Anschel family

In 2019, a book from the library of the Anschel family was returned.

The object is a machsor, a prayer book, found in unprocessed stock of the Berlin City Library (Berliner Stadtbibliothek, BStB), the access route is unclear. The title page of the book is missing, so accurate title data could not be determined. The year of publication can only roughly be estimated to be around 1900.

Through yahrtzeit entries it could be clearly determined that the Machsor belonged to the Aschel family. The entries were written either by Salomon Anschel or his wife Karoline Anschel née Abraham. The crucial hint is the entry for the son Max. This information clearly led to Max Anschel, b. on April 6, 1872, died on June 8, 1896 in Berlin.

Salomon and Karoline Anschel had four more children:

• Moritz Anschel, b. on January 16, 1877 in Gornitz, West Pomerania. Moritz was a merchant, later lived in Berlin, where he married Tinka Graetz in 1906. The marriage was divorced in 1910. Children could not be determined. Moritz Anschel was deported from Berlin to Riga on September 5, 1942, and murdered.
• Hertha Anschel, b. on December 20, 1879 in Gornitz, West Pomerania. She later lived in Berlin and was married to Rudolf Levy (1873-1942). Children could not be determined. Hertha Levy was deported from Berlin to Auschwitz on 6 March 1943 and murdered.
• Arthur Adolph Anschel, b. on October 15, 1883 in Stieglitz, Prussia. He later lived in Berlin. Children could not be determined. Arthur Anschel was deported from Berlin to Auschwitz on January 29, 1943, and murdered.
• Selma Anschel, b. on January 3, 1882 in Gornitz, West Pomerania. She was later married to Adolph Ascher Simonstein (1876-1942) and lived in Berlin. Selma Simonstein was deported from Berlin to Sobibor on 13 June 1942 and murdered.

Selma and Adolph Simonstein had two children:

• Siegfried Fritz Simonstein was born on June 12, 1911 in Schneidemühl, Pomerania. He studied law in Berlin and became a lawyer. After 1933 he fled to Amsterdam. Siegfried Simonstein was deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz on 15 July 1942 and murdered. Children could not be determined.
• Else Simonstein, b. on March 9, 1907 in Schneidemühl, Pomerania. In 1927 she married the merchant Emil Jacob (1897-1982). Emil and Else Jacob emigrated to the United States in 1937, surviving the Holocaust.

Decisive help in transcribing the partial Hebrew notes was kindly supplied by students from the University of Potsdam.