Robert's daughter; Armin's niece; Samantha's grandmother
Ruth Cäcilie Brigher née Gerechter
Berlin, 29 December 1923 – Philadelphia, 25 May 2002
aged 78
Ruth Cäcilie Gerechter was born in Berlin on 29 December 1923, the elder daughter of Robert and Erna. She carried her grandmother Cäcilie's name.
She lost her father when she was twelve. At fifteen she was still in Berlin with her mother and her sister Vera. Then she got out. She was the only one of the four of them to survive.
After the war she searched for her family, lived in Israel, and in 1955 came to the United States. She made her life in Philadelphia, where she died on 25 May 2002, aged seventy-eight. Her granddaughter Samantha shared the family's photographs, so that we can see their faces.
Before 1933
Ruth grew up at Frankfurter Allee 17 in the east of Berlin, where her father had his dental practice. Her sister Vera was born in 1926.
1933 – 1938
In October 1936 her father Robert died, after a severe illness. Ruth was twelve.
1938 – 1945
In May 1939 Ruth was living with her mother and sister at Annenstraße 39 in Berlin. Some time after that she left Germany. When her mother, her sister, her grandfather and her aunt were deported in August 1942, she was no longer with them.
After
In 1945 and 1946 she filled in search forms in Stockholm for her mother and Vera, for her uncle Erich Gutmann, and for her cousins Ingrid and Walter Meyer. None of them had survived.
She later lived in Israel, and in June 1955 she sailed from Haifa to New York. From Philadelphia she pursued claims in Berlin for what had been taken from her family, down to parts of her father's dental surgery. In 1977 she filled in Pages of Testimony for her mother, her sister, her grandfather Jakob Lauer and her aunt Paula, so that their names would be kept.
Close family
- FatherRobert Gerechter 1896 – 1936
- MotherErna Esther Gerechter, née Lauer 1896 – 1942
- HusbandHerman Zvi Brigher – 1981
- ChildrenRuth's three children
- SisterVera Gerechter 1926 – 1942
In Armin's films
- Film 2, verhaftet 1938In Berlin, Armin's niece Ruth is fourteen.
In Erich's films
- Film 3, Hier wohnteThat summer his brother Armin leaves for England, and his niece Ruth for Denmark.
In Ruth's films
- Film 1, Erna-Esther, née LauerBerlin, the dentist's flat, 1933, 1936
- Film 2, Berlin – Annenstrasse 391938, the census, she goes
- Film 3, Deported to the east in August 1942Denmark, and Riga meanwhile
- Film 4, Ruth BrigherThe boat, Sweden, Philadelphia, a family
What we don't know
We do not know how Ruth escaped, when she left, or how she came to Sweden and then to Israel. Her own account may survive in the Berlin claim files, which have not yet been read.
The recordsthe archive's notes, dates and sources
Notes
- Also recorded as: "Cacilia Ruth Gerechter" (1945-46); "Ruth Brieger" and "Ruth Brigler" in catalogues
Life events
| Date | Place | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Jan 1924 | Berlin | Birth notice: "Eine Tochter geboren: Berlin: Robert Gerechter u. Erna, geb. Lauer" IFB |
| 1926-1936 | Berlin O 34, Frankfurter Allee 17 | Family home ADR-B, GBL |
| 17 May 1939 | Berlin SW 68, Annenstr. 39 | Still in Berlin on census day, with her mother and sister MTL |
| after May 1939, before Aug 1942 | Germany → ? | Left Germany (route not documented); she was not with her family at deportation STAT |
| 1945-46 | Stockholm (?) | Fills in World Jewish Congress relative-search forms for Erna, Vera and others, so she was probably in Sweden YV |
| 1939 | Berlin → Denmark | As a member of Hechalutz, the Zionist pioneer movement, she gets an entry permit for Denmark and leaves Germany, aged 15 SWE-1943 |
| 1939-43 | Denmark | Works for 3½ years as a home help (hembiträde), with the Danish family Samantha remembers as "a second family to her". Then she becomes a pupil at the Høng Husholdningsskole (housekeeping school), Høng, Zealand SWE-1943, FAM-SAM |
| 11 Oct 1943 | Denmark → Hälsingborg | Flees the German round-up of Denmark's Jews by motorboat across the Øresund (the family memory: "a boat of Jewish refugees being smuggled"). Stateless, 20 Danish kroner. She tells the police her parents are "probably still living, in Poland"; her mother and sister had been murdered in Riga a year before SWE-1943, FAM-SAM |
| 12 Oct 1943 | Hässleholm | Given an emergency visa and sent by train to the Hechalutz centre in Hässleholm SWE-1943 |
| 1943-46 | Sweden | Learns Swedish (Samantha). By 1945-46 in Stockholm, filling in the World Jewish Congress search forms for her family FAM-SAM, YV |
| c. 1946-48 | Belgium → Israel | Meets Zvi (Herman) Brigher in a repatriation camp in Belgium; they go to Israel together (Samantha). Camp, dates and ship not yet documented FAM-SAM |
| Jun 1955 | Haifa → New York | Sails on the S/S Jerusalem (from Haifa 12 Jun 1955) with husband Zvi (Herman) and two children, all on Israeli documents (NARA T715 roll 8601, manifest 15). She lived in Israel before the US FS |
| later | Philadelphia | Her son is named Robert, for her father. Robert has three daughters; Samantha is one of them (family knowledge) [family] |
| after 1955 | Philadelphia | Three children in all (family knowledge, Kyle, Nov 2026): the two on the 1955 list, and a third born later, presumably in the US. Not named here (living) [family] |
| Jul 1966 | Philadelphia | Social Security application as "Ruth Gerechter Brigher", b. 29 Dec 1923 Berlin, parents Robert Gerechter and Erna Lauer (NUMIDENT, ark 1:1:6K9V-K7Q2). A US record in her own name tying her to Robert |
| 1957 | Philadelphia, 4048 West Girard Ave | Claims restitution for her mother (41 WGA 436/57) WGA |
| 1959 | Philadelphia, 5410 Euclid Ave | Further claims, including "parts of a dental practice" (44 WGA 9949-9951/59) WGA |
| 1965 | Philadelphia | Claims for Robert, Erna and Vera (45 WGA 89-90/65) WGA |
| 1977 | USA | Pages of Testimony for her mother, sister, grandfather and aunt YV |
| 1981 | Philadelphia? | Zvi dies (Samantha; place and date to confirm) FAM-SAM |
| 25 May 2002 | Philadelphia | Died GENI |
Not her: Arolsen RV card 12654783 ("Ruth Gerechter, b. 18.2.1921 Berlin", died 1941 at Wuhlgarten, a "euthanasia" victim), and a 4-year-old Ruth Gerechter in Shanghai in 1944.
Sources
- Israelitisches Familienblatt 10 Jan 1924
- Mapping the Lives
- Landesarchiv Berlin B Rep. 025-04 catalogue
- Yad Vashem
- Geni
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.