MAI 2016
Artifact of the month for May 2016
Pencil drawings (1926)
Pencil drawings (1926)
Henny Berger (1903 – 2001)
Henny (Henriette) Berger was born in Gothenburg as youngest child to Isidor Berger (b. Prussia in 1859, d. Gothenburg 1905) and Marie (b. 1876 in Lithuania). After Isodore’s death in 1905, Marie and the children Henny and Benno left for Christiania where Maries brother Joseph Siew had established a tradingbuisiness. Marie remarried with Philipp Gosier (b.1883, Riga, Latvia), the marriage was dissolved in 1921.
Henny worked as a secretary, but was for many years at home nursing her sick mother. Marie Berger was arrested on 23 February 1943 while hospitalized. Two days later she was deported together with her former husband Philipp Gosier, her brother Joseph Siew and his wife Rebecca (b. Dworsky). Upon arrival at Auschwitz, they were all sent immediately to the gas chambers. Henny’s brother Benno (1902-1988) traveled to the United States in 1940, and was there until the liberation. Henny managed to escape to Sweden in December 1942 and thus survived the Holocaust. Henny spent her last years on the Jewish age residence in Oslo.
Two Pencil drawings from 1926 by Henny Berger: A Jewish man during the reading of the Torah (possibly Henny's brother, Benno).
Two Pencil drawings from 1926 by Henny Berger: A young girl with headscarf (possible self-portrait?)