Gertrud and Max Joseph, Ida and Paul Simons and Arthur and Hans Bial: papers

The Simons family were successful Jewish businessmen who owned the oil company, Simons & Söhne AG in Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia (now Walter Rau, Neusser Öl und Fett AG). Both families tried to flee Nazi persecution by emigrating to Holland but perished in the Holocaust. 

Gertrud and Max Joseph: Gertrud (Trude) Blach was born into a family of six children in Stralsund in 1878. The family moved to Berlin when she was a young child and had their own leather business. Max Joseph also came from Strahlsund. He was born in 1874, the eldest of three children. Max married Gertrud and they had two children: Martin (1903-1974) and Rose Marie (1910-2003). In the 1920s there was widespread anti-Semitism in Pommerania making it difficult for the couple to run their business. The business started to decline after the boycott of Jewish shops in April 1933. It was closed down in 1936.

Rose Marie and her first husband Guenther left Germany with their son Peter and settled in The Hague. They arranged for Max and Trude to flee to Holland in 1939. Trude, Max, Rose, Guenther and Peter settled in Hilversum until they were ordered to move to Amsterdam in 1942. Max and Trude were soon arrested and taken to Westerbork transit camp. They were both deported to Sobibor in July 1943 where they were gassed.

Ida and Paul Simons: Amelie Caroline (Ida) Rosenberg was born in 1881 in Verviers, Belgium, one of five surviving children. She got married to Paul Moritz Simons (born in 1876) in 1903 and moved to Neuss am Rhein where the Simons family lived. They had two sons: Ralf Rene (1904-1980), Gaby Glassman-Simons' father, and Edgar (1907-1928). The children had a French-speaking governess enabling them to become fluent in French which helped Edgar's survival in the south of France during World War II. Paul Simons joined the family business, Oelmuehle N Simons Söhne. The factory became the second largest margarine factory in Germany. The business was sold in 1929 due to the economic crisis in the 1920s. Paul and his son Edgar started a similar business after the mill was sold which flourished until the mid-1930s when it became too difficult for Jews to own businesses. In 1936 Edgar fled to Holland. His parents joined him in The Hague in 1938. They relocated to Hilversum and were soon ordered to go to Amsterdam where German Jews were concentrated. In 1942 they were arrested and taken to Westerbork transit camp where they stayed for 9 months. In June 1943 they were deported to Sobibor extermination camp where they were murdered upon arrival.

Personal papers 1 folder + material to go back incl. videos + journals and cuttings

Donated June 2009

Donor: Gaby Glassman