Gisela Eden papers

Gisela Amalie Marx was born on April 24, 1925, in Dulken, Germany, the nly daighter of a Jewish couple, Leopold and Erna Lifges Marx. Her father Leopold was born on November 28, 1882, in Dulken. Leopold had two sisters: Rosetta (Rosa) and Eva. He was in the German Army in World War I (1914-1918) and was awarded an Iron Cross. Gisela’s mother Erna was born on July 23, 1892, in Suchteln, Germany. Erna’s family was very wealthy and the largest landowners in Westphalia. Leopold and Erna met in Paris, where Leopold was a junior diplomat and Erna was a correspondent. Gisela’s family kept kosher and observed the holidays, but were not very religious.

In January 1933, Hitler came to power and, by summer, Germany was ruled by a Nazi dictatorship. Anti-Jewish policies were soon enacted. Leopold and Erna believed they had some protection because of their wealth and Leopold’s status as a veteran and diplomat. Still, they decided to send Gisela to England on a Kindertransport as the persecution worsened. Leopold sent money to a friend in England, who agreed to care for Gisela after she arrived. Gisela traveled from Cologne to Holland by train, then sailed to England, arriving on August 25, 1939. Her father’s friend never arrived to claim her. Gisela and two other abandoned children were sent to live with an Orthodox rabbi. Gisela had a very difficult time adjusting because she was not raised to be observant and did not speak English. A member of the Jewish Refugee Committee had Gisela sent to a boarding school in Lancashire. In 1941, Gisela was called for military service after she turned sixteen. She had to choose between the army, police, or nursing. Gisela chose to study nursing and worked at a children’s hospital in London. The hospital was bombed during the Blitz, the nightly German air raids on London from fall 1940 - May 1941. Gisela was transferred to an American military hospital in Surrey, where she cared for wounded American soldiers. The war ended when Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945.

Gisela’s family perished in the Holocaust. Her parents, Leopold and Erna, were deported from Dusseldorf to the Riga ghetto on December 11, 1941, where they died. Gisela’s paternal aunts Eva and Rosa were deported to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp, and were killed. Gisela worked at a nursery for disabled children, then received a grant to study Fine Arts at Cambridge. In 1950, Gisela received a Red Cross letter from a pastor in Dulken. Before Gisela’s parents were taken away, they had entrusted the pastor with their family jewelry and Judaica. They asked him to get the items to Gisela if they did not return. The pastor buried the items in his cellar. He was later arrested and interned in a concentration camp for preaching anti-Nazi sermons. Gisela and an American friend went to Dulken to retrieve her family belongings. She encountered anti-Semitism while she was there and was not able to recover her family’s assets. The pastor told her that Leopold and Erna believed that they were being sent to Theresienstadt. Upon her return to Cambridge, Gisela contacted an American friend who was related to the US ambassador in Italy. He helped Gisela get a visa to the US, despite the quota. On December 19, 1954, Gisela sailed from Liverpool, England, on the SS Ascania, arriving in New York on December 30. She settled in New York. She worked as a nurse, file clerk, and executive secretary. Gisela met John Peter Eden (1923-2013) at a British social club event. John was sent from Czechoslovakia on a Kindertransport to England in 1939. He emigrated to the US in 1950. The couple married in 1958 and settled in Washington DC. Gisela, age 87, passed away on August 20, 2012. John, age 85, died on May 29, 2013.