Born on August 21, 1866 in Fürth
Murdered on April 6, 1943 in the Theresienstadt ghetto concentration camp
Interned in Weißenstein in February 1942
Johanna Bärlein had nine siblings, at least two of whom had died before Johanna was born. When she was 15 years old, the family moved to Stuttgart; Johanna’s father was then 71 years old, a ‘privateer’ and presumably wealthy. Two years after his death, Johanna married Eduard von Kaulla, a bank employee 12 years her senior, who was also an honorary member of the Württemberg Animal Protection Association. Eduard came from a respected Württemberg banking family who had been elevated to the nobility.
Four children were born between 1888 and 1901. In 1917, Johanna had been a widow for two years when her daughter, who lived in Zurich, announced the arrival of her first grandchild. Johanna wanted to support her daughter and successfully applied for an exit visa – not a matter of course in wartime.
Johanna Kaulla and her family were Protestant Christians and insisted on not being ‘Jewish’ even during the Nazi era. Mrs. Kaulla and her daughter Margarethe refused to wear the ‘Jewish star’ – which had consequences under criminal law. At the beginning of February 1942, Johanna Kaulla was forced to move to Weißenstein Castle, and in August she was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp, where she died miserably on April 6, 1943.
(01.09.2023 kmr/ww)
