Germany: Roots & Remembrance

My Freund family from Nuremberg was saved from certain death by a distant cousin, Louis Joseph. Though everyone in the family knew his name, it took me almost a year to figure out our exact relationship.

Louis arrived in New York in 1893 at age 16 from Reichelsheim, with two teenaged cousins, as third class passengers. The Joseph boys had no visas. In those days, they were not required. Louis had older brothers, so he had a bleak future in Reichelsheim: in Germany, only the eldest son inherited the family house and land. Poverty pushed many people abroad in that era, not just the Jews.

Louis became a well-paid manager at the Wilson Meat Packing Company, and in 1901, a U.S. citizen.

In 1936, the Jewish men in Nuremberg (including my grandfather) were arrested and forced to run around a track until they dropped from exhaustion. Someone secured my grandfather’s release, perhaps through a bribe. His trauma was the impetus my family needed to leave.

Among other requirements for U.S. visas, my grandfather had to show that he and his family would not become ”a public charge”. He wrote to Louis, whose mother was a Freund; even so, Louis never had met my grandfather. No matter. Louis provided an affidavit of support, and later sent a bankbook that my grandfather could show to the U.S. consul as evidence of financial means. Louis provided such documents to any relative and anyone from his home town who asked.

I created a short photo essay journal on Louis’s life and personally delivered a copy of the book to the Rathaus in Reichelsheim to be sure that they knew the story of their native son. I also have thanked Louis’s distant relatives in Australia, Chicago and New York, as he had no children.

Our journey to Reichelsheim began when I wrote to the mayor (Bürgermeister) who put me in touch with Gerd Lode, the former mayor, who has been documenting the Jewish history of Reichelsheim for 18 years. Gerd gave us a warm welcome and an introduction to the current mayor. We were given a book with the history of the Jews in the town, Not to be Forgotten: The Jews in Reichelsheim, a list of all the Jewish families that once lived there, and a tour of the pretty town.

The Jospeh family was large. One branch owned a matzah factory. Another branch were cattle dealers. They lived in harmony with their non-Jewish neighbors. The town has not forgotten them, and Gerd has done all he can to document what is knowable, to ensure that the Jewish cemetery is kept up, and to see that the Jewish community’s history is preserved and remembered. We are impressed and grateful.

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