Gabriele Schwarz

Gabriele Schwarz
Gabriele Schwarz is born on May 24, 1937 in the District Hospital of Marktoberdorf in the Allgäu area.1 Her mother is Charlotte Margarete Eckart, née Schwarz, from Augsburg, called Lotte, Jewish, working in Liechtenstein as breathing instructor.2
Her father is unknown. Never in her life does Lotte disclose his name, presumably because he is non-Jewish. Based on the 1935 “Nuremberg Racial Laws”, intercourse of Jews with non-Jews is called “Rassenschande” (Racial Disgrace), prosecuted as crime and threatened with imprisonment. 3 Jewish women, without further ado, disappear in a concentration camp. 4
The very next day, on May 25, 1937, little Gabriele is baptized at the Marktoberdorf hospital chapel. Only thirteen days before, her mother Lotte, upon personal recommendation of Cardinal Faulhaber, archbishop of Munich and Freising, has been baptized at the same place. 5
Lotte had become pregnant in Liechtenstein, where, in 1936, she had opened the breathing school “Juventus”.6 Her plan, however, teaching breathing at Liechtenstein schools according to a specific curriculum, failed.7 In spring 1937, she had left Liechtenstein heavily pregnant, seeking shelter in Marktoberdorf with Rosalia Häringer who had worked for more than five years as cook for her mother Anna Schwarz in Augsburg.8
Three weeks after the birth, Rosalia Häringer can accommodate Lotte’s little daughter as foster child in the household of her sister Therese who is married on the Aichele farm at Stiefenhofen in the Allgäu area. Josef and Therese Aichele soon love little Gabi like a child of their own. Lotte comes to visit her little one as often as possible. She leaves a camera on the farm with which the life of the growing child is documented. Hundreds of photographs witness Gabi’s happy childhood. 9
From January 1, 1939 on, Jews have to make themselves known by the additional first name “Israel” or “Sara”, respectively. 10 Like her mother, Gabi has been baptized; for the National Socialists, however, this does not change anything regarding her race-related classification. Gabi, too, although her father is unknown and most probably non-Jewish, is considered a “Volljüdin” (fully Jewish) according to the applicable clause of the “Nuremberg Racial Laws”. The pious foster parents now realize, that her beloved Gabi, with whom they pray every day, is a Jew for the National Socialists.

Gabi with her foster parents Josef and Therese Aichele. (Archive of Leo Hiemer)
The question arises, whether Gabi is allowed to stay with her foster parents, whom she calls “mommy” and “daddy”, at all. Senior Teacher Johann Pletzer from Genhofen, Stiefenhofen community, the local Youth Helper, advocates at the authority that Gabi can stay with the Aicheles. He declares Gabi to be “an exceptionally beautiful, adorable and gifted child”, whom he at once has taken to his heart. 11 In addition, he assigned the blonde and blue-eyed girl the “most Aryan look of all children” of his district. 12 Indeed, Gabi is allowed to stay. For the time being.
With the help of Cardinal Faulhaber, Gabi’s mother Lotte tries to organize her and her daughter’s emigration into a safe foreign country.13 In 1933, Lotte had married the Bavarian Captain (ret.) Wilhelm Eckart – also in church, with the help of an exemption by the archdiocese Munich and Freising due the different religions. 14 Faulhaber had met and learned to appreciate Wilhelm Eckart at the occasion of visiting the front in World War I. After her husband’s early death in 1934, Lotte had contacted Faulhaber directly. She wanted to be baptized. It took three years until the time came.
