Ad
dress: Prague 2, Záhřebská 4 (2020)
Born 04. 04. 1938
Last residence before deportation: Prague XII
Address/place of registration in the Protectorate: Prague XII,
Záhřebská 4
Transport A, no. 199 (16. 10. 1941, Prague -> Łódź)
Murdered
https://www.holocaust.cz/en/database-of-victims/victim/141092-alfred-berger/
The Berger’s were all born in Vienna. Gertrude was a housewife. Berthold was a dental technician. Berthold and Gertrude got married in Vienna in 1928. In 1938 they managed to escape from Vienna to Switzerland and to follow Berthold’s parents Fanny and Simon and sister Lili (with her husband David and son Egon) who were already there in a hotel that had been converted into a refugee camp. However, in the meantime the legal situation in Switzerland has become much more restrictive. Soon Switzerland stopped accepting emigrants at all. Anyone who was lucky enough to receive a visa had to regularly demonstrate their efforts to continue their migration out of Switzerland. So, the Berger’s, too, had to think about what to do next. They were probably only allowed to stay in Switzerland for a very short time. They decided to continue their journey to Panama and had applied for a visa at the relevant authorities. When the visa for Switzerland had expired, the one from Panama had not yet arrived. The Berger’s therefore had to make new plans at short notice and decided to go to Prague. Berthold’s nephew Egon remembered that the visa for Panama arrived only a few days after the Berger’s had left Switzerland. Gertrude’s mother, Jeny (Johanna) Mandelik, was still in Vienna. Gertrude’s father had already passed away before the war. Gertrude’s mother also decided to go to Prague to join her family. In Prague the Berger’s lived first at the address Celetna 12. Later, they moved to Zahrebska 4. Berthold had odd jobs and Heinz went to school. On 16 October 1941 the Berger’s were deported on the first transport from Prague to Lodz. Gertrude’s mother Jeny was still able to stay in Prague. But at the end of 1941 she came to Theresienstadt. From Berthold and his family, the address in the ghetto of Lodz is known. But in May 1942 their trail ends. Whether they still died in Lodz or, like many others, were taken from Lodz to the Chelmno concentration camp is unknown. It is assumed that they were still killed in 1942.