goisch (gentile) one. When it was herturn to entertain the gentile, and certainly in the case of the Jewish one,she would always decorate her table and her cakes in a different way. Iremember once when she pinned some little flags to the table. Thehonorable Mrs. Rector Kunz almost reproached her: Mrs. Sander, why did you not tell me that something like this is possible . Mother was very proudabout this, how else would I know about it?

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Once mother made us a puppet show. She carved faces in potatoes,maybe they had buttons for eyes, put them on sticks and clothed them inrags. When we three little ones lay all at the same time in bed with scarletfever, she made us little puppets. They were made of matches with littleheads made of aluminum foil stuffed with cotton wool. So the match dollswere practical. Scarlet fever at that time was a dangerous and contagiousdisease. After we got up again, the sickroom was disinfected and the toyswe played with were burned. During my lifetime I have often times madevarious dolls and this may be due to the good example of my mother. It wasamazing how mother could part something (like a praline) between uswithout any of us feeling deprived.

In addition to the cook we had a maid. They had their room at thetop, next to the attic rooms. It was spacious, but had a falling ceiling andthere was always a certain stale odor. Why? The girls could always havetheir bath and their sheets were regularly changed. Characteristic of thetime, those of the girls were white with red or blue checkers, those of the

masters of course white. In addition to the girls' room there was the Tower Room , a rather large, square room, where winter clothing and furswere kept in boxes and suitcases, and where packages of bound volumes of the magazine Gartenlaube (The Arbor , at that time a widely readmagazine) were stored on shelves. The magazine contained, besides theusual advice etc. also romances , which we read in secret, because suchreading was considered unfit for our age. We were particularly interested inscenes where kissing took place.

We heard quite often in the garden, through the big kitchen window,my mother's scolding voice when she shouted at the servants. For uschildren it was often embarrassing. But she was very good to them. Fordinner they received cold cuts, which she ordered so appetizingly on theplates, as for guests. And the Christmas gifts! Whole packets of linen, orsmaller items like toilet soap, not to mention the fruit loaf cake. Everythingwas beautifully decorated with ribbons and branches. She had a special

pleasure in dressing the girls up for the carnival. When our Auguste, thecook, once got the first prize, they were both proud. She appeared, so veryoriginally, in mother's checkered bathing suit, that had a little skirt, (sheprobably had also a corresponding jaunty cap on) and called herself a

sailor girl .

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During the First World War, it was hard to get a good maid. Thosewho were not too stupid found well-paid jobs in the weapons factories. Sowe had our Wanda. She came from a small remote village in the ThuringianForest, was not big, but had a large face with oily skin and watery blue eyesand straw like, colorless hair. She never looked clean (and probably wasnot.) But she was good-natured, just terribly stupid. Selma had once invitedfriends and they were together in the lilac arbor. Suddenly Wandaappeared: Miss Selma! here I am too!

For a long time our mother's younger sister, the good Aunt Flora ,lived with us. Aunt Flora was infinitely patient and kind. In the morningeach of us was always trying to get our long hair combed by her, she wasmore cautious than our mother. Aunt Flora was also good with the sewingmachine. If a lot of linen had accumulated, a seamstress would be invitedand they sat in front of the large heap of sheets and covers and put patchesor turned two into one. The so called guest room , which was mostlyunused, became the sewing room. She was always busy, only on Sundaysshe often sat on the corner sofa, reading her beloved Fritz Reutermagazine, or one of the novels popular at the time. Sudermann was then invogue. I had an intention, when I would be grown up enough, to go withAunt Flora once to Italy. Aunt Flora always looked clean and well presented,and she smelled so good. Her sister, Aunt Emma , we did not like as much.Aunt Flora went later back to Nremberg to tend, together with Aunt

Emma, to our grandparents. They became very old: grandmother Recha86, grandfather Abraham 91. The two aunts died in Theresienstadt.

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A secondary role in our household was played by butcher Isaac Kahn.His daughter Selma was in the same class with me. She looked a bit rusticand had thick lips, and we did not take her quite seriously but she was notstupid. Later on, after we left home, she worked as an accountant inHerzberg's department store on Market Square. In order to be able toattend the high school in Suhl, she lived with Mrs. Adler, her grandmother,in a house opposite us, rented from Mrs. Kolb. On our side there were 3villa-like houses of red brick, with yellow or brownish in between asornamentation. The house of Mrs. Kolb was at some distance from the road,in a grassy garden and was a kind of farmhouse. The butchery of Mr. Kahnwas in Heinrichs, a village near Suhl. He always delivered larger chunks of meat than ordered and no fret or argument would help.

