personal data


Ehrlich Clara

Surname
Ehrlich
Birth Name
Oppenheim
First Name
Clara
Date of Birth
12-21-1858
Place of birth
Eschwege
Other family members

Parents: Isaak and Klara Oppenheim née Rosenau
Spouse: Felix Ehrlich
Children: Ludwig, Else m. MichelsohnFranz, Paul, Martha m. AufrichtigGustavFrieda m. Lippmann

Address

Ludwigstraße 17 (now 10)

Profession
Emigration/Deportation
Date of death
01-01-1935
Place of death
Bad Kissingen

biography


Clara Ehrlich, née Oppenheim was born in Eschwege in 1858 as the daughter of the dyer Isaac Oppenheim and his wife Klara Rosenau. 

She married the Kissingen merchant Felix Ehrlich who ran a “Manufactur- und Modewarengeschäft” (shop for manufacture and fashion) that under his direction quickly developed into the leading fashion house of the town. As the first Jew, Clara’s husband had been elected into the town council in 1909, which was a small sensation for Kissingen in those days. Clara and Felix Ehrlich had three sons and four daughters. After her husband’s death in 1918, Clara’s sons Ludwig and Frank took on the company. They had an impressive and representative new edifice built and strengthened the shop’s excellent reputation.

After the death of Clara’s husband, there were severe quarrels in the Jewish Community as Felix, in line with his liberal attitude, had chosen to be cremated, which is against traditional orthodox rules. Because of that, the urn was not to be buried on the Jewish Cemetery of Bad Kissingen. His wife Clara took to artfulness because of that: She had her husband interred in the piece of ground next to the cemetery that belonged to her family and bestowed one part of the land with the burial ground of her husband to the Jewish Community. In the course of time, by and by the fence dividing the Ehrlich plot and the adjacent cemetery disappeared. Therefore, nowadays Felix Ehrlich’s family grave is situated rather close to the edge of the Jewish Cemetery but inside the enclosed area. 

The Nazis’ racial madness overshadowed the happy family life of the Ehrlich children since the beginning of the 1930s. They had to flee from Germany to save their lives and escape the Shoa. Because of that Clara’s children and their families emigrated to all parts of the world, their descendants now live in England, Australia, Canada, and Israel. Clara herself was to experience parts of the repressions of the Nazi Era. She died in 1935 and was buried in the family grave next to her husband. 


References


Mostly taken from: Hans-Jürgen Beck: Kissingen war unsere Heimat, p. 579
Familienstammbaum Plaut, Nr. 971 - 980externer Link
Datenbank Myheritage, Familienstammbaum erstellt von Jerry H. Haasexterner Link

Photo credits


© Joske Ereli, Ein Gedi



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