Family and marriage
Bella Wertheimer was the youngest of three children. When she was born in Themar in December 1890, her brother Julius was already four, and her sister Rosa (married name Edelmuth) was three years old. When she was born in Themar in December 1890, her brother Julius was already four, her sister Rosa (later married Edelmuth) three years old.
The Frankenberg and Wertheimer familiesin Thuringia had been closely connected for generations and this continued after their move to Coburg: Bella’s mother, Malwine Wertheimer, was born a Frankenberg. The ancestors of both families had their roots in places around Themar and settled in Coburg in comparatively large numbers around the turn of the century.
When Bella married Milton Wertheimer, a second cousin, she signed the marriage register “Bella Wertheimer, née Wertheimer”. The document survived the chaos of war and exile and is now kept in Israel. née Wertheimer”. The document survived the chaos of war and exile and is now kept in Israel. This document survived all the turmoil of war and escapes and is now in Israel.
Nothing is known about Bella’s and Milton’s married life. From 1933 at the latest, they lived at separate addresses. While Milton left the town (for more information about him, see “Lebensbilder”), Bella Wertheimer stayed in Coburg living with different members of the family: with her brother-in-law Nathan Wertheimer at Löwenstraße 23, then with her brother Julius Wertheimer in Steinweg 53 with periods in between back at Marisfeld. Nothing is known about Bella’s and Milton’s married life. From 1933 at the latest, they lived at separate addresses. While Milton left the town (for more information about him, see “Lebensbilder”), Bella Wertheimer stayed in Coburg living with different members of the family: with her brother-in-law Nathan Wertheimer at Löwenstraße 23, then with her brother Julius Wertheimer in Steinweg 53 with periods in between back at Marisfeld.
Employment in the boarding school Hirsch
Bella Wertheimer had held no employment before her separation from Milton. From 1934, however, her registration card records the name Hirsch as her employer and the address Hohe Straße 30 in Coburg. Bella Wertheimer had held no employment before her separation from Milton. From 1934, however, her registration card records the name Hirsch as her employer and the address Hohe Straße 30 in Coburg.
After the Nazis had come to power Rabbi Hirsch was no longer allowed to keep the private boarding house for high school students he and his wife had run at Hohe Straße 30 and was obliged to turn it into a
One of the many conditions relating to the change was the employment of Bella Wertheimer “in the kitchen and house”. “in the kitchen and house”.
After the school had to be closed by the events of the “Reichskristallnacht” in November 1938, Bella continued to live there. In December, Bella Wertheimer wrote a letter to the Themar register office:
“I kindly request to add the legally required first name Sara to my birth certificate. Please send a confirmation of receipt. The costs well be paid by cash on delivery. "
Desperate and hopeless situation
This is the last reference to a place of residence in Coburg. The 1939 census shows that she lived in Halle/Saale in May, then again in Marisfeld and Meiningen. [ The 1939 census shows that she lived in Halle/Saale in May, then again in Marisfeld and Meiningen.
Meanwhile Milton was living in Amsterdam. Having been expelled from Dessau after the “Reichskristallnacht”, Bella’s sister Rosa Edelmuth and her family were also living in the Netherlands.
Bella Wertheimer’s situation was desperate and was becoming increasingly hopeless. Her brother Julius Wertheimer had emigrated to the USA with his family in 1936, her brother-in-law Nathan Wertheimer and family made their way to Argentina two years later. But she was stranded in Germany.
In May 1942 she lived in a so-called “Judenhaus” in Meiningen, her last address “in freedom”! her last address “in freedom”!
Together with other Meiningen Jews – some also from Themar – she was deported via Leipzig to the Belzyce ghetto on 10 May 1942. There the trail goes cold. There the trail goes cold. It is not known when she died or was killed.
Text: Gaby Schuller
Text read by Gaby Schuller: