Rubens, Berta née Lindheimer, widowed Feldmann

Berta Lindheimer was born on 29.11.1911 in Nassau-Lahn as the älst child of the family. Her parents were Rega Lindheimer née Stern from Meudt in Rhineland-Palatinate and Markus-Moritz Lindheimer from Nassau, a butcher by trade. Her brother Siegfried came along in 1913. In 1934, at the age of 23, Berta married the tannery owner Fritz Feldmann from Berlin-Schouml;neweide. She moved in with him at Tabbertstrasse 14, on the site of the company founded by her father-in-law Simon Feldmann around 1900. When her father died in 1936, Berta's mother Rega Lindheimer decided to move to Berlin to be with her daughter.  The worry about the factory with its approx. 100 employees depressed Fritz Feldmann so much that he died of a heart attack on November 29, 1938.  Finally, Berta and her mother decided to flee to Berlin on July 19, 1938.The circumstances in which Berta and her mother lived in Brüssel can no longer be determined, but her marriage to the merchant Walter Simon Rubens on 27.12.1939 certainly gave her new hope.In July 1941, Berta and Walter Rubens decided to take a risky trip. They were determined to bring Walter's mother, Selma Rubens, née Mayer, from Haaren to join them. To do this, they had to enter German territory. Here the two women fell into the clutches of the SS, who had already set up a camp for Jews from the surrounding area in the Hergelsmühle near Haaren in June 1941. Once again, fate took a turn for the better: the two women and Walter were able to escape to Brüssel, to Rue d’Eglise 40. On July 11, 1942, the deportation of 10,000 Jews from Belgium, among others, was decided in the Reich Security Main Office in Berlin. The formal approval of the Belgian military administration was initially only required for non-Belgian Jews. However, this was later abandoned. The official start of the Mechelen (French: Malines) transit camp on July 15, 1942, conveniently located between Brussels and Antwerp, the cities with the largest Jewish minorities, was a necessary prerequisite for these actions.During the "cent jours de la deportation" between August and October 42, the authorities in Belgium managed to seize around two thirds of the hidden Jews and transport them to Auschwitz via Mechelen. After that it became much more difficult, because the others hid well and the Jewish resistance increased. For Berta Rubens, her husband Walter, her mother Rega Lindheimer and her mother-in-law Selma Rubens, all help came too late. They were sent to Auschwitz on the first transport (998 people) on August 4, 1942.

The date of Berta Rubens' death is not known. Her husband died on 22 August 1942, her mother-in-law on 5 August 1942.

Her brother Siegfried managed to escape via various camps in France. From August 1942, he lived with his wife under a false name in various places in France until the end of the war. His memoirs gave us an insight into the fate of his sister and mother.