History Of The Samenfeld/Pfifferling Family

INTRODUCTION

My parents, Erich and Hilde Samenfeld.

My name is Gary Samenfeld and this website is dedicated to the memory of my parents, Erich and Hildegard(geb. Pfifferling) Samenfeld. I want to chronicle what their lives were like as Jews in Germany and the United States. I will be including photographs, documents, and various written materials. My mother passed away in December of 2004 and I now have many things that she had saved.My daughter, Michelle, suggested that I make a website so that all of this information would not be lost, and be organized into one place. The pictures that I have that were taken in Germany will show what their lives were like in Germany, that is to say, they lived as typical Germans and I want to add that they were always proud of their German heritage. They came to America with their respective nuclear families, my father's in 1938, and my mother's in 1939, and became good citizens in their new country. I have included a speech that I wrote myself some years ago that will explain the backround's of my parents and their other family members. The pictures, documents, and other writings will have captions to explain what they all are. This will be a work-in-progress, as I may find  more items to include in this website.

Family Speech

Speech, first delivered at Congregation Shir Hadash, 1994:

My parents, Erich and Hildegard Samenfeld

Dina Samenfeld/Family Tree/Paternal

Descendents of Leeser Heynemann

Grandfather of my  grandmother, Dina Samenfeld.

Oma Dina's father, Isaak Heynemann is in the center of this photo. My dad is to the right of his grandfather; June 20, 1922.

Walter Jacobsohn

Irma and Walter Jacobsohn

Family recollection, titled: "Seventy Years,Four Months, And Seven Days"

My Uncle Walter wrote this story for his 5 grandchildren:

Hildegard Samenfeld

My mother's family recollection,titled "To My Dear Children".

This is a picture of my mother taken when she started grammar school, "Alte Volkschule", when she was 6 years old.

Paula Rosenberg

This is a picture of my Opa Karl Pfifferling's sister Paula Rosenberg, her husband Julius, their son Rudy, and their daughter Lotte.  In August of 1942, my mother's aunt and uncle, her cousin, Lotte,  and her husband Bertold Steinberg, and their little girl Marion all perished in  the gas chambers of the Auschwitz Concentration camp. This is all mentioned in the story that my mother wrote.

The Jews of Halle a/Saale

Continue/Die toten Der Stadt Halle/ Pfifferling, Julius

Julius Pfifferling was the brother of my grandfather Karl Pfifferling.

Also, at the page tiltled,"Die Toten Der Stadt Halle", you will find Hannacha Cohn. She was the little girl that my mother took care of, and was the youngest of the Jews of Halle to perish in the Nazi concentration camps.

This is a picture of the memorial to the synagogue that my mother's family attended.

My Grandfathers In World War I

Karl Pifferling

My Opa Karl was an officer in the German Army in World War I. He earned the Iron Cross and the Honor Cross, as my mother said, "the latter one saved his life". When he was taken to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp, he carried with him in his coat pocket a copy of a document from former President Hindenburg. This showed that my Opa had served his country and earned the Honor Cross. He was released from Buchenwald after 3 weeks. Opa's brother, Julius died in Buchenwald. In all, 30 of Opa Karl's relatives died in the Holocaust.

Adolph Samenfeld

My father's father served in the German Army in World War I. The following is a letter from my cousin Peter Jacobsohn, that explains the military history of our grandfather:

Kurt Keller

Kurt Keller was the husband of my mother's sister, Aunt Lore Keller, and the father of my cousin Sharon Keller.

The following is an article from the Milwaukee Journal:

Karl Pfifferling

This is a letter that my grandfather received from his lieutenant in WWI. This lietenant obviously did not realize that my grandfather was a Jew.

This letter was among the things that my mother saved and was translated for me by Max Freilich, who is also like me, a resident of Greenville, SC and a member of the Temple of Israel. Mr Freilich left Austria when he was 14 on the Kindertransport to England.

Picture taken in Belgium

Peter Jacobsohn

Letter that my cousin Peter wrote to the research project on the former citizens of Bremen.

Peter Jacobsohn's Uncle Erich and Walter Jacobsohn. They are standing in front of their first cattle truck in 1947.

A Little Story

This is the grave of my father's father, Adolph Samenfeld, in Lavelsloh, Germany.

2630/32 N. Farwell Ave. Milwaukee, WI.

This is the house on Milwaukee's east side that my father bought using the GI Bill in 1946. The Jacobsohn family and Oma Dina lived downstairs and we lived upstairs. We moved to Whitefish Bay in May of 1956 just after I turned 7. The Jacobsohns had moved to Shorewood one year earlier.

21 March 1946

To be able to better read the above letter just left click on the letter and then you can zoom in by left clicking again.

Franckestrasse 17

The house where the Pfifferling family lived in Halle(Saale) is in this picture, as it appears today. It is the 4 story building, third from the right with the flat roof line.I found this image using Google Earth.

Hauptbahnhof Train Station

This is a picture of the Hauptbahnhof train station in Halle(Saale) as it looks today. This is the station that is less than a quarter mile from where the Pfifferling family lived and is the station mentioned in the story that my mother told me, that I tell in the "Family Speech" in the website.

Lavelsloh / North Rhein Westphalia

I am making a necessary correction to the family history. In the photo album titled Google Earth Images the aerial photograph of Lavelsloh is a mistake. When I originally made the search for the town what turns up is listed as Lavelsloh/Diepenau, Diepenau being a much larger town. Unfortunately, I falsely assumed that the next closest town would be Lavelsloh. Recently, I was using Google Earth on my IPad and I realized that Lavelsloh really is the closest town in relation to Diepenau, only much closer than I had previously thought. So close in fact that it appears immediately to the east and looks like it would be considered part of Deipenau. I apologize for this error but I am now making it right.

This is the current view of Lavelsloh, the town where my father and Tante Irma were born. the building where their home and business was no longer exists.

Lavelsloh/Diepenau

The yellow pin shows Lavelsloh in relation to Diepenau.