Ernest Marx photograph collection

Ernest Ludwig Marx (nicknamed Ernie, 1925-2007) was born Ernst Ludwig Marx on 8 November 1925 in Gelnhausen, Germany to Siegmund and Bertha Marx. Siegmund Marx (1895-1942) was born on 7 May 1895 in Bönnigheim, Germany. He was a religious teacher and cantor, and was ordained a rabbi in 1936. Bertha Marx (1895-1991) was born Bertah Steinberger on 11 August 1895 in Dettelbach, Germany to Hermann Steinberger (1871-1942) and Jette Steinberger (née May, 1864-1942). Siegmund and Bertha married in 1921 in Dettelbach. Ernie had one brother, Julius Marx (1922-1970).

Ernie’s family moved to Rothenburg in 1927, and then Speyer in 1933. During Kristallnacht, Ernie and his father were arrested and deported to Dachau. They were released in December 1938, and shortly afterwards Ernie’s parents began organizing Kindertransports and chaperoning children on some of the trips. On 16 December 1938 Ernie took a Kindertransport to France and was placed at Ecole Maimonides near Paris. His brother Julius took a train to Switzerland and remained there for the duration of the war. Siegmund and Bertha then moved to Mannheim, Germany and continued to help with Kindertransports. They also applied and received visas to the United States, but were unable to emigrate.

Ernie’s parents were in Paris when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, and couldn’t return to Germany. Siegmund was arrested as a German enemy alien and deported to Les Milles. He was later transferred to Drancy and deported from there on 7 September 1942 to Auschwitz where he perished. Bertha’s mother perished in Würzburg in 1942. Her father was deported from Würzburg on 23 September 1942 to Theresienstadt and perished in the camp in December 1942.

Ernie remained at the seminary until the German invasion of France in May 1940. After the armistice was signed in June 1940, Ernie was sent to two different children’s homes: Eaubonne and then Montintin. His mother lived in hiding in Limoges, France, but was arrested and deported to Gurs in May 1940. Ernie was sent to Gurs in fall 1942, and was reunited with his mother. She had a stroke while in the camp, but survived the war.

Ernie escaped from Gurs with several others and he joined the Chasseur Alpins of the Maquis, a French resistance group. After liberation he was reunited with his mother on a streetcar in Glieres.

Ernie, Berta, and his brother Julius immigrated to the United States in 1947, and all three settled in Indiana.