See as well:
The Family of Paul and Hertha Marcus
The Family of Siegfried Marcus
The Family of Erich Marcus, and
The Family of Isaac and Maile Gassenheimer
Descendants List of Isaac and Maile Gassenheimer (under revision)
The Family of Samuel and Lotte Gassenheimer
Descendants List of Samuel and Lotte Gassenheimer
In 1888, 25-year-old Emma Gassenheimer of Themar, the eldest daughter of Samuel and Lotte Gassenheimer, married 27-year old Simon Marcus.
Simon was the only son of Meyer Markus — spelled with a ‘k’ — and his second wife, Mina (née Liepmann), and the youngest of six children (although two may have died in infancy). Born in 1861, he grew up with at least three step-siblings from his father’s first marriage to Berta Blumenthal: Therese, b. abt 1849, Hannchen, b. 1856, and Lipmann, b. 1858.
Simon was born in Gross Schulzendorf, a village of some 500 residents about 30 km south of Berlin. The Markus family, however, lived in Mittenwalde, a town of about 3,000 residents, of whom 28 were Jews. Meyer Markus died in Mittenwalde in 1902; we do not know about his wife.
Simon served in the army in 1881 and 1882 and his family preserved both his Soldbuch or Paybook (at right) and his Schiessbuch, a record of the shooting instruction he received. They tell us that Simon had changed the spelling of his last name from a ‘k’ to a ‘c’ although confusions clearly arose.
How and when Emma and Simon met is not known, but they married and formed a family in Dessau in the 1890s — Paul, b. 1891, Siegfried, b. 1893, and Erich, b. 1896. Paul and Siegfried completed their High School graduation/Abitur at the Friedrichs-Gymnasium in Dessau in 1912.
Various Marcus men fought in World War I. Simon Marcus’s cousin, Max, lost his life in the war on 17 March 1916. Emma and Simon’s three sons fought and returned home; the youngest, Erich, was wounded. In 1915, mother Emma acquired a Travel Pass that allowed her to travel within Germany for a two-year period starting July 1915. Given the wartime circumstances, she could not travel in designated no-go zones.
The Travel Pass was issued by the Halle (Salle) police authority and tells us that that Simon and Emma had moved from Dessau to Halle (Salle) by 1915.
The 1916 Halle Adressbuch of 1916 is the first to have an entry for Simon Marcus. [The other Marcus listing is that of Max Marcus, Simon’s cousin, who was killed on 17 March 1916 in the First World War.]
Other members of Emma’s family already lived in Halle, including younger sisters Minna Frankenberg (née Gassenheimer), b. 1872 in Themar, Elise Ney (née Gassenheimer), b. 1876 in Themar, who moved to Halle with her son, Hans, after her divorce from Max Ney; and brother Georg, b. 1874 in Themar, with his wife, Selma (née Schwab), b. 1880 in Berkach, and their daughter, Ruth, b. 1904 in Halle/Saale.
Simon & Emma Marcus both died in Halle/Saale — Simon in 1925 and Emma in October 1932. 
At the time of their parents’ deaths, the three sons were marrying and forming their own families. Paul Marcus became a medical doctor; Siegfried, a lawyer; and Erich took over the family business. The three brothers married and two of them formed families: Siegfried and Emma (née Becker) Marcus had a son, Erich, in 1927; Paul and Hertha (née Loeb) Marcus had a daughter, Marion Beate, in November 1930.
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The Nazi Regime immediately threatened the lives and welfare of the Marcus families in Halle. The boycott of 1 April 1933 not only targeted Jewish businesses but also the practices of doctors and lawyers. The three sons were all able to leave Germany and two, Paul and Siegfried, escaped before the terrible events of the 1938 November Pogrom. Paul and his family left in 1938 for Montevideo, Uruguay. Siegfried left Germany alone in October 1938 and initially entered the United States with a temporary status; after some to-ing and fro-ing (see ‘Siegfried Marcus’), he obtained permission to immigrate into the United States on a permanent basis in 1941. Unfortunately, however, Siegfried’s family was only able to join him ten years later. Erich and his wife, Karola, immigrated into the States in April 1939.
Simon’s and Emma’s sons died in the 1960s and 1970s, but their children have established themselves in the countries which gave their fathers refuge, Uruguay and the United States. It is the grandchildren who have provided the information and images on this page. In fact, until her grandchildren contacted us in June 2014, we did not know that there was an Emma Gassenheimer, the eldest daughter of Samuel and Lotte Gassenheimer. The City of Themar archives hold no trace of Emma, nor do the usual resources about Thüringen’s Jews such as the Siegfried Wolf database, Juden in Thüringen 1933-1945:Biographische Daten, 2000.
See the Nackommenliste/Descendants List of Samuel & Lotte (née Stein) Gassenheimer for Emma’s family.
Simon’s history is more challenging to reassemble: Simon’s Pay Book from the Prussian Army in the early 1880s confirms his place of birth as Gross Schulzendorf, a village of 500 residents about 30 km south of Berlin. Then a 1938 document confirming Simon Marcus’s birth, signed by the Registrar of Zossen, added another valuable piece of information, the name of Simon’s mother, Mina Liepmann. Seventy-five years after the document was issued, this piece of paper has provided Mina Liepmann’s great grandchildren with an important piece of the puzzle.
Below is the Nachkommenliste/Descendants List for Lewie & Hize MARKUS, Simon’s grandfather and grandmother. The descendants of Emma and Simon Marcus would welcome learning more about the family. Should anyone reading this page have additional information, please contact [email protected]. We would be pleased to hear from you.
