Oppenheimer Family Archive Who was where, and when
Oppenheimer Archive
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Emigrated

Oppenheimer, Josef

b. 28.03.1925, Stuttgart — d. 13.02.2019

88% documented — missing: Death place

Personal Details

Religion Jewish
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Address (1946) Neuwiesenstraße 239, Stuttgart-Lederberg, Germany American Occupation Zone. Address given in Oct 1946 letters.

Persecution & Holocaust

Camp [object Object]
Camp [object Object]

Emigration

Florida, USA — 17.08.1949

Events

1924
Born in Stuttgart Stuttgart
1929
Sent to Esslinger Waisenhaus

Jewish orphanage 'Wilhelmsstift'

Esslingen
1939
At Großbreesen emigration training farm

Jewish emigration training farm

Großbreesen, near Breslau
01.1942
Deported to KZ Theresienstadt

1.5 years in Theresienstadt

KZ Theresienstadt
1944
Transferred to KZ Sachsenhausen near Berlin

Transferred from Theresienstadt to KZ Oranienburg (Sachsenhausen) near Berlin. Forced labor: gardening, digging, road construction.

KZ Oranienburg (Sachsenhausen)
1945
Liberated from Oranienburg

Feb 1945: arrested again. Released to Stuttgart. TB → Bavarian sanatorium.

30.10.1946
Letters to Mina Kaufmann

Typed letter from Neuwiesenstr. 239, Stuttgart-Lederberg (Am. Zone) via AJDC office, Reinsburgstr. 19. Plus 3-page handwritten letter from Gemmingen. Confirms family fate: father died Buchenwald, Julius/Elsa deported, Frieda and children deported. Only Josef and Margit survived. Margit emigrated to Palestine. Requesting affidavit for USA. Also wrote to 'Cousin Mina in Franklinton'. Mentions Cousin Sophie. Encloses letter about Jewish history in Gemmingen.

Stuttgart-Lederberg / Gemmingen
17.08.1949
Emigrates to Florida, USA Florida, USA

Notes

Sent to Esslinger Waisenhaus (Jewish orphanage) as child

Beginning 1939: Jewish emigration training (Hachshara) in Esslingen, then Großbreesen near Breslau

30.10.1946: Typed letter from Stuttgart-Lederberg via AJDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) office in Stuttgart, Reinsburgstr. 19, requesting affidavit for USA

30.10.1946: Handwritten 3-page letter from Gemmingen confirming family fate: father died Buchenwald, Julius/Elsa deported and never returned, Frieda and children deported and never returned. Only Josef and Margit survived.

After liberation: found family belongings scattered, some property returned, porcelain to a Frau Kleene. Encountered hostile post-war environment.

Mentions 'Cousin Mina in Franklinton' (separate from Baltimore Mina?) and 'Cousin Sophie' in 1946 letters

Enclosed letter about Jewish history in Gemmingen with his 1946 correspondence

Simon's late 1941 letter confirms Josef 'still at Gross-Breesen' agricultural training farm near Breslau.

Wife: Rhoda W. Oppenheimer (per Geni.com)

Geni.com lists birth date as March 28, 1925 — existing data says 1924. Discrepancy needs verification.

Memoir: Arrived at Theresienstadt 14 days before Margit, from Silesia (likely via Sachsenhausen/Oranienburg).

Memoir: Brother also returned after the war. Heard while in Hamburg that Margit had survived.

Memoir: After liberation, Margit went to Siegfried's birthday flowers ceremony — met her brother there.

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