Manfred Bloemendal was born on March 25, 1907 in Ober-Ingelheim (Rhineland-Palatinate). He was the oldest son of Siegfried Bloemendal and Fanny Neustadt. When Manfred was three, the family moved to Bad Kissingen into Grabengasse 8, where his father had a vegetarian restaurant.

Unfortunately, we know only very little about Manfred Bloemendal. Like his brother he attended Kissingen Realschule, worked as a merchant and stayed – presumably for his job or training – in Duisburg, Munich, Bad Neustadt, and Kassel for some months, but always returned to Bad Kissingen. There he managed a “Republican book and newspaper shop”, in which - according to an entry in his file by the Town Commissioner of Bad Kissingen - “printed matters that were absolutely distant from what the national government approved” were sold. That may be one of the reasons why he was temporarily put into protective custody after the Nazis seized power. 

In November 1933, Bloemendal emigrated to the Dutch town of Winschoten, his father’s place of birth. Later he lived in Arnheim in Breitnerstraat 18. There he worked as a “tekenaar” (technical design draughtsman). He was married to Margaretha Henriette Cohen who was seven years his junior. In 1943, they both were deported to Auschwitz Concentration Camp via the collective camp of Westerbork where Manfred Bloemendal died on March 31, 1944 at the age of 37. 

(Andreas Reuter)