Until 1940, Lotte meets the Cardinal personally fourteen times. In most of the cases the topic is her emigration. Despite the recommendation by Faulhaber for the United States, all efforts are in vain. In 1941, Lotte is arrested, 15 brought to the Ravensbrück concentration camp16, and, in 1942, murdered in Bernburg on the river Saale.17 Gabi is now considered an orphan. The former Augsburg lawyer, Dr. Ludwig Dreyfuß, is appointed her guardian.18

Gabriele (Gabi) Schwarz (Archive of Leo Hiemer)
In summer 1942, seven-year-old Elisabeth Walch arrives at the Aichele farm in the framework of the Kinderlandverschickung (children living in cities threatened by air raids were sent to the country over the summer holidays). For four weeks, she shares a room with Gabi. Gabi and Elisabeth soon are best friends and inseparable.19 When Elisabeth is back in Augsburg, Gabi asks for her every day.20
After Lotte’s death, her bank, the Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechselbank, Augsburg, sends an enquiry to the Bavarian Finance Administration: Shall the standing order of Reichsmark 50.- care allowance to Therese Aichele in Stiefenhofen, withdrawn from Lotte’s account, be further executed? 21 The answer is no. For reasons of responsibility, the enquiry is also sent to the Gestapo, Munich.22
Again, the question is, whether Gabi, being Jewish, may stay with the Aicheles. The Head of the “Jews Department”, Johann Pfeuffer, consults the Reichssicherheitshauptamt in Berlin regarding this matter and receives the answer that Gabi, being Jewish, cannot stay with “Aryan” foster parents, but has to be brought to a “Judenheim” (a facility for Jews).23 Thereupon, Pfeuffer instructs the Sonthofen District Head, Dr. Ferdinand Waller, accordingly. 24 On February 12, 1943, Waller informs the local party leader and mayor of Stiefenhofen, Johann Seelos, by telephone, to immediately deliver the order to the Aicheles to bring Gabi to the first train leaving Stiefenhofen the following morning. 25 The Aicheles are appalled. Gabi’s guardian, Dr. Dreifuß, advises them on the phone to comply. Otherwise, they would all be shot. 26
With a heavy heart, they pack a small suitcase for Gabi with her favorite toys, on top of them a photo of the family – as a souvenir.27 On February 13, 1943, five-year-old Gabi has to bid her home farewell – forever28. On the same day, she is brought to Munich into the “Heimanlage für Juden” (facility for Jews) in the Berg am Laim district. It is accommodated in the monastery of the Vincentian Sisters29.
Three days later, Gabis little suitcase is delivered back to the Aichele farm. “Jews must not possess anything from Aryans!”, is the reason.30 Senior Teacher Johann Pletzer campaigns for bringing the child back. “Gabi has to come home, no matter what!”, 31 is his motto. He presents photos of Gabi and her mother to the mayor. He concedes that the child, who, obviously, looks much more like her Aryan father, rather than her Jewish mother, has been wronged. 32 The District Head writes to the Gestapo on behalf of Gabi. 33 Together with foster father Josef Aichele, Senior Teacher Pletzer even speaks personally to the Gestapo in Munich. They consider Gabi’s return possible after an examination of her “hereditary disposition”. 34 During a visit in Berg am Laim, foster father Johann Aichele, looking through the key-hole, watches Gabi play for the last time. 35 In the meantime, the Swiss architect Yvonne Boner from Graubünden, a friend of Lotte, is frantically searching for the probably non-Jewish father in Liechtenstein. 36 Too late!
On March 13, 1943, the facility in Berg am Laim is evacuated. All inmates are put on a train and brought to Auschwitz. 37 In the evening of March 16, 1943, right after arrival, the elderly and the sick, as well as the children, are murdered in the gas chamber.38 Gabi, too.39
We can find the name “Gabriele Schwarz” in the Munich Jewish Museum besides many others on a memorial plaque enumerating the names of the Munich victims. In the Spinner Chapel in Oberstaufen, a plaque reminds us of Gabi and her mother Lotte. At Stiefenhofen, above the village, in a glass window of the Plague Chapel, besides Father Maximilian Kolbe, a girl with a Jewish Star is to be seen that also reminds us of Gabi and all the other persecuted Jewish children, although Gabi herself never had to wear a Jewish Star, since she was too young. In 2018, the Ermold family of Marktoberdorf erected a plaque in front of their house on Tigaustrasse in memory of Gabi and her mother Lotte. Lotte was accommodated in this house when she was pregnant with Gabi and also later after the birth.
On the first floor of the Augsburg Town Hall, a memorial room for the murdered Augsburg Jews has been set up. The memorial plaque includes the name ”Charlotte Eckart”, as well as “Gabriele Eckart”, with which, obviously, Gabriele Schwarz is meant.
