Weil, Klara née Kern (1870 - 1938)

Klara Kern was born on November 10, 1870 in Wollenberg ◊ . She was the daughter of the cloth dealer Josef Kern (1823 - 1899) and his wife Karoline née Weingärtner (1823 - 1893), who came from Buchen. Joseph and Karoline had marrried in Wollenberg in 1855 ◊ . They had 6 children: Hermann (*1856), Kalman (*1859), Mina (*1861), Aron (*1863, who died in Terezín in 1942), Hanchen (1866-1866) and Klara. Josef was later the Blaster in the Wollenberg congregation as is indicated on his gravestone in the Waibstadt cemetery ◊ .

Klara married  Leopold Weil on August 4, 1892 in Steinsfurt ◊ . Leopold had been born on April 3, 1863 in Steinsfurt as the son of the cattle dealer Karl Weil (1835 - 1903), son of Samuel, and of Babette Götter (1839 - 1927) ◊ . Leopold continued his father's cattle dealing business. He  – and after his death his widow Klara – owned the property in today's Lerchenneststraße, where the Synagogue of the Steinfurt congregation was up to 1894. Subsequently this was sold by their son Joseph. Leopold died in Steinsfurt on June 9, 1917 and was buried in the Waibstadt cemetery.

Leopold and Klara had four children. 1893 daughter Karoline was born in 1893, but she died after only two days. The second daughter was  Irma in 1894, who in 1919 married Maier Julius from Königsbach. She, her husband and their children Ilsa and  Manfred were deported from Pforzheim to Gurs and later to the extermination camp Auschwitz, where they and almost all members of the Maier family were killed. Irma and her family are remembered on the Weil-Plaque in the synagogue.

Leopold and Klara then had two sons. Joseph (*1899) and Karl (1905 - 1978). Karl started his career in Munich and emigrated in 1936 to the United States.
Josef (1899 - 1949), too, was a cattle dealer. He was chairman of the local sports club and of the Jewish congregation in Steinsfurt. So he organized the sale of the synagogue in 1938.
During the events of November 1939 he was beaten up and sent to the KZ Dachau. The house, where he lived together with his wife Alice née Frank (1905 - 2002), his daughter Susanne (1933 - 2012) and his mother Klara was vandalized. The women got shelter in a neighbouring house, but Klara suffered a stoke from the excitement. She died only a few days later on November 15, 1938.

Since her death was the the immediate consequence of those Nazi-actions we remember her on the Shoah-page.

Klara Weil was buried in Waibstadt at her husband's side. This was the last Jewish funeral from Steinsfurt in that cemetery.