Eyerspergring 7 (laid 2013, Erika 2015, Benno 2022)

The Feldmann Family

Execution in the Fortress in Kaunas

Benno Feldmann, born March 18, 1898, in Marz, Western Hungary, civil servant,
Eugenie Feldmann, née Rosenberger, born June 10/20, 1898, in Mattersdorf (Mattersburg),
Jakob (born1923), Stella (born1925), Walter (born1928), Erika (born1932).
The mother and the three younger children were deported to Kaunas on November 23, 1941, and shot there. Jakob Feldmann went into exile in Palestine; his father died on the way there.

Benno Feldmann lived in Wiener Neustadt from 1920. He married Eugenie Rosenberger. Together, the couple had four children, all of whom were born in Wiener Neustadt: Jakob, Stella, Walter, and Erika. Father Benno worked as a civil servant and in the local wine trade. He lived with his wife and children on Gymelsdorfer Straße and from 1933 at Eyerspergring 7.

After Chief Rabbi Dr. Heinrich Weiss and President of the IKG (Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien, Vienna Jewish Community), Hugo Reininger, had left Wiener Neustadt with their families in the summer of 1938, Benno Feldmann, as Secretary of the IKG, provisionally managed the affairs of the collapsing Jewish community for weeks until the „Reichskristallnacht“ (Night of Broken Glass) in 1938. In September 1938, the Feldmann family had to move to Herrengasse 12 because staying at Eyerspergring had become impossible. The events of the November pogrom led to the family’s expulsion from the city. Deprived of all their means, they found accommodation in Zirkusgasse in the second district of Vienna.

After a few months, Benno Feldmann and his eldest son Jakob managed to obtain places on a Danube ship to Romania and on another to Palestine. However, the refugees were not allowed to disembark there and had to transfer to another ship, the „Paria,“ as they were to be taken to Mauritius and interned there. A group of the Hagana, a Zionist underground organization, wanted to bring about an explosion so that the refugees would have to be taken in by the British as castaways. But the ship sank, and over 250 people died, including Benno Feldmann. The British Mandate government granted refuge in Palestine to the survivors, including Benno’s son Jakob.

Benno Feldmann’s wife, Eugenie, had remained in Vienna with the children Stella, Walter, and Erika. They were probably supposed to follow to Palestine. We do not know if Eugenie knew about the fate of her husband or the whereabouts of her son. On November 23, 1941, Eugenie and her children – as is now certain, also with the youngest daughter Erika, who was just nine years old at the time – were deported. Although this transport of one thousand Jews from Vienna was planned to go to Riga, the train was ultimately diverted to Kaunas. There, members of the SS executed all the passengers, including Eugenie and her children Stella, Walter, and Erika. All four were shot on November 29, 1941.

Werner Sulzgruber