Cologne’s central role

Within a few days after the events of the November pogrom, hundreds of worried parents turned to the welfare institutions of the Synagogen-Gemeinde Köln (Synagogue Community of Cologne) and to the Provinzialverband für jüdische Wohlfahrtspflege in der Rheinprovinz (Provincial Association for Jewish Welfare of the Rhine Province), both of which had their headquarters in Cologne at 33 Rubensstrasse. They took the difficult decision to send their children abroad as quickly as possible, in order to save them.

Margarethe Rosenheim (1894-1942), Elli Gottschalk and many other unknown helpers in the Cologne Synagogue Community’s Jugendamt (Youth Welfare Office) received the applications, procured the necessary travel documents and searched for possible relatives or guarantors in Belgium. Since the Youth Welfare Office as a local authority was only able to make proposals, it was up to the administrators to emphasise the need for urgency.

On 7 December 1938, Dr Margarete Berent successfully interceded with the Comité d’Assistance aux Enfants Juifs Réfugiés (Assistance Committee to Jewish Refugee Children, CAEJR) on behalf of ten-year-old Egon Berlin from Koblenz:
“We ask for the boy to join the Kindertransport from the Dinslaken orphanage. His sister is registered for the same transport. It would be desirable for the two siblings to stay together.”
Egon and Ingeborg Berlin reached Brussels together on 20 December 1938.

On 10 January 1939, Elli Gottschalk tried in vain to get the Comité d’Assistance aux Enfants Juifs Réfugiés (Assistance Committee to Jewish Refugee Children, CAEJR) to admit the nine-year-old Ruth Kos from Cologne to the Kindertransport. Nevertheless, Ruth Kos and her mother Golde Ellenberg managed to escape to Belgium. On the night of the 28/29 August 1942, the German occupying forces arrested them in their flat in Antwerp. A few days later, Ruth Kos and Golde Ellenberg were deported to Auschwitz and murdered there.

Cologne, Rubensstraße 33, circa 1930

In 1930, the Synagogen-Gemeinde Köln (Jewish community of Cologne) acquired the house at Rubensstraße 33 at the request of the welfare office that moved there.

Dr. Rosi Karfiol, Dr. Käthe Meta Lux (1879-1943) and many welfare workers whose names and deeds have been forgotten coordinated the work of the Provincial Association under the leadership of the lawyer Dr. Margarete Berent (1887-1965) and the judge Dr. Siegfried Ikenberg (1887-1972). They ensured that the Kindertransports ran as smoothly as possible in consultation with the committees in Brussels and Antwerp, the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde (Jewish Community) in Vienna and the Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland (Reich Representation of the Jews in Germany) in Berlin. They also provided immediate practical help: they collected the children at Cologne Central Station, deposited their luggage, gave them meals, made sleeping arrangements for them until they could continue their journey, and then accompanied them back to the train.

On 7 December 1938, Margarete Berent successfully applied to the Comité d‘Assistance aux Enfants Juifs Réfugiés (Assistance Committee to Jewish Refugee Children, CAEJR) in support of 10-year-old Egon Berlin from Koblenz:
“We are requesting that the boy join the Kindertransport from the orphanage in Dinslaken. His sister is also registered for this application. It would be preferable for the two siblings to stay together.”

Egon and Ingeborg Berlin reached Brussels together on 20 December 1938.

Thanks to the tireless work of the Youth Welfare Office of the Synagogue Community and the Provincial Association, at least 56 children from Cologne who have been identified by their names were able to escape to Belgium – a temporary rescue. AS