Ludwig Wedell was born 2 Dec 1876 in Posen (Poznan), Poland to Nehemias Wedell (1842-1897) and Salomea Mamroth (1855-1917). Ludwig was the second of five sons, Max (1874-1926), Siegfried (1877-1951), Martin (1878-1943) and Georg (1885-1937).
The city of Posen was a flourishing Jewish community in Eastern Europe, where Nehemias’s brother Abraham was a noted rabbi. The larger Posen region changed nationalities throughout the nineteenth century from Polish, to Prussian, to Napoleonic French and back to Prussian. Most likely due to growing anti-Semitism which became more prominent by the end of the century, the Wedell family moved from Posen to Berlin, Germany sometime before 1897 when Nehemias died. Ludwig followed his father into the lumber trade.
Ludwig, circa 1905
Ludwig, circa 1906
Ludwig married Alice Loewenberg (1881-1939) on 6 Sep 1906 in Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany. Witnessing the civil ceremony were Albert Loewenberg (Alice’s father) and Samuel Wedell (Ludwig’s uncle). At the time, Ludwig was living at Kantstrasse 18 in Charlottenburg.
Their only daughter, Liselotte Johanna Theophilia (aka Lilo), was born on 12 Sep 1908. The family lived at Riehlstrasse 8 in Charlottenburg, only a few blocks from Alice’s mother, Henriette. A family story Lilo told many times was that she was required to walk home from school and pass her grandmother’s house along the way; if not, a strong scolding was to follow.
According to family letters, Ludwig was known as a fair and honest businessman in the lumber trade, generous with credit and quality goods.
The Wedells were an upper middle-class family of modest wealth. A correspondence sent in the 1950’s speaks to the family’s wealth, with the Wedells living in a four-room apartment with plush furniture and curtains, gas heat, and hot running water. The family led an active social calendar with “good food and flowing wine”. Ludwig’s grandson Henry recalls Ludwig was wealthy enough to have clothes custom made; the same tailor made many of Henry’s as a child. In 1933/34, Lilo met and became betrothed to Werner Bollmann. Ludwig granted permission for the marriage, provided the children be raised in Werner’s Christian faith. Lilo and Werner were married in a civil ceremony 9 May 1934.
According to family history, Alice was always a sickly woman with thyroid problems. She died on 18 Feb 1939, most likely as a result of Grave’s disease and malnutrition, as medication was withheld from Jewish patients and Jews were allowed fewer food rations.
After the Kristallnacht pogram of November 1938, the Jewish community was required to pay for the damage inflicted upon them. As a result, all Jewish businesses were ordered to be “Arayanized”, turned over to the German government as a form of taxation. Ludwig’s lumber business was liquidated by the end of 1939. As a result of reduced assets or perhaps wanting living space after the death of Alice, Ludwig moved into a smaller apartment near Lilo, Werner and their firstborn child Heinz (aka Henry, Hank) (1934- ).
In September 1939, by order of the Berlin police, all Jews were required to forfeit ownership of their radios, in an attempt to restrict the free access of information. Lilo would later apply to the German government for restitution of electronics, furs, insurance and securities which were turned over from Ludwig to the German state. After 15 years of communications regarding this application, she would be denied all claims.
On 19 Jan 1942, Ludwig was required to report to the Gruenwald train station. While other testimonies record persons being arrested and taken immediately into custody, Ludwig apparently had enough time for Lilo to pack a box of food for his journey. Ludwig was boarded a train with 994 other Jews and travelled to Riga, Poland (now Lithuania). Transport 9 arrived on 23 Jan 1942. Stories differ on whether Ludwig perished on the transport or upon arrival. His granddaughter Rosemary recalls a story that the family received “the letter”, a form letter Jews were required to sign that they had arrived and that family members were not to worry about their future. If he did reach Riga, Ludwig was most likely taken to the nearby Rumbala Forest upon arrival, shot, and buried in a mass grave. Henry recalls learning that Ludwig died on the train. Survivors of this transport recount stories that approximately five people died on the train, most likely due to heart attacks or strokes due to stress and lack of medical attention.
Ludwig was memorialized with a gravestone placed near his wife Alice in Weinssense Cemetery in Berlin. His brother Martin with wife Erna (Rosendorn) perished in Auschwitz in 1943. Married to a Christian, his daughter Lilo was considered a “privileged Jew” and survived the Holocaust. She and Werner had another child Rosemary (1944 – ) and later emigrated to the United States.
Claims for restitution of Ludwig’s belongings which included precious metals, furs, securities and insurance were never awarded.
Sources
The Central Database of Shoah Victim’s Names. www.yadvashem.org.
Charlottenburg I, Berlin, marriage certificate no. 133 (1912), Wedell-Glogauer; digital image, Ancestry.com, “Berlin, Germany, Marriages, 1874-1920,) Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed 16 Nov 2019). Recorded date: 16 Nov 2019.
Charlottenburg I, Berlin, marriage certificate no. 472 (1906), Wedell-Loewenberg; digital image, Ancestry.com, “Berlin, Germany, Marriages, 1874-1920,) Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed 16 Nov 2019). Recorded date: 16 Nov 2019.
Charlottenburg I, Berlin, marriage certificate no. 393 (1908), Wedell-Rosendorn; digital image, Ancestry.com, “Berlin, Germany, Marriages, 1874-1920,) Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed 16 Nov 2019). Recorded date: 16 Nov 2019.
The Database of Jewish Businesses in Berlin 1930-1945, www2.hu-berlin.de.
Family history as told by Henry Bollmann and Rosemary Church.
German Phone Directories, 1915-1981, accessed through Ancestry.com.
Landesarchiv Berlin; Berlin, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Laufendenummer: 39.
The National Archives; Kew, Surrey, England; Duplicate Certificates of Naturalisation, Declarations of British Nationality, and Declarations of Alienage; Class: HO 334; Piece: 62.
Personal knowledge of the author
Photo of gravestone, Weinesseee Cemetery, Berlin, Germany. Photo credit, Jonathan Daniels.
Stolpersteine in Berlin, https://www.stolpersteine-berlin.de/de/biografie/7224, Martin Wedell.
Transports to Extinction: Holocaust (Shoah) Deportation Database, www.yadvashem.org.
WGA Datenbank, Landesarchiv Berlin, www.wga-datanbank.de.
The Budding Genealogist 