 1889 - 1988 (99 years)
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| Name |
Martha Eichenberg |
| Hebrew Birth |
1 Che 5649 |
| Born |
6 Oct 1889 |
Goettingen, Germany  |
| Gender |
Female |
| Biography |
My maternal grandmother, Martha, was born Eichenberg. Martha was the eldest of four children, who apparently all grew up in a strictly orthodox home.
They spent their formative years in a place called Schweitzer Reinecke, in what was then the Eastern Transvaal province. Albert Stern, their father, was a farmer, who came from the Fulda area in Germany.
The marriage didn't last too long, and Martha returned with the girls to Germany where they spent the First World War years. Martha later married Victor Gudenberg. They had a son, Ulrich, who died tragically, aged sixteen. He dived into a pool and hit his head on the floor. There has been some suggestion that, being half Jewish, harassment from the Nazis led him to inflict this on himself. Martha never got over their loss, and said that she only lived half a life after this incident.
Albert Stern got custody of the three sisters and they returned to South Africa when the first war ended. He too remarried, and the three girls had a miserable childhood with a stepmother who showed no affection for them at all.
Martha was a concert pianist. She was a pupil of Artur Schnabel, and was at the start of a promising career when a marriage was arranged for her. Her husband was a very rough farmer, Albert Stern, who had been born in Eschwege, Germany, about 30 km from Gottingen, but had gone out to South Africa, and became both a farmer and a trader (of dubious ethics). They were married in Gottingen, and left immediately afterwards for South Africa.
Martha, who by her own admission was very naive, described Albert as "an animal", and they produced three daughters in quick succession. Martha then divorced Albert, and was forced to leave the girls with him when she returned to Germany. Although born Jewish, Martha converted to Christianity. She remarried Viktor Gudenberg, a non-Jew, and they had a son, Ulla. (He died at a young age after a diving accident. It was never ascertained whether it had been an accident or suicide attempt, as Ulla had been victimised by the Nazis because of his mother's former relipon. He was also a strong swimmer.)
During the war, Martha was denounced as a Jew by her neighbour, Frau Peraquin, and was sent to a concentration camp, but luckily was released after intervention by the Red Cross. During the last few years of her life, Martha had been ill with a circulatory disorder that necessitated the amputation of toes at different times. She had also lost her sight, but until the end her mind was lucid. Her favourite occupation was having people read poetry to her. She and Viktor resided in Hannover during the war until 1968, and then returned to Gottingen, where they both died. Martha was 99 years old. [1] |
| Hebrew Death |
9 Kis 5749 |
| Immigration |
Schweitzer Reinecke, South Africa |
| Occupation |
Pianist |
| Residence |
Goettingen, Germany |
| Residence |
Schweitzer Reinecke, South Africa |
| Residence |
Hannover, Germany |
| Died |
18 Nov 1988 |
Goettingen, Germany |
| Person ID |
I1205 |
Blank Family |
| Last Modified |
4 Apr 2011 |
| Father |
Simon Siegfried Eichenberg, b. 31 Jul 1853, Adelebsen, Germany , d. 20 Mar 1917, Goettingen, Germany (Age 63 years) |
| Mother |
Johanna Stern, b. 16 Jun 1859, Lindau Am Hartz, Germany , d. 30 Apr 1941, Goettingen, Germany (Age 81 years) |
| Family ID |
F614 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family 1 |
Albert Stern, b. 10 Oct 1876, Eschwege, Germany , d. 7 Dec 1953, Johannesburg, South Africa (Age 77 years) |
| Married |
1907 |
Goettingen, Germany |
| Divorced |
Abt 1914 |
South Africa |
| Children |
| + | 1. Ilse Stern, b. 21 Sep 1908, Zeerust, South Africa , d. 20 Sep 1985, Johannesburg, South Africa (Age 76 years) |
| + | 2. Hildegard Stern, b. 25 Feb 1910, Johannesburg, South Africa , d. 29 Aug 1990, Johannesburg, South Africa (Age 80 years) |
| + | 3. Margot Stern, b. 4 Mar 1912, Schweitzer Reinecke, South Africa , d. 12 Apr 1982, Johannesburg, South Africa (Age 70 years) |
|
| Last Modified |
10 Jul 2008 |
| Family ID |
F615 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family 2 |
Victor Gudenberg, b. 1 Nov 1895, Goettingen, Germany , d. 16 Sep 1975, Goettingen, Germany (Age 79 years) |
| Married |
20 Sep 1927 |
Goettingen, Germany |
| Children |
| | 1. Ulrich Gudenberg, b. 1928, Hannover, Germany , d. 1942, Hannover, Germany (Age 14 years) |
|
| Last Modified |
5 Jul 2007 |
| Family ID |
F616 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
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