Our home was kosher . I think the main reason was that ourgrandparents from Nrnberg could visit us. Father had a Treifenen Teller (a non-kosher plate). Sometimes he got some cold cuts from the non-kosher butcher Strobel for his supper. Sometimes Aunt Flora prepared a lotof sandwiches and we went to one of the nice places to eat them. It wasonly a short hike. There was a slightly sloping lawn at the edge of theforest. The view was certainly beautiful. There was a small lake, or rather apond which seemed bewitched to me. The branches of a flowering tree hangdown almost into the water. It must be remembered that we lived in abeautiful wooded region. The hills were not too high - the Thuringian Forest

is a low mountains region - and we loved the woods, the meadows withcowslips in the spring, the streams with forget-me-nots. A favoriteexcursion was to the Finsteren Erle (the Dark Alder), a clear stream,bubbling over a bed of stones. Mother used to point out beautiful points toour attention. We wanted once to take our Grandmother from Nrnberg tothe Dark Alder . To us it seemed not far at all, but Grandmother had toreturn right at the starting point. In our walks mother would watch out thatwe were walking with straight figures. Sometimes she ran after the sinnerand gave him/her a nudge in the back. Or she would let us carry a stick on

our backs between the

elbows. We did not likeit and we tried to goquickly ahead to gaina distance. But withthe admonition of keeping straight shewas right.

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Our father was a gentle person. We called him Ppchen when weheard that the grand-daughter of our religion teacher Levy called theirgrandfather Grosspppchen , which we thought was very funny. He was an

aristocrat without being conceited, for this he was much too human. Buthe did not like to be in close contact with the populace . When during thewar he had to travel third Class, it came difficult to him. At that time wehad very little to eat, only what we got on rations. So mother asked fatherto use his bank connections with the farmers and go on a hoarding

journey. The factory workers returned each day home with backpacks full of potatoes, bread, ham and eggs. Very reluctantly father grabbed his littlebackpack, and in the evening he returned with a small bag of flour, all theloot. I know of no second attempt.

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There was in Suhl, for a short time, a music director (a poor man withmany children), with whom my father had befriended. The city hadprobably not enough money for a steady choir. I do not recall any other truefriendship of my father. He was a Lodge brother, but the brothers were allso square . The Lodge advocated of course human dignity and helpfulness.The motto of the Lodge was Noble be Man, Helpful and Good ... He took itvery seriously, was also well connected to all (which was consistent with hisnature), but he spoke of them with a certain sense of humor. The Lodgewas actually a beautiful old house in a spacious garden, situated a littleoutside the city. I have big lawns in memory.

And it was just one of the lodge brothers though not from Suhl who made him lose his fortune. He had prepared a dowry of half a millionReichmarks for each of his daughters. This money he had lent to a cousinwho went bankrupt, without giving notice to my father beforehand. I wasstill a little girl. But it must have been on this occasion that father camehome from the bank one morning, looking very pale, and locked himself with mother in a room. I was playing in the garden and he had gone pastme without noticing me. After the great loss we had to live sparingly andmother and we children traveled 3rd class on the train.

In the bank there was a messenger named Urich. He had smooth-parted, firmly glued, already gray hair that had once been red. With his

mustache, his green jacket and the tight stance, he looked like a crossbetween a forester and a sergeant. He always had a black briefcaseclamped under his arm. During the war he had, he said, 2 -sons in thefield. The half was his son in law. When he turned to my father he alwaysbegan with: Herr (Mr.) Di rr ektor (he purred the R), I have a request . Soonce: Herr Di rr ektor, I have a request. The king of England has died.

At that time it was customary to wear a hat (a black stiff for thegentlemen). On the way home from the bank father had to continuouslyraise his hat. It went up the post street, then past the book store, in which

had hung a picture of the composer Richard Wagner. The messanger Urichwas once standing in front of the store looking at it. My father, who justcame by asked him: do you know who this is? This is Richard Wagner .Now, there were some factory owners in Suhl named Wagner. Then ourUrich, standing to attention , with his shrill tone and in his Suhl accent: I know Mr. Baul Wachn (Paul Wagner), I know Mr. Karl Wachn, Mr. Richard Wachn is unfamiliar to me! " Indeed, the bank had nothing to do with Mr.Richard Wagner.

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bright friend. I have in memory a somewhat portly gentleman, but I haveforgotten his name and profession. My father said: who today is not rich, iseither a civil servant or a fool . To this the other, in a somewhat surprisedtone: But I am not a civil servant!

My father had three cousins in Suhl, whom he did not especiallyappreciate - Isidor and Jacob Sander and (first name forgotten)Nussbaum . He had a kind of rhyme for them: Oh Isidor, oh Isidor, heseems to me so dirty today, widerallala, wide-rallala . And Jacob, oh Jacob,he seems to me just like Isidor, widerallala, widerallala (it rhymes of courseonly in German). But he had also a more amiable version: oh Isidore, ohIsidore, he has a pen behind his ear , etc.

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Father had a pet name for each of us: Doris was Dorle , Selma was Mhle , Bella was bhlamm , I ( Hilde ) was Schimmel (German: a younghorse with light hair, because in my early youth I was blonde), Kthe was

Ktz (Kitten) and Lothar was the Schlot (peasant and also chimney).Mother called us by our real names.

