Excursus: The Fate of Senta Meyer nee Stern, and her Children
To understand why I often write about the silences surrounding Kristallnacht, here is one example - personal to Eugen and Jenny Grimminger - of the deaths that followed.
Eugen Grimminger supported the work of the White Rose with substantial financing in 1942-1943. His wife Jenny was Jewish.
In the course of his research into the lives of Jenny and Eugen Grimminger, Dr. Armin Ziegler uncovered information about how Kristallnacht specifically affected the life of Jenny’s sister Senta. He graciously granted permission for me to translate and share that information. I have preserved Dr. Ziegler’s voice in this translation.
From Eugen Grimminger: Widerständler und Genossenschaftspionier, by Armin Ziegler. Crailsheim, Germany: Baier Verlag, 2000. Pages 67-70.
Senta Meyer was born on January 15, 1903 in Michelbach/Lücke, in the Gerabronn district. She was the fourth child of Jakob and Sidonie Stern. Her father was an officially certified trader.
In 1903, the family moved to Crailsheim. Like her siblings, Senta attended public schools in Crailsheim. We do not know when she graduated or which course of study she pursued. On November 1, 1921 when she was eighteen, she married a 28-year-old trader named Albert Meyer. Meyer lived in Oberdorf/Ipf which today is part of the town of Bopfingen in Aalen County. He pursued a career as a cattle dealer. Senta and Albert Meyer had four children:
Gertrud, born August 21, 1922 in Oberdorf
Lore, born October 8, 1925 in Oberdorf
Fritz, born August 8, 1927 in Oberdorf, and
Ilse, born May 19, 1930 in Nördlingen.
On February 29, 1924 the young couple bought a house in Oberdorf that included out-buildings and a barn, as well as a garden, a total of 10 Ar [1000 square meters, or 9,000 square feet, or a little over 1/5 an acre]. They paid 10,000 Marks, today approximately $80,000, for this property. Judging by their financial condition, the husband was a success at his business.
On January 30, 1933, the day the Nazis came to power, the Meyers were still registered with the police in Oberdorf. But they must have thought that Jews would be able to live a more inconspicuous life in a big city than would be possible in a small town. They moved to Stuttgart but kept the house in Oberdorf. The exact date of the move is unknown. They lived on Armin Street in Stuttgart.
Albert Meyer died in Stuttgart on July 10, 1934 at the age of 41. Cause of death is unknown. In addition to the house [in Oberdorf], he left his family cash and bonds. On November 6, 1934, Senta Meyer bought a house in Stuttgart for 35,000 Marks ($280,000) and took out a mortgage in the amount of 19,000 Marks ($152,000), which she paid off in the next few years.[See i] The address was Altenberg Street 42.
Senta’s mother, her sisters Mina and Julie, along with Eugen and Jenny Grimminger, moved into that house, as well as Grimminger’s sister Luise Haas and her daughter and son-in-law, the Merker family. There were other tenants too, as Senta Meyer listed rental income among her revenue.
The next few years were characterized by a number of antisemitic regulations.[See ii] As one of the preliminary stages of the gradual expropriation that had long been planned, Jews were to report all assets in April 1938, if those assets exceeded 5,000 Marks ($40,000).
The so-called “Atonement Tax” required of Jews, which had been decreed on November 12, 1938, caused Senta Meyer to declare bankruptcy, to lose control over her own belongings, and to sink into poverty. This was but one of numerous reprisals that was rationalized by the assassination of the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath in France. Jews were expected to pay one billion Marks ($8 billion) at various rates, which corresponded to a loss of between 20 and 25% of their total assets. For Senta Meyer (and her children), that meant that by the beginning of 1940, she had to pay five installments of 3,500 Marks each ($28,000 each), or 17,500 Marks ($140,000) on a total asset base of 70,000 Marks ($560,000) that consisted primarily of her home.
The first installment was due the first quarter of 1939, and it was financed by the sale of bonds, which also was true for the second installment. On June 20, 1939 she sold the house in Oberdorf for a fraction of its value. The buyers paid only 9,000 Marks, or $72,000. The next installments were to be paid from that sale.
But the bank responsible for handling the sale did not approve the sale until the end of January 1940. Therefore, she had to take out a loan to make the third installment. This loan charged compounded interest which had to be paid off. This came out of rental income. For the fourth and fifth installments in the autumn of 1939 and at the beginning of 1940, Senta Meyer had to assign her receivable from the sale of the house to the Department of Revenue. Since she was not allowed to own liquid assets anyway, with the exception of a very small contingency fund, she had no more assets (with the exception of the house on Altenberg Street) and no more cash.
Beginning September 15, 1941, Senta Meyer and her children had to wear a yellow Star of David. They avoided going outside, which was just as well since new laws had restricted their movements for a while. They could shop in only a few stores. Jenny Grimminger was not bound by these laws due to her status as a Jewish woman married to an Aryan man, but even she did not leave the house. Eugen Grimminger took care of necessities. His sister Luise Haas and her daughter Eugenie Merker did all the shopping.
Senta Meyer and her four children were among the first to be deported from Württemberg. The operation [to deport Jews] took place on December 1, 1941 in Stuttgart. At the time, she was 38 years old; her four children were between the ages of 19 and 11 years old.
