Erna Kahn, née Baum, was born in Gerolstein. Since 1913, she ran a shoe store at Kaiserstraße 88. From 1931 to 1937, she also operated a grocery store at Kaiserstraße 96. On October 22, 1940, she was deported to the internment camp in Gurs. In March 1942, she managed to escape from Gurs together with her two daughters, Anna and Herta, via Casablanca to New York.
Siegfried Kahn was born on October 1, 1881, in Gemmingen. He moved to St. Ingbert in late 1918 and married Erna Baum in December that year. On January 1, 1919, he took over his wife’s shoe store. In 1937, Siegfried emigrated alone to the U.S. in search of a new home, leaving Hamburg on May 29 aboard the St. Louis and arriving in New York on June 9, 1937. His wife and two daughters followed five years later after being deported to Gurs.
Anna Kahn, born on July 5, 1921, and Herta Kahn, born on December 24, 1923, were both deported with their mother Erna to Gurs on October 22, 1940. They managed to escape and emigrated from Casablanca to New York on March 21, 1942, aboard the SS Guine. In the U.S., Herta went by the name Heddy. She became engaged to Carl Adler on May 5, 1946, and remained married to him until his death in 1994.
