Gertrud Brandes

• https://www.alemannia-judaica.de/friedrichroda_juedgeschichte.htm Heinrich Brandes (1875) mit Frau Gertrud Brandes geb. Cerf (1884) und ihren Kindern Herbert (1908), Edwin (1911) und Margarete (geb. 1909) zogen 1927 oder 1928 von Berlin nach Friedrichroda, wo Heinrich Brandes seinen Ruhestand verbringen wollte. Die Familie wohnte im Haus Alexandrinenstraße 31. 1937 musste er unter Zwang sein Berliner Mietshaus verkaufen, von dessen Mieteinnahmen die Familie bislang gelebt hatte. 1938 zogen die Kinder Margarete und Edwin zurück nach Berlin. Das Haus der Familie Brandes wurde in Friedrichsroda zum "Judenhaus" ernannt. Heinrich Brandes wurde im September zusammen mit seiner Frau in das Ghetto Theresienstadt deportiert, wo er im März 1943 umgekommen ist. Seine Frau Gertrud wurde 1944 weiter nach Auschwitz deportiert und ermordet. Sohn Edwin war zunächst untergetaucht, doch Anfang 1944 nach Auschwitz verschleppt und ermordet. Herbert Brandes, der bereits 1933 verhaftet und ins KZ Sachsenhausen verbracht worden war, überlebte Arbeitslager und die NS-Zeit. Er starb 1964 in Friedrichroda." https://www.alemannia-judaica.de/friedrichroda_juedgeschichte.htm
• Date/place of birth identified in record of her marriage to Heinrich Brandes, Landesarchiv Berlin; Berlin, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Heiratsregister (Ancestry.com); also Siegfried Wolf. Juden in Thüringen 1933-1945: Biographische Daten. (2000), vol 1, p 59
• Gertrud Cerf was the second wife of Heinrich Brandes, whom she married on 17 August 1927 in Berlin; see record of marriage cited above. She was stepmother to the three children Heinrich had with his first wife, Agnes Sommerfeld, who died on 25 March 1927.
• On 9 September 1942, Heinrich and Gertrud Brandes signed a contract with the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland (RV)(The National Association of German Jews) whereby they assigned all their remaining assets to the RV. The contract was called a "Heimeinkaufsvertrag" or "Home Purchase Contract" and was supposed to provide Heinrich and Gertrud with room & board and medical attention and other care in the Theresienstadt Ghetto. Instead, the money paid to the RV went directly into Nazi coffers, and Heinrich & Gertrud did not receive any of the promised care.The contract and multiple financial documents can be found in the Arolsen Archives digital database at: https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/128469642...
• On 19/20 September 1942, Gertrud and Heinrich Brandes were deported from Friedrichroda to Weimar and from there to Ghetto Theresienstadt.
• Gertrud's husband, Heinrich Brandes, died in Theresienstadt Ghetto in May 1943; on 18 May 1944, 60-year-old Gertrud was transported further to Auschwitz Extermination Centre, where she was probably murdered soon after arrival.
• Two of Gertrud and Heinrich Brandes's children were murdered in Auschwitz, Margarete in 1943, and Edwin in February 1944. Herbert Brandes survived the Holocaust and the war and returned to Friedrichroda, where he died in 1964.

Entry in German National Archives, Memorial Book':
Brandes, Gertrud
née Cerf
born on 21st April 1884 in Berlin / - / Stadt Berlin
resident of Friedrichroda
Deportation:
from Leipzig
20th September 1942, Theresienstadt, ghetto
18th May 1944, Auschwitz, extermination camp