Steuers Popping out of the Woodwork

Another connection made! Thank you Marjorie for writing your article on her husband reclaiming his German citizenship. Julie contacted her because of it and contacted me thanks to Marjorie.

Now I have a bit more information on another child of Bernhard and Henriette (Eisner) Steuer. Up until now I only knew that Eva was born on 29 Oct 1866, Brzezinka, Upper Silesia, Prussia.

Eva was Bernhard and Henriette’s first born, as far as I know. She and her sister Lina were the only two daughters that lived long enough to marry. They were also the only two that I couldn’t find information on their spouses and/or descendants.

This Eva Steuer married Herman Hiller. They moved to Breslau at some point. I was told they owned a successful clothing store called Hillers Department store. Herman was a commodities trader.

So far only know about Herman and Eva’s daughter Ellie who married Ernest

Cohn/Kohn. She was listed as a survivor in the newspaper “Aufbau, Sep 1944-Sep 1946” in the “Published Lists of Survivors”. She died 25 Jan 1956 (Gunther was 10 years old).

Ellie’s husband Ernest was forced to leave his family behind by the Nazis when he fled Germany to Cuba, and later to the USA. Ellie and Ernest’s children were put in an orphanage and stayed there until their father was able to arrange for their escape in 1939 with the help of Jewish charities. Everything they owned was left behind.

Ernest sent his two daughters to South America. I was told that Gunther escaped from a Jewish orphanage in Berlin, in 1939, on the last ship out before war was declared. Gunther departed Hamburg on the SS Hamburg on 10 Aug 1939. He arrived in New York on 18 Aug 1939 at the Port of New York. On the passenger manifest he was listed as Guenther/Hermann Nathan and he was 13 years old.

Gunther registered for the US Army on 05 Sep 1944. Ernest was listed as next of kin on his WWII draft information. They sent him to train with the Office of Strategic Services, a wartime intelligence agency. At the time he lived in St. Joseph, Buchanan County, Missouri. He found himself back in Berlin, this time hunting war criminals.

He spoke fluent German and worked undercover finding former SS officers, prison guards and other Nazis suspected of murdering Jews and other ethnic minorities during the Holocaust. One story relayed is:

On one occasion, he tracked a former high-ranking colonel to a political meeting in a beer hall. The former colonel had been tipped off that he was being followed. While turned away from Mr. Kohn, the former colonel pulled his pistol, turned and pointed it at Mr. Kohn and was about to pull the trigger. That’s when a U.S. soldier accompanying Mr. Kohn saw what was happening from across the room and shot the colonel in the head.

“That was as close as he got to getting killed.”

Gunther returned to the US and settled in St. Louis, Missouri where he started and operated his own business. Many years later he was one among others who helped found the St. Louis Holocaust Museum.

Another Son of Samuel Steuer Unearthed!

Since I had found sever of Samuel’s descendants in the Eastern Prussian Provinces, Germany [Poland], Selected Civil Vitals, 1874-1945, I decided motzei Rosh HaShanah to do more searches in the Eastern Prussian Provinces, Germany [Poland], Selected Civil Vitals, 1874-1945 records. I found another son of Samuel Steuer and Eva Fraenkel: Moritz Steuer. He was born in 1837 and died 12 Feb 1882, Hindenburg Alt-Zabrze, Prussia.

Moritz (Moses) was a baker when he married Minna (Mandel) Gruenberg, daughter of Jacob Gruenberg & Marie Simon. Later in 1860 Moritz was an Innkeeper. Moritz and Minna had eight children: Wilhelm, Eva, Siegfried, Julius, Albert, Hugo, Margaretha, and Rosa.

There are many Eva’s who were all named after Eva Fraenkel Steuer, she died in April 1861. Friederike Steuer Wachsner’s Eva was born 12 Aug 1863 and named after Friederike’s mother. Moritz Steuer’s (and Minna Gruenberg) first born daughter was named after his mother Eva, born 5 Dec 1863. Bernhard (Shmuel) Steuer and Jettel "Henriette" Eisner also named their first born after his mother Eva, born 29 Oct 1866.

