Oppenheimer Family Archive Gemmingen · 1520 — present
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Margit Edith Erna Bernstein née Oppenheimer

Holocaust Survivor
b. 31.05.1922, Stuttgart — d. 26.01.2006, Israel
Wife of Philip · 2 children
Profession Hilfsarbeiterin, Nursery worker (Feuerbach)
Religion Jewish
Address Wuppertal, Germany (c. 1937-1938)
Address c/o Frau Marie, Geellbergstr. 1, Bad Cannstatt, Stuttgart (c.1939)
Address Hospitalstr. 36, Stuttgart (c.1940-1943)
Restitution ES/A 13199

Family

Parents
Moses Oppenheimer 1874–1940 Anna Kuhn 1896–1989
Spouse
Philip Bernstein 1922–2000 Siegfried Michelbacher 1923–1945
Children
Yael Shacham 1951– Dani Tzor 1947–2019
Siblings
Änne Berger 1919–2014 Josef Oppenheimer 1925–2019

Persecution

Ghetto Theresienstadt 17.04.1943 — 01.10.1944
Transport: Transport Nr. XIII/2 (Gestapo Württemberg-Baden)
Work: Agriculture (tomato fields), carpentry (coffin covers), disinfection station
Illnesses: scarlatina, typhoid (multiple bouts), encephalitis
Met brother Josef there. Met Siegfried Michelbacher ('große Liebe'). Camp address from 1944 postcard.
"Arrived with brother Josef who came 14 days before from Silesia. Worked in agriculture under supervisor Werner Neutle. Made coffin covers. Severely ill for 4 months, operated twice, nearly lost leg."
KZ Auschwitz 01.10.1944 — 12.1944
Transport: Transport Em 1214
Section: Camp C (Birkenau)
Volunteered to follow Siegfried. Encountered Dr. Mengele at selections in Camp C. Stripped, sorted, head shaved. Witnessed executions and escape attempts.
Bad Kudowa-Sakisch 12.1944 — 08.05.1945
Prisoner №: 86092
Factory work (12-hour shifts), then assigned to camp garden after telling SS guard she was a gardener
Factory: Vereinigte Deutsche Metallwerke (VDM) — 'the united factories for machines'
Volunteered for work transport near Czech border. SS handed prisoners to Czechs one day before war's end.

Liberation

08.05.1945 , Bad Kudowa-Sakisch . SS released prisoners day before war's end. Led to Czech border at Náchod. Celebrated by Czech citizens as liberators. Returned via Prague to Theresienstadt searching for Siegfried and brother — did not find them. Traveled by foot back to Stuttgart via Heidelberg (mother). Brother also returned (heard in Hamburg she survived). Philip Bernstein found her name on survivor list.

Emigration

✈ Haifa, Israel 28.03.1946
Route: Stuttgart → Belgium (Jewish Brigade) → Haifa, Palestine

Location Trail

  1. Stuttgart Born · 31.05.1922
  2. Esslingen Sent to Esslinger Waisenhaus · 1935
  3. Wuppertal Resided (c. 1937-1938) · 1937
  4. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt Margit moves from Wuppertal to Bad Cannstatt · 1938
  5. Esslingen Kristallnacht at Esslinger Waisenhaus · 11.1938
  6. c/o Frau Marie, Geellbergstr. 1, Bad Cannstatt, Stuttgart Resided (c.1939) · 1939
  7. Stuttgart Failed plan to follow Änne to Denmark · 1939
  8. Bad Cannstatt, Stuttgart Margit writes seeking emigration sponsorship · 04.11.1939
  9. Bad Cannstatt Letter · 04.11.1939
  10. Hospitalstr. 36, Stuttgart Resided (c.1940-1943) · 1940
  11. Feuerbach, Stuttgart Resided (c.1940-1942) · 1940
  12. München (Munich), Germany Letter · 1940
  13. New York, New York, USA Letter · 17.04.1940
  14. München (Munich), Germany Letter · 30.07.1940
  15. Hannover, Germany Letter · 1941
  16. Bronx, New York, USA Letter · 02.1941
  17. [Stuttgart, Germany] Letter · 04.04.1941
  18. Hannover, Germany Letter · 08.10.1941
  19. Munich, Germany Letter · 25.10.1941
  20. Basel, Switzerland Letter · 07.11.1941
  21. München (Munich), Germany Letter · 20.11.1941
  22. Ghetto Theresienstadt Interned · 17.04.1943
  23. Theresienstadt Letter · 19.06.1944
  24. KZ Auschwitz Interned · 01.10.1944
  25. Bad Kudowa-Sakisch Transferred to factory camp in Silesia · 11.1944
  26. Náchod Released and welcomed in Náchod, Czechoslovakia · 05.1945
  27. Bad Kudowa-Sakisch Liberated · 08.05.1945
  28. Haifa, Israel Emigrated to · 28.03.1946
  29. Haifa Arrives in Haifa, Palestine · 28.03.1946
  30. Kfar Yehezkel, Israel Marries Philip Bernstein · 14.07.1946
  31. Gemmingen Letter · 30.10.1946
  32. Kvutzat Dovrat, Israel Letter · 1949
  33. Kiryat Haim, Israel Resided (c.1952-1957) · 1952
  34. Baltimore Visits cousin Mina in Baltimore, USA · 1957
  35. Israel Letter · 1963
  36. Bad Cannstatt Letter