He once said to Kthe, my youngest sister Ktz, today you could again run along the Keller Street with your bare behind . This was the streetwhere we lived. It was fairly short with little traffic. Cars were almost noneand no one with a horse carriage had anything to do in the Keller Street. I,in my prudishness, found it shocking. We made our first car journey when Iwas about 12 years old. It was a golden autumn day.

Father had some nice quotes, e.g. from an eulogy: The tooth of time,which has dried so many a tear, will let grass grow on this wound as well . He once said of a certain sanatorium: 50% of the guests died there (therewere two at the time!) He once said of himself: I could have been a good music director and now I am just a mediocre bank director . His profession

was not tailored to him.

Playing the piano with me for 4 hands, to which he sometimesinduced me, must have been not particularly enjoyable for him, because Iplayed very badly out of the page (I remember only The Tales from theVienna Woods ). When we finished he said: Well, Schimmel, at least wemanaged to finish together .

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Occasionally father would take a hike in the Thuringian Forest, or inthe Spessart, in Odenwald or to Heidelberg. He took with him two of uschildren, never more than two, because he did not like to appear in public en masse . We have been then several days on the way. One walk Iremember because it was raining continuously. No hint of any view. Westrolled with totally wet feet in the beautiful pine forest. I remember I hadthen written a poem , its closing rhyme was: because we were marchingfor 9 hours .

Sometimes, not often though (but the times are unforgettable), ourparents played drawing games with us. I think Lothar was too young thenand Aunt Flora did not play either. We sat around the big oval dining table inthe childrens room . Everyone had a pencil and a sheet of paper beforehim. Each one had drawn something. The sheets of paper were passed onto the neighbor, who wrote what he understood of the drawing and thenpassed it on. When it came back to the artist, he opened the paper andread what he had had meant and what the others understood. Very funnythings occurred and we laughed until the tears poured along our cheeks.Kthe, who was not a great artist, made usually a round scribble. This wasonce a cannon bullet, another time a ball or a roll of yarn. How nice that theparents did play with us!

When we had our first French lessons, we learned the following

interesting dialogue by heart: O es-tu, Marie , Dans la chambre,maman . Et o est ta sur ? Elle est avec moi . Then, when we werewalking the streets in Suhl, we were talking loudly in French , always usingthese sentences and really imagined one would take us for French girls! Us,the Sander children whom everyone knew. (Suhl had 17,000 inhabitants,largely factory workers.)

In our games, which could last for several months, we liked to makebelieve we were of noble origin, the poor Kts however, always one degreebelow the rest of us. If we were baronesses, she could only be a Free

Woman. If she wanted to be a Baroness, we would let her, but movedourselves to the rank of countesses. Such games were good while hiking.

We, the three little ones , liked to watch our father in his toilet. Thefinal act was taking a fresh handkerchief with a drop of eau de cologne onit. We were allowed to close the bottle, which left a hint of perfume on ourhands.

Father had a dental prosthesis which was put in a glass of water forthe night. Kthe once asked (she was still a small child) Father, have you

already eaten that ?

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For Bella, Kthe andme, the romances of ourelder sisters wereextraordinarily interesting.Their admirers wereamong the secondaryschool students, their classcould be identified by thecolor of their hats. Thebright blue of the upperfifth and the white of thePrima were preferred. Itwas more respected to be

chosen by a Primera rather than by a Sekunda student. While mysisters were forbidden to go out at night after 6 or 7 oclock, an occasionalexcuse for an urgent errand could be found! Also after the Bummel (hangout) in the main street, the Steinweg, the way home was conspicuously

chosen so that the current Beau noticed it and followed the girl. Hethen took off his cap and askedpolitely if he was allowed to escortthe girl home. One was not allowedto turn around and there wasalways a little excitement, if the

expected steps became louderbehind one. If Doris wasaccompanied home by the sixth-class student Ernst Gtze, they

were often still standing at the gate for a while talking. What was it that oursisters chatted about when they lingered still at the gate? They seemed sogrown up to us.

Their dance classes were also pleasantly exciting. The two eldersisters had their dancing lessons together. Doris did not consider it very

important which dress she wore. For Selma it was more important. To usthey seemed so very grown up and still they were so young and fresh intheir white Swiss lace dresses or the first pink ball skirts. Sometimes wewere allowed to sit and watch. The most beautiful drills were the Contre and the Quadrille . The dance teacher, Mr. Funk, came to the lessons fromGotha (or Erfurt), dressed very fine and fit in his black suit and commanded(to the Quadrille or the Cottillio ): erste Fichur ( first figure in the Suhldialect), zweite Fichur ( second figure ) and Quatre Meng! The motherssat in a row along the wall and how they looked out! Selma's Beau wasFritzle Jung (upper Prime). His mother, Mrs, Jung, Once said to my mother

in her Suhl dialect: My Fritzle, having danced only one round, isimmediately wet as a pig! Then the World War I broke out and we, theyounger, missed our dance lessons.