Leo Hiemer (Translation by Michael Bernheim)
Footnotes

1. StadtAMOD, Standesamt Nr. 27/1939, Geburtsanzeige Gabriele Schwarz, 28.05.1937.
2. Archiv der katholischen Pfarrgemeinde St. Martin, Marktoberdorf, Taufbuch Bd. XVI 1930–1942, S. 95, Taufeintrag Gabriele Schwarz vom 25.05.1937. Gabrieles Taufeintrag steht im Taufbuch direkt unter dem ihrer Mutter.
3. Gesetz zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre 1935 (http://www.documentarchiv.de/nsnbgesetze01.html).
4. Vgl. die geheime Direktive des Chefs der Sicherheitspolizei betreffend „Schutzhaft für jüdische Rassenschänder“, 12.06.1937, zitiert nach Irene Eckler (Hg.), A family torn apart by „Rassenschande“, Schwetzingen 1998 (http://www.fasena.de/courage/deutsch/index.htm).
5. Archiv der kath. Pfarrgemeinde St. Martin, Marktoberdorf, Taufbuch Bd. XVI 1930–1942, S. 95, Taufeintrag Lotte Eckart vom 12.05.1937.
6. Liechtensteiner Vaterland, Anzeige der Atemschule „Juventus“, 10.10.1936.
7. Liechtensteinisches Landesarchiv RF 163/328 Lotte Eckart an Pfarrer Frommelt, 14.11.1936.
8. Archiv Leo Hiemer, Anna Schwarz, Dienstzeugnis für Rosalia Brugger, 01.10.1909.
9. Archiv Leo Hiemer, Fotos von Gabi (1937-1943).
10. Zweite Verordnung zur Durchführung des Gesetzes über die Änderung von Familiennamen und Vornamen (§ 13 des Gesetzes über die Änderung von Familiennamen und Vornamen vom 05.01.1938) (http://www.documentarchiv.de/ns/1938/juedische-namen_vo02.html).
11. StAA, Spruchkammer Sonthofen, Pletzer Johann P 78, Johann Pletzer: „Meine politische Vergangenheit“, 19.10.1947, S. 5.
12. StAM, Spruchkammerakt K 1504 Seelos Hans, Dr. Ludwig Dreifuß an die „Lagerspruchkammer Moosburg“, 20.02.1948.
13. Vgl. Erzbischöfliches Archiv München Nachlass Faulhaber 10016, Michael von Faulhaber, Tagebucheintrag 28.02.1935 (verfügbar unter http://www.faulhaber-edition.de/dokument.html?docidno=10016_1935-02-28_T01) und 28.08.1935 (verfügbar unter http://www.faulhaber-edition.de/dokument.html?docidno=10016_1935-08-28_T01&sortby=year) (=(=Erzbischöfliches Archiv München Nachlass Faulhaber 10016) sowie 10017: 08.07.1936, 10.07.1937; 10018: 27.12.1937, 04.01.1938, 11.01.1938, 18.01.1938, 31.10.1938; 10019: 30.09.1940, 18.12.1940. Vgl. auch Diözesanarchiv Berlin I/1-40, Lotte Eckart.
14. Erzbischöfliches Archiv München St. Bonifaz, München, Trauungsregister 1933, Nr. 150, S. 156, 24.08.1933.
15. StAN, Polizeipräsidium Nürnberg-Fürth 810 Nr. 1921, Gefangenenbuch des Nürnberger Polizeigefängnisses, 28.10.1941.
16. SäStAL, Gefängnisbuch Leipzig PP-S 8519 Nr. 9642, 04.11.1941.
17. StadtAA, Standesamt Nr. C 3662/46 Sterbeurkunde Charlotte Margarete Eckart, 12.12.1946.
18. Vgl. StAM, Oberfinanzdirektion München 8741, Entziehungsakt Gabriele Schwarz, Verfügung des Oberfinanzpräsidenten München, 06.08.1942.
19. Archiv Leo Hiemer, Elisabeth Franke geb. Walch, Bericht über ihren Aufenthalt auf dem Aichele-Hof im Sommer 1942, 08.08.1994.
20. Archiv Leo Hiemer, Josef Aichele an Elisabeth Walch (Kopie), 18.11.1942. Original bei Elisabeth Franke geb. Walch, Augsburg.
