Hertha Schiff came to Neu-Isenburg in May 1936 to prepare for the birth of her child at the Jewish Women's League Home. Three months later, she gave birth to a son at the Frankfurt Jewish Hospital at Gagernstraße 36. She took the boy to “Heim Isenburg” for one month, then returned to her home town. She gave her child up for adoption to save his life.

Hertha Schiff came from a long-established Jewish family in Bad Driburg in the district of Höxter. Her father, Moses Schiff, was dealing with skins, furs, and old material. Her mother, Philippine, had a hat shop with fashion goods and also ran a small guesthouse. The family was integrated into the Bad Driburg community. Moses Schiff was active in the Volunteer Fire Brigade and a member of the Marching Band.

During the pogrom in November 1938, violent National

Socialists smashed the windows of the family's residential and commercial buildings. Nevertheless, the Schiff remained in their hometown. On July 31, 1942, Moses and Philippine Schiff were deported via Bielefeld to the Theresienstadt ghetto. They were 78 and 74 years old. Moses Schiff died two months later, on September 22, 1942, in the Theresienstadt ghetto while his wife died on July 5, 1943.

Of the five children of the married couple, the daughter, Martha died in 1929 in Halle an der Saale. One son succeeded to flee to the USA before the Second World War. One daughter married the Catholic glass dealer August Böger in 1933. She was held on September 9, 1944, for six months in the Elben camp near Kassel where she had to do forced labor. In March 1945, Ms. Böger was very ill. Her husband, August Böger managed to bring his wife home on a snow sleigh in three days. After that, she had to hide with neighbors for protection against a possible deportation during the last days of Nazi rule.

The two daughters Paula and Hertha were probably supposed to take over the mother's business later. Paula studied the hatmaker's profession. Hertha attended the High School in Bad Driburg for five years which prepared pupils for the middle classes of high school. She then learned the profession of a textile saleswoman.

The two young women were deported to the Warsaw Ghetto on March 31, 1942. They did not survive the Shoah. A young Driburger who was a soldier in Warsaw recognized Hertha Schiff in the ghetto and the summer of 1942 she took a photo of her for her birthday card to her father. Hertha Schiff still lived until January 1943 in the Warsaw Ghetto. They were then taken together with 500 other ghetto residents to an unknown destination. She was 31 years old at that time. Her fate as well as that of her sister Paula remains a mystery.

Hertha Schiff's son was adopted abroad and now lives in the USA.

Source: Karl Brinkmöller: Jüdische Bürger in Bad Driburg 1900 - 1945: