Skotzki, Bertha née Wagner

Bertha Wagner was born on January 10, 1868 in Breslau as the second daughter of David Wagner (1837-1909) and his wife Cäcilie Auerbach (1842-1912). The father had already been running a grain, clover and animal feed wholesale business in the flourishing city for several years. His mother came from a family of tradesmen and furriers from Gdansk. Later, in addition to the first-born Sophie (born in 1866), there were 5 more siblings: Elisabeth (born 1869), Ottilie (born 1870), James John (born 1872), Kurt (1880 - 1903) and Willi Neumann (born 1882). Bertha marries the Wroclaw merchant Philip Skotzki (1859-1917) in 1891. He is active in the textile industry. Together they have three children: Walter Jakob (born 1892), Edith (born 1893) and Günther (born 1898). After the death of her husband, Bertha continues to run the business together with her sons. Around 1934, her son Günther runs a quilt factory under his father's name in Breslau. Walter Jakob is now working as an architect in Breslau and Berlin. In 1926, their son Günther marries Charlotte Feldmann, the daughter of her older sister, Sophie Feldmann, who is married to the factory owner Simon Feldmann in Berlin-Oberschüneweide. Günther and Charlotte live with their two daughters, Helga (born 1927) and Inge (born 1928), mainly in Breslau. Since 1936, Günther runs a knitting yarn and button factory at Tabbertstr.14 - still under his father's name. Bertha's sister Sophie Feldmann loses her son Fritz (end of 1938), who continued to run the factory after his father's death, and her daughter    Ruth (end of 1939) in Berlin in a very short time. Both were victims of persecution. Sophie's daughter-in-law Bertha, née Lindheimer, and her mother Rega Recha Lindheimer then fled to Belgium in the summer of 1939. They were later murdered in Auschwitz.

Bertha lived in Berlin for several months in 1939 to support her sister Sophie. In January 1942, Sofie Feldmann commits suicide to escape the threat of deportation.

Bertha Skotzki is deported to Theresienstadt together with her sister Ottilie Schwedenberg from Breslau on July 26, 1942 and dies there on December 27, 1942.