Wilhelm Steuer was Moritz & Minna’s eldest. He married Johanna Herzfeld in 1891. I haven’t yet uncovered any offspring for him, but it’s still early on. Wilhelm died on 12 Oct 1924 and is buried at the Nordfriedhof Cemetery, Section: Neu Juedischer Friedhof, Düsseldorf, Germany.

Nordfriedhof Dusseldorf Cemetery

Marriage of Eva Steuer & Wilhelm Zerkowski

Eva Steuer, daughter of Moritz & Minna, married Wilhelm Zerkowski on 25 Feb 1890 in Hindenburg, Prussia. Eva & Wilhelm had a son:
Wilhelm "Willy" Zerkowski, born 04 Mar 1891. Willy died 15 Oct 1915, Breslau, Prussia of natural causes and is buried at the Friedhof Cosel, Section: World War I Field of Honor, Wroclaw (Breslau), Poland; Plot: Grabstelle 11.

Tombstone of Wilhelm "Willy" Zerkowski

 

Marriage of Margaetha Steuer & Julius Michaelis

Margaretha Steuer married Julius Michaelis, son of Adolf Michaelis & Malchen Baron also Hindenburg, Prussia on 16 Oct 1871.

Siegfried Steuer was born 14 Oct 1865, Krassow (Pszczyna, Prussia).

Julius Steuer was born 11 Mar 1867 in Bytom, Prussia and died just 24 days later on 4 Apr 1867.

 

 

Albert Steuer was born 20 Feb 1868, Zabrze, Hindenburg, Silesia. He married Julia Wyngardt. They had three daughters: Margot, born 19 March 1901, Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; Ilse Sara, born 15 Sep 1904, Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, Alice, born 02 Feb 1912, Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany and Ruth. Albert was deported in 1942 to Auschwitz and died on 25 Sep 1942 at Treblinka.

 

List of Theresienstadt camp inmates

 

Margot's Declaration of Intention

Margot Steuer married Leopold Dreifuss. They had three children: Walter (born 6 Jul 1922), Helga (born 30 Aug 1924) and another daughter. Both Walter and Helga were born in Germany and emigrated with their parents and arrived in New York on 4 Mar 1940. In 1940 the family lived in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Before our Dreifuss family came to the USA, they lived in London, England. Leopold was a tailor. Both Margot and Leopold are buried at the Cedar Park Cemetery, Paramus, Bergen County, New Jersey, USA.

 

Walter was a doctor and lived in East Rockaway, Long Island, New York. I know of him having two children: Janet and David. Helga became a nurse and married Irving A Epstein and they lived in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. They had two daughters: Judith and Jacquelyn and a son.

 

Ilse Steuer married Ernst Phillip Waldheim in 1930, Hemer, Iserlohn, Markischer Kreis, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Ilse and Ernst had two sons: Hans “Harry” and Manfred “Manny” Israel. Ilse, Hans and Manfred all emigrated together. They left Lisbon, Portugal on the 15^th of March, 1941.

 

1941 Passenger List for Ilse Waldheim & sons

Alice Steuer married Isidore Frankel. I know they had at least one son who is currently living in Tel Aviv, Israel.

 

Hugo Steuer was born on 4 Apr 1870, Bytom, Prussia. He perished on 20 December 1942 at Theresienstadt.

 

 

Theresienstadt Memorial

Rosa Steuer was born 7 Oct 1874, Hindenburg Alt-Zabrze, Prussia. She married Paul Honigbaum, son of Salomon Honigbaum & Emilie Rosentein on 25 May 1902 in Hindenburg, Prussia. Rosa lived in Breslau and was deported from Grüssau to Auschwitz and perished on 17 May 1944.

Marriage of Rosa Steuer & Paul Honigbaum

Lotte Jane Wallach, 1955

I just made contact with the grandson of Ruth Steuer Wallach. I’m looking forward to exchanging information with him and finding more out about his grandparents. His grandmother Ruth Steuer married Kurt Wallach, son of Carl Wallach & Lutka Rauch in 1935, Gevelsberg, Germany. They had a daughter, Lotte Jane.

Looking forward to connecting with new cousins.