Bescheinigung
Object numberM2007/084:005
TitleBescheinigung
DescriptionOfficial typed statement, in German, on notebook paper, prepared by the Mayor of Sogel, Germany, 18 January 1939. It served as a reference, stating that Simon Jacobs was a farmer of great skill and had ran an 18 hectare farm for more than 30 years in Sogel. It states that his children, Jakob, Otto and Else had also worked on the farm with success. In particular, Jakob and Otto could carry out various kinds of farm work on their own, such as milking and caring for cattle and cultivating cereals, potatoes, turnips, beets, etc. They were also skilled at all kinds of harvesting works.
Part of a collection that contains 21 documents: birth certificates, letters of reference from 1939, identity cards (Kennkarten), Red Cross messages, police clearance certificates and applications to the Australian Department of Immigration pertaining to Alice Boothman’s (nee Alizah Jacobs) family and their escape from Austria just prior to World War II. The collection was donated by Alice Boothman in 2007.
Recha Rebeka Jacobs, the donor’s mother, was born in 1920, in Poznan, Poland to Ernestyna and Maks Moses Gallewski. Her mother was a music teacher. Her siblings were university students expelled after the Anschluss of Austria by the National Socialists. Her father, a physician, had died from injuries sustained during WWI.
Recha met Jakob Jacobs at an Austrian Hachschara farm set up to train Jewish youngsters for immigration to Palestine. Jakob was born in 1911 to Simon and Berta Jacobs, “excellent farming people and horse handlers” in the north of Germany. His younger brother Otto escaped to England. Classified as ‘enemy alien’, he was arrested in May 1940 and shipped on 10 July 1940 - together with 2,541 detainees - on the Dunera to Australia. Upon arrival, the ‘Dunera boys’ were interned in Hay and Tatura.
Jakob’s father also made plans to escape. In a letter of reference from the district farm leader of Aschendorf, Germany, 26 July 1939 [M2007/084:003], Simon Jacobs (with the enforced middle name 'Israel' inserted into the document) was praised as “a farmer of great skill who had managed a 18 hectare farm for more than 30 years in Sögel.” The farm leader also confirmed that his children, Jakob, Otto and Else had also worked on the farm and that Jakob and Otto could carry out various kinds of farm work from milking to caring for cattle, and cultivating grains, potatoes, turnips and beets.
It can be established from the documents and Red Cross messages in the collection that Simon died on 26 March 1942 in Sögel, a small town in North Germany, aged 68, but it is not known why. On 15 July 1942 his wife Berta was deported to Theresienstadt where she was murdered along with her daughters Else, Rosette and Karli, Rosette’s child. Jakob and Otto felt guilt over this for the rest of their lives. In September 1940, Eichmann’s Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung (Central Office for Jewish Emigration) was involved in chartering three ships to transport 3,600 Jewish refugees from the Rumanian port of Tulcea to Palestine. Recha and Jakob were among the passengers. Palestine was under the British Mandate government at the time and the British considered these refugees to be illegal immigrants. Arriving in Haifa, they were denied entry and put aboard the ‘Patria’, to be deported to Mauritius. Zionist organisations opposed the deportation, and on 25 November 1940 the Haganah – the Zionist underground organisation - planted a bomb intended to disable the ship to prevent it from leaving Haifa. Miscalculating the effects of the explosion, the ship sank in less than 16 minutes, killing 267 refugees. Recha and Jakob managed to cling to wreckage and survived.
Following this disaster, the refugees were allowed to stay. Recha and Jakob married in Palestine on 20 February 1942. [Ketubah M2007/084:016] They had two daughters, Alizah and Shulamith. Jakob served in the 1948 War of Independence, initially as a soldier then later as a cook. In 1951 the family immigrated to Australia to join Otto, who now went by the name Jack. He had joined the Australian Army after his release from internment, and purchased a soldier settlement in Sheffield, Tasmania, where he established a farm, called Bonnie Doon. The family adapted to life in Tasmania and anglicized their names: Alizah became Alice, Shulamith became Betty, Recha changed to Rita and Jakob to Charlie. The family hid their Jewish identity in public, but the children