Ernst Hirschfeld and Margarethe Romer (geb. Hirschfeld)
Ernst Hirschfeld was born on August 19, 1858, in Berlin, Brandenburg, Prussia (now Berlin, Brandenburg, Germany) to Itzig Isidor Hirschfeld, a merchant, and Ida Steilberg, a housewife. At nineteen years old, Ernst enrolled in the University of Heidelberg in 1877 to study law. He also studied law in Berlin. By 1885, he was working as an attorney. By 1898, he was employed as a Royal District Judge in Sommerfeld, Kreis Crossen ( now Lubsko, Niederlausitz), here on April 5, 1898, he married Charlotte Luise Kirstein.
Ernst’s and Charlotte’s first child, Margarethe, was born on April 29, 1899, in Sommerfeld. Their second child, Annelise Cäcilie (Anita) was born on May 29, 1906, in Berlin. As of 1915, Ernst and his family lived at Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Duisburger Strasse 10, IV. Ernst continued to work as a Royal District Judge until he retired in 1924, after working for 39 years in the legal profession. In 1935, Ernst’s wife, Charlotte, died in Berlin. In 1938, Ernst is listed in the Nazi census as living with a German, non-Jewish maid, Emma Mayer, at Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Duisburger Strasse 10 IV. He is listed in the German phone book as residing at the same address from 1915 until his death on November 29, 1940, being attacked on the street , which was recorded on his marriage certificate by a Nazi stamp.
Ernst’s firstborn daughter, Margarethe, married Gerhard Romer in Germany. In 1936, Margarethe and Gerhard went to Spain, then to Mexico, and finally to England. They entered the United Kingdom as refugees. They eventually registered as living with Margarethe’s cousin, Dr. Wolfgang Herrmann, at 89 Kingsley Way, London, H2. Margarethe’s husband, Gerhard worked as a salesman for Aero Zipp Fasteners. In 1939, both Gerhard and Margrethe were designated as Category C refugees by a tribunal which made them exempt from all war restrictions. They later moved to 26 Queens Road, Hertford. Margarethe and Gerhard died in England in 1953 within a month of one another.
Ernst’s second daughter, Annelise (Anita), married Franz N. Bachelin, a Catholic, on August 27, 1927, in Berlin. They immigrated to America in 1928. In 1932, Annelise (Anita) returned to Berlin to visit her family for six months and then returned to her home in Pacific Palisades, California. In 1941, Annelise (Anita), as the heiress to Ernst’s estate in Berlin, submitted a formal request to obtain all assets allocated to her. But by 1943, she was deemed an enemy of the Nazi state and her inheritance was confiscated. Annelise’s husband, Franz, became an art director for Paramount Studios in Hollywood. He worked on a number of films including The Hitler Gang, a 1944 film inspired by a Paramount producer to expose the criminal behavior of Hitler and those closest to him. It was marketed as a pseudo-documentary. Franz Bachelin died in California in 1980. Annelise (Anita) died in California in 1999.
Descendants of Margarethe and Ernst Hirschfeld today live in in USA, UK, India and South Africa.
(Text Lisa Storer, Urenkelin)
DGS
Leichte Sprache
