Wednesday, 13 November 2024
For many years, members of the Gassenheimer family lost touch with each other – after 55 years they meet again here in the region.
By Wolfgang Swietek
VESSRA MONASTERY. The history of the Jewish Gassenheimer family goes back many decades. This name can be found in the region as early as 1811, specifically in Bibra and Themar. Even after intensive research, it is not possible to clearly determine who the first Gassenheimer here was. But in the last two or three decades, the “revelation of the past” has been intense, thanks in particular to Sharon Meen, who also traveled to this meeting.
Several generations of the family, who now live scattered throughout the USA [and the world], met here in last week and visited the places where the Gassenheimers have known roots. They visited Hildburghausen and Römhild, were in Bibra and Bauerbach, visited the synagogue in Berkach — all places in the Schmalkalden-Meiningen district. As well, they met with members of the “Themar meets Europe” association, which has been exploring Jewish history in the region for years, and of the Alliance for Democracy and Cosmopolitanism at Veßra/Themar Monastery. But the guests also traveled to Bavaria to visit Coburg, as there are traces of the Gassenheimer family’s past there too.
At the closing event on Sunday in the church of the Henneberg Museum Kloster Veßra, there was time and opportunity for some Gassenheimers to introduce themselves and their personal stories to interested guests. The date of November 10th was not chosen by chance, as the day before, November 9th, is a date steeped in history, as museum director Ingo Weidig described in his lecture. Starting with 9 November 1848 and the story of Robert Blum, leading to Kristallnacht on 9 November 1938, when the pogroms against the Jews in the German Reich reached their peak, the synagogues and shops of Jewish citizens went up in flames and over 30,000 of them were sent to concentration camps, most of them to certain death.
In contrast, 9 November 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall is a positive date, as it marked the end of the division of Germany. And on 9 November 2024, Gassenheimer descendants met in Themar, visiting the city archives and spending a week searching intensively for traces of their own past.
Many Gassenheimers managed to escape.
Peter Gassenheimer is one of them, the son of Albert Gassenheimer and grandson of Ernst Gassenheimer, who lived in Themar. Ana Caviglia, a generation younger than Peter Gassenheimer, and Susan Marcus told private and quite exciting stories from their family history, as did Steve Marcus. Those who did not speak German relied on translation by Peter Gassenheimer. For most of the descendants, either the year 1933, when the Nazis seized power, was a sudden break in their family history, or at the latest in 1938, when the persecution of the Jews intensified. Those who managed to flee Germany in time — as was fortunately the case with some members of the Gassenheimer family — escaped these developments and probably most certain death.
Searching for the traces of Jewish life
Museum director Ingo Weidig dedicated his talk not only to the Gassenheimer family, whose members now live all over the world and some of whom only met in person for the first time this week. He said: “The Gassenheimer story is a touching one. They have all returned to their roots.” Ingo Weidig looked far back into the past: “Traces of Jewish life can often be found in southern Thuringia, and this was already the case in the 16th century. This can be proven, for example, in the county of Henneberg, when some Jews were active as financiers for the Henneberg counts. In return, they received letters of protection that gave them the right to settle here. It was not until much later that the status of Jewish citizens changed.”
There is evidence of a Jewish iron goods trade in Bibra for generations. Later Jews also ran shops or craft businesses in Themar and Hildburghausen. From the 20th century onwards at the latest, Jewish citizens saw themselves as Germans who wanted to help build and shape their country. However, this changed abruptly when the Nazis took power in 1933. The museum director stated that there is not enough storage space or space to show all the documents that have been collected about the roots of Jewish history in the Henneberg Museum.
Collection center in the former porcelain factory
But Weidig had good news: A new collection center is currently being built and is due to be completed in May 2025. It will be set up in the premises of the former porcelain factory, in cooperation with the Thuringian Palaces and Gardens Foundation. “Sorry for speaking for a long time,” Ingo Weidig apologized at the end of his talk. But his talk was hardly boring for any of the interested listeners.
