Biography
Fred Manasse (born Manfred Kurt Manasse) is the son of Alfred Manasse (b. 1895) and Trude Lieblich Manasse. Alfred's family worked as cattle farmers in Thalheim, and Alfred had a small shoe factory in Offenbach, outside of Frankfurt. Trude's family owned a hotel in Baden-Baden and part of her family lived in Strasbourg. Manfred was born on July 27, 1935 in Frankfurt am Mein. He has an older brother Gustav, born December 1, 1931 and had a younger sister Miryam, born on January 19, 1937. Alfred's brother Julius immigrated to the United States in the 1930's. However, Alfred, who also served as a leader of the Frankfurt Jewish community, was reluctant to leave. On the night of Kristallnacht, they watched their synagogue as it burned down from the window of their apartment. After Kristallnacht, Alfred made plans to emigrate and arranged for the two boys to go on a Kindertransport to Belgium. The two boys stayed in a children's home in Brussels. Since Alfred's mother refused to leave Germany, Trude remained behind with her mother-in-law and youngest child, while Alfred left Germany on board the St. Louis in May 1939. After Cuba denied entry to the passengers of the ship and the St. Louis was forced to return to Europe, Alfred disembarked in Belgium so that he could be near his sons. He hoped that the rest of the family would be able to join them there. However, World War II broke out on September 1, 1939, and Trude and Miryam became trapped in Germany. On May 10, 1940 Germany invaded Belgium. Manfred and Gustav were able to join a children's convoy to France eventually coming to the Chateau de la Hille which was under the protection of the Swiss Red Cross. However, Alfred was sent as an enemy alien to the Gurs internment camp in southern France. There he actually managed to reunite with Trude's father Philip Lieblisch, his sister and brother-in-law Liesl and Theodor Rosenthal. On one occasion Manfred and Gustav were able to briefly visit their father in the camp. However, in August 1942 Alfred was deported from there to Drancy and then to Auschwitz where he perished. Because Theodore was a trained chef and was working as the cook, the rest of the family was spared deportation and remained in Gurs until liberation, including Theo and Liesl's daughter Evelyne who was born in the camp in April 1942. In 1944 Manfred and Gustav left France on a children's transport to the United States. After first spending two months in Barcelona, they stayed in an orphanage in Lisbon for six months and then boarded the Serpa Pinto in December 1944. They arrived in Philadelphia on January 10, 1945 and then took a train to New York where they were met by their first cousin, Kurt Manasse. Though their uncle Julius Manasse sponsored their immigration, he did not adopt the boys, and Manfred spent the next few years moving from one foster home to another. Trude and Mirjam Manasse were deported in May 1942. The transport list has not been found but it is believed that it went to Izbica and then to Sobibor, where they were murdered.
