- Document ID: 132519659
- Document Collection: 7-14-1 Documentation of the CLI
- Link to Online Archive: https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/de/document/132519659
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#austria POB: Vienna
#jew
https://www.memento.wien/person/48316/
Gertrude Juris Nagel (1921-2001) was born to parents Mendel “Max” (1885-1926) and Anna (née Pollach, 1899-1944?) Juris on 12 March 1921 in Vienna, Austria. She had one sibling, a younger brother, Kurt (1924-1945?). Max was a bookbinder who had fled to Vienna from Galicia in the course of the First World War. In 1926 he suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 42. After Max’s death Anna was left to care for their two small children. During this time Anna’s mother, Hermine Pollach (née Kohn, 1871-1944), assisted with the children. Gertrude attended school in Vienna, but with the persecution of Jewish students she was unable to continue her studies, and in January 1939 she crossed the border in to Switzerland. Within a year of her arrival in St. Gallen, Switzerland, Gertrude was joined by Kurt and their paternal uncle Joschi. Soon Gertrude had the opportunity to leave Switzerland for England. After several months working in the home of a family in Blackpool Gertrude was successful in immigrating to the United States. In the United States she joined extended relatives and found work. After arriving, Gertrude made various attempts to assist her mother and grandmother in emigrating from Austria. Unfortunately these efforts were unsuccessful and on October 10th, 1941 Anna and Hermine were deported from Vienna to the Łódź ghetto. For a time Gertrude remained in contact with her loved ones with help from relatives in Switzerland. Hermine Pollack In early 1944 this communication stopped, and Gertrude later learned that Anna and Hermine had both perished. In the immediate postwar period Gertrude also endured the death of her brother when Kurt died unexpectedly in Switzerland. After the war Gertrude settled into family life with her husband William and their children. She continued to honor the memory of her loved ones by maintaining and erecting monuments in their memory and later wrote of her experiences during the Holocaust.
Source: EHRI - Gertrude and William Nagel papers (ehri-project.eu)
Mother: Hermine Pollach née Kohn