19th Location: Simeonstraße 16

The Kutschinski Family

The Jewish family, Kutschinski lived at Simeonstrasse 10 but had previously lived at Kampstrasse 20, until 1920. The three older children had been sent to Israel when their parents, Moses Efriam Kutschinski and Paula Kutschinsksi  nee Ingberg, were deported to Bentschen,  Zbaszyn, Poland, together with their youngest child, Ferdinand, on 28th October, 1938.

Moses Kutschinski was born 6th January, 1889, in Lubranice, Poland, and was a Tailor of  men’s made to measure clothing.but also had a shop selling working clothes and shoes. In November, 1916, he married Paula (Perla) Ingberg who was born in Lbaszipin, Warsaw, Poland, on 14th May, 1895. Their oldest son was born in 1917, their daughter in 1920 and another son in 1921, and all survived the Holocaust because they had emigrated to Israel. The youngest son, was born in Minden, as were his siblings, on 16th April, 1925. Shortly after their deportation the family’s shop was looted and  the contents of their house destroyed on the  night of  the Pogrom  9th November, 1938. Moses Efriam Kutschinski returned to Minden from 12th April until 18th July, 1939, to deal with the property belonging to the family and to wind up the business. On his return to Bentschen/Zbaszyn, Poland, he was sent,with his wife to the Jewish camp, Hermannsbad, Zsorcinek, Warthegau, after the Nazi troops marched into and took over Poland on 1st September, 1939. The fourteen year old Ferdinand Kutschinski was probably  seperated from his parents at this point in time but certainly in the year 1939. He was taken to Lbaszipin, Poland, and from there was to the camp for Jews at Hohensalza, Poland, at the end of 1941. It is thought that his parents were kidnapped by the SS in 1941 and murdered. The last sign of Ferdinand Kutschinski was during the summer of 1941on 9th July or 9th August.

His uncle, Max Ingberg from Minden, who was hunted because he was a Jew and social democrat, went to earth with the underground movement in Belgium and survived. He received a postcard from Ferdinand Kutschinski asking his uncle to contact the International Red Cross and to ask them to search for his parents. There was no sign of him or his parents from this point onwards. All three were were declared dead on 8th May, 1945.