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Ruth Fanny Hanover was born in Würzburg in 1923, the daughter of and Klara Hanover (née Deutsch). Her elder sister, Rosi, was born in Fürth in 1917. Rabbi Dr. Hanover served as the rabbi of the city of Würzburg and the surrounding district from 1920.
Rabbi Dr. Sigmund Hanover, 1880 – 1964
Sigmund Hanover was born in Wandsbeck, Hamburg, in 1880. He graduated from the rabbinical seminary of Berlin, and received his Ph.D. in Jewish Studies and Oriental Languages. He served as the rabbi of several different towns and in 1920 was appointed the rabbi of the Jewish community in Würzburg and the regional rabbi for Lower Franconia. Between 1940 and 1963 he served as the rabbi of the Shaare Tikva congregation in New York. In 1963 he immigrated to Israel. He passed away in Israel in 1964.
Ruth Hanover
Courtesy of Judith Silber, granddaughter of Ernestina Hanover (Katzman)
Rabbi Dr. Sigmund (Shimon) Hanover
Yad Vashem Photo Archives F86/195
Rosi Hanover
Courtesy of Judith Silber, granddaughter of Ernestina Hanover (Katzman)
Rabbi Dr. Sigmund (Shimon) Hanover and his second wife, Ernestina (Katzman)
Courtesy of Judith Silber, granddaughter of Ernestina Hanover (Katzman)
The Hanover family, Würzburg.
Bottom, from right to left: Ernestina, Rabbi Dr. Sigmund and Rosi. Top, from right to left: Little Ruth (Hanover), and Big Ruth (Katzman).
Courtesy of Judith Silber, granddaughter of Ernestina Hanover (Katzman)
Childhood friends: Ludwig Pfeuffer (Yehuda Amichai), and Ruth Fanny Hanover.
Würzburg, c. 1928. They were both pupils at the Jewish primary school in Würzburg
Courtesy of Shimon Berlinger's family; Shimon Berlinger was one of the graduates of the Jewish Teachers Seminary in Würzburg.
A Stolperstein bearing the name of Ruth Fanny Hanover in Würzburg
Courtesy of Judith Silber, granddaughter of Ernestina Hanover (Katzman)
Ruth Hanover’s name commemorated on her mother’s grave, Klara Hanover (née Deutsch), in the Jewish cemetery in Würzburg.
Courtesy of Judith Silber, granddaughter of Ernestina Hanover (Katzman)
In 1932, when Ruth was 9 years old, her mother Klara passed away. At the same time Klara’s sister, Ernestina Katzman, lost her husband. Together with her three children – Elsa (born 1911), Leo (born 1913) and Ruth (born 1921) – Ernestina moved to Würzburg, where in 1933 she married her brother-in-law, Sigmund Hanover. The family now had two daughters by the name of Ruth. Ruth Fanny Hanover was now called "Little Ruth", and her cousin Ruth Katzman Hanover was called "Big Ruth".
Little Ruth attended the Jewish kindergarten, and subsequently the Jewish primary school, in Würzburg. She was a close friend of a young boy of her own age, Ludwig Pfeuffer, who was later to become known as . In 1934, when Ruth was 11 years old, she was run over by a car while on her bicycle and severely injured. One of her legs was amputated and she was fitted with a prosthetic limb. In 1936 the Pfeuffer family emigrated to Eretz Israel but because Rabbi Dr. Hanover felt a great responsibility toward the community, the Hanover family remained in Würzburg. Rosi graduated from the Jewish Teachers Seminary in Würzburg and between 1937 and 1938 she taught at a Jewish primary school in Köln. Ruth Katzman Hanover – “Big Ruth” – also attended the Jewish Teachers Seminary. Both Rosi and "Big Ruth" were members of the “Union of Religious Pioneers” (Brit Chalutzim Datiim, known by its acronym, Bachad). They emigrated to Eretz Israel in October 1938, and initially stayed with the Pfeuffer family in Jerusalem. Ernestina’s children, Elsa and Leo, left Germany and emigrated to Argentina.
