Werner Blumenfeld, the youngest child of Julius Blumenfeld and Dina née Heiser, was born in Hannover on December 9, 1921.¹[1] In the photo at left, Werner and his mother are enjoying their holiday on the Isle of Norderney in July 1927. Little more than ten years later, the lighthearted mood caught in this postcard picture had changed to one of worry and fear. Jews were no longer safe in Germany, and the elder Blumenfelds had managed to get their two older children, Heinz and Ilse, safely out of the country. Werner, too, would be lucky enough to be able to leave Germany on one of the last Kindertransporte.²[2]

Between the end of November 1938 and the beginning of the war on September 1, 1939 (or May 14, 1940 from the Netherlands), the Kindertransporte (Refugee Children Movement) enabled more than 10,000 children and young people to leave Germany, Austria, Poland, the Free City of Danzig and Czechoslovakia for Great Britain. The departure was subject to strict conditions. For example, the children were only allowed to take one suitcase, one piece of hand luggage and ten Reichsmarks with them. They were allowed to take one photograph with them, but neither toys nor books. Valuables that they had brought with them, and often hidden, were confiscated. To avoid embarrassing scenes, parents were not allowed to enter the platform when the train departed.

By November 1939 at the latest, the not quite 18-year-old Werner was living in Nantwich, Cheshire, England, and working as an agricultural apprentice for Mr. Hunchback (!) at Holten Green Farm (see file card below).³

The British government wanted to prepare the young refugees for a life in Israel on a kibbutz after the “crisis”. When a widespread fear of a fifth column emerged in Great Britain in 1940, the government issued “Circular 21.6.40,” which ordered the internment of approximately 1,000 refugees over the age of 18. Werner was interned in a camp at Onchan on the Isle of Man. He was released on April 8, 1941, and worked as a gardener (see red record card below)⁴ until his uncle Joseph Bloomfield enabled his emigration to the United States in 1947.⁵

In 1962, Werner married Erika Tuchmann.⁶ Erika, born September 21, 1922 in Nuremberg, was the daughter of Martin Tuchmann (1888-1952) and Anna Lauinger (1896.1977). Steven Bloomfield reports that Werner “spent almost his entire working life in New York as a courier for various jewelry stores.”⁷ “Erika ran a small accounting office for her boss for many years.”⁸ Werner and Erika lived at 8110 Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica, New York for many years.⁹ “Both were opera lovers and were members of the Metropolitan Opera House for decades. … Besides their work and opera, they enjoyed traveling.”¹⁰ “They made many trips to Israel, throughout the United States, Europe and Mexico. They never returned to Germany, however.”¹¹

Werner died on May 18, 2003, and was buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens, New York.¹² Erika died on November 30, 2020, and was also buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery.¹³

1. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, in: Ancestry.com. ↩︎
2. Email from Steven Bloomfield to the author, Aug. 12, 2017, 8:25 p.m. ↩︎
3. The National Archives (United Kingdom), Home Office: Aliens Department: Internees Index, 1939-1947, Germans Interned in the UK, Blumb-Bruc,, HO 396/248, Britain, Enemy Aliens And Internees, First And Second World Wars, in: Findmypast.co.uk. ↩︎
4. The National Archives (United Kingdom), Home Office: Aliens Department: Internees Index, 1939-1947, German Internees Released in UK, Berk-Bohr, HO 396/167, Britain, Enemy Aliens And Internees, First And Second World Wars, in: Findmypast.co.uk. ↩︎
5. Email from Steven Bloomfield to the author, August 12, 2017, 8:25 p.m., and The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Seried Title: Passenger Lists of Vesels Arriviing at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; NAI Number 4076541; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record, in: Ancestry.com. ↩︎
6. New York City, Marriage Indexes, 1907-1995, in: Ancestry.com, New York City Municipal Archives; New York, New York; Borough: Manhattan, New York City, Marriage Indexes, 1907-1995, in: Ancestry.com. ↩︎
7. Email from Steven Bloomfield to the author, August 12, 2018. ↩︎
8. Ibid. ↩︎
9. U.S. Phone and Address Directories, 1993-2002, in: Ancestry.com, City: Jamaica; State: New York; Year(s): 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, in: Ancestry.com. ↩︎
10. Email from Steven Bloomfield to the author, August 12, 2018. ↩︎
11. Ibid. ↩︎
12. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, in: Ancestry.com. ↩︎
13. Ibid. ↩︎

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