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On Sunday mornings we had religion class. This spoiled the beautifulmornings for us. We did not learn much because the good teacher Levi didnot know much himself. He translated literally the prayers from Hebrew. Imean word by word according to the German text on the opposite page inthe prayer book. Of the language he had no idea. When dissatisfied withanyone, he would threaten: If I were not afraid my soup will get cold, youwould stay here even half an hour more! Then, he had a permanent samplesentence: "O girl, o girl, (or boy, boy) you read actually as if you wanted to say: Today ... thereis ... beautiful ... Weather . Once, when hestarted again, O Girl, o girl, you read actually as if you wanted to say the shrill voice of Paul Simon was heard: Today ... is ... beautiful ...Weather! To this teacher Levi: Silly boy, you do not know what I wanted to say! Contemplating a little while and then: Well, let it be: today ...is ... etc. With him the Moors of the city of Jericho fell (he pronounced arolling 'R' and it always appeared in the wrong place. In German he said

Mau rr en [moors] instead of Mauern [walls]. He was a young man withsoft features, and I remember him always badly shaved. The one whoneeded shaving more than he did was his stately wife, Deborah, with atriple chin, on which grew a lot of hair. She held herself very upright.

One Sunday afternoon I wanted to go to the birthday party of afriend. During the break I used different color crayons and colored my facein sickly colors. When the teacher returned, I looked so sick that I wasallowed home . Once teacher Levi said to me: Maiden, Maiden, you could be a professor - if you were not so stupid!

I would like to tell a little about our piano teacher, Mrs. von Achtenand her mother Mrs. Neumann. She was an original. She was proud thather daughter Gretchen belonged to the true Nobility of the Rhein district after she had finally found a husband.Unfortunately, it turned out he was epilepticand the marriage broke up. As a reward from the relationship there was Bibbchen

(Pppchen [German: little doll ] pronouncedin the nicest Saxon dialect). Mrs. von Achtenwas a student of Max Reger and very proudof it. She said to me once (in Saxon dialectof course): Hilda, Hilda, you grind around on the piano like a rooster! You should see

Mr. Recher [meaning Max Reger] what calmness! Reger, a very portly gentleman,was in fact not calm at all. Systematicpractice - our piano teacher did not teach

us.

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Suhlwas a working-class city. There were some big weapons factories and manysmall shops. The factory owners lived in large villas with gardens. But I didnot notice any poverty, because everyone was employed. When World War Ibroke out I was 15 years old. The father of Christa Schlegelmilch had aporcelain factory. He was a rich man. House and garden were wide, very

elegant. Christa was a bit younger than us but befriended with us. She hadher own chic coach, a wonderful little vehicle, with a servant coachman.She picked us up with it sometimes, when we were invited to her. I wasonce embarrassed, when she let fruit being served together with fingerbowls. What should we do with the water? That was totally new to us. Shethen, after a short contemplation, made the first move by making use of them. The porcelain factory was later moved to Tillowitz in Silesia. In mygood coffee service, there are still a few pieces of Tillowitz. Christa told usthat her father told her she should not come and say I can not live without this trainee (that was not a good enough match). But it seems to me, she

has married a trainee after all. We had no connection with her after shemoved to Silesia. She died young.

My old Anna used to be my nurse, and later our cook for 10 years.She then married a worker, a widower with several children. We visitedthem once and she offered us coffee and sandwiches. There I saw for thefirst time how spoiled we were and how humble the working-class childrenwere. For us she smeared the bread well covered, as she knew we wereaccustomed to. Her children - 2 well behaved girls - got very thinly coveredslices of bread. I have never forgotten it.

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Doris, the eldest, was a serious and responsible girl, to whom we the little ones had confidence. She was a little mother. Doris married WillyGuttmann . He came from Holland to his relatives, the Brylewski family, insearch for a wife. He saw Doris and liked her. Her serious nature may haveanticipated her future fate. Gisela, her first-born little girl got polio on herway home from Berlin to Amsterdam. She was about 2 or 3 years old.Attempts were made to operate and connect the healthy tendons so thatshe could walk, but none had succeeded. Gisela had to wear a metal stripefor walking. But she could swim and ride the bicycle. Only she was helplesswhen she was without the stripe. They had a second child, Eva, a charmingand clever girl.

A second hard period came upon them when the coats factory, inwhich Willy was a fashion designer, got into difficulties and Willy lost his job.Then came the big depression. When I have learned that Hitler hadoccupied Holland my heart stood still. We received twice a message, on apreprinted card: We are healthy at our work . Finally, they were all sent toSobibor.

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We children respected and admired Selma . She was so graceful andwas so orderly it was almost miraculous to me, while we, as far as Iremember, were little slobs. There was something aristocratic about her, butalso later, when she was already married, she was very loving. She had amore cheerful nature than Doris.

Linchen Hempel attended the same class as Selma. Her parents had abutcher shop. Selma once said to her: Linchen, you're so obese, one cango three times around you . Linchen replied: O , it is not as bad as that! .

