What We Know:
Family name: Münz
Given name: Jakob
Date/place of birth: 14 May 1888, Wiesenbronn/Bavaria
Date/place of death: Exact date of death unknown
Age:  54 years old at deportation
Jacob Münz was born in Wiesenbronn/Bavaria, the first child and only son of Simon and Sara (née Rosenthal) Münz. He had five younger sisters (Jenny Münz, b. 1889, lived but two months).

Jakob was a part of the German army during World War I, as a member of the “Ersatztruppenteile der Infanterie Regimenter”.

After his service ended, Jakob moved to Ilmenau, about 160 km to the northeast of Wiesenbronn and in the state of Thuringia. He established a Textilgeschäft, drawing on the experience of his father Simon. He was unmarried at the time of his move; on 1 June 1924, age 36, he married Johanna Hamberg in Breuna/Hesse.

Jakob’s wife, Johanna/Hanna Hamberg came from the state of Hessen, and branches of her family tree dated back to the early 1700s. Her parents were Baruch and Sara (née Herzfeld) Hamberg, and Hanna was the youngest of their eleven children. They had six daughters and five sons, all of whom were born between 1881 and 1897 in Breuna/Hesse. Johanna was born on 28 August 1997.

When Herbert was born in 1925, his paternal grandfather, Simon Münz, was alive, but his paternal grandmother Sara Münz (née Rosenthal) had died four years before his birth. His maternal grandfather, Baruch Hamberg, lived until July 4th 1934, nine years after the birth of his grandchild Herbert. His maternal grandmother, Sara (née Hertzfeld) Hamberg,  died April 4th 1926, less than a year after Herbert was born. Their gravestone is found in a graveyard located in Breuna, Hesse, where Jakob and Johanna were married, and where the Hamberg family was established in the community since the early 1800’s.

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In January 1933, when the Nazi Regime began, both Jakob’s and Hanna’s siblings were in various parts of Germany. and by 1937, three of them had emigrated to the USA.

By 1938, Jews were no longer permitted to practice their trade. Jakob was forced to close his textile shop which he ran at Schwanitzstraße 7, where the family also lived.  Herbert was no longer allowed to attend school at the age of 13.

May 10th, 1942, Jakob, Johanna and Herbert were deported to Belzyce Ghetto from Ilmenau with eleven other Jews from the community. Herbert reportedly died on the 9th of November 1942 in the Lublin Ghetto. His father Jakob’s death date is recorded as the same without the location of the Lublin Ghetto noted, however, it may be assumed he was murdered in the Lublin Ghetto with his son. No specific death date is given for Johanna, she was most likely murdered in Belzyce Ghetto sometime after the 10th of May 1942, as this was her last documented location of deportation. Johanna’s niece, Flora (née Lichtmann) Eichenbronner, (daughter of Julie (née Hamberg) Lichtmann) along with her husband Dr. Walter Eichenbronner and their daughter Gisela, were also deported to Belzyce ghetto on the May 10th 1942 from Ilmenau.

Pages of testimony through Yad Vashem have been published for Herbert, Johanna and Jakob Münz by a family member,  Yaakov Froilikh,

Quellen:
Gabriele Klein, Herbert Walter, Gerda Werner, Vergessene Nachbarn: Juden in Langen von ca. 1704 bis 1938, p. 251.
Stolpersteinverlegung für Martha und Simon Fröhlich am 26. November 2011 in Horb-Rexingen Freudenstädter Straße (Schulhof)

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