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47
ALFRED OPPENHEIMER
1901: born in Metz (F)
1925: emigrates to Luxembourg
1941: forced to head the Jewish Consistory
1942: the Jewish Consistory is renamed “Council of Elders”, and Alfred Oppenheimer becomes Judenältester
1943: deported to Theresienstadt ghetto (CS) with his family
1944: deported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp with his son René
1945: “death march” to Blechhammer camp (D)
1961: appears as witness in the trial against Adolf Eichmann in Israel
Alfred Oppenheimer’s job was to pass on Gestapo orders, such as the ban on relations between “Jews and Aryans” to the Jewish community; announcement of 17 Nov. 1941
Work
As head of the Jewish Consistory, Alfred Oppenheimer was forced by the Gestapo to help organize the deportations. Through negotiations he was able to delay the deportation of individual Jews or to announce transports 14 days in advance, so that some managed to go into hiding before they were deported. Every week Oppenheimer had to go to the Gestapo in Luxembourg City to receive orders. He was beaten and maltreated by the Germans for disobeying the orders. On 17 June 1943 he was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto, where his wife Aline died of exhaustion. In October 1944 he was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. There Oppenheimer posed as a mechanic and had to do forced labour. His son René arrived at the camp a few days later and was immediately gassed. In 1945 the camp was evacuated and Alfred Oppenheimer was sent to Blechhammer concentration camp, an Auschwitz subcamp. When he was liberated by the Red Army, he weighed only 39 kg.
Es war wie im Mittelalter. Sie haben uns unsere Würde genommen. Wir durften niemanden auf der Straße
grüßen, und unsere Kinder durften nicht mehr mit den anderen Kindern spielen. Meinem Sohn René blieb
damals als einziger Spielgefährte sein kleiner Hund Fifi, den er sehr liebte. Dann kam eine neue Verordnung vom
Gauleiter, in der es hieß, wir dürften auch keine Haustiere mehr halten.
René Clesse, quoting Alfred Oppenheimer, Nature is more merciful than man (Ons Stad 36), 1991
After the war, Oppenheimer testified as a witness at the trial of Adolf Eichmann. War criminal Eichmann was responsible for organizing the genocide of the Jews, Jerusalem 1961.
Im Bett neben mir summte einer ganz leise: Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht und die Melodie ging über in verhaltenes Weinen. Bilder tauchten im Gedächtnis auf: Frieden, eine gemütliche Wohnung, eine warme Frauenstimme, Kinderlachen. Gab es das wirklich einmal? Alles ist hoffnungslos, alles. Meine Frau in Theresienstadt umgekommen, mein Junge in Auschwitz vergast ... ich weinte mich, wie die anderen Kameraden, in den Schlaf.
Alfred Oppenheimer, contemporary witness account, Die letzten Tage im Kazett Auschwitz Nebenlager Gleiwitz 3 (Rappel 1-3), 1985
René Oppenheimer and his mother Aline
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