Family Mark - English

Otto Mark comes from a Jewish family that has been residing in Fritzlar since at least 1780. As agricultural merchants, the family contributes tot he success oft he Hessian duchy. Otto’s great-grandfather is one of the founders of a liberal Jewish group in Fritzlar, which departs from the strictly orthodox standpoint. His mother, Mathilde, born Dalberg, is related to the Cologne-based Tietz family, the owners of the Kaufhof department store.  

Otto comes to Magdeburg with his parents in 1897. He meets his wife Erna before the first world war, but they only marry on July 28, 1921. He owns a business for technical novelties and shop window decoration articles, first located on Hasselbachstraße and later on Kaiserstraße 58 (now Otto-von-Guericke-Straße). However, after the Nazis seized power in 1933, his business collapses. His wife Erna provides for the family through seasonal work.  

Erna Mark, born Cosman, comes from a long-established family in Kleve. The Cosman family has been resident in Kleve for at least 250 years and its members actively participate in the social and politicial life of the city in the 19th century. The Cosman family has connections to the English royal family. A relative of theirs marries the uncle of Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II.  

Adele Mark, Otto’s sister, never marries and stays in the parents household. After her parents death she stays with her brothers family, before being forced to move into one of the Magdeburg „Jewhouses“ in 1941. On November 25, 1942 she is deported to Theresienstadt and dies there on January 6, 1944. 

Otto Mark and his wife Erna are deported to Warsaw Ghetto on April 14, 1942 and from there transported to Auschwitz later on. They never come back to Magdeburg.