Nijmeegseweg 34

Hedwig Kölling-Hirschberg lived here with her non-Jewish husband Josef Kölling. Son Bernd lived in the Niersstraat in Gennep. Hedwig was not deported in the first instance, but was arrested by the police for violating the "Abendsperre" and deported via the Oranjehotel in Scheveningen, via via to Auschwitz. Her husband Joseph was also arrested and spent 1.5 years in Dachau.

Hedwig Kölling
After the "move" of April 9, 1943, two more persons who were qualified as Jews had legally remained in Gennep, Hedwig Kölling (61) and Bertha Andriesse (63). They had to abide by all kinds of rules that did not apply to non-Jews. These regulations became fatal for Hedwig Kölling. She was on the street at a time, after eight o'clock in the evening, when she was not allowed to do that as a Jew.
According to her granddaughter Ingrid de Roy, she had walked from her house, Nijmeegseweg 34, to the house of her son Bernd, Niersstraat 23, to tell that the liberation seemed imminent. This was probably the report that on September 3, 1943 the Americans landed on the mainland of Italy. She was arrested by the Gennep police and taken to the police prison in The Hague (the "Oranjehotel"). Her son Bernd traveled after her and tried to convince the police that this was a misunderstanding. But that did not work, on the contrary, her husband Josef Kölling was also arrested and also had to go to Scheveningen. They stayed there for a month. At the time, Josef was pressured to divorce his wife. She could then be deported to Auschwitz. He refused that. Josef and Hedwig stayed in The Hague for a month and were transferred on October 8, 1943 to the Dortmund police prison, the infamous Steinwache.
Son Bernd Kölling, who, as mentioned above, had already had problems because of his marriage in 1942 was pressured to come to Dortmund with his family. The management of Gentricot, where he worked, in particular Marius Maertens, advised against this and managed to avoid this by all kinds of delaying techniques. The Hedwig and Jozef Kölling couple remained in prison all winter in Dortmund.
When Josef still did not want to divorce, he was brought to the Dachau concentration camp on February 8, 1944 as a 58 year old. He has been abused there several times, where he has suffered permanent damage, but survived. In April 1945 he was released and returned to his former home town of Schwerte. As a German he was not allowed to return to Gennep.
The reason Josef Kölling was arrested and eventually sent to Dachau may be as follows. Marriages between German Jews and non-Jews concluded before 1935 were not punishable, but pressure was sometimes exerted on the non-Jewish partner to divorce. In the event of opposition, as in the case of Josef, attempts were made to compel the non-Jewish party to divorce by depriving him of German nationality or by having him share the fate of the other on the basis of 'Treueplichtverletzung', breach of the obligation. to fidelity (to German nationality).
It seems that this was the case here.
Hedwig Kolling-Hirschberg was sent to Auschwitz on April 17, 1944, shortly before her 62nd birthday. According to the International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen, the reason was "political, Schutzhaft". She stayed there for three months and died on July 17, 1944 at 6:10 am in Kazernestrasse. This is evident from the death certificate that was drawn up on 4 August 1944 on the Standesamt II of the municipality of Auschwitz and that was sent to the municipality of Schwerte. The fact that a death certificate has been drawn up means that she has not been gassed. The address could indicate that she died in the "Krankenrevier".
The time does not have to be correct. It could mean that she died during the night.

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