Last updated: 2. July, 2009
Bertha **
born 19. Oct. 1866, died in the Holocaust:
last residence before deportation: Brno
Transport Ad, c. 912 (23.03.1942 Brno -> Terezin)
Transport An, c. 482 (25.04.1942 Terezin -> Warsaw)
Murdered
,
,
Bertha Engel-Deutsch and Adolf (Aron) Engel
Husband:
Adolf Engel (died in Vienna in 1938).
Children:
Hilda, Jenny and Oskar.
Hilda married Sigmund Berisch.
Sigmund had two children in a follow up marriage: Julzca and Joszi.
Jozsi emigrated in 1938 to Palestine.
Jenny married Heinrich Abeles.
Oskar Engel (21.10.1892-1974) married (Helena) Hellus Weiss (23.12.1897-1941),
daughter of Isidor Weiss, brother
of Michael Max Weiss,
Regine Deutsch's husband.
Sara Weiss is the mother of both Isidor and Michael.
Oskar then married Giza and later divorced her.
Then he married Etus Blatt (?).
Documents:
From Helena Engel's birth, marriage and death certifcates:
-
Helena (Helus) Weisz was born on December 23 (26), 1897, in Levice,
daughter of Isidor Weisz, merchant from Levice (aged 31) and
Roza Herzfeld from Dicske (aged 29).
-
Oskar and Helena were married on May, 29, 1922 in Trnava.
The witnesses were Karl Deutsch (brother of Bertha) and Koloman Weiss.
The address of Karl Deutsch is given as Zbozna Ulica 45, Trnava.
-
Helena die in the Atlit detention camp of typhoid fever, certified by
Dr. Auerbach, July 28, 1941.
Helena was buried on July 27, 1941 in Haifa (New Cemetery, part B, row 9, number 3).
Grandchildren:
Hilda: Edith
Jenny: Marianne
Oskar: Harry (26.2.1923-31.10.2000) and George Engel (born 1924).
Known living descendants:
George Engel, who became
David George Gil
his twin sons, Gideon and Daniel Gil (born 1957), and two daughters of Harry Engel:
Ilana Engel-Levy and Elisheva (Elisabeth) Engel Hummel.
Harry and George
Harry Engel became Yair Engel and married Jutta Grosz (from Bratislava)
He learned carpentry at the Tietz School at Kibbutz Yagur (1939-??).
He was one of the early residents of Kibbutz Ein Gev.
He he joined the British Navy and served 1944-46 in Alexandria.
George Engel
The Tragic story Oskar and Hellus, and their children
They sent their children with Youth Aliah to Palestine
after Oskar was arrested and deported to Buchenwald.
Oskar and Jacques Oesterreicher are first cousins.
Two letters from Hellus (Vienna) to Jacques Oesterreicher (Paris),
asking for help in getting visas, so Oskar can be set free from
Buchenwald for emigration.
Letter from 1.3.1939:
page 1,
page 2,
Letter from 8.8.1939:
page 1,
page 2,
page 3,
page 4,
page 5,
Affidavit of support in the US
by Louis H. Dorman, Brooklyn, NY, from the Dorman Cheese Company,
who states that they are cousins.
The affidavit was issued on November 29, 1939 and was valid till March 30, 1941.
Obituary of Victor Dorman, Louis Dorman's brother.
Harry went directly to Palestine and stayed at the beginning in Kibbutz Yagur
attending the Tietz school for carpentry.
George followed a year later, after spending a year in Sweden in a Zionist
preparation camp, and stayed first at Kibbutz Kvutzat Schiller.
The parents followed in 1940, after Oskar was released from Buchenwald,
on an illegal transport of Jews to Palestine. They were seized by the British,
and were to be deported to Mauritius on the "Patria", but
the
Patria
was blown up by the Zionists (IRGUN and Haganah).
Oskar and Hellus survived the explosion and swam to shore,
but were arrested by the British and put into the British detention
camp in
Atlit. Hellus died shortly after from Typhus, but Oskar stayed there
till 1942, when the camp was shut down (only to be reopened in 1945).
Although, father Oskar and his two sons were alive,
they never reunited as a family and had only loose contacts.
A detailed description (with some inaccuracies) can be found in the
Interview with David Gil, from
Oral History Collection
of the Center of Jewish History, Digital Collection Series:
- Title AHC Interview with David Georg Gil.
- Creator or Author Gil, David Georg, 1924- .
- Creator or Author Lerch, Christian, 1978- .
- Date 2005.
- LC Subject Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
George Engel became David George Gil in 1952, and emigrated in 1957 to the US.
He joined the Faculty of Brandeis University in 1964, and
became full professor
(homepage)
at Brandeis University (Professor of Social Policy)
in 1969. He was also an activist the Socialist Party of the US
(serving as its co-chair from 1995-1999).
A full CV can be found
here .
He got married to Eva A. Bresslauer (from Berlin), August 2, 1947;
They have children: Daniel, Gideon (twins) born in 1957.
Gideon is a journalist at the Boston Globe, and
Daniel is a chief scientist at allergan.com.
Pictures from their family album
,
Aharon Engel, father of Adolf Engel, grandfather of Oskar Engel (left),
Sara Weiss, grandmother of Helus Engel,
mother of Isidor and Michael Weiss (right).
,
,
,
Oskar Engel, picture taken in Vienna before 1938 (left),
Helus Engel-Weiss still in Vienna (two middle pictures)
Oskar Engel with his 3rd wife Etus Engel-Blatt, 1972 (right)
Harry Engel, David Gil (George Engel) and Eva Gil-Bresslauer (left)
The children of Elisheva (Elisabeth) Hummel-Engel: Shai, Orly and Keren (right)
Gideon Gil, Gideon and Lisa, Liana and Gideon Gil
,
Jutta Engel, Ilana and (front) Elisheva (left),
Yair (Harry) and Jutta (right)
,
David (George) Gil (Engel), Eva Gil-Bresslauer, with Gideon and Daniel (left)
David (George) Gil (Engel), Eva Gil-Bresslauer (right)
Ilana, Elisheva (left)
Ilana, Jutta Engel, Elisheva (right)
Etus Engel-Blatt, Ilana Engel and Jutta Engel-Grosz
Engel Family meets the Makowsky Family, 2009
Left: Masha Yelenevskaya-Makowsky, Shai and Keren Hummel, Michael Gil and Elisheva Hummel;
(On Elisheva's Balcony)
Right: Ilana and Shmuel Levy, Elisheva Hummel, Masha and Janos Makowsky
(In the garden of the Makowsky Family)
Janos Makowsky, Eva and David Gil, Gideon Gil and Amichai Makowsky
(at David and Eva's home)