Josef Aron Bamberger was born in Bad Kissingen on October 7, 1875, as the son of Kissingen’s Rabbi for many years, Moses Löb Bamberger, and his second wife Esther, née Goldschmidt. His father served as District Rabbi between 1872 and 1899. On his initiative, the New Synagogue was built, the consecration of which Moses Löb Bamberger was not to experience. Josef grew up with nine brothers and sisters in Maxstrasse. He entered Kissingen Realschule, the predecessor of present-day Jack-Steinberger-Gymnasium in September 1885 and attended it up to class 5 in the school year of 1889/90.

Later he moved to Frankfort and after the turn of the century first managed a “Drahtmatratzenfabrik” (factory for wire mattresses) and then a furniture trade business together with his brother Benzion. The “Gebrüder Bamberger” (Bamberger Brothers) as their business was called had its company headquarters in Neue Zeil 7; from 1910 Benzion Bamberger was the sole proprietor. Whether the businessman Josef Bamberger stayed in Frankfort can’t be proven for sure. He was married to Selma, née Selka, who bore him three sons and a daughter. Only the two sons Salomon Shlomo (*1916) and Benzion (*1920) and the daughter Rosel, married Goldenberg (*1918), are known by their names. Josef’s children also escaped Nazi-terror and could emigrate to Palestine, but the youngest son, Benzion, died early.

Josef Aron Bamberger and his wife emigrated from Germany to Palestine early in December 1934. He died in Jerusalem in August 1944 at the age of 68, his wife Selma outlived him by nearly three decades. She died in Jerusalem in 1973 at the age of 90.