us-005578-irn531892-irn87109
type: RecordSet
conditions of use: Copyright Holder: Dena Romero
has beginning date: 1916-01-01
has end date: 1945-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had subject: 686
has record set type: Item
history: Walter Kleeblatt (b. 1902) was the son of Solomon Kleeblatt and Helene Alexander. Walter had two siblings: Arthur Kleeblatt (b. 1896) and Edith (b. 1907) Hirsch. The Kleeblatt family lived in the village of Salder (today a part of Salzgitter, a city in Lower Saxony) where they owned a textile store. Solomon founded the business together with Helene’s brother, Isaak Alexander, who married Solomon’s sister Henriette. Solomon died in 1917 and Isaak in 1918. Helene therefore needed help running the business since Arthur was disabled and Walter too young to take over. Her nephew Julius Gutheim, a soldier in World War I, became her business partner. He and Walter later managed the store together. He met Gretel David; they became engaged in May 1932, and in December 1932 Walter’s sister Edith became engaged to Walter Hirsch. Edith and Walter Hirsch married November 5, 1933, and Gretel and Walter married January 14, 1934. Gretel’s paternal uncle Rabbi Moritz David, the rabbi of Bochum, performed the wedding. Hitler’s rise to power in January 1933 had already affected the family. The Nazi party was popular in Salder, and the Kleeblatts who lost customers due to the boycott of Jewish business had to close the store in 1935. In 1935 the family moved to Hannover where Walter and Gretel shared a small apartment with Helene and Arthur, and Walter worked at a Jewish Bakery. In November 1937 Gretel and Walter received visas for the United States, and in February 1938 they sailed to America on the SS Manhattan with the hope that the Hirschs - Walter’s sister Edith, her husband and son - would join them. In January 1938, the Hirschs moved in with Helene and Arthur. In October 1939, they illegally crossed the border into Belgium to await visas for the United States. After the German invasion of Belgium, Walter Hirsch was arrested and sent to Saint Cyprien, an internment camp in France. From there he was transferred to Gurs and Drancy and eventually to Auschwitz where he perished. Alre…
history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
identifier: irn87109
is or was included in: us-005578-irn531892
record resource extent: box oversize box 1 1
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Consists of documents, photographs, and photograph albums owned by Walter and Gretel Kleeblatt (née David), originally of Germany. Includes information related to their schooling, 1932 wedding, photograph albums (1924-1934, 1934-1945), enlarged family portraits, a memoir, and family tree information for the Kleeblatt and David families.
title: Walter and Gretel Kleeblatt collection