Family Morgenstern |

The Morgensterns

Members of the Morgenstern family meet in the hometown of their ancestors

by Till Lieberz-Groß

• Sonja Morgenstern-Marchesano, widow of Max Unger and Armand Marchesano, USA;
• her son Jeff Unger and his wife Alisa Unger, USA;
• Karen Pomerance, daughter of Zelma Brown, née Morgenstern, Sonja’s sister, United Kingdom
• Karen’s daughter Sasha Pomerance, Israel (Aliyah);
• Yael Greenspan and Tiferet Lehrman, granddaughters of Sonja’s youngest sister Gala (Egele) Greenspan, née Morgenstern, Israel:

Three generations of Morgensterns strengthen their family ties while searching for their family history – a family with German-Jewish roots.

End of childhood

Leib/ Leo and Fajge Morgenstern, née Minc

Fajge Morgenstern, née Minc, born in 1906 in Krasnik/Poland has got two sisters and one brother, ‘Leo Minc’, who later will be able to rescue her family. Leo Morgenstern, born in 1901 in Zrencin/ Poland has got four brothers and two sisters; but only him and two of his brothers, Izzy and Chaskel, will survive the Nazi-terror.

In the night of November 9th,1938 (the November pogrom), Sonja and her sister Zelma, born in 1935, are with their Aunt Lotte, as her mother Fajge is still in hospital where she has given birth to her youngest daughter Eigele (later: Gala) on November 4th .

The flat is demolished, things are thrown out of the window. But Uncle Izzy, Leo’s brother and Lotto’s husband succeeds in hiding himself until he is able to escape to the USA. His family will follow him there later. Leo Morgenstern, Sonja’s father, is arrested while visiting his wife in hospital and is deported to the concentration camp Buchenwald on November 10th, 1938.

Emigration to England/ UK

Living in a foreign country is not easy despite Uncle Leo’s support. Father Leo, who has been a successful businessman in Frankfurt, now has to earn his living as a casual labourer to support his family as the only breadwinner.

Hard times

And this difficult situation gets even worse after the outbreak of World War II: Father Leo is interned at the Isle of Man as an “enemy alien”. And because of the bombing of London the family is torn apart even further: While Zelma and Egele are evacuated with their mother Fajge, the seven-year-old Sonja is sent to the countryside together with her classmates – completely on her own and without speaking English. Until the end of the war Sonja quite often will be without her family. She has to learn English very quickly – and soon forgets to speak in her mother tongue German.
Her mother Fajge – only 37 years old at that time – dies on November 29th, 1943 from a not treated tuberculosis she got while staying in hospital in Frankfurt in 1938.

At the age of about twelve Sonja becomes – at times sent back to London – the “foster” mother of her younger siblings. This very difficult situation improves a bit due to the fact that the three Morgenstern-girls move to Shefford in Bedfordshire (55 miles from London) in 1943. There a Jewish school had been established, founded by Dr. Salomon Schonfeld, a school in which also a lot of Kindertransport-Kinder had found a new home.
The school-children live with very caring foster parents from the village. These foster-parents support the children much more than most villagers did during Sonja’s first evacuation. Leaving them after the war is heartbreaking for a lot of the children. On the other hand it becomes obvious that many British people especially in the countryside cannot imagine the hard times the Jewish refugees have to go through.

Only after the end of the war the Morgensterns are united again in London: Father Leo, Sonja, Zelma, Eigele – without their beloved mother. But with them lives “Oma” Fajge’s mother and their grandmother. Oma Minc had been deported from Germany to Poland in 1938– like many Jews with Polish roots – but due to the efforts of her son Leo Minc she eventually was allowed to emigrate to the UK.

After having passed her final school exams Sonja starts an apprenticeship as a seamstress – her talented mother and her successful uncle as role models. She works at Mascott Model Company till 1951; after a secretarial training she starts working in a hospital.

