Passport holder, carried to Ecuador by a German Jewish woman

Hedwig Finkenstein (1891-1959) was born in Molthainen, East Prussia (now Mołtajny, Poland) to Max (?-1919) and Therese (nee Bernstein) Finkenstein. Hedwig had four brothers—Leo (?-1914), Alex (1882-1908), Paul (1885-1947), Friedrich (1895-?)—and three sisters—Meta (Later Wohlgemuth, ?-?), Ida (later Kalwariski, 1889-?), Claire (later Majewski and Brummer,1892-1978). Max and Therese operated the only grocery store in their small town, and theirs was the only Jewish family.

On November 23, 1920, Hedwig married Isidor Brilling (1895-1939). Isidor was born in East Prussia to Bernhard and Anna (nee Borker, 1875-1943) Brilling. Isidor’s mother was a Lithuanian immigrant, and he had at least six sisters and two brothers. He fought for Germany in World War I, and received an Iron Cross for his service. Following the war, he began selling raw materials, such as furs and metals. They lived in Gumbinnen when their first daughter, Hilde (later Baum, 1923-2010), was born, and in Rastenburg when Ilse (later Abraham, 1927-2016) was born. In Rastenburg, Isidor grew his trade into a successful business with employees, and as a result, the family lived a comfortable lifestyle. They had a two-bedroom apartment above stores that they rented out, two maids, and a car, which they used often to visit family in Gumbinnen. Although Rastenburg was a small town, it had a large Jewish congregation. Hedwig prepared a big Shabbat dinner every week, and Ilse would often help her in the kitchen. Hedwig and Isidor regularly entertained friends in their home, and one year hosted a Christmas and Hanukkah party for their employees.

On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. Anti-Jewish decrees were passed that restricted every aspect of Jewish life. Almost immediately, the 117 Jews in Rastenburg were barred from movie theaters, swimming pools, and businesses, including the stores Ilse’s parents rented out. Ilse lost her only friend, a girl from a gentile family who joined the Bund Deutscher Mädel (League of German Girls), a Nazi girls’ group.

On November 9, 1938, during the Kristallnacht pogrom, stores run by Jews were destroyed and their synagogues were burned down. Isidor was arrested by the SS and imprisoned in Mitgeten. A relative living in the United States sent him an affidavit, which Hedwig took along with the Iron Cross medal awarded for his service during World War I, and was able to get Isidor out of jail. Even after his release, Isidor did not leave without his family. The day after Kristallnacht, Hilde returned to Rastenburg from Konigsberg, where she had been apprenticed as a seamstress. Hedwig registered the girls for a kindertransport to England, but they were never assigned to one.

Early in 1939, Isidor acquired visas for the family to immigrate to Uruguay. Shortly thereafter, their house, accounts, and assets were seized by the government, and they lost the crates of belongings they had shipped to South America. Shortly before leaving, however, they were notified that their visas were forgeries. After several weeks of visiting many consulates, Isidor obtained visas for Ecuador. They boarded the SS Caribia and sailed from Hamburg, Germany, in May 1939, and were given second-class cabins, even though they had paid for first-class.

After landing in the industrial city of Guayaquil, Ecuador, the family moved to Riobamba, and then a nearby village called Chambo, where they rented a large house and land for farming. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland; two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany, beginning World War II. Emigrating from Europe became increasingly difficult, as few nations were accepting Jewish refugees, and there was little opportunity to help those left behind. At the end of December, Ilse’s father, Isidor, received an upsetting letter from his mother that he did not show his children. That day, he went on an errand to Riobamba, where he died of a heart attack. No longer able to make a living on the farm, Hedwig moved the family to rented rooms in Riobamba. They later moved to Ambato, where Hilde married a man named Albert Baum (?-1996). While in Ambato, Ilse attended school for a year, and became fluent in Spanish.

The family then moved to Ecuador’s capital, Quito. There, they found a very close-knit immigrant community. They had a clubhouse called the Beneficiencia, which served as a major center of Jewish life, with a restaurant, card rooms, dances, and plays. Hedwig began doing their baking, often with Ilse’s help. The immigrants in Quito also had many businesses, movie theaters, a sports club, and a dance club. While In Quito, Ilse met Horst Abraham (1917-2003), who she married on March 5, 1944.

Germany surrendered to the Allied forces on May 7, 1945, ending the war in Europe. That September, Japan surrendered, ending the war in the Pacific. In May 1946, Hilde and her husband immigrated to the United States. That August, Hedwig’s sister and niece, Claire Brummer (1892-1978) and Ingeborg Majewski (later Price, b. 1927), joined them in Quito, having survived the war in France. Hedwig and Claire immigrated to the United States in November 1947. Ingeborg married in 1947 and immigrated to the US in 1951 with her husband and child. In 1948, Ilse and her family also immigrated, joining the rest of their family in Brooklyn, New York. Horst changed his name to Harry, and got a job working in a meatpacking factory owned by his distant relatives. They had a son, Stephen, in 1951. Hedwig’s brother, Paul, and his family, had immigrated to Massachusetts in 1939. Her sister, Meta, and her family immigrated to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where they later died. Her sister and brother, Ida and Friederich, along with their families, died during the Holocaust.