Max Blumenfeld was the fourth child of Moses Isaac Blumenfeld and his wife Sara, née Stern. He was born in house number 264 In Kirchhain, Hessen, on 13 June 1880. When his father reported his birth to the registrar on the 18th of June, no name had been decided upon. It wasn’t until the 21st of July that Moses Isaac returned to the office to record the name “Max.”1
The next documented information available about Max Blumenfeld appears in the “Firth Report of the Jewish [Horticultural] School in Ahlem near Hannover for the period from 15. October 1899 to 31 October 1900.” that was published in Der Israelit on 21 March 1901:
“Our second teacher, Mr. Spier, who had ben working at our institution since the beginning of 1897, left us in April 1900 in order to take a position in a public school in Labischin (Posen); once again we employed a young teacher candidate, Mr. Max Blumenfeld, from Kirchhain (Hessen).”
The same newspaper reported on 4 October 1904 under “Divers News:”
“Hannover-Ahlem, in September. Mr. Max Blumenfeld, former teacher and educator/pedagogue at the Jewish Horticultural School in Ahlem, was unanimously elected as Inspektor [director] of the Caspar Lachmannschen Provincial Orphanage [School] in Graudenz.” The school was located at Pohlmannstrasse 10 in Graudenz. The city that had about 40,300 in habitants in 1910 is located about 100 km south of Danzig.
Instead of cards
Orphanage director J. Grunwald and his wife, Rosa, née Israel, M.J. Blumenfeld and his wife Sara, née Stern, are honored to announce the engagement of their children Anna and Max.
Pankow-Berlin and Kirchhain / District of Cassel. 29 November 1905
Anna Grunwald / Orphanage-Inspektor [Director] / Max Blumenfeld / The engaged couple.
Pankow-Berlin. Graudenz / Reception: Sunday, 1. December2
Max Blumenfeld and Anna Grunwald became engaged in November 1905 and were married in Berlin-Pankow on 15 March 1906.3 Johanna, called Anna, was the daughter of Isidor Grunwald and Nanny, née Braun, born in Leobschütz4 on 29 November 1884.5 The fathers of the bride and groom served as witnesses to the marriage. Anna’s mother had died in 1903 at the age of 43.6 Rosa Israel Grunwald, named in the engagement announcement, was Isidor’s second wife.7
Max and Anna had two children. Daughter Edith was born on 16. February 1907.8 Son Fritz was born on 13 July 1910.9 Both children were born in Graudenz.
When Isidor Grunwald died on 17 February 1925, his son-in-law, Max Blumenfeld, succeeded him as director of the II. Orphanage of the Jewish Community in Berlin-Pankow. Max and Anna moved to Berlin and took up resident in the school at Berliner Strasse 120/121. (Historical photos with German commentary can be found by clicking on this text. On the website shown, click on “Haus-Ansichten” in the menu at left.)
In her book Das Jüdische Waisenhaus in Pankow Inge Lammel quotes former teacher Martin Davidsohn who says “that [Max Blumenfeld] brought a more liberal spirit into the educational process, democratic structures, such as an opportunity to utter grievances and a trainees’ adjudicatory council elected by secret ballot, which gave the trainees more self-confidence.”
Isidor Grunwald’s grandson Walter Grunwald describes in Lammel’s book the style of his grandfather’s leadership in contrast to that of Max Blumenfeld: Isidor Grunwald had been an officer in the army and carried the army’s manner of doing thing sover into his work at the orphanage. He patrolled the large dormitory hall carrying his ring of large keys to enforce discipline. He had the boys line up each night in front of his apartment in the house according to height, shook their hands and wished them good night. In addition to physical education, he had the boys do drills led by a drill sergeant and sometimes accompanied by flute and drum music. (More about the Jewish Orphanage in Pankow can be found in German here.)
On once – in the second obituary below – is Anna mentioned in connection with Max’s work: “…and supported by his wife…” It can be assumed with a great degree of certainty that Anna Grunwald Blumenfeld was the good fairy behind the scenes at the orphanage. They lived in an apartment at the school, and, at that time, it was expected that the wife be an indispensable – but unpaid – co-worker.
Nothing more is recorded about the life and work of the Blumenfelds in Berlin. The fact that daughter Edith married the director of the Waldpark Sanatorium in Meran, and that Max died while spending time there, leads to the assumption that the family spent time in the resort city of Meran. At that time it was quite popular with the Jewish community.
Max died in Meran on 7/8 March 1936. The obituaries below honor his memory.