Timeline

  • 31.05.1922 Born in Stuttgart
  • 1935 Sent to Esslinger Waisenhaus
  • 1937 Margit living in Wuppertal
  • 1938 Margit moves from Wuppertal to Bad Cannstatt
  • 11.1938 Kristallnacht at Esslinger Waisenhaus
  • 09.11.1938 Witnesses Kristallnacht at Esslingen Orphanage
  • 1939 Failed plan to follow Änne to Denmark
  • 04.11.1939 Margit writes seeking emigration sponsorship
  • 17.04.1943 Deported to Theresienstadt
  • 19.06.1944 Postcard from Theresienstadt
  • 01.10.1944 Deported to KZ Auschwitz
  • 11.1944 Transferred to factory camp in Silesia
  • 05.1945 Released and welcomed in Náchod, Czechoslovakia
  • 08.05.1945 Liberated at Bad Kudowa-Sakisch
  • 28.03.1946 Arrives in Haifa, Palestine
  • 14.07.1946 Marries Philip Bernstein
  • 13.02.1952 Wiedergutmachung proceedings initiated
  • 1957 Visits cousin Mina in Baltimore, USA
  • 1963 Writes memoir 'I Accuse'
  • 26.01.2006 Dies in Israel

Correspondence

Personal data sheet for emigration Letter seeking emigration sponsorship 1939 Handwritten letter (page 2 / continuation) in German Kurrent script 1940 U.S. Customs Entry Record / Receipt / Missing Documents form (Customs Form 5101) 1940 Handwritten letter with multiple notes from different writers 1940 Typed formal affidavit of support from Mrs. Bertha Katz née Falk (page 1 of 2... 1941 Blank reverse of the American Consulate letter from Stuttgart 1941 Typed letter (page 1 of 2) from Simon Israel Oppenheimer III to his niece Min... 1941 Western Union telegram from Julius and Elsa Oppenheimer in Munich to Mina Kau... 1941 RCA Radiogram (telegram) from Zaro Tours Basel branch to Zaro Tours New York,... 1941 Handwritten letter 1941 Theresienstadt camp postcard 1944 Palestine Mandate Certificate of Marriage No. H 84844 — Philip Hans Bernstein and Margit Edith Erna Oppenheimer, married Kfar Yehezkel, Israel, 14 July 1946. Certified 19 July 1946 by the Rabbanut. Documents Philip's parents' Hebrew names: דוב (Bernhard) and חולדה. 1946 Handwritten letter to cousin — family fate 1946 1949 Voter/Settlement Registry — Kvutzat Dovrat. Entries 17-18: Bernstein Margit Edith Erna (b. 1922) and Bernstein Philip Hans (b. 1922, child of Bernhard). Confirms residence at Dovrat and father's name. 1949 Margit Bernstein Memoir (1963) 1963