Doris, Selma and Gerda Schlegelmilch were the first girls of goodfamilies in Suhl to learn a profession. My sisters attended the Lette-Haus inBerlin, Doris the Household keeping department and Selma the commercialdepartment. When Selma came home from Berlin for vacation, it wasusually late. Mother was already in bed but we all gathered around her bedto listen to Selma's first report. She imitated her landlady, classmates,teachers, and danced something for us. She told how a non-benevolentstranger succeeded in sending her landlady precious things, including thesales invoice (which she had to pay). Or how she and her cousin EllaGrtner once dressed up as house maids and went to a cheap movietheater (at that time still silent and with a piano player). She remarkedaudibly to Ella: Today it is a year since my divorce! I think their way homewas quite crowded. She always noticed when her room had been cleanedup, because then the pictures on the wall hang not straight. She then

worked in a bank in Berlin, where she met her future husband. She latertold how she had invented a sign language to fix a date with him: the lampsover their tables were turned in a certain direction. Her husband was ErnstKluge, of a respected gentile family. Ernst's father, Harold Kluge was themanager of a large insurance company in Hamburg. Selma was baptizedand it was painful, especially for my grandfather in Nremberg. He hadnever wanted to see her again but later reconciled.

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Selma died young from a kidney infection. I think her son Hans-Joachim (Jochen) was about 7 and Brigitte about 5 years old. I got thenews of her death, together with a parcel of letters to Palestine. I wasexcited at getting so much mail, until I came upon Ernst's message. And now my happiness is buried he wrote. He had married again soon butSelma was still unforgotten by him. He took a very young wife, Inge, anofficer's daughter, who probably was not ripe for being a mother of afamily . She did not love her step-children and let them feel it. Jochen hadcompletely broken away from her. Or was it only after the death of Ernst?Inge has given her husband 5 sons. Ernst sometimes called Brigitte my lily . If Inge had brought a girl into the world, she would become a sword lily . They lived in a large house in Berlin-Wilmersdorf until they moved laterto Pryn on Lake Constanz.

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Bella was the most enterprising of us.She has indeed shown it, when she went with arather strange man to Africa. She became thewife of Oscar Frank . He came from a village infrankonia, had as a young man emigrated toSouth Africa and had owned there two farms. Agood woman who would share the country lifewith him (which was then very primitive), hecould not find in Africa. The Europeans weretoo spoiled. Bella agreed immediately andbecame a practical and efficient farmer woman.For example, she has learned how to cooksoap. There were plenty of black people whodid the physical work. Oscar had also a shop of cloth and Bella was very proud about havinginvented a new accounting system for theshop. Her daughters were Steffi (Stephanie) and Anita . A little boy died asa baby. My mother, who lived for some time in Smalpunt (one of the farms)has always said how good Oscar was to her. He did not become old. Bellathen trans-ferred the farms to Peter Klein-schmidt. She had apparentlymuch confidence in him.

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In 1952 I was in Africa for the first time. Bella lived in Bulawayo(Southern Rhodesia, later Zimbabwe). She had a Jaguar car, but she hadnot been driving for 10 years (the driving license stayed valid there). Shetook the car out, probably for my sake. A Nightmare! She ran into all sortsof corners, into other cars, but the people were very friendly, they helpedher out again and again. The streets of Bulawayo are wide enough forheavy car traffic. They were built so that a wagon of 6 or 8 oxen could turnaround. This was good for the future traffic. From Smalpunt there is also aphoto with such a team of oxen. Who was in such a hurry at that time?

Bella had a black servant, Penny, a tall handsome young man. He wasnot living at her house. Very few houses had accommodation for theirservants. But he was not allowed to go home in the evening until he hadarranged the beds for the night. I once wanted to carry a lightweightsuitcase. Forbidden! This is done by the blacks! I did not know what I wasallowed to do and what not.

Anita was still a young girl in high school. Steffi was already marriedto Benny Israel. They lived in the countryside, in an arid region. In the drysteppe-like region, many interesting birds could be found, as indeed Africaas a whole has a rich and beautiful birdlife. For example, birds with long tailfeathers. I had my binoculars with me and wandered around in theneighborhood. Steffi said I was the first to find something interesting in the

area.

Benny had there a workshop for flowered work garments which theysupplied to another company. It was made up of some rooms full of sewingmachines and black working girls. But the workshop had burned down andwas not insured! After the workshop had burned down, Benny had to lookfor another source of income. They moved to Bulawayo. Steffi was thesmarter one of the pair. She found a responsible position in an opticalfactory. Benny also worked there, in a less significant position.

There, in the countryside, their daughter Sandra was still a cute littlething. The elder son Ronnie emigrated later to London where he became aprofessional photographer. Sandra was graceful and took ballet lessons. Herparents - and probably she also - thought she would become a primaballerina. When she came to the city, she realized that she was onlyaverage.