21. StAM, Oberfinanzdirektion 8741 Bayer. Hypotheken- und Wechselbank, Augsburg, an den Oberfinanzpräsidenten München, 17.06.1942.
22. A. a. O., Oberfinanzpräsident München an die Gestapo München, 11.01.1943.
23. Vgl. StAM, Staatsanwaltschaften München 29499/I, Blatt 75, Voruntersuchung gegen Pfeuffer und 15 andere wegen Freiheitsberaubung u.a. Delikte, Aussage Johann Pfeuffer, 03.01.1949.
24. StAM, Spruchkammerakt 1504 Seelos Hans, Protokoll, 02.09.1948. Alt-Landrat Dr. Waller zitiert hier aus einem Brief Pfeuffers an ihn vom 10.02.1943.
25. Ebenda, Aussage Dr. Waller, 02.09.1948. Vgl. auch ebenda Aussage Walpurga Schwank, sowie a. a. O., Protokoll, Aussage Johann Seelos, 24.08.1948 sowie a. a. O., Hauptkammer Kempten, Protokoll, Aussage Johann Seelos, 31.01.1949.
26. Leo Hiemer, Interview mit Resi Baumann, Rohrdorf, 12.06.1989 sowie Leo Hiemer, Zeitzeugen-Interview (Film) mit Resi Baumann im Auftrag des Hauses der Bayerischen Geschichte, 31.07.2012. Ausschnitt unter https://www.hdbg.eu/zeitzeugen/treffer.php?t=4&v=&n=baumann.
27. Leo Hiemer, Interview mit Anna Embritz geb. Aichele, Hergensweiler, 13.06.1989.
28. Ebenda sowie Leo Hiemer, Interview mit Resi Baumann, Rohrdorf, 12.06.1989 und Leo Hiemer, Zeitzeugen-Interview (Film) mit Resi Baumann, 31.07.2012.
29. StadtAM, EWK 65 Einwohnermeldeamtskarte Gabriele Schwarz.
30. Leo Hiemer, Interview mit Resi Baumann, geb. Aichele, Rohrdorf, 12.06.1989.
31. StAA, Spruchkammer Sonthofen, Pletzer Johann P 78, Johann Pletzer: „Meine politische Vergangenheit“.
32. StAM, Spruchkammerakt K 12504 Seelos Hans, Aussage Johann Pletzer, 24.08.1948 sowie StAM, Spruchkammerakt K 12504 Seelos Hans, Hauptkammer Kempten, Aussage Johann Pletzer, 31.01.1949.
33. StAM, Spruchkammerakt K 12504 Seelos Hans, Aussage Dr. Waller, 02.09.1948.
34. StAA, Spruchkammer Sonthofen, Pletzer Johann P 78, Johann Pletzer: „Meine politische Vergangenheit“, S. 5.
35. Leo Hiemer, Interview mit Resi Baumann sowie Leo Hiemer, Zeitzeugen-Interview (Film) Resi Baumann und Leo Hiemer, Interview mit Xaver und Veronika Keck sowie Anni Hiemer, Stiefenhofen, 22.06.1989.
36. Archiv Leo Hiemer, Yvonne Boner an Josef Aichele, 19.03.1943.
37. Der Transport vom 13.03.1943 aus München nach Auschwitz ist durch eine Reihe von Dokumenten und Aussagen im Rahmen des Vorermittlungsverfahrens gegen Münchner Gestapo-Beamte gut belegt. Vgl. Staatsarchiv München Staatsanwaltschaften 29.499, etwa durch Bayerisches Hilfswerk an den Untersuchungsrichter, 25.05.1951 und Israelitische Kultusgemeinde München an die Staatsanwaltschaft, 26.08.1949, sowie eine Reihe von Zeugenaussagen.
38. Vgl. Hessische Hauptstaatsanwaltschaft Abt. 461, Staatsanwaltschaft bei dem Landgericht Frankfurt a. M., Nr. 5737, Vernehmungsprotokoll Gerda Görtler, 11.11.1959, sowie a. a. O., Vernehmungsprotokoll Fanny Herrmann, 30.09.1959, beide Insassinnen des Zuges.
39. StAM, Oberfinanzdirektion 8741 Entziehungsakte Gabriele Schwarz, Listenauszug der Gestapo München, 19.03.1943.