Location
Kreuzstraße 13
District
Pankow
Stone was laid
07 August 2014
Born
23 August 1898 in Berlin
Deportation
on 09 February 1944
to
Theresienstadt
Later deported
on 09 October 1944
to
Auschwitz
Murdered
-
Familie Schwarz Mai 1938, von links vorne: Vater Georg (gestorben 1942), Schwager Paul Hirsch (deportiert 1942), Mutter Berta (gest. 1943), Schwägerin Nadja (emigriert 1938) Von links hinten: Neffe Joachim Brotzen (lebt in USA), Bruder Bodo (emigriert 1938), Schwester Senta Hirsch (deportiert 1942), Schwager Karl Brotzen (emigriert 1938), Schwester Loni Brotzen (emigriert 1939), Irma (deportiert 1944) © Privatbesitz -
Stolperstein für Irma Schwarz Foto: Stolpersteingruppe Pankow
Irma Schwarz was born on 23 August 1898 in Berlin. Her father Georg Schwarz (1860-1942) had left Flatow in west Prussia (now Złotów, Poland) for Berlin in 1873. In cooperation with a tailor, he set up a business producing and selling menswear and sportswear. Specializing in officers’ uniforms, he rose to affluence and became one of the wealthiest men in Pankow.
Georg Schwarz married Berta Rehfeldt, with whom he had six children: Loni, Senta, Martin, Irma, Werner and Bodo. All six children attended the Lyceum or Gymnasium grammar school in Pankow. Irma’s eldest sister became a singer. Irma, too, loved music and drama and attended the opera whenever she could. In 1909 the Schwarz family bought and moved into a house at Kreuz Strasse 13.
The First World War and subsequent hyperinflation left Georg Schwarz almost completely ruined. The Georg Schwarz business was wound up in 1929. The subsequent period of persecution, expulsion and mass murder was survived by three of Irma Schwarz’s siblings, who managed to emigrate to the United States, Canada and England, respectively (1938/39).
Irma, however, cared selflessly for her (non-Jewish) mother, who had fallen seriously ill in 1931 (by today’s diagnosis, with Parkinson’s disease). She stayed in Berlin, as did her sister Senta and brother Werner, who had settled with their spouses in Berlin.
In 1942 Irma’s father died. Senta (whose married name was Hirsch) and Werner were deported along with their families in 1942 and 1943, respectively. In November 1943, the Schwarz family’s house at Kreuz Strasse 13 was destroyed in an air raid. Irma’s mother was admitted to a care home, where she died on 9 December the same year. Irma moved from place to place, starting in emergency accommodation in Flora Strasse. Her last address was Elisabeth Strasse 4 in Mitte. She was deported from here on 9 February 1944 to Theresienstadt, then Auschwitz, and murdered. In January 2014, her nephew Joachim Brotzen (the son of her eldest sister Loni, born in 1924 and resident in the United States) wrote the following lines about his aunt Irma:
“Irma looked after my grandmother Berta Schwarz (née Rehfeldt) from the start of her illness in around 1931 to her bitter end (Dec. 1943) … In retrospect, my aunt Irma did not have what you would call ‘a good life’. She loved music and the theatre and went to the opera when she could but had only a very small circle of acquaintances, although she went to the Lyceum or Gymnasium in Pankow like all the Schwarz children … She was a very kind person but really did not have a good life.”
Georg Schwarz married Berta Rehfeldt, with whom he had six children: Loni, Senta, Martin, Irma, Werner and Bodo. All six children attended the Lyceum or Gymnasium grammar school in Pankow. Irma’s eldest sister became a singer. Irma, too, loved music and drama and attended the opera whenever she could. In 1909 the Schwarz family bought and moved into a house at Kreuz Strasse 13.
The First World War and subsequent hyperinflation left Georg Schwarz almost completely ruined. The Georg Schwarz business was wound up in 1929. The subsequent period of persecution, expulsion and mass murder was survived by three of Irma Schwarz’s siblings, who managed to emigrate to the United States, Canada and England, respectively (1938/39).
Irma, however, cared selflessly for her (non-Jewish) mother, who had fallen seriously ill in 1931 (by today’s diagnosis, with Parkinson’s disease). She stayed in Berlin, as did her sister Senta and brother Werner, who had settled with their spouses in Berlin.
In 1942 Irma’s father died. Senta (whose married name was Hirsch) and Werner were deported along with their families in 1942 and 1943, respectively. In November 1943, the Schwarz family’s house at Kreuz Strasse 13 was destroyed in an air raid. Irma’s mother was admitted to a care home, where she died on 9 December the same year. Irma moved from place to place, starting in emergency accommodation in Flora Strasse. Her last address was Elisabeth Strasse 4 in Mitte. She was deported from here on 9 February 1944 to Theresienstadt, then Auschwitz, and murdered. In January 2014, her nephew Joachim Brotzen (the son of her eldest sister Loni, born in 1924 and resident in the United States) wrote the following lines about his aunt Irma:
“Irma looked after my grandmother Berta Schwarz (née Rehfeldt) from the start of her illness in around 1931 to her bitter end (Dec. 1943) … In retrospect, my aunt Irma did not have what you would call ‘a good life’. She loved music and the theatre and went to the opera when she could but had only a very small circle of acquaintances, although she went to the Lyceum or Gymnasium in Pankow like all the Schwarz children … She was a very kind person but really did not have a good life.”