In the summer of 1938, Hanna Wermuth came to the Neu-Isenburg Home of the Jewish Women’s Association among a group of holiday children from Frankfurt. She lived with her parents, Bernhard and Ida Wermuth and her older brother Heinz in 1930 in Frankfurt Rotlintstraße 77, then later on in a larger apartment in Bäckerweg 23 and lastly in the Röderbergweg 41 after several moves. Bernhard Wermuth worked in the textile sector. He traveled by motorcycle through Germany and sold oil products.

Hanna attended the Samson Raphael Hirsch School in Frankfurt. In 1935, the family prepared for emigration to the USA or Palestine where an aunt of Hanna and Heinz lived. The departure for Palestine seemed to be imminent in 1935. The Wermuth’s sold their furniture and personal possessions. However, when the aunt living in Palestine advised them to remain in Frankfurt for the time being because of the turbulent political situation, the Wermuths rented an apartment again in Röderbergweg 41 at the end of 1935.

Since Bernhard and Ida Wermuth came from Poland, they were deported from Germany in October 1938 along with their children. On October 28, 1938, at six o'clock in the morning, they were picked up by the Gestapo, transported to the border crossing near Bentschen (Zb?szy?) under inhumane conditions and forced to leave Germany.

The family Wermuth went to Krakow through Katowice, where she stayed with various relatives. Bernhard and Heinz Wermuth worked for a relative and also did business on the black market so they could provide for the family. In the early summer of 1939, Bernhard and Ida Wermuth were finally able to rent their apartment again. In 1940, however, the family moved to the ghetto in Bochnia where they lived together for two years.

On 24 August 1942, Ida Wermuth and her daughter Hanna were deported. They were taken to the Belzec extermination camp where they were murdered immediately after their arrival.

Bernhard and Henry Wermuth had to do forced labor in various camps until 1945. They were finally taken to Osterode in January 1945 for tunnel construction in the Harz Mountains. Bernhard Wermuth was so severely maltreated that he died a little later. For his son, Heinz, the last stop of his Odyssey through Nazi camps was the Mauthausen concentration camp. He was freed there on 5 May 1945, by American troops. He lives in London today.

Hanna Wermuth was 13 years old when she was murdered at the Belzec extermination camp.

Sources: Stadtarchiv Neu-Isenburg; Hessian State Archives; Jewish Museum Frankfurt/Main; Henry Wermuth: Atme, mein Sohn, atme tief. Die Überlebensgeschichte, Frankfurt/Main 1996