The importance of family materials
A beautiful hand-drawn wedding card was sent to the project some months ago, and a very kind researcher has now translated it for us.
The card is particularly notable for the scenes depicted along the sides – of typical Kitchener tasks.
The ‘poem in a card’ to mark a birthday or wedding seems to have been popular among German families – my father always wrote a short piece of light-hearted verse in my birthday cards.
Apart from the fact that this wedding card is a wonderful item – for all kinds of reasons – the men who made the card for the happy couple also list their surnames on it, and note the fact that they were residents in Hut 23/I.
In what follows, I have cross-checked the surnames against the 1939 Register. Although some of the surnames are too commonly found to draw any conclusions (I don’t make any suggestions where there are more than two possibilities), a good number appear only once in the Register, and thus it seems reasonable to suggest that the men of Hut 23/I are as follows, below.
If your father or other relative was in Hut 23 and you can shed any more light on this list, we would be very pleased to hear from you.
…………………………………………
The Comrades of Hut 23/I
Ackerfeld, Adler, Baum, Demuth, Eisenberg, Gonsinowski, 3*Heilborn, Henoch, Hess, Kadritzkt, Kongrecki, Levy, Lewin, Lucas, Meier, Michel, Nebel, Neugeboren, Neustadt, Oske, Penzias, Rosenthal, 2* Sadel, Silberberg, Sommer, Tanne, Waksmann, Wedel, Weintraub, Weissenberg, Wormann, Zacharias
Kitchener Camp – 30th October 1939
……………………………………..
Cross-checking the names listed in the wedding card against the 1939 Register, we have the following information about the men in Hut 23/I
Mortiz Ackerfeld, born 1894 – a tailor
Adler – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion
Hans Baum, born 1902 – a clerk
or
Max Baum, born 1893 – a pharmacist
Armand Demuth, born 1904 – a clerk
Gustav Eisenberg, born 1905 – a plumber
Adolf Eisenberg, born 1900 – a bookseller
Manfred Gonsiorowski, born 1917 – a milliner
Heilborn – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion
Ludwig Henoch, born 1900 – a farm assistant
Hess – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion
Leo Kadritzki, born 1897 – a textile dealer
Abraham Kongrecki, born 1901 – an upholsterer
Levy – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion
Lewin – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion
David Lucas, born 1900 – a jockey
Meier – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion
Michel – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion
Heimann Nebel, born 1897 – a master butcher
or
Erich Nebel, born 1895 – a linen salesman
Neugeboren – not in 1939 Register
Rudolf Neustadt, born 1904 – a master furrier
Werner Oske, born 1898 – a labourer and driver
Karol Penzias, born 1911 – a leather salesman
Rosenthal – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion
Sadel * 2 – not in 1939 Register
Kurt Silberberg, born 1903 – a bank manager
Sommer – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion
Max Tanne-Muenz (probably), born 1912 – a textile salesman
Cecil Waksmann, born 1899 – a laundry owner
Edmund Wedel, born 1909 – a farm assistant
Weintraub – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion
Weissenberg – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion
Wormann – not in 1939 Register
Julian Zacharias, born 1905 – a textiles commercial traveller