Deportation to Poland in 1938

Chaskel Morgenstern, one of the brothers of Sonja’s father Leo, Chaskel’s wife Blanka and other Morgenstern relatives are deported to Poland during the so called “Polenaktion” in 1938. Both grandfathers, Morgenstern and Minc, had previously lost their lives in different pogroms in Poland. Being afraid of further pogroms both families had left Poland to live in Germany.
Chaskel and Blanka Morgenstern, née Merenländer, are separated in the ghetto of Krosno/ Poland.

As Leo did not find a decent job in the UK, Chaskel convinces his brother to join him in Frankfurt. Leo arrives in Frankfurt in 1950. Obviously Leo was meant to become head of the Kaiser Street branch, but he dies very early in 1954, only 53 years old – due to his bad health: He had been tortured during his stay at the concentration camp in Buchenwald. He is buried in the Jewish cemetery, Eckenheimer Landstraße in Frankfurt.

Sonja moves to Frankfurt in 1951 but goes back to London after some months – to her younger sisters with whom she has been living after their father went to Frankfurt. But then she returns to Frankfurt living and working with her uncle and her father until his death.

Chaskel Morgenstern, born in 1904 in Zrencin, finally emigrates to the USA with his second wife Irene, née Margulies. He dies in 1976 in New York.

Fresh start in the USA

In Frankfurt Sonja meets her husband to be, Max Unger. Sonja gets married to Max who is a member of the US Army (Lieutenant of the Air Force) in 1955 and moves with him to Neu-Ulm/ Germany and afterwards to the USA (1956).
Max Unger, was born in 1928 in Oldenburg/Germany. Like Sonja’s family his family is forced to flee from the Nazis. They emigrate via Cuba to the USA.

Max survives as a “Kindertransport-Kind” in the UK. He dies in 1963. Sonja is a young widow with two sons: five-year-old Larry and 18-months-old Jeffrey. Years later Sonja marries her second husband, Armand Marchesano. After his death in 2016 Sonja accompanies her son Jeff to Frankfurt who is invited as a participant of the visiting programme of the City of Frankfurt.

Armand Marchesano was an entrepreneur and professional musician. He dies in February 2016.
Sonja is still living in Orlando, Florida/USA.

She gives lectures to teachers and students. And in contrast to a lot of other Jewish families with German roots she decides to speak about her family history to her young sons.

Second and third generation

Karen Pomerance, born in 1962, Sonja’s niece and Zelma’s daughter lives in London/ UK. She runs a spice business “Spice Ways” especially offering spices imported from Israel.
Her mother Zelma marries an Englishman after the war. In her new family they do not mention her German roots but they follow the Jewish traditions. Karen feels “British”; German is not spoken in the family.

Her daughter Sasha, born in 1987 in London attended a Jewish school and “made Aliyah” i.e. “emigrated” to Israel two years ago. She works as an event manager.

Yael Greenspan, born in 1994 and Tiferet Lehrman, born in 1995, granddaughters of Gala, the youngest Morgenstern girl, live in Israel – like their grandmother, Gala Greenspan.
Tiferet works as a make-up artist and Yael is going to study interior design after having worked in a kindergarten.

The family life of all Morgenstern daughters and their offspring is still characterized and strongly influenced by Jewish culture and tradition but not all members live in accordance with strict religious rules. But no matter whether liberal or orthodox – the family bonds are very strong.

The offspring of the Morgensterns live all over the world: In the USA and the UK; in Israel and in Switzerland; in Argentina and Cuba; in South Africa and Australia; in Austria and Germany.

The only disappointment of the journey: The former Morgenstern-house in 28, Berger Street does not exist anymore; it was obviously torn down during the construction of the underground tube in that area…

The visit at Anne-Frank-School was one of the highlights of the family visit to Frankfurt:

“Wonderful morning at the school. I think this is a very important part of the programme. The students were interested, animated and a pleasure to talk to.”