Heinrich Brandes

The information that was published about the family of Heinrich Brandes in the database compiled by Siegfried Wolf. Juden in Thüringen 1933-1945: Biographische Daten. (2000), vol 1, p 60, is updated in the date below. Gertrud Brandes (née Cerf) was the stepmother of the three children borne to Agnes Brandes (née Sommerfeld), Heinrich Brandes's first wife. Agnes died in 1927.

• Date/place of birth in German National Archives, Memorial Book'c* Identified as son of Julius and Lina (née Philippsthal) Brandes in record of his marriage to Agnes Sommerfeld; see Landesarchiv Berlin; Berlin, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Heiratsregister (Ancestry.com)
• Identified as husband of Agnes Sommerfeld, whom he married on 21 September 1907 in Berlin; see marriage record cited above.
• Identified as father of Herbert, Edwin, and Margarete Brandes, with his first wife, Agnes Sommerfeld.
• Agnes Brandes (née Sommerfeld) died in March 1927. In August 1927, Heinrich Brandes married Gertrud Cerf in Berlin. Heinrich, Gertrud and the two younger children, Margarete and Edwin, moved to Friedrichroda in Thüringen in the late 1920s. In 1938, Margarete and Edwin returned to Berlin, while Heinrich and Gertrud remained in Friedrichroda.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• Date/place of death, see Wolf

Entry in German National Archives, Memorial Book':
Brandes, Heinrich
born on 30th September 1875 in Berlin / - / Stadt Berlin
resident of Friedrichroda
Deportation:
from Weimar-Halle-Leipzig
20th September 1942, Theresienstadt, ghetto
Date of death: 22nd March 1943
Place of death: Theresienstadt, ghetto