Marie Blitzer née Weber

Marie Blitzer née Weber was born on 8 November 1892 in Krakow. She married Leo on 30 January 1921 in Berlin, where Leo had been living since 1920. Their daughter Lilli was born in the summer of the following year on 11 July 1922 and their son Harold on 9 August 1926. Harold later described his family as a typical, modern Jewish household which was not kosher but where the religious festivals were celebrated in the traditional fashion.

From 1922 to 1933 the Blitzer family lived at 89 Kastanienallee, where Leo ran a goose and poultry business. After a few years he opened a second shop at 141 Schoenhauser Allee. Business was so good that Leo closed the two shops in 1933 and opened new and much larger premises at 137 Schoenhauser Allee. In the winter months he ran the poultry business with two or three assistants and sold ice cream there in summer with the help of his wife.

From 1933 onwards, the family began to feel the effects of the racist discrimination of the Jews. As a result of the boycot of Jewish businesses, gentile customers stayed away and, according to Leo, his takings went down by half. In 1935, the family moved to 57 Schoen-hauser Allee . In the same year, according to Leo, the Polish poultry exports stopped and his income was again drastically reduced. At the beginning of 1937 he was forced to sell his business.

From 1938 onwards the situation of the German Jews deteriorated dramatically. The Blitzer family was now living at 43 Alexanderstrasse. In the so-called „Poland action“ on the night of 28 October 1938, thousands of Polish Jews in Berlin and other cities were arrested and expelled to the Polish border. According to Harold, Lilli, who was a Polish citizen, was arrested on the street and banished to Poland, where relatives looked after her. Harold, Leo and Marie were not expelled.

As a result of the persecution, Leo begann to plan their emigration. Leo left his family on 30 April 1940. Marie and Lilli were supposed to follow him as soon as possible, but the plan did not work. Shortly after Leo's departure they were forced to leave their apartment in Alexanderstrasse, probably because they were the only Jews in the house. In the course of the next two years they had to move three times, first to 97 Prenzlauer Strasse, then to 46 Uhlandstrasse and finally to 97 Berliner Strasse (which has been re-named Otto-Suhr-Allee).

Starting on 3 June 1940, Marie was compelled to do forced labour at the Siemens-Werner telecommunications works. Both Leo and Harold kept in touch with Marie by letter, and from Harold we know that both Marie and Lilli worked for Siemens. Leo lost contact with Marie in 1942. The Siemens' files state that Marie quitted her job in February 1943. This date coincides with the so-called „Factory action“ which was part of the „Elimination of the Jews from the German Reich“. Those Jews who had remained in Germany were deported to Auschwitz. 11,000 Jews were still in forced labour Berlin. They were rounded up and arrested on 27 February 1943 and taken to deportation centres. On March 1943 Marie and Lilli were deported to Auschwitz on the 33rd „Osttransport“. From this moment on, there is no trace of them and we must assume that Marie and her daughter Lilli were murdered on arrival.