From her mother’s side, Lore Simon, née Wolff, came from a long-established Jewish family of Bad Kissingen. Her mother Selma, née Kissinger, was born in the Franconian spa town in 1877 where her father Max Kissinger ran a flourishing men’s clothing business cum tailoring at Marktplatz. Selma Kissinger had married Emil Wolff in 1904 and had moved to his hometown of Bad Kreuznach after their marriage. Their first daughter Ellen Maria was born there in February 1906, Lore Wolff was born on October 22, 1912. Lore’s father ran a scrap iron and rags shop in Bad Kreuznach.

For some time, Lore Wolff lived in Berlin-Schmargendorf as her passport issued there in 1933 proves.

Contacts with the relatives in Kissingen were maintained and, therefore, it is no wonder that Lore moved to Bad Kissingen in the summer of 1935 for a spa season. From May till October she worked as a kindergarten teacher in the Israelite Children’s Sanatorium in Salinenstraße and then returned to Bad Kreuznach. 

Lore Wolff – just like her sister Ellen who was married since 1932 – succeeded in escaping from Germany. Ellen, m. Herz first emigrated to England and later to the United States where she died in New York in January 2003. In August 1936, Lore emigrated to South Africa via Switzerland and the Italian seaport of Genova. In 1941, she married Fritz Simon from Berlin who called himself Fred in South Africa. Both of them survived the Nazi era in South Africa, where they lived in Johannesburg. Their two children Suzanne (*1947) and Michael (*1951) were born there. Lore’s husband Fred Simon died in Johannesburg in September 1979, she reached the age of 93 and died in May 2006.

We owe a graphic description of Lore’s personality to her descendants: “Lore was a remarkable woman… She was as courageous as to leave everything behind in Germany in spite of having no idea if she would ever see her family again. 

In Cape Town, she started working in a Woolworth shop and lived her life without the wealth she was used to… In South Africa she always refused to speak about Germany, about her hometown Bad Kreuznach. Trying to answer my questions was too painful for her and brought tears to her eyes. Her parents’ photograph, on the other hand, was hanging over her bed until she died. 

During her marriage to Fred she enjoyed inviting friends and entertaining them, mainly German Jews. She was a marvellous entertainer and knew how to dress in good taste. Fred and Lore travelled a lot (Japan, Switzerland, Great Britain, Israel etc.) They could afford it as Fred’s furniture factory was flourishing. Fred had a business partner whose surname was Simon, too (but he was no relative). Because of that they called their company “S&S Woodware”.

When she was ninety, she was still perfectly dressed on any occasion and never left her home without wearing make-up. She made up her mind to enjoy her life and go out… (and) she continued inviting friends… She was always cheerful and when I complimented her on that she said: ‘I must be because nobody wants to be in the company of a person who is sad’.

As an honorary assistant, Lore Simon was committed to “Our Parents’ Home”, a Jewish institution for senior citizens, where she also spent the last years of her life.” (private information from her family, mail of December 3, 2020).

Lore’s parents Emil and Selma Wolff became victims of Nazi terror. Both of them were deported from Cologne to Litzmannstadt (Lodz) Ghetto in Poland in October 1942 and from there were moved on to Kulmhof/ Chelmo Extermination Camp where they were murdered.

When in February 2018 the Stumbling Stone for Selma Wolff was placed in front of the house of her birth at Marktplatz, Lore’s son Michael and his wife were also present and he read out the biography of his grandmother.