“Last Sunday [8 March] the director of the Second Orphanage of the Jewish Congregation in Berlin, Max Blumenfeld, died in Meran [Italy] where he was taking time for rest and recreation. Blumenfeld died young at the age of 56. He was originally a teacher whose excellent teaching abilities drew the attention of leading personalities, and when his father-in-law [Isidor Grunwald] died about ten years ago, Max Blumenfeld became his successor as director of the Jewish Orphanage in Pankow. Blumenfeld dedicated himself to the traditional task of the institution of training its students as craftsmen. Blumenfeld demonstrated a personal interest in each of the youth in his care, each of them could reckon with his support and encouragement. He combined with kindness and friendliness decisiveness and consistence in the execution of his task.”10[
“Max Blumenfeld, director of the Second Orphanage of the Jewish Community in Berlin, succumbed at age 55 [literally: in his 56th year] to his grave illness on 8 March in Merano where he was with his children trying to recuperate. Blumenfeld, who had been educated as a teacher, taught first at the Horticultural School in Ahlem, then at the Orphanage in Graudenz, and, after his father-in-law Grunwald’s death, he was called to the Orphanage in Pankow as his successor. Out of love for his profession, with a high sense of responsibility and supported by his wife, he continued the tradition of his predecessor. Blumenfeld was trusted by his students, for whom he was always a friend and counselor. Many current and former students remember their teacher and friend with thankfulness, and his memory will be honored in the larger Jewish community.”11
Max Blumenfeld was buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Meran.
Here rests
My dear husband, our father and grandfather
Head and father of the orphanage
Meir Ben Moshe HaCohen
May his soul be gathered up in the bundle of life.
Max/ Blumenfeld
From Berlin
Born 13 June 1880
Died 7 March 193612
After the death of her husband Max, Anna Grunwald Blumenfeld remained with her daughter and son-in-law, Edith Blumenfeld and Joseph Bermann at Via Dante Alighieri 42. Citing the Registration of Inhabitants Office, the Database of the Jewish Museum Merano reports that Anna Blumenfeld fled the city on 1 April 1939 for an “unknown location.” The museum adds that this date was later given as the date for her emigration abroad. From her grandson, Max Berman, it is known that Anna left Meran for Milan, where she lived with her daughter Edith and her grandchildren Margaret and Max until after the war. Son-in-law Joseph left Italy via Genoa for the United States on 6 November 1939. Edith’s brother Fritz had emigrated to Israel in January 1939.
The remaining family members lived in Milan until it became too dangerous. At some point they all went into hiding in a small village north of Milan, according to (grandson) Max Berman. He remembers that his grandmother Anna was the primary caregiver during this time. His mother was often away working for the partisans.
Grandson Max recalls: “It may have been in late 1943 that we left Milan, when the Germans began rounding up the Jews. Maybe that’s why my mother figured we had to get out. She was working for the Germans, so, it must have been during the occupation by the Germans. Then, once the round ups began in earnest, she somehow obtained these documents so that we could leave.” The family lived in a house on the corner of the village square.“ “German soldiers did, on occasion, stay in our town but, because my grandmother had arthritis and claimed to be disabled, the Germans never stayed in our house.”
In 1946, Edith and her children were able to join husband and father Joseph Bermann in New York. Anna Grunwald Blumenfeld went in 1946 to Israel to live with her son Fritz in the Kibbutz Ein Harod.
These photos provided by Anna’s grandson Omri Bar Sadeh show Anna with grandsons Gideon (l) and Hilel (r) shortly after Hilel’s birth. The caption for the upper picture in the family album says, “Hilel is born! Oma [Anna] arrives! May 1946.” Anna’s son Fritz, who took the name Moshe Bar Sadeh in Palestine, is pictured below with his wife Dvora, née Salpeter.
Anna Grunwald Blumenfeld died on 7 September 1946 in Ein Harod not long after her arrival in Palestine. Grandson Omri Bar Sadeh provided the photo of Anna’s grave in the cemetery Ein Harod Miuhad.
Hana Blumenfeld
Daughter of Rabbi Izidor
1884
7 September 1946
- Standesamt Kirchhain Geburtsnebenregister 1880 (HStAMR Best. 915 Nr. 5981) Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg, Blatt 58. ↩︎
- Familien-Anzeigen, Berliner Tagblatt u Handelszeitung, 29 November 1905. ↩︎
- Landesarchiv Berlin; Berlin, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Heiratsregister 1906, Blatt 34. ↩︎
- Głubczyce (German: Leobschütz; Silesian: Lischwitz) is a town in today’s southern Poland, near the border with the Czech Republic. ↩︎
- Zivilstandsregister, 1874–1945. Digital images. Landesarchiv, Berlin, Deutschland, 1884, Blatt 381. ↩︎
- Landesarchiv Berlin; Berlin, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister 1903, Blatt 1060. ↩︎
- Landesarchiv Berlin; Berlin, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Heiratsregister 1905, Blatt 190. ↩︎
- Birth announcement, Edith Blumenfeld, Berliner Tagblatt u Handelszeitung, 17 February 1907, page 11. ↩︎
- Birth announcement, Fritz Blumenfeld, Berliner Tagblatt und Handelszeitung, 14 July 1910, page 11. ↩︎
- Obituary for Max Blumenfeld in: Gemeindeblatt der Jüdischen Gemeinde zu Berlin, 15 March 1936. ↩︎
- Obituary for Max Blumenfeld in: Central-Verein-Zeitung, 12 March 1936. ↩︎
- Translation by Omri Bar Sadeh, Max Blumenfeld’s grandson. Headstone and obituaries have different dates. ↩︎
Blumenfeld Family Stories 