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We have later had strange experiences with her here in Israel. Shewas intelligent and seems to have been proficient as a cashier in Africa, andworked in various places. She was of medium size and graceful, very prettyand knew how to dress. In her long loose and colorful African gowns shelooked very special. Many young men fell in love with her and wanted tomarry her. She was not consistent and quite lazy. She had married therebut divorced soon after. In Israel she lived most of the time with Yehudaand Leah, and has, I believe, spent the most time with her Toilet. Masal gotsome tips from her for salad sauces. She then went to Jerusalem where sheattended an ulpan (a school for Hebrew for immigrants), but did notcompleted her studies. Later she married a Canadian boy named Wener,who worked as a night watchman in the Hebrew University on MountScopus. They lived in a strange basement apartment in an old house inJerusalem. The kind of total disorder as I saw there I have never seenbefore. She went with him to Canada where she was very well and lovinglyaccepted by his parents. She then left him and associated herself withanother man. Of this we know only as much that she had a little boy by him(who is now [1982?] about 7 years old). She apparently lost the right tokeep and raise him, because he lived in an orphanage.

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Quite unexpectedly, we received a letter from her. Ronnie (Sandra'sbrother) had told her to go to Israel (why not England?) She probably hadwanted to get away from Canada. Money she had virtually none. In Israelshe was a persona non grata for reasons we do not know. She probablythought we would care for her anyway. Moreover, because she did notspeak the language, it would be difficult for her to find work, and jobs werescarce here anyway. One day she appeared here never the less, with herlittle son and a ridiculously small amount of money. We made no attempt todo something for her, and she has since disappeared.

Ronnie was also once in Israel. He was a talented young man. He alsolived with Yehuda and Leah. He was offered very well-paid posts as afashion illustrator, which he declined. He was in some way irresponsible, hasnever written, disappeared, no one knew where. He is said to have workedin Hamburg as a photographer. He had left a suitcase with Ellen and JochenKluge in Berlin, which he has never claimed.

In 1976 I was in SouthAfrica a second time. Bella wasliving in Johannesburg at the time,in a sort of pension hotel. She hada not too spacious room, withattached bath and toilet and hadher meals regularly in the dining

room downstairs. There was nolack of society and Bella had theopportunity to be activebenevolently by doing errands forelderly or not capable retirees. Of cultural life there was very little to speak about in Johannesburg and thereadings which Bella bought every week were shallow, which had surprisedme, since she was an intelligent, alert person.

The Whites did not feel very safe. Steffi wondered whether they

should pack up their belongings right away or not. She had for many yearsa black servant whom she trusted. She asked him if he would be capable of assassinating her and her husband. He replied: I not, but my brother might.It was nice to see and hear the Victoria Falls again. But I encountered muchfewer birds than on the first visit. Then, Hornbills, a large, beautiful, blackbird with red feathers under the wings, sat in the high trees. And therewere also smaller ones. In the evening guinea fowls were rustling in theundergrowth around. One evening, during my strolls I came across a sign:

Caution! Lions! I lost my way but by a happy chance I came upon ahouse that had stood there, and they showed me the way. On the lawn in

front of the hotel, big apes wandered around and one had to be careful thatthey did not enter the rooms.

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When Kte was 4 or 5 years old, shehad a problem: She could not decide whatshe wanted to be when she grew up - aqueen or a cook! Father changed an operaaria, Oh Queen, Oh Goddess, turn me free into Oh queen, Oh Cook, turn me free . Itseems that to my parents, especially mymother, she was some sort of a step-child.She was left-handed and at that time it wastried to change that in every possible way.She was allowed to write only with her righthand and had therefore an ugly hand writing.Whether she was a disappointment, since shewas not the expected heir? She was such apretty child, not at all stupid. Why was shesent to the elementary school, while we allattended the Maidens Higher School? Shetold with great humor her various experiences at her school.

Kte was the most disorderly of us but was a terribly nice person.When we got colorful candy plates for Chanukkah, Bella would finish hersright away. Kthe stored hers in her drawer. Then Bella would come beggingand Kthe had always shared.

Kte had learned, at her own request, tobe a babies sister in a Berlin hospital and latershe learned babies gymnastics. That was newthen. I do not know if it still thought much of today. High school diploma was not necessary atthat time. She was the last one of us siblingswho remained with mother in Germany. I wantedher to come to Palestine, but she was only willingto if I would find her a job in advance. That was

impossible, notwithstanding the fact that I didnot have the time for it. At that time we couldnot know how urgent it was. She would haveeasily found work in Palestine. So she stayed inSuhl, quite lonely, had an affair with a policeman(naturally a gentile) and became pregnant by

him. So she went to Holland to Doris. Doris once described to me how herheart almost stopped when she saw Kthe arriving with a big belly. Theman of course did not care about Kte and her little Hans. Doris and Willyhad them housed in a home. She found sufficient employment in

Amsterdam, until Hitler came. I think I've seen her one more time. Thechild was in a childrens home and she lived in a private home. I have keptfor a long time a colorful tin box I got from her as a farewell present (with

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very good chocolate pralines.) I have never heard again from her or fromher son [see Epilogue]. I am just reading a letter from Selma, posted on20.12 - (the year is missing): On the second Holiday, the good,hardworking Ktz will come to us' .

