What We Know:
Family name: Kloß
Given name: Marion
Date/place of birth: 26 February 1927, Insterburg/East Prussia
Date/place of death: Exact date of death unknown
Age: 15 years old at deportation

Marie Marion Kloß (known as Marion) was born 26 February 1927 in Insterburg. Her parents were Hermann Kloß, b. 22 August 1884 and Regina Kloss (née Heidemann), b. 25 April 1895.

Hermann was born in Schönrohr in what was then the German state of East Prussia Hermann’s parents were Louis and Klara (née Rubert) Kloß. Hermann had one sister, Betty, b. 09 March 1885. Hermann’s first wife was Ella Feintuch, whom he married on 4 October 1911 in Insterburg. Nine years later the couple divorced on 31 May 1920.

Regina Heidemann was born in Zempelburg, in what was then the German state of West Prussia.

How and when Hermann and Regina met is lost to the winds of time, as are the circumstances that brought them to the town of Insterburg, a city in East Prussia (now Chernyakhovsk in Russia). The birth of a son, Kurt, in 1920 suggests that Regina may have played a part in the break-up of Hermann’s first marriage. Marion was born seven years later, on 26 February 1927, also in Insterburg.

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Insterburg had a Jewish population of 338 people in 1925. When the Nazis assumed power in 1933, mass emigration from the area started and many families either left Germany or fled to neighbouring towns. It appears that the Kloß family first moved to Greifenbur where Regina’s family lived. Her mother died in 1937 and it may have been at this time that Hermann, Regina, Kurt and Marion moved to Altenburg. Marion’s aunt Betty, Hermann’s sister, lived in Altenburg with her husband Zacharia Rotenberg (1873-1934), her step son, daughter in law and five granddaughters. In 1933 there were 134 Jewish residents living in Altenburg.

On 28 October 1938, around 45 Jewish residents of Altenburg were arrested and taken to the Polish border. Among them were 5 members of the Rotenberg family,  including Betty’s step son, daughter in-law and grandkids. Only four of the 45 arrested that day survived the Holocaust, none of the Rotenberg family members survived.

On 9/10 November 1938, during Kristalnacht/Reichspogromnacht, the remaining Jewish residents of Altenburg were targeted, including reports of raids in apartment and shops of Jewish families and physical attacks by SA men and other Nazis. Twenty (20) Jewish men, including Hermann Kloss,  were arrested in Altenburg and hauled off to Buchenwald concentration camp on 12 November 1938.  Eighteen-year-old Kurt was not arrested.

In 1939 Kurt was able to flee Germany to Palestine. There he modified the spelling of his last name to Klohs.

Marion and her parents applied for emigration to Chile. The date of their application is not mentioned on the emigration index card, and therefore is unknown. It is likely they applied in 1939 or very shortly after Kurt Kloss emigrated to Palestine in 1939 as he is not mentioned on the emigration index card.

In August 1939 the Jewish residents of Altenburg were forced to move into very cramped designated “Jewish houses”. The Kloss family lived at Teichstraße 1, which was one of the selected addresses for Jews. Herman’s sister Betty lived with them at this address, her husband Zacharia died in 1934.

An estimated 1,000 Jewish people who were born in Altenburg or who lived there for a significant amount of time, were murdered in the Holocaust. The Kloss family is counted among this number.

On 10 May 1942, Marion, her parents Regina and Hermann, and her aunt Betty, were all deported from Weimar to Belzyce Ghetto. There are no other documents indicating their whereabouts after deportation. They were all murdered in the Holocaust.

There are no Stolpersteine for the Kloss family in Altenburg. There are Stolpersteine for the Rotenberg family in Altenburg, but not for Betty.

Additional information regarding Kurt and his emigration to Palestine is unknown. The fate of Hermann’s parents is also unknown. 

Sources:

https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/places/5423429

https://www.alemannia-judaica.de/altenburg_synagoge.htm