Paula Bourquin, nèe Wittekind came from a long-established Jewish family in Bad Kissingen. She was born in the Franconian spa on November 25, 1898 as the daughter of the textile merchant Wilhelm Wittekind and his wife Fanny, née Mendle. Together with her three brothers Simon (*1892), Arthur (*1900), and Max (*1903) she grew up in “Villa Paula” in Promenadestrasse. 

Later she lived in Berlin and managed to leave Germany in time just like her brothers. She was married to a merchant in her first matrimony whom she divorced from. Then she emigrated to France and got to know the French diplomat Eduard Bourquin there. She asked him for a visa to Spain. In 1936, she lived – again with her maiden name – in Barcelona. Bourquin who was a widower and had a 4-year-old son from a former marriage, asked her to marry him instead. As he was a Catholic, Paula first had concerns that she would be able to raise his son to become a Catholic. But Bourquin assured the strictly religious Paula Wittekind that she could stay true to her belief and that the Catholic education of his son was no problem for him and could be taken care of in a different way. Afterwards the two of them married. 

No details are known on how Paula survived the Nazi Era. Maybe the family stayed in Mexico and Brazil. This might be deduced from an immigration document to Brazil from November 1944. In that there is a note saying that the former Consul E. Bourquin, who had last been working in the French Embassy in Mexico, had immigrated with his wife and son in order to get medical treatment in Brazil. 

After the war Paula Bourquin lived in Beaucourt/ France in Département Territoire de Belfort in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.

In 1953, she and her brothers got back their parents’ house “Villa Paula” after many years of lawsuits through many authorities. It had been sold in a forced sale during their absence and without their knowing about it in 1940.

After the war Paula Bourquin visited Bad Kissingen regularly in order to visit the grave of her father but didn’t have any further contact with her hometown. After these short stays she mostly visited her old Bad Kissingen friend Irma Dehler, nèe Frank, the wife of the FDP politician Thomas Dehler who lived in Munich. (Information by Ursel Pfeiffer, Munich, Mail from July 2, 2018).

Paula Bourquin died in Beaucourt on June 20, 1979 at the age of 81.