Lothar had a hard time with his fivesisters. They liked to educate him, like:

Lothar, wash your hands! Lothar your nailsare not clean, etc. I take this opportunity tosay that it never ceased to amaze me howour teacher could spend a whole morning onpreaching clean nails. In spite of our

educational efforts Lothar had loved hissisters and said once, worried, that he wasafraid he would never find a woman like hissisters. In fact he found a very good womanand had a happy marriage.

Lothar had his bedroom next to that of Bella, Kthe and me, with a connecting door.When we chatted, very softly, he could nothear us. He did not like it when we were

talking in bed and he was not part of it. So herang (he had a bell at his bed). Then the goodAunt Flora came, and he, in an indignant tone: All of a sudden I wake up,bewildered, and there they are chatting! We received an admonition, andinstead of talking we played quiet games, like tapping Songs . One wouldtap the rhythm of a melody and the others had to guess what it was. Untilwe believed our brother had fallen asleep, or we ourselves fell asleep.

Once we had placed in his bed a large doll, with a mask of the face of a peasant woman with a headscarf and real hair. Another time I went into

his bed, wearing the same mask on. When he came into the room heexclaimed, Ah, I already know . But suddenly the doll got up and saidslowly in a deep voice: Sooo? . The poor boy was so frightened. But, as Isaid, he kept no grudge at us.

In the lower hall , opposite the entrance door, the spacious doorwayfrom which doors opened to different rooms and from where a staircaselead to the upper rooms there was a built-in wardrobe, where jackets,coats and gloves were kept on a shelf. Mother once missed a pair of wildleather gloves. They were found in Lothar's coat pocket. He was 8 or 10

years old at the time. He explained that he also had to a look little elegantwhen he went out!

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Lothar must have emigrated to Africa at aboutthe same time as we went to Palestine (1932). In Africahe had Bella and not long after his arrival, he marriedEthel Knigsberg, who was somehow related (ByOscar?) It was an excellent marriage. Ethel was good-natured and adaptable, and very industrious. Lotharhad a trading station in Bushmanskop. It was the storefor the whole area with everything you need: Sugar,flour, coal. The colored people bought mainly for their

Mealy mush; reddish brown blankets, with a patternresembling a ball of lightning and starry, with comets,sky, which they wore, held together with a large needle

as clothing; and a kind of big, sweet, colorful cheap candy. In the courtyardof the trading station there was a lot of movement. People came with theircars and colored people helped in the purchases and made their ownerrands. The person I remember best was Basil, a friend and a wealthyfarmer from the vicinity. He remained unmarried for a long time, but in theend managed to have a fine wife and 2 children.

As I visited Africa the first time in 1952, Ethel was working the wholeday at the trading station . The twins Eric and Helen were 15 years old.They just had their birthday. They had to leave home early, maybe at theage of 8, and went to a Boarding School and came home only forvacations. Helen had already then shown her aptitude for performing,maybe in preparation for her future vocation. She read us poems, puttingspecial value on beautiful and clear pronunciation.

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It must have been 1926, (I was still in Loheland training as agymnastics teacher), when our father had a stroke. It was heart-breakingto see him so weak and often weeping. After his death, mother rented thelower part of the house to Dr. Keinath, a veterinarian and director of theSuhl abattoir. He and his wife spoke the most beautiful Swabian dialect.They had a small, blond daughter, Gretl. In 1929 mother had sold the houseto the Jewish family Brylewski from Suhl.

So our childhood came to an end and we were scattered all over theworld, as you all know.

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Apendix . List of persons mentioned in this document (alphabeticaly).

Frank Anita (Dryer) b. 31 Jan 1936 Bethlehem ZAd. 04 Mai 2000 Johannesburg ZA

Frank Oskar b. 14 Apr 1888 Bibra DEd. 30 Jun 1941 Reitz ZA

Frank stephany (Israel) b. 23 May 1924 Harrismith ZAd. 27 Aug 1978 Bulawayo ZW

Grtner Emma b. 13 Apr 1872 Schweinfurt DEd. 08 May 1945 deported

Grtner Flora b. 18 Mar 1870 Niederwerrn DEd. 09 Apr 1943 Theresienstdt

Grtner Abraham b. 08 Mar 1843 Geroda DEd. 30 Apr 1934 Nrenberg DE

Grtner Recha (nee Kohnstamm) b. 05 Nov 1843 Niederwerrn DEd. 17 Oct 1930 Nrenberg DE

Grtner Ella b. ?d. ?

Guttmann Giesela b. 01 Sep 1924 Suhl DEd. 28 May 1943 Sobibor

Guttmann Eva b. 10 Mar 1929 Suhl DEd. 28 May 1943 Sobibor

Guttmann Willie b. 12 Feb 1889 Suhl DEd. 28 May 1943 Sobibor

Israel Benjamin (Benny) b. 17 Jun 1913 Shabini ZWd. ?

