Like many people, I am concerned by the current events and the way our leadership, in many parts of the World, is going at the moment. I dont “do” politics really, never have…I dont feel educated, nor qualified enough to speak my thoughts, but the way things are going on now, we seem to be on that perilous path of history repeating itself.
My father was a refugee from Nazi Germany and was everlastingly grateful to the UK for giving him a new and safe life. My Aunt, his sister, Dr Lisamaria Meirowsky, stayed behind. She had converted to Roman Catholicism and taken orders to become a nun. She was living in a convent and with the other sisters was helping Jewish refugees escape across the Dutch/German border, when she was eventually arrested and taken to Westerbork and from there to Auschwitz, where she was murdered with many others.. This is young Lisamaria, with her whole exciting life in front of her.
It destroyed my grandparents, who left Germany very late and came to the UK, penniless…My grandfather Dr Emil Meirowsky (you can translate the link) was a distinguished dermatologist, before being deprived of his career. They eventually moved to the US, where my father’s brother was living, as refugees and settled there. It was a dreadful time and my father could not bring himself to return to Germany for many years.
I never met my Aunt, but according to Dad, she was a loving, gentle woman and an excellent Doctor. However I have some of her letters and notes from around the time of her arrest: These are some of her words to a friend, the Priest keeping records of the events:
“You probably know that we are here and wait for the despatch to Poland. Just therefore I want to send you the last greeting and say to you that I am fully confident and completely devote to God’s Holy Will. I go with courage, confidence and joy. We go as children of our mother, the holy church, for the Jews, for them who pursue us and thus above all contribute for the peace and empire of Christ.” I have taken the liberty of editing her letter, which is very long, in the interest of getting her message across the years from 1942 until now: 2017. As her niece I feel it so important that her story is not forgotten and we do not allow history to repeat itself.
I stumbled upon this as I was searching for family. My grandmother’s maiden name was Meirowsky and I know very little about her extended family. She always said she had German heritage so I was trying to discover which ancestors came from Germany. I know her father spoke German. I was very interested in reading about your aunt and your father, so I will continue to try to discover my ancestry roots. It is sad to think about history repeating itself, but it certainly seems as if in many parts of the world it is.
Well that’s interesting Jackie…do you know where the family came from? Mine was based in Cologne. Please let me know what you find! We might be related…thanks for writing
Jane
I work in a women’s history union in Cologne and if you ever will come to the city I would like to show you around: http://www.frauengeschichtsverein.de, best regards Irene
Hello….my site has been under construction, so just seen this, how would I contact you if I get back to Cologne. I am very interested in learning more about my Meirowsky family history. Thanks for writing.
Jane
Hi Jane,
I see that you are closely tapped into your family history, so hopefully we can connect. Your family and my family aren’t related, but they married into each other, and I’m looking for the link in order to return some photos and letters that I inherited recently to their rightful owners. I have a bit of history on the Meirowsky’s via Elsbeth Maretzki as well due to our intersecting lineage.
My line left Berlin in 1923, but unfortunately my uncle Martin stayed. His sister, Elsbeth Maretzki, was married to Karl Meirowsky.
Hoping to connect with you to share information!
Hi thanks for writing…our connection sounds interesting. I would love to know and indeed have more information about the family.
How would you suggest connecting? My email address is jane@janemerrow.com. Send me an email and we can start talking!
Jane
Dear Jane
in 2017 died a very good friend of us, Mrs. Katharina “Käthe” Hundgeburth, her maiden name was Brodmueller.
Her mother, Adele Brodmueller, worked for grandparents as a housekeeper in the 1920s/30s in Cologne.
In her legacy I found some letters from your grandmother Clara to her, dating from 1930s/40s/50s/60s.
The first one is dated from 1936, before your grandparents emigrated, but after they left Cologne. The last one ist written by your uncle Arnold in feb. 1960 and gives the information that your grandfatherEmil died.
The letters give a very soulful testimony how your grandmother felt after emigration and was longing back to Germany.
If you are interested in these letters please contact me.
By the way: Do you know about the “Stolpersteine” in Cologne for your family and other victims of the Nazi-Regime? And that there is a street in Cologne named after your grandfather?
Dear Frank
Thank you for writing. Sorry it’s taken a while for me to answer.Your information about Mrs Brodmueller is fascinating and I am really interested to learn that you have some letters to her from my grandmother in your possession. I would love to have them if possible. I know that my grandparents were very unhappy with the way their lives had gone. My father got them out of Germany eventually….they had left it far too late, partly because my grandfather thought the Nazi’s would leave them alone, although the local Gauleiter took their home. They moved to another house which Grandfather rented, which I have visited, thanks to the generosity of the present owners. Of course they were devastated that their only daughter was taken and killed in Auschwitz. No I did not know about the “Stolpersteine” for the family and the street named after my grandfather. How amazing. I am in the UK at the moment, if you would send the letters here, I can give you my address, or if you prefer to send them to my US home address I will give you that. Thank you so much. My email address is jane@janemerrow.com and I would be happy to call you to learn further about anything you can tell me.
I intend writing more about the family in my blogs and in the next book I write. I wish I had known them better. I did have some time with my uncle Arnold in the US until he died. Kind regards Jane.
Please send me your email address, . I would like to arrange a way for you to send me my Grandmother’s letters.
Thank you
Jane
Dear Jane
emails I sent to the email-adress you wrote to me can not be received.
550 5.1.1 : Email address could not be found, or was misspelled (G8)
Please tell me, how I can let you get the letters.
Best regards
Frank