Marion Gabel was born to Elsa Marie Sophie Gabel, an unmarried woman from Hamburg, on June 28, 1928, at a home for unwed Jewish mothers in Stockelsdorf.

On November 26, 1929, she was transferred to the Jewish Women's Home in Neu-Isenburg, where she stayed until April 16, 1931. She moved to Sinndorf near Koblenz. On September 6, 1932 she was adopted by Hermann and Johanna Buchwalter, née Marx and moved to Bendorf on Rhine near Koblenz.

Marion and her adoptive parents emigrated to the USA in April 1939, where Hermann and Johanna had family members. They lived in Washington Heights in New York City, which had a very large German-Jewish community. 

In November 1948 Marion married Ludwig Hahn, another German refugee, who was from Frankfurt/Main - Bergen-Enkheim. They had two children. Marion had a career as a beautician and singer. She also worked in sales. She loved to sing opera and classical music. 

Marion and Ludwig moved to Florida, where they enjoyed life until she became ill with cancer and died in 1991.

She knew nothing of her early life at the home in Neu-Isenburg, but would have been very grateful for the care she received.

Her daughter, Sandy Lanman, found Elsa Gabel's family in 1997 and has a very close relationship with them.

Elsa Marie Sophie Gabel escaped Germany to Manila, Philippines, where her first husband was killed at the end of the war. She emigrated to the USA in 1946 and remarried, but never had more biological children. 

She died in March 1995 at the age of 86.

Source: This page could be created thanks to her daughter Sandy Hahn Lanman.