Armin's sister
Hedwig Gerechter
Berlin, 28 April 1894 – unknown, probably before 1939
Hedwig Gerechter was born in Berlin on 28 April 1894, a daughter of Wilhelm and Cäcilie, between her brothers Georg and Robert. She was still a baby when the family left Berlin for the Lausitz, and she grew up with her brothers and sisters in Groß Räschen, where her father had his store.
That is almost all we know of her. Her name does not appear with the rest of the family in the records of the Nazi years: not in the census of 1939, where her brothers and sisters are found, and not among the deported.
She is remembered here with them, though her own story is lost.
Close family
- FatherWilhelm Gerechter 1860 – 1926
- MotherCäcilie Gerechter, née Schiller 1862 – 1918
- BrotherDr. Erich Gerechter 1885 – 1949
- SisterMargarete Lewinsky, née Gerechter 1887 – 1943
- SisterElse Meyer, née Gerechter 1888 – 1941/42
- BrotherGeorg Gerechter 1892 – 1915
- BrotherRobert Gerechter 1896 – 1936
- SisterFrida Gutmann, née Gerechter 1898 – 1943
- BrotherArmin Josef Gerechter 1899 – 1955
- SisterEdith Bernhard, née Gerechter 1901 – 1943
- SisterIrma Kassel, née Gerechter 1904 – 1943
What we don't know
We do not know whether Hedwig married, where she lived as a grown woman, or when she died. It seems likely that she died, or left Germany, before 1939. Another Hedwig Gerechter, of a different family, lived in Berlin in the same years; she was not our Hedwig.
The recordsthe archive's notes, dates and sources
Life events
| Date | Place | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 17 May 1939 | — | Not in the minority census under any Gerechter entry MTL |
| 1941-45 | — | No Gedenkbuch entry under Gerechter or "geb. Gerechter" with her birth date GB |
The Kaiser-Friedrich-Str. 48 Hedwig is someone else. The Hedwig Gerechter listed at Kaiser-Friedrich-Str. 48, Charlottenburg in 1933-41 was born 23 Jun 1888 in Rostock. She was the daughter of the widow Klara (Clara) Gerechter née Hanft, who was there from 1924 to 1930. She was deported to Litzmannstadt on 18 Oct 1941 and murdered at Chelmno on 8 May 1942 (Gedenkbuch de1054530; ghetto arrival list row 298). Her sister was probably Käthe Fink née Gerechter (b. 1892 Rostock) ADR-B, GB, STAT, MTL.
The Colma Hedwig is probably someone else too. Find a Grave has a Hedwig Gerechter d. 30 Sep 1991, Eternal Home Cemetery, Colma, California, next to a Jenny Gerechter d. 1989. But the 1950 US census has a Hedwig Gerechter in San Francisco born c. 1903 in Germany, so she was most likely the Colma Hedwig, nine years too young to be Armin's sister FG, FS. A California death index entry (birth date and mother's maiden name) would settle it.
Sources
- Geni
- Berlin address books 1924-1942
- Mapping the Lives
- Gedenkbuch
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.