Jewish life in Harxheim: Judith Mayer
Ferdinand’s widow Judith prepared her emigration to the USA from October 1938. Of the household goods and furnishings she wanted to take with her from her Frankfurt apartment, half were removed from the inventory list by the Frankfurt Nazi authorities.
Judith Mayer with son Fritz, grandson Thomas and great-grandson Peter, 1970.
Image source: Thomas Mayer
She had to leave many things behind, including her husband’s valuable religious books, or, as far as this was still possible, sell them at short notice. She received her visa from the American consulate in Stuttgart on October 28, 1938 issued. She traveled on November 29 by train to Hamburg and from there on to Bremerhaven. She left Germany on the passenger ship New York on December 1 and arrived in New York on December 9, 1938. She also found accommodation in the apartment of the couple Gustav and Rose Halle, where their daughters Sara with husband Gerhard, Hannah and their youngest son Simon already lived. Judith Mayer lived in New York all her life after her escape. She died there on February 27, 1972, shortly before her 91st birthday. 1) 2) 3)
References:
1) HHStA Wiesbaden 518-5452; 518-77557
2) United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc…. Taken via Stadtarchiv Mainz. (02/2023).
3) Information from Thomas, Sara and Bernie Mayer (1/2022).