Yehuda Amichai, 1924 – 2000
Yehuda Amichai was born in Würzburg in 1924, as Ludwig Pfeuffer. His family were orthodox Jews. He attended the kindergarten and primary school for Jewish children in Würzburg. In 1936 his family emigrated to Eretz Israel and settled in Jerusalem. Amichai volunteered to join the British Army, and after he was discharged he studied education. In 1948 he fought in Israel’s War of Independence. A graduate of the Hebrew University, Amichai’s first book of poems was published in 1955. In 1982 he received the Israel Prize for poetry, one of the state’s highest honors. Amichai is widely regarded as one of the most important modern Hebrew poets.
In November 1938 – Kristallnacht– Rabbi Dr. Hanover was imprisoned along with hundreds of Jewish men from Würzburg, and sent to the concentration camp of Buchenwald. A month later, in December of 1938, he was released, after having given the Gestapo assurances that he would leave Germany within two months. Until such time, however, the Gestapo charged him with resuming his care of the Jewish community in Würzburg. Sigmund and Ernestina Hanover applied for help wherever possible in order to leave Germany for England or the United States; however, all their efforts to receive an immigration permit for their daughter, "Little Ruth", were unsuccessful. At this time a children’s convoy from Germany to Holland was being organized. Seeing no other option, the Hanovers sent Ruth to join the transport, and she left Germany for Holland in 1939. In Holland she was received by a series of foster families. She continued to attend school, and wrote regularly to her family, relatives and friends. In the meantime, Sigmund and Ernestina decided to move to England and from there to continue in their efforts to get Ruth out of Holland. They obtained an entry permit to the United States, provided that they arrive before the 5th of March 1940. In February 1940 the couple left England, hoping all the while that they would be able to send for Ruth once they had arrived in the United States. Their attempts to obtain an immigration certificate for her to Palestine were also unsuccessful.
In May 1940, Holland was occupied by Germany, and sometime later Ruth Hanover was deported to the Westerbork transit camp. On the 18th of May 1943, she was deported to Sobibor.
Ruth Ruth, who died in my youth, Now the two giants, Yitgadal and Yitkadash, Magnified and Sanctified, Will watch over your death In place of the two other giants, May He Bless and May He Keep, Who failed to watch over your life.
From: Yehuda Amichai, "Names, Names, in Other Days and in Our Times", in Open Closed Open, translated by Chana Bloch and Chana Kronfeld, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000.
Ruth Hanover’s Last Letters to her Family from Amsterdam, 1939 – 1941
Care of Rosi Hanover The Pfeuffer Family Metudela Street 17 Rechavia, Jerusalem
Amsterdam, 2 July 1939
Dear Rosi,
… I have to study so much… I must make up an enormous gap in mathematics, physics and biology. I am now studying 4 to 5 hours a day… On Sunday I went to a concert. The orchestra was huge and excellent. They played pieces from Debussy, Fauré and Roussel. It was a French program.
Have you heard anything about an immigration permit to Eretz Israel? I have not yet given up hope entirely of hearing Toscanini in Jerusalem in September…
My heartfelt regards, and a light Tisha B'Av fast,
Your Ruth
Amsterdam, 4 March 1940
Dear Rosi,
Tomorrow our parents are traveling to the United States, and I have decided to follow in their footsteps, and have put aside my thoughts of Eretz Israel. It’s not that I’m suddenly afraid of the hard life there, but I just don’t want our parents to be all alone…
I hope, and this is my deepest and most heartfelt wish, that we will all see each other again. And that, God willing, we will never part again.
Shalom and goodbye,
Your Sister, Ruth
Amsterdam, 19 March 1941
Dear Parents,
… Purim went well over here. Mrs. F., who had invited me, was just celebrating her birthday. Aside from this I met Rabbi Dureks from Hamburg or Altona. He sends you, dearest father, many wishes…
In the meantime all the necessary papers have been sent off, and I am waiting… If everything goes well, the journey is planned for May. The passport photos turned out quite awful, which is why I did not send you one.
Many warm wishes,
Your Ruth
Amsterdam, 17 June 1941
Dearest Parents,
Finally we are having some beautiful summer weather. I have had my hair cut… Mostly it does not look too tidy. But I cannot afford to go the hairdresser and get a perm… All in all, it rather suits me. The piece of clothing in light blue is charming… One can wear it with an open collar. The buttons and belt are in dark blue… You will be able to see it when I am with you.
Until now there has been no word of the journey.
Many warm wishes,
Your Ruth
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