Family de Beer

On April 29, 1877, Adolf de Beer, who later became a merchant, was born in Emden. He married Mathilde Scheunenpflug, who was born on March 14, 1876 in Salzwedel and converted to Judaism during her life. Mathilde and Adolf de Beer had four children. The first born was Hilda (July 28, 1901 in Wittenberge), followed by Erich (July 19, 1903 in Oldenburg), Charlotte (September 01, 1906 in Oldenburg) and Ilse (July 22, 1908 in Oldenburg). Together, the couple founded the Dampfwäscherei Reingold at Hochheiderweg 3 in Oldenburg in 1905.

The entire de Beer family took part in social life and felt very much at home in Oldenburg. Despite the fact that the children of the de Beers did not participate in religious education, they were also integrated and enjoyed a carefree childhood with many friends. The children also made friends in the neighborhood, especially with the Albers family, whose garden bordered the de Beers' property. The de Beers had a firm place in associations and communities. Father Adolf de Beer, for example, had been a member of the Osternburg gymnastics club since 1906. In 1933, the regulations on membership in the Osternburger Turnverein were restricted, so that all Jewish members were excluded. As a result, Adolf de Beer and members of his family founded the Jewish gymnastics club "Schild", of which he was chairman. He was also a member of the Breeders' Poultry Club and the Red Cross, of which the ambulance column also had its place on his property. Charlotte was active as a vorturner and in a dance group, while mother Mathilde and daughter Hilda in the "Plattdeutschen Ohmsteder Verein" entertained the soldiers in the military hospital during the First World War.

As a result of the aggravated political situation, daughter Hilda left Germany in 1935 and moved to Jerusalem, followed a year later by Hilda's daughter Hedwig at the age of twelve. Hilda died of an infectious disease in 1940. Hedwig worked in a Jerusalem infant home and later built up a farm with her husband. In the course of time she had four children, making Mathilde and Adolf de Beer great-grandparents.

Son Erich secretly fled Germany in 1937 and settled in Palestine. During World War II he was taken prisoner as an English soldier, but after the war he was able to return to Palestine, where he later set up a farm with his wife Chana. This was in close proximity to Hilda's daughter Hedwig.

Charlotte went to Hamburg in 1936 to work in a household. She later returned to Oldenburg for the forced liquidation of her fiancé Herbert Seligman's shoe store. Herbert and Charlotte were married on June 29, 1938, on Peterstraße, making them the last couple to be married in the synagogue. On November 11, 1938, Herbert was arrested by the SA and deported to Sachsenhausen. He was released on December 31, 1938. On their way to Paraguay, they learned that Paraguay was no longer accepting Jewish refugees. Fortunately, they were accepted by Uruguay. On the ship's journey there, Charlotte forgot her writing case in the lounge. The steward later returned it to her cabin. There, Charlotte was surprised to find that the crew had pooled money to help the Seligmans start their new life. There they lived until Herbert's death in Montevideo on June 29, 1950. In 1951, Charlotte returned to Oldenburg to care for her parents. Charlotte passed away on July 02, 2000.

Ilse, the youngest daughter of Adolf and Mathilde de Beer, moved several times over the next few years and married Hermann Hirsch. Ilse Hirsch was arrested in Berlin on April 19, 1943, and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp and then, in the same year, to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she died on July 20, 1944. Her husband Hermann was murdered in Auschwitz.

In 1938, Adolf de Beer became chairman of the Jewish Religious Association - Synagogue Community of Oldenburg, since Jewish communities were no longer allowed to be corporations under public law. He was also, like Herbert, arrested by the SA on November 11, 1938 and deported to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He was released in January 1939, but had to perform forced labor in Hamburg until the end of the war.

After returning home from Hamburg, Adolf de Beer became socially involved again. In 1945, for example, he and other men founded the "Jewish Community for the City and Country of Oldenburg," later to become the "Jewish Religious Association of Oldenburg e.V.". Here he searched for former members and devoted himself to the community. He was not only involved in the community again, but in the 1950s he was also group leader of the DRK-Sanitätsbereitschaft Oldenburg. On September 06, 1955 Adolf de Beer died in Oldenburg and two years later his wife also died on October 11, 1957 in Hannover.