Catholic missal given to Peter Abendstern while living in hiding

Peter Aldin was born Peter Sigo Abendstern on 29 October 1932 in Schwerin, Germany to Otto and Elly Abendstern. His father Otto Abendstern (1904-1942) was born on 5 November 1904 in Stuttgart, Germany to Samuel (d. 1923) and Regina (née Pappenheimer, b. 1881) Abendstern. He had one brother, Martin. Otto worked for Adler and Oppenheimer, a leading leather manufacturer, as did his father. His mother Elly Abendstern (later Elly Abendstern Fleischmann, 1902-1999) was born Elly Meyerhoff on 22 March 1902 in Körbecke, Germany to Max and Henriette (Henny) Meyerhoff. She had one brother, Ernst. Elly’s father owned a farm where he raised cattle and worked as a butcher.

Otto and Elly met around New Year’s Eve, 1929. They married in 1931, and their son Peter was born in 1932 in Schwerin. In April 1933 the family left Schwerin briefly for Berlin before moving to Hamburg where Otto could continue working for Adler and Oppenheimer. In March 1938 they emigrated from Germany to Wiltz, Luxembourg where Otto’s employer also had a factory. Elly’s parents Henriette and Max Meyerhoff joined them there. Otto’s brother Martin immigrated to England with his wife Hanna and their sons Robert and George. Martin also worked for Adler and Oppenheimer.

Otto was in Brussels, Belgium on a business trip when Germany invaded in May 1940. He was arrested and sent to St. Cyprien and Gurs. In May 1941 he was transferred to Les Milles. After Elly and Peter learned about his arrest and internment in France, they moved to Graulhet, Tarn in southern France. Elly hoped that Otto’s employer, who had an office in Graulhet, would help support her. She was able to visit Otto at Les Milles. Otto was interned in seven concentration camps including Les Milles, St. Cyprien, Gurs, and Drancy. He was deported to Auschwitz in August 1942 where he perished. While in the camps, he wrote many letters to his brother Martin in England.

In August 1942, Elly sent Peter to a children’s home in Font-Romeu in the Pyrénées where he was hidden. She received help in hiding Peter from Andre Marty, a member of the Resistance. Andre and his wife then agreed to hide Elly from August 1942-August 1944. Elly obtained false identity documents, and lived under the name Eléonore Albert (née Miller). While hidden at Font-Romeu, the caretaker Suzanne Canard, known as Tante Suzanne, helped Peter keep in contact with his mother. He wrote letters addressed to her under the name Mitzi.

After liberation, Elly remained in Graulhet while Peter boarded at the Petit Lycée de Toulouse. Elly married German artist Adolf Richard Fleischmann (nicknamed Ado, 1892-1968). Adolf was not Jewish but was interned in two camps: Les Milles camp and a smaller camp in Château Nicolas, Nîmes. In 1947 Peter, his mother, and Adolf moved to Paris. Elly and Adolf married in 1948. In February 1952 all three immigrated to the United States. Adolf had a successful career as an artist, and after his death in 1968 Elly worked to promote his work, eventually moving to Esslingen am Neckar, Germany.

Peter earned his doctorate in psychology from Clark University and practiced psychiatry in New York City.

Otto’s brother Martin and his family survived the Holocaust in England. His mother Regina was deported from Stuttgart to the Riga ghetto in 1941 where she was killed.

Elly’s parents, who stayed in Luxembourg, were interned at the monastery at Fünfbrunnen, and then deported to Theresienstadt. Max Meyerhoff died there of starvation. In a deal with the Germans, Henriette Meyerhoff was sent to Switzerland as a resettlement volunteer and spent the remaining war years there. After the war, she immigrated to Kansas City, Missouri, where she joined her son, Ernst and his wife Mary Ann.