The Jewish
Community
of
Laupheim
and its
Annihilation
Book Pages
224 - 236
KIRSCHBAUM, Sali, Jette,
and Therese,
Grocery store, 61 Kapellenstrasse
Translated
by:
Markus Ganser
BRIGITTE SCHMIDT
[Leopold Kirschbaum, 1815–1884, OO Berta
Kirschbaum, née Oberdorfer, 1832–1896, from Heinsfurt]
–
[Jacob
Karl,
born 1858, died December 1,
1913 in
Ulm],
–
Sali
Sara,
born December 29, 1859
in
Laupheim,
died February
13,
1941
in
Laupheim,
–
Jette,
born January
15,
1861
in
Laupheim,
died February
12, 1941 in
Laupheim,
–
Therese,
born November
26,
1862
in Laupheim,
died February
11, 1941
in
Laupheim,
–
[Max,
born
1863],
–
[Flora,
born
1865, died
1871],
–
[Lina-Rika,
born
1866],
– [Louis, born
1871].
Leopold and Berta Kirschbaum had eight children, all of
them born in Laupheim. The family owned a small house
at 61
Kapellenstrasse. Leopold was a merchant and ran a
small store on the ground
floor of the property. Merchandise included, tobacco, sweets and
specialty groceries. In the
purchase agreement, the shop is
labelled as selling herbs and spices. The shop door at the center of the house
faced the street.
Jakob Karl, the
eldest son of the family, never married
and worked at Lazarus Moos’ store in Ulm. Max and Louis both emigrated to the
U.S. and relinquished their Württemberg citizenship in 1880 and 1887,
respectively. Flora passed away when she was six years old. Her younger sister, Lina-Rika,
lived
in Bavaria, married the horse trader Joel Eppsteiner, and then moved with
him to Peoria, Illinois.
When Berta Kirschbaum died in 1896, her son Max was a
merchant, living in North Platte, Nebraska, while her son Louis,
also a merchant, lived in New York City. The four siblings who had
left Laupheim turned down their inheritance of 5000 Reichsmarks, and
instead gave it to their sisters Sali Sara, Jette and Therese.
The siblings who lived abroad stayed in contact with
their sisters in Laupheim. The sisters treasured the letters from abroad. And as
for the stamps -
they were a must-have for the neighbor boy, Bernhard
Burkert. Every time he ran errands for the Kirschbaum sisters he received one of
the sought-after stamps. He
later said that the stamps were very exotic and
marked the starting point of his collection. Every evening, Bernhard picked up
milk from the dairy at the Laupheim castle for the townspeople, including the
three Kirschbaum sisters who continued to run the little store after their
father’s death.
Bernhard Burkert
picked up the
goods
from Isidor Adler, a wholesaler who
also lived in Kapellenstrasse. “The sisters entrusted me with everything and
I was free to walk about the house as I wished. I worked in the garden
behind the house; I gathered fruit when I was twelve or thirteen years old.
At times, I was also allowed to have lunch with them when they had prepared
something special. Every now and then they served delicious roast goose they
had raised themselves. I wasn’t
allowed to watch them feed the birds, but I still caught a glimpse of how
they fattened them. ”
Bernhard Burkert was also sent to Mr. Dworzan, the
cantor, who lived in the Jewish school house and
was a kosher butcher. The goose, chicken, or rooster was brought alive in a
little bag or basket to Mr. Dworzan and he would butcher the animal behind
the school building so that it could bleed out. Afterwards, Bernhard would
bring the dead animal back and he was allowed to help pluck the feathers.
The sisters also allowed him to light the fire on Sabbath. “Yes, the three
sisters were very religious; many times I witnessed them praying the
Hamalach Hagoel, which means that they used to pray in Hebrew.”
The three Kirschbaum sisters were considered rather
poor, “but they had what they needed to
survive. There was the house
and the garden.” Bernhard Burkert also alludes to financial aid from
relatives, presumably from the brothers living abroad.
However, the racial laws of the Nazis forced Sali Sara
and her sisters to sell their parents’ house and garden on November 19,
1940. The sale included:
Building no. 61
incl. the residence, outhouse, barn and yard 2 by 258.33
ft²
(24 m²)
Tree garden behind
house 1 by 936.46
ft²
(87 m²)
Tree garden in the
Judenäcker (Jewish Fields) 2
by 688.89
ft²
(64 m²)
The sale also included all items that are “tethered,
screwed, bolted, or nailed to the wall”,
as well as electric lighting and light
fittings. Excluded from the sale were the few remaining elements from the former
shops furniture, which the sellers were
allowed to retain.
Royalties to be deducted from the selling price of 8500
Reichsmarks included:
a) The sum of 3000 Reichsmarks for the Württemberg
subsidiary of the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland (Reich's
Association of the Jews in Germany) to redeem the registered mortgage in
favor of the Israelite Community of Laupheim (Israelite Care Foundation)
b) The remaining sum for the Jüdische Kultusvereinigung
Württemberg e.V. (Jewish Cultural Association Württemberg), section for
retirement
homes.
Sali Sara also sold her stamp collection, which had
been
appraised before, to Bernhard Burkert for 800 Reichsmarks. However, neither
Bernhard nor Sali and her sisters got anything out of it. The fiscal authorities
claimed the album to be subject to an official estimate. After that, Bernhard
Burkert, who later became a Catholic priest, had to pay an extra amount of 300
Reichmarks, and Sali had to turn over all proceeds to the authorities.
After the property sale the three elderly sisters were
forced to move to the rabbinate, which meanwhile had been turned into a Jewish
retirement home.
Waltraud Kohl reported this incident in her
thesis „Die
Geschichte der
Judengemeinde in
Laupheim” (The
History of the Jewish Community in Laupheim),
dated May 22nd, 1965. She quotes the old cemetery keeper stating: “I
can still see the three sisters, after closing their tobacco shop for good,
walking up the street to the rabbi’s house,
all of them slowly and
hunching,
with one hand resting on an umbrella, and the other pressed against an old
shabby cushion.”
On February 11th, 1941, 6:00 p.m., Therese passed away,
unmarried and unemployed, at the age of 79. The doctor certified
the cause of death to be
heart muscle degeneration. On
February 12th, 1941, 6:45 p.m., Jette died, unmarried and unemployed, at the age
of 80,
due to arteriosclerosis. On February
13th, 1941, 7:45 a.m., Sali Sara’s life came to an end,
likewise
unemployed and with arteriosclerosis listed as the cause of death. In all three cases Else Sara
Weil, administrator of the Jewish retirement home testified to their death.
The three sisters are buried at the Jewish cemetery.
The triple gravestone with its distinctive profile calls the visitor’s attention
to the rare incident of three sisters having passed away only within a few
hours.
(Foto:
Michael Schick)
Sources:
Family register, vol. V, page 102, Registry Office Laupheim; death
certificates nos. 22, 23, 24; Registry Office Laupheim. Documents about property
sale: first certified copy of the Minutes from the Official Estimate on Real
Estate, Laupheim, Volume X; section 102
Interview by Dr. Benigna Schönhagen with Catholic priest, Bernhard Burkert,
dated March 8, 1995. Waltraud Kohl: Die Geschichte der Judengemeinde in Laupheim
(On the history of the Jewish Community in Laupheim), dated May 22, 1965
