Born on June 21, 1877 in Nieder-Ingelheim am Rhein
Deported to the Izbica ghetto on April 26, 1942 and murdered
Interned in Weißenstein in November 1941
Ingelheim is a well-known wine town, so it is not surprising that Hedwig Luise’s father was a wine merchant, and later her eldest brother too. Hedwig learned a lot about the quality of local wines ‘on the side’, which was to benefit her later in life.
At the age of 27, she married Hermann Ernst Stern, a merchant three years her senior, and moved to Stuttgart with him. From 1918, Mr. Stern ran a wine wholesale business in Stuttgart. As the couple had no children, it can be assumed that both spouses worked in the business. A surviving statement confirms that Hedwig’s knowledge was decisive in the purchase of wines.
Only 60 years old, Hermann Ernst Stern died; his widow took over the still thriving wine trade and expanded the range. However, the Nazis put pressure on customers to stop buying from the ‘Jewess’; the business came to a standstill and Hedwig Stern had to live off her savings. She was also forced out of the apartment where she and her late husband had lived for over 30 years.
From a ‘Jews’ house’, Mrs. Stern was quartered in the Schloss Weißenstein forced residence at the beginning of November 1941 and deported to the Izbica ghetto with other internees on 26 April 1942. It is not known exactly where Hedwig Luise Stern was murdered.
(28.07.2023 kmr/ww)
