Irene Sitzmann was born in 1920 in Unterriedenberg. Her father was the merchant Isidor Sitzmann; her mother was Betty Sitzmann née Hirschberg. Irene had two sisters. The father ran a factory shop in Unterriedenberg as well as a peddler's trade in which the mother also assisted. The family was well-off: they lived in a six-bedroom apartment and could employ a domestic worker.

Irene Sitzmann attended Elementary school in Unterriedenberg from 1927 to 1935. Because she was Jewish, she was denied entry into a training institution. The father's business was destroyed during the November pogrom. A few weeks later, Isidor Sitzmann had to abandon his company. Isidor and Betty Sitzmann fled with the youngest daughter to Frankfurt in the alleged shelter of the big city and the large Jewish community.

On October 17, 1939, the almost 19-year-old Irene Sitzmann moved from Frankfurt to Höxter, Westerbachstraße 12. She took a job as a domestic aid in the non-Jewish Simon family. She stayed there for six months. On April 2, 1940, she was transferred for one day within Höxter. Her short-term address, Nagelschmiedstraße 8 near Ahron, was located in the building of the former synagogue. The timber-framed building had been raided during the Pogrom in 1938 but was not set on fire because of the adjacent timber-framed houses. On April 3, Irene Sitzmann was deported to Bremen, Wegesende 16.

Irene came into the care of “Heim Isenburg” on August 3, 1940. The then 20-year-old moved to Berlin. Her address is specified in the Neu-Isenburger registration documents as Gipsstraße 12. This is the building where the synagogue and the community center of the Adass Jisroel synagogue community had been located until 1907.

Irene stayed, with a short interruption until the end of May 1941 in the Jewish Women's League home. She was then deported to Frankfurt am Main, Großer Wollgraben 9 (Börnestraße). In July 1941, she lived in Frankfurt entirely at the expense of the Jewish community. She did forced labor in Frankfurt with the Paverk company for paper processing, Mousonstraße 17.

In the spring of 1942 Irene Sitzmann was deported together with her parents and her younger sister Lidia. At that time, three deportation trains left Frankfurt: on May 8, May 24 and June 11. The destination of all three means of transport was the Izbica ghetto. Irene Sitzmann was probably murdered at the Sobibór extermination camp.

The Memorial Book entry was supplemented by the support of Fritz Ostkämper, Jacob-Pins-Gesellschaft, Höxter.

Further Sources: Stadtarchiv Neu-Isenburg; Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Wiesbaden; Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt am Main; Memorial Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933 – 1945 (Bundesarchiv - National Archive)

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