- Lewie MARKUS, b. abt 1790, d. 12 Oct 1871 Budzyn
- ∞ Hize WOLFF
- 1. Meyer MARKUS, b. 1819, d. 29 Mar 1902 Mittenwalde/Brandenburg
- ∞ (1) (abt 1848) Berta BLUMENTHAL
- 2. Therese MARKUS, b. abt 1849 Mittenwalde/Brandeburg, d. 03 Nov 1904 Dessau/Saxony-Anhalt
- ∞ NN COHN
- 2. Hannchen MARKUS, b. 1856, d. Chicago abt 1902
- 2. Lipmann MARKUS, b. 1858, d. [Dessau]
- ∞ NN
- 3. NN (F) MARCUS
- 3. Max MARKUS, b. 26 Feb 1880 Dessau, d. 17 Mar 1916 World War I
- 4. Rudi? MARKUS
- 2. NN MARKUS, b. abt 1859
- 2. NN MARKUS, b. abt 1860
- ∞ (2) Mina LIEPMANN
- 2. Simon MARCUS,* b. 14 Jun 1861 Mittenwalde/Brandenburg, 1915 to Halle/Saale, d. 22 Nov 1925 Halle/Saale
- ∞ (1888) Emma GASSENHEIMER, b. 16 April 1863 Bibra/Themar, 1888 to Dessau/1915 to Halle/Saale, d. 15 Oct 1932 Halle/Saale
- 3. Paul MARCUS, b. 1891 Dessau/Saxony-Anhalt, 1938 to Uruguay, d. 18 Jan 1961 Uruguay
- ∞ Hertha LOEB, b. 13 Jan 1906 Neuwied, 1938 to Uruguay, d. 04 Jun 1994 Uruguay
- 4. Marion Beate MARCUS b. 03 Nov 1930 Halle/Saale Saxony-Anhalt, 1938 to Uruguay, d. Sep 2017 Uruguay
- ∞ Alberto CAVIGLIA, b. 22 April 1922 Uruguay, d. 17 Sep 2023 Uruguay
- 5. Cristina CAVIGLIA, b. 12 Dec 1956 Montevideo/Uruguay
- 5. Pablo CAVIGLIA, b. 08 Sep 1960 Minas/Uruguay
- 5. Ana CAVIGLIA, b. 15 May 1969 Minas/Urugua
- ∞ Jose NN
- 3. Renate MARCUS, b. 08 May 1936 Halle/Saale Saxony-Anhalt, d. Jun 1937 Halle/Saale Saxony-Anhalt
- 3. Siegfried Marcus, b. 03 Jun 1893 Dessau/Saxony-Anhalt, 21 Apr 1941 fr Havana/Cuba into USA, d. 29 Apr 1979 NYC/NY
- ∞ (8 Dec 1932 Halle/Saale) Martha Emma BECKER, b. 16 April 1904 Halle/Saale) Saxony-Anhalt, Mar 1948 to USA, d. 05 Sep 1974 NYC/NY
- 4. Erich MARCUS, b. 01 Jun 1927 Halle/Saale Saxony-Anhalt, Mar 1948 to USA, d. 25 Jun 1998 West Virginia
- ∞ Jutta Gertrud GENEUSS, b. 16 Oct 1926 Germany
- 5. Steven Ralph MARCUS, b. 08 Jan 1956 Hennepin/Minnesota
- 5. Susan Erica MARCUS, b. 27 Jul 1958 Charleston/W. Virginia
- 4. Dieter MARCUS b. 21 May 1932 Halle/Saale Saxony-Anhalt, Mar 1948 to USA
- ∞ Christa E. NN, b. 01 Sep 1939
- 4. Peter MARCUS, b. 02 Nov 1936 Halle/Saale Saxony-Anhalt, Mar 1948 to USA,
- 3. Erich MARCUS, b. 04 Mar 1896 Dessau, Apr-May 1938 incarcerated in Buchenwald KZ, Apr 1939 to USA, d. 22 Mar 1975 NYC/NY
- ∞ (02 Apr 1931 Halle/Saale/divorced) C/Karola Margarete MENDEL, b. 12 Aug 1907 Halle/Saale Saxony-Anhalt, Apr 1939 to USA; [Nov 1946 2nd marriage to Frank A. Sanders], d. 19 Jul 2002 NY
- ∞ Hertha LOEB, b. 13 Jan 1906 Neuwied, 1938 to Uruguay, d. 04 Jun 1994 Uruguay
* Simon Marcus spelled his name with a ‘c’ — Marcus. His older brother, Max retained the ‘k’.
Sources:
Many thanks to Dr. Bernd Ulbrich, who shares whatever traces are to be found in the resources of his city, Dessau, of families with connections to Themar. Although few in number, the items provide us with important detail about the lives of the Marcuses in Dessau — first, a mention in the Jewish newspaper for Dessau, the Jüdisches Gemeindeblatt für Anhalt und Umgegend, Dessau, 28. Oktober 1932, of Emma Marcus’s (née Gassenheimer) death in Halle an der Saale. Dr. Ulbrich also provided the information about Paul & Siegfried and their Abiturs.
We wish to thank once again the members of the Marcus family for sharing their knowledge and memories with us. The picture below was taken in 1967 and members of several Gassenheimer families, not just the Marcus family, were present.
From Left to Right: Siegfried Marcus, Christa Marcus, Erich Marcus, Herbert Friedman, Lotte Friedman, Dieter Marcus , Peter Marcus, Emma Marcus
(Siegfried and Erich are brothers, Emma Marcus née Becker is the wife of Siegfried, Lotte is also known as Ruth Friedman née Gassenheimer (the daughter of Georg and Selma (née Schwab) Gassenheimer, Dieter and Peter are sons of Siegfried and Christa Marcus née Werner is the wife of Dieter)