Hirsch Adler was born on February 15, 1875 in Kleinsteinach as the 6^th of 11 children of the businessman Nathan Adler and his wife Kalmana Schlenker. For some time, he worked in Frankfurt/ Main in the textile industry. In October 1911 he married Therese Rosenthal in Bad Kissingen, who was twelve years younger than him and took on the lingerie and draper’s shop of his parents-in-law in (then) Theresienstrasse 1. Some houses further on, in Theresienstrasse 5b, was the first apartment in which die Adler family lived until 1932. 

Between 1912 and 1920 the couple had four children. The income gained from the business was only just enough to meet the costs of living of the big family to which occasionally Hirsch Herschel’s mother-in-law and his sister Jeanette also belonged. Therefore, especially in the winter months, Hirsch Adler was forced to sell his goods in the neighbouring villages.

Because of the boycott of Jewish shops in April 1933 the financial situation of the Adler family became even more difficult. After the three older children had left Bad Kissingen, Hirsch Adler with his wife and the youngest daughter Susie moved into Promenadestrasse in September 1936, at the beginning of November 1938 they moved on into Hartmannstrasse 5. After the Reichspogromnacht / Crystal Night of November 9, Hirsch Adler was arrested like a lot of the Jews of Bad Kissingen and brought to Dachau Concentration Camp. From there he returned – according to what his granddaughter reported later – humiliated and depressed. He had fought for Germany in World War I, had been wounded and had not been able to understand what was going on now. Immediately after his return from Dachau he had thrown away all his books and said he was no longer able to read German poetry and literature.

Hirsch Adler tried to find safety in the Netherlands and went to Scheveningen for the wedding of his daughter Lotte’s wedding. She had been working there since 1934. He was able to help his youngest daughter Suse to join him in July 1940 before moved to Almelo on his own. But Hirsch Adler was not able to save his own and his daughter Suse’s lives by fleeing to the Netherlands. In 1942, he was presumably deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz Concentration Camp and lost his life there. October 19, 1942 is regarded as his date of death.

Marlies Walter