Paul Sauer describes this operation as follows:[See iii]
“On November 18, 1941, the Gestapo / State Police headquarters in Stuttgart1, which were responsible for deportations from Württemberg and Hohenzollern, had instructed the district magistrates and local police about the evacuations of thousands of Jews planned for December 1. They gave them running updates about the collection of assets of the persons to be deported, about preparation for and execution of the transports. …
“The Gestapo made no concessions when collecting and confiscating Jewish assets. Those persons who were to be deported were required to complete detailed declarations of their assets, which had to be approved by the competent municipal bureaucrats and forwarded to the appropriate revenue office. They were strictly forbidden to take cash, jewelry, bonds, and savings passbooks with them. … On November 27/28, those to be transported were assembled at the Killesberg [convention center].[See iv] On December 1, 1941, the deportation train left Stuttgart headed for Riga. In the meantime, the residences of the deportees had been officially sealed. … In accordance with the 11th ordinance of the Reich’s Civil Code dated November 25, 1941, as soon as the deportees crossed the German border, their assets devolved to the Reich . Simultaneously, those who were being forced to leave were stripped of their German citizenship. …
“After a journey of several days, the deportees arrived at the train station in Riga on December 4. There they were handed over to SS men, who looted their luggage and even beat them. …”
(Here follows a description of the inadequate accommodations, partially even in barns, where many died due to freezing temperatures.)
“The few who survived recall with horror the mass shooting of March 26, 1942. Children under fourteen years of age and their mothers, along with all who were over fifty, and those not able to work, among these whole families, were gathered for a special transport. Even the sick beds were emptied. The SS men let it be known that the prisoners were to be taken to Dünamünde near Riga, where they were to be employed in a cannery if they were able to work. In reality they were shot in Bikernieki, a small stand of birch trees, one of the favorite execution spots for those in the Riga Ghetto. … About 1,500 people, among them many from Württemberg, were affected by Operation Dünamünde Cannery.”
Eugen Grimminger reports that he accompanied his sister-in-law and her children to Killesberg. Since Senta and her children were wearing yellow stars, they were all harassed on the way there, while riding in the streetcar.
Immediately following Senta Meyer’s deportation, the Gestapo appeared in the house on Armin Street and removed the furniture and fixtures and the clothes from the apartment where Senta and her children had resided. The title of the house on Altenberg Street was transferred to the Reich on July 28, 1943. But the Grimmingers did not live there any longer. By this time, they were already in prison [Eugen] or in the concentration camp [Jenny].
On August 12, 1948, Senta Meyer and her four children – Gertrud, Lore, Fritz, and Ilse – were declared [legally] dead. Date of death was given as March 26, 1942. That was the date of the mass execution in Riga.
If you are curious about supporting documents for any of these Substack posts, check out our White Rose Histories (Volume I, 1/1933-4/30/1942, and Volume 2, 5/1/1942-10/12/1943), along with primary source materials. As always, if you have questions or private comments, please contact us. If you find errors, please contact us, or post a comment below.
This post is Appendix C of White Rose History: Volume I — Coming Together. January 1, 1933 - April 30, 1942. © 2002. Please contact Exclamation! Publishers for permission to quote.
[i] The data is taken from the reparation files for Senta Meyer.
[ii] A detailed listing of these regulations can be found in an appendix to Wolfgang Benz’s Die Juden in Deutschland 1933-1945 [Jews in Germany 1933-1945], published in Munich in 1988. The appendix is entitled “Zeittafel zur Judenpolitik des NS-Regimes: Diskriminierung, Entrechtung, Verfolgung, Vernichtung” [Time Line to the Jewish Politics of the National Socialist Regime: Discrimination, Deprivation of Rights, Persucution, Extermination].
[iii] Paul Sauer, Dokumente über die Verfolgung der jüdischen Bürger in Baden-Württemberg durch das nationalsozialistische Regime 1933-1945 [Documents Regarding the Persecution of Jewish Citizens in Baden-Württemberg by the National Socialist Regime 1933-1945], Stuttgart 1966. Page 283.
[iv] “This was not a special “camp” or prison. Simply the convention center for trade shows in Stuttgart. Jews were gathered in one of the large halls. They were not even kept under heavy guard. But where could they have gone once they “voluntarily” showed up as commanded?” – Armin Ziegler.
DEH note, not in Ziegler’s text: Please keep in mind that the head of the Gestapo in Stuttgart in November 1941, the man who personally issued the deportation decree resulting in the execution of German-Jewish citizens from Stuttgart was Friedrich Mussgay. Mussgay was close friend of Robert Scholl and well-known in the Scholl household. — I continue to demand the opening of the Scholl Archives. I believe that when their heavy-handed censorship is lifted, our understanding of that family’s dysfunctional dynamics will change the legend. Hans, Sophie, Werner, and Elisabeth Scholl will likely emerge with minimal “damage” once the truth is known. But those archives almost assuredly contain words about Robert, Magdalena, and Inge Scholl that will undo Scholl-centric “scholarship.”
Another powerful post! The fate of Senta Meyer and her children makes the broader Holocaust atrocities much more personal. Keep these coming because this still matters.