- Document ID: 134800933
- Document Collection: 7-8-1- Instytut Pamieci Narodowej (IPN) Sig. 781000007 „Kartei Dachau“
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Kurt ANSPACHER / Curt PARKER
He was born on May 1, 1925 as the son of Emma (née LÖWENSTEIN) and Albert ANSPACHER and spent his childhood in Achim (near Bremen) at Obernstrasse 45.
As early as 1935, he already had to face discrimination.
On the night of the pogrom, the police arrested Kurt. In contrast to the adult Jews from Achim, the 13-year-old was not taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and was soon able to return home. However, he was forbidden to continue attending elementary school in Achim.
His father was released from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in December 1938
After his family’s failed attempt to emigrate, Kurt and his parents were deported to the ghetto in Minsk in November 1941.
Kurt’s cousin fled to the partisans with a Russian girl. As punishment, the SS brought all family members, including Kurt, to the roll call area to be shot. He was able to escape by mingling with a work column that was passing by. His parents, however, were murdered.
As an orphan, Kurt Anspacher then passed through various camps: Budzyn, Treblinka, Mielec, Flossenbürg, Kamenz, Mauthausen and Dachau.
He was liberated on April 29, 1945.
At this point he still weighed 33 kilograms. Later he was diagnosed with tuberculosis (TBC) and typhoid fever.
In 1948 Kurt Anspacher emigrated to Chicago in the USA and met his wife Eleanor PARKER there. When he married in 1973, he took his wife’s surname and was henceforth called Curt PARKER.
(taken and translated from source)
He died in Chicago on 06.04.2011
https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/de/search?s=kurt%20anspacher
https://www.ushmm.org/online/hsv/person_view.php?PersonId=2664398
His story/testimony (in English):
His story (in German):