Armin's neighbour in Großräschen, arrested with him in 1938
Kurt (Curt) Mannheim
Löwenberg, Silesia, 6 June 1890 – Auschwitz, 1943
aged about 53
Kurt Mannheim kept a small shop in Großräschen, at Neue Straße 19. He sold stockings, thread, buttons and the other small things a household needs. He was one of only five Jews in the whole district, and one of three Jewish merchants in the textile trade, with Armin and Armin's brother-in-law Herbert.
On the morning of 10 November 1938 the police arrested the three of them together. When they emptied Kurt's pockets they wrote down a purse with 19 marks 89, four keys, a house key, a cigar, a box of matches and his account book. Then he was sent to Sachsenhausen.
He came out in the spring of 1939, but not to his old life. His shop never opened again. He moved to Berlin with his wife, Lisbeth. In February 1943 they were deported together to Auschwitz, and murdered there. Kurt was fifty-two. Lisbeth was forty-one.
Before 1933
Kurt was born on 6 June 1890 in Löwenberg, in Silesia. He married Lisbeth Cronbach, who was born in Marienau in 1901. By the 1930s they lived in Großräschen, where he had his shop.
1933 – 1938
In his last years in Großräschen he also travelled as a salesman for textile firms, until his trade licence was taken from him. On 10 November 1938 he was arrested with Armin and Herbert, and held in Sachsenhausen until 28 March 1939.
1938 – 1945
A Jewish legal adviser in Cottbus, Hermann Hammerschmidt, worked for his release, to wind up his business and to plan his emigration. Kurt wrote to him from the camp. The police seized all the goods he still had. In 1939 Kurt and Lisbeth moved to Berlin, first to Magazinstraße 16a, in the centre, and later to Franseckystraße 30, where they rented a room in someone else's flat. On 26 February 1943 they were deported from Berlin to Auschwitz.
After
On 22 March 2011 a Stolperstein for Kurt was laid at Neue Straße 19 in Großräschen, the same day as the stones for the Gerechter family.
In Armin's films
- Film 2, verhaftet 1938The police arrest Armin, with Herbert and the stocking merchant Kurt Mannheim.
What we don't know
We don't know where Kurt hoped to go, or why he and Lisbeth could not leave. His letters from Sachsenhausen survive, but we have not yet read them. We have no photograph of either of them.
The recordsthe archive's notes, dates and sources
Family and connections
- Wife Lisbeth née Cronbach (b. 14 Sep 1901 Marienau), deported and murdered with him
Life events
| Date | Place | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1930s | Großräschen, Neue Str. 19 | Hosiery and haberdashery shop ("Strumpf- und Kurzwaren-Geschäft"); it never reopened after 1938 LR |
| 22 Feb 1937 | Räschen | Textile merchant AROL-1937 |
| 10 Nov 1938 | Großräschen | Arrested with Armin and Bernhard AROL-1938 |
| 10 Nov 1938-28 Mar 1939 | Sachsenhausen | Imprisoned GB, MTL |
| Jan-Jun 1939 | Cottbus | Konsulent Hermann Hammerschmidt handles his release, the winding-up of the shop and his emigration plans. The file holds several Sachsenhausen letter sheets (BLHA Rep. 16 Hammerschmidt 491) BLHA-CAT |
| 1939 | Berlin C, Magazinstr. 16a c/o Kleinmann | Moved; stock seized; complaint through Hammerschmidt AROL-1938 |
| 17 May 1939 | Magazinstr. 16a, Berlin-Mitte | Census address MTL |
| 1943 | Berlin N 58, Franseckystr. 30 c/o Rosin | Last address, as a sub-tenant STAT |
| 26 Feb 1943 | Berlin → Auschwitz | Deported with Lisbeth on the 30th Osttransport (list nos. 182-183); murdered STAT, GB |
| 22 Mar 2011 | Großräschen, Neue Str. 19 | Stolperstein: "verhaftet 1938, Sachsenhausen, deportiert 1943, ermordet in Auschwitz" STOL |
Sources
- Arolsen 11208452
- Gedenkbuch de1114825
- 30th Osttransport list, p. 111
- BLHA catalogue (Rep. 16 Hammerschmidt 491)
- Lausitzer Rundschau 23 Mar 2011
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.