Margot Oppenheim Hopfer, June 25, 2016. (Portrait by Julie O'Connor, as are the photos of memorabilia in this Gallery.)
Hopfer's parents, Ludwig and Hedwig Oppenheim. Ludwig was a traveling salesman, his wife Hedwig a homemaker. Margot was born January 2, 1926 and died January 30, 2019.
Ludwig Hopfer, Margot's father, as a young man.
Ludwig in his WWI uniform. He served in the German Army in World War I (1914-1918) and earned two medals.
Additionally, Margot's father was given a "Cross of Honor" award in 1935 from Hitler personally. Despite that service, and just three years later, the Gestapo arrested him during the infamous "Kristallnacht" raids in November 1938. He was killed soon thereafter.
Studio photograph of Ludwig Hopfer taken in Remschied, Germany (near the city of Düsseldorf).
Hopfer's father c. 1936 in front of the family home in Würzburg Germany.
Hopfer and her family with either neighbors or household staff. Margot is nearly five years old, sitting either on her nanny or neighbor's lap in the back yard of the family home on Fruhlingstrasse. Her mother is holding Margot's younger brother, Ralph. The man in the lab coat may be a neighbor.
With her mother, Hedwig Oppenheim.
With a cousin, whom she believes was killed by the Nazis.
Margot Hopfer, left. The others are unidentified.
Hopfer at almost thirteen.
The identity card and passport, issued in 1938, that would allow her to leave the country on the Kindertransport in July, 1940. Her brother was able to leave with her. The lower half shows the visa issued in Glasgow on August 31, 1940 that permitted her to travel to the United States.
The large red "J" was used by the Nazis to indicate a Jewish person. The authorities also forced Jews to adopt a middle name; in her case Sara. The official stamp shows the date of Hopfer's arrival in England on July 13, 1940.
Once in Britain, the now orphaned children were adopted by a large network of volunteer couples arranged through charities and church groups. This is the foster home where Hopfer and her brother were placed.
Under circumstances described in her oral history, Margot, along with her mother and brother emigrated to the U.S. in August, 1940 and lived in New York City. This is her naturalization certificate, in her married name, dated November 20, 1947.
A year later she obtained this Certificate of Literacy issued by the New York State Education Department "as evidence of having fulfilled the literacy requirement for new voters."
The cover of Heinz Martin Hopfer's passport that allowed him to escape Germany on the Kindertransport in 1939. Their respective families had already known each other, so Margot met him while they were both still in school.
Like Margot's, Hopfer's passport was also branded with a red "J" and shows that the Nazis gave him "Martin" as a middle name.
When Heinz arrived in New York, Margot's mother took him on as an apprentice in her bakery and gave him a spare room. As Margot tells the story, "I didn't like him at first, but then he went into the Army and we started writing. Somehow, when he got home…"
Hopfer's granddaughter Jenna Goldenberg interviewed her and created this scrapbook as a project for a high school class taught by Jean Hofheimer Bennett, who interviewed Hopfer for this oral history.
Part of Jenna's scrapbook. Margot's story starts on November 10, 1938, the day after Kristallnacht. It begins, "What will become of me now?...The sound of destruction is repeating in my head…my family has been ripped apart…my father was dragged away against his will…." She was 13 years old at the time.
Part of Jenna's scrapbook. It summarizes the story of her journey to England, which began with a train trip to Holland. "I remember the amazing white bread. I had never had that kind of bread before and I was so hungry. We then headed to freedom."
Part of Jenna's scrapbook. "Once we arrived in England…we were hopeful…but when we arrived at our new home we were met with a harsh reality. The lady that took care of us (the wife of a minister) only gave us the basics and scraps of whatever was left over."
Part of Jenna's scrapbook, recounting Margot's journey to the United States, where the family arrived in September, 1940. "Arriving in New York was a dream for my family. From the beginning of the persecution, we never thought we would make it to this day."