Above someone asked my about my family. My father and family was from Breslau, my mother from Frankfurt-am -Main. My father and his sister fled in 39; their parents escaped in 42 - a miracle. My paternal Grandfather - Georg Ledermann, was major industrialist. He was "protected" by "friends" - and although sent to a camp for 8 weeks in 1940, was "returned" home, starving, by means he never discovered. They nearly starved till 42, when by a miracle my father got them visas to Cuba. The US was NOT allowing refugees into the US by then, they were considered "enemy aliens" and were not allowed into the US - even though they were fleeing for their lives. They took a train from Breslau, to Barcelona, and before boarding the boat were stopped and "arrested" by German soldiers who asked them to produce passports. For those who are not aware, those passports were stamped "JEW" in red. A priest who was across the street came over and told the German he could not arrest them - did he not SEE the medal my grandmother was wearing? She wore a small gold chain with many tiny medals, each the size of a dime, that had belonged to her grandfather. ONE medal was the Isabella award, (Wikipedia) given to her grandfather by the king of Spain for his 30 yeas of service as German council. It meant, technically, that he, and ALL his descendants, were "honorary" Spanish citizens. He let them go. I have the award. They spend 14 months in Cuba, and when entering the US, were detained for days and shown maps of Breslau, to point out what was made in each factory - something my grandfather well knew. The US and British soon leveled Breslau to six feet of rubble. The rest of the Ledermann and Ehrlich families died in concentration camps.
My mother’s father was a general, and head legal council to the German army in WW1. By WWII, many of the military brass that has served under him - who were now Nazis - "protected" him, his wife and my mother till 42. He was a "war hero" and also a war criminal, as all German generals were after WW1. His name is on the treaty of Versailles. In 42, my mother was crying as she left a government office, and was grabbed by a Nazi who recognized her - he had served under her father. He helped arrange a bribe to a fellow in the Visa office, but they were discovered by another in that office who demanded that my grandfather "defend" his brother, a murderer of his own wife and daughter. Jews had been stripped of their right to practice law, medicine and more many years earlier, But in 1942, my grandfather, Adolphe Solomon, defended a murderer in a Frankfurt court. The judge didn’t have the guts to tell him - "I’m sorry Dr. Solomon, you are not allowed to practice law in this court". He won, or I would not be typing this that you are reading. He fled to England with wife and my mother. His son, Gerard, had fled in 39, missing the Nazis that came for him by 30 minutes. My uncle Gerard fled to Paris, where he designed/sold a folding boat that could be carried in two small briefcases. I often wondered why he did that. Then it hit me.
He realized that if/when the Nazis came to Paris, Jews could paddle across the channel to England. He moved to the US, married a Jew, and converted to Christianity. Changed his name to "Sandersen" and tried to pass himself off as a Swede. He knew there was a lot of antisemitism then in the US, and he was "done" being Jewish. Thank God there is no more antisemitism now here or anywhere. He lived in Aspen Colorado, - He was "Sandy, the silversmith. An artist, poet, inventor, silversmith, stained glass creator, painter, architect, musician, teacher and more. I loved him.
I knew three out of four grandparents. It should not have happened.
Peter Ledermann