Israel Ronald (Ronnie) b. 09 Nov 1945 Bulawayo ZWd. ---

Israel Sandra (1.Lypmann 2. ?) b. 03 Jun 1948 Bulawayo ZWd. ---

Kluge Ernst b. 29 Jul 1892 Berlin DEd. 23 Nov 1979 Prien DE

Kluge Hans-Joachim b. 15 Feb 1924 Berlin DEd. ---

Kluge Brigitte (French) b. 04 Jul 1925 Berlin DEd. ---Levy Abraham b. 13 Aug 1857 Braunschweig DE

d. 28 Sep 1940 Suhl DELevy Deborah (nee Ehrlich) b. 20 Apr 1863 Gleicherwiesen (Tu) DE

d. 1942 TheresienstadtNussbaum .... b. ?

d. ?Sander (Frank) Bella b. 14 Apr 1898 Suhl DE

d. 16 Jan 1979 Johannesburg ZA

Sander (Gutman) Doris b. 16 Nov 1894 Suhl DEd. 28 May 1943 Sobibor

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Sander Eric b. 03 Jul 1936 Johannesburg ZAd. ---

Sander Hans b. 21 May 1934 Amsterdam NLd. ---

Sander Hedwig (Nee Grtner)b. 28 Feb 1869 Niederwerrn DEd. 01 Oct 1963 Johannesburg ZA

ander Helen b. 03 Jul 1936 Johannesburg ZAd. 14 Nov 1989 Dunbar ZA

Sander (Schatz) Hilde b. 14 Aug 1899 Suhl DEd. 12 Feb 1998 Hod Hasharon IL

Sander Isidor b. 25 May 1881 Suhl DEd. 01 Jul 1936 Suhl DE

Sander Jacob b. 10 Feb 1884 Suhl DEd. ?

Sander Kthe b. 20 Oct 1900 Suhl DEd. 28 May 1943 Sobibor

Sander Karl b. 30 Jul 1865 Suhl DEd. 06 Feb 1926 Suhl DE

Sander Lothar b. 03 Feb 1903 Suhl DEd. 1974? Bloemfontein ZA

Sander Louis b. 1830-1840?d. 1900-1905?

Sander Meta (nee Sichel) b. 20 Oct. 1887d. 14 Apr 1936 Suhl DE

Sander (Kluge) Selma b. 14 Feb 1896 Suhl DEd. 23 oct 1932 Berlin DE

Schatz Gadiel b. 19 Nov 1933 Hod Hasharon ILd. ---

Schatz Jehuda b. 12 Feb 1935 Hod Hasharon ILd. ---

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Epilogue . By Gadiel Schatz (2012).

This document is a combination of memoirs about my grandfatherKarl Sander and other members of my immediate family in Suhl and wherethey all emigrated (written in German, probably in the 1970 th ) and a letterto Hans-Joachim and Brigitte Kluge, children of Selma Sander (written inGerman in 1982.)

My mother married my fatherKurt Schatz from Bonn in 1931. In1932 they left Germany for Palestine,built a farm and had two children:Gadiel and Yehuda .

My grandmother Hedwig Sande r had left Germany in 1936 and wentto South Africa, where her children Bella and Lothar had already beensettled. On the way to South Africa she visited my mother in Palestine.

When Germany was reunited in 1990, my mother had, at theinstigation of Dr. Fritz Goldman, a native of Suhl himself, filed a request forreparation for the house. It turned out that the Breilewski family andothers, have filed similar requests. Next it turned out that a mortgage of 16,000 Reichsmarks in favor my grandmother and her children wasregistered in the archives of the town of Suhl. This was the balance of thepayment for the house, which was never paid. On this sum, the heirs couldhave a claim.

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One day, around 1996 or 1997, wereceived a letter from Hans Sander ,Khte's son. It said he had received amessage from Suhl (a story in itself)which said he was the sole heir of thehouse of his grandmother Hedwig Sanderand he should come to Suhl toinvestigate the matter. In theReparations office in Suhl he found outthat other people, among them Mrs.Hilde Schatz, nee Sander, from Israel,also filed for reparations. Until then hewas sure he had no close family. After afew months Hans has visited us in Israeland had the chance to meet my mother(she died in 1998, age 98). The contactwith Hans remains firmly on.

However, the house was sold in 2000 bythe Suhl authorities to a private buyer. Anadditional story was built, but the form of thehouse remains.

In June 2012 I was in Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada) with my wifeMasal, where we met Brigitte (daughter of Selma Sander) and her daughterSusy (Susanne). Susy had just got a message from Mike Sander of California, grandson of Isisdor Sander. Thanks to the internet it turned outthat descendants of Karl Sanders cousin Isidor Sander live in the USA,England, Australia and Israel. This is a branch of the Sander family of whomwe had no information. The contact with Mike Sander is now very fertile andallows the construction of a Sander family tree filled with much moreinformation. The pictures of Isidor and meta Sander in the above text weredonated by Mike Sander.

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