What We Know:
Family name: Kloss
Given name: Marion
Date/place of birth: 26 February 1927
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 (22.08.1884) and Regina Kloss geb. Heidemann (25.04.1895). Hermann was born in Schönrohr and Regina was born in Zempelburg.

Information regarding Regina’s parents, including names and birthdates, is unknown.

Hermann’s parents were Louis Kloss and Klara Kloss geb.Rubert. He had one sister, Betty Rotenberg geb. Kloss (09.03.1885).

Hermann’s first wife was Ella Kloss geb. Feintuch. They married on 4 October 1911 in Insterburg.  Nine years later the couple divorced on 31 May 1920.

Hermann married his second wife Regina geb. Heidemann. They had two children, Kurt and Marion. Kurt was born in 1920, seven years before Marion. Both were born in Insterburg. The town became a part of the German Empire in 1871 and was transferred from Germany to the Soviet Union through the agreements of the Potsdam Conference after World War II. It has since been renamed to Chernyakhovsk.

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Insterburg had a Jewish population of 338 people in 1925. When the Nazi’s assumed power in 1933, mass emigration from the area started and many families either left Germany or fled to neighbouring towns.

The Kloss family eventually moved from Interburg to Altenburg where they settled for some time as a family of four. Marion’s aunt Betty lived in Altenberg 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 Altenberg 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.

During Kristalnacht, 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 Nazi’s. Jewish men were arrested and taken to Buchenwald concentration camp. There are no records indicating Hermann Kloss was arrested or taken to Buchenwald.

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 shorty 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