Armin's mother
Cäcilie Gerechter née Schiller
Sohrau, Upper Silesia, 24 February 1862 – Großräschen, 9 May 1918
aged 56
Cäcilie Gerechter, born Cäcilie Schiller, came from Sohrau in Upper Silesia. She married Wilhelm Gerechter in Berlin in the 1880s and raised a large family with him, first in Berlin and then in Groß Räschen, where the family had its store.
She was the mother of eleven children. She lost her son Georg in the war in 1915, and died three years later, on 9 May 1918, aged fifty-six. She was buried in Cottbus.
A year after her death, her eldest son Erich had two trees planted in the Land of Israel in her memory, for her Jahrzeit. Two of her granddaughters, Ruth and Ilse, carried her name.
Before 1933
Cäcilie was born in 1862. Her parents later lived in Liegnitz in Silesia, where her son Erich went to school. In Berlin the family sold clothing on Oranienstraße, and for a time the shop was listed under the initial "C." The family moved to the Lausitz in the mid-1890s, where Wilhelm's store grew in Groß Räschen.
She died in Groß Räschen on 9 May 1918. Wilhelm died on the same day, eight years later.
After
Her sisters stayed in Silesia and Berlin. In 1942 Paula Krakauer was deported to Theresienstadt, where she died. Lina Schiller, Fanny Kornblum and Johanna Choyke were deported from Breslau to Theresienstadt and then to Treblinka, where they were murdered.
Close family
- HusbandWilhelm Gerechter 1860 – 1926
- SonDr. Erich Gerechter 1885 – 1949
- DaughterMargarete Lewinsky, née Gerechter 1887 – 1943
- DaughterElse Meyer, née Gerechter 1888 – 1941/42
- SonGeorg Gerechter 1892 – 1915
- DaughterHedwig Gerechter b. 1894
- SonRobert Gerechter 1896 – 1936
- DaughterFrida Gutmann, née Gerechter 1898 – 1943
- SonArmin Josef Gerechter 1899 – 1955
- DaughterEdith Bernhard, née Gerechter 1901 – 1943
- DaughterIrma Kassel, née Gerechter 1904 – 1943
In Armin's films
- Film 1, Hier wohnte9 May 1918. His mother Cäcilie dies, aged fifty-six.
In Erich's films
- Film 1, Jg. 18869 May 1918. His mother Cäcilie dies, three years to the day after Georg went missing.
What we don't know
Her birth date is not certain, and her own records have not been found. The old Jewish cemetery in Cottbus where she was most likely buried was later destroyed, so her grave may be lost.
The recordsthe archive's notes, dates and sources
Life events
| Date | Place | Event |
|---|---|---|
| c. 1884-85 | Berlin | Married Wilhelm [inference] |
| 1889-1890 | Berlin SO, Oranienstr. | The family shop is listed under "C. Gerechter", possibly her name ADR-B |
| 9 May 1918 | Großräschen | Died, aged 56 GENI |
| 16 May 1919 | Cottbus | "Dr. Gerechter, Cottbus" (Erich) plants two JNF trees "for his late mother Cecilie Gerechter, for her Jahrzeit" JPER |
Sources
- Geni
- Jüdische Rundschau 16 May 1919
The small letters after an entry name its source: GB the German Memorial Book, JM the Joods Monument, AROL the Arolsen Archives, GENI the family tree on Geni, STOL the stones.