Notes

Sent to Esslinger Waisenhaus (Jewish orphanage) after father's arrest 1935
After school worked as Hausmädchen in Neuffen
During Kristallnacht 1938: visiting orphanage, which was attacked. Fled to mother in Stuttgart.
04.11.1939: Letter from Bad Cannstatt seeking affidavit for America. Plan to follow Änne to Denmark had failed. Mentions Uncle Simon.
Legal guardian c.1939: Leo Israel Moser, Kornbergstr. 45, Stuttgart (from USHMM personal data sheet)
Went to uncle in Hannover, apprentice in Jewish nursery (Ahlem)
Then returned to Stuttgart, Hospitalstr. 36, worked in Feuerbach nursery
19.06.1944: Postcard from Theresienstadt (camp address Ws. Logstr. 4/12) to Karl Maier, Baker, Solnstitting/Bavaria — confirming package receipt. Postcard routed via Prague.
ITS T/D 258485
Worked as Hausmädchen (housemaid) in Neuffen before the war.
Mother of Dani Tzor (1947-2019) and Yael Shacham (née Bernstein)
Memoir (1963): Father arrested March 1935 for Rassenschande. Three children (Änne, Margit, Josef) sent to Aunt Klara in Gemmingen, then to Jewish orphanage in Esslingen.
Memoir: Mother's second husband was a Christian. They lived in Heidelberg. Mother visited orphanage sometimes.
Memoir: Kristallnacht (Nov 9, 1938) — was visiting the orphanage when it was attacked. Head of house Theodore Rothschild collapsed; later died in Theresienstadt.
Memoir: After school, worked as housekeeper for Marx family in Neufahrn (near Esslingen). Then moved to Stuttgart Hospitalstrasse.
Memoir: Met Siegfried Michelbacher at Hospitalstr. 36 (Judenhaus). He worked as a cook. Their love sustained her through the camps.
Memoir: In Theresienstadt, worked agriculture (tomato fields) under supervisor Werner Neutle (German-Czech Jew, later in Shavei Tzion, Israel).
Memoir: Prisoner number at factory camp in Silesia: 86092. Factory produced aircraft engines/compressors.
Memoir: After liberation, learned Siegfried died 14 days before American army reached Dachau, of typhoid.
Memoir: Philip found her name on survivor list. He knew her from Esslingen orphanage. Jewish Brigade soldier.
Memoir: Arrived Haifa March 28, 1946. Found sister Änne already in Israel.
Memoir: 1957 — visited cousin Mina in Baltimore, USA.
Memoir: Written in 1963, ends with 'I Accuse.'
Marriage certificate H 84844 (Palestine Mandate, filed in Philip's citizenship file 3221) — married Philip Bernstein 14 July 1946 in Kfar Yehezkel. See correspondence 003_001_0034.

Sources

  • Oppenheimer/Shacham Family Archive — Personal documents, photos, and correspondence
  • ITS Archives (International Tracing Service)
  • Zeichen der Erinnerung (Stuttgart)
  • Stolpersteine Stuttgart
  • USHMM Kaufmann Family Correspondence — Letters from Josef and Margit Oppenheimer to cousin Mina Kaufmann (1939, 1944, 1946)
  • Geni.com World Family Tree — Collaborative genealogy profiles managed by Randy Schoenberg. Profiles for Joseph Marum Oppenheimer and Mina Oppenheimer (née Kirchhausen).
  • Margit Bernstein Memoir (קורות חיים) — 19-page handwritten Hebrew memoir/autobiography by Margit Bernstein (née Oppenheimer). Written in Israel in her later years. Covers childhood in Germany, Holocaust experiences (Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, Bad Kudowa-Sakisch), liberation, and emigration to Israel. Original title: קורות חיים של מרגיט אהרן ברנשטיין, מקודם אופנהיימר
  • Margit Bernstein Memoir (English Translation) — 11-page English translation of Margit Bernstein's Hebrew memoir/autobiography. Written in 1963. Title: 'The biography of Margit Edith Bernstein born Oppenheimer'. Covers childhood, father's arrest and imprisonment, Jewish orphanage in Esslingen, Kristallnacht, forced labor, deportation to Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, factory camp in Silesia near Czech border, liberation at Nachod, emigration to Palestine via Belgium, post-war life in Israel. Ends with 'I Accuse.'
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