Irma Hesslein came from a long-established Jewish family of Bad Kissingen whose roots can be followed back to the 18^thcentury. Irma was born in Nuremberg on May 21, 1884 as the seventh of nine children of the respected jeweler Simon Rosenau and his wife Henriette, née Rosenberg. 

As a jeweler, gold and silver worker and the court antiquarian of the Bavarian King, her father had an excellent reputation and often received international awards for his gold and silver works. It was also Simon Rosenau who manufactured the office chain of Bad Kissingen’s Lord Mayor in 1907. Moreover, he was very active in the Jewish Community, e.g. as the chairman of the Israelite Cultural Community for many years. Therefore, it was no surprise that in 1902, his daughter Irma was given the honorable task during the celebration of the official opening of the new synagogue to present the ornately fashioned key of the New Synagogue in Maxstrasse on a silken cushion to the District Official Baron Bechtoldsheim and to recite the festive prologue that went with it (See further documents!).

Three years later, Irma married Karl Hesslein from Nuremberg and moved into his hometown with him. In 1907, their first daughter Lotte (1907-2002) was born. The sons Paul (*1908) and George Adolf (1918-95) followed. Nothing is known about the following years. 

During the Nazi Era, the family managed to escape Nazi terror. George Adolf already moved to Milan in May 1934 and later to the USA, his brother Paul emigrated to Paris in March 1939, soon afterwards to England and finally to the United States in 1940. Irma’s daughter Lotte emigrated to New York with her family in 1936. 

Irma Hesslein and her husband decided to flee from Germany relatively late. They had lived in Paris when few months before the invasion of the German troops they went on board “SS De Grasse” and arrived in New York in February 1940. According to the US Census of 1940, they lived in the State of Indiana together with their daughter Lotte and her family. Their two sons also lived in the USA at that time and served as soldiers in the US Army. 

Irma Hesslein died on February 4, 1965 in Irvington, Essex, New Jersey, USA at the age of 80. Her husband outlived her by two years and died in October 1967 at the very old age of 94 in Newark in New Jersey (according to data base “Genicom”).