What We Know:
Family name: Heinecke
Birth name: Winter
Given name: Meta
Date/place of birth: 2. February 1888, Fürstenau Schlochau/West Preussen (Pomerania)
Date/place of death: Exact date of death unknown
Age:  54 years old at deportation

From the entry in Siegfried Wolf’s database, we know that Meta  Heinecke (née Winter), was born on 02 March 1888 in Förstenau; she had two siblings—Hugo Winter and Hertha née Winter; she was married to a NN Heinecke; and was living in Rudolstadt at the time of her deportation to Belzyce Ghetto.

The deportation list for Rudolstadt tells us that Meta was a widow (“verw.”) and that she was the only person deported from Rudolstadt to Belzyce Ghetto.

Other than these few traces, we know nothing about Meta’s life in Rudolstadt: when and why she came to the town? who was her husband, was she married when she came? and so forth.

The identification of a brother, Hugo, has led to a possible/probable identification of Meta’s parent or parents. On 18 May 1910, Hugo, born 1885 in Förstenau, married Margarete Marie Agnes Breitholz in Berlin; the marriage certificate includes the names of his parents, Jakob Winter, who was a widower living in Neu Stettin, and Henriette (née Arnheim)

We know something more about Hugo’s life: his wife died in 1934 in Berlin; according to the 1939 Minority Census, Hugo was arrested and imprisoned in Sachsenhausen. Hugo left Germany for the United States in 1939 and headed to California. He lived there for the rest of his life, dying in 1961.

But nothing in the records about Hugo tells us anything more about Meta. Perhaps someone reading this page will be able to tell us more.

Sources:
Arolsen Archives
1939 German Minority Census (MyHeritage)
California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997 (Ancestry.com)
Berlin, Germany, Deaths, 1874-1955 (Ancestry.com)
U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 (Ancestry.com)
California, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1843-1999 (Ancestry.com)
U.S., Naturalization Records Indexes, 1794-1995 (Ancestry.com)
New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 (Ancestry.com)
UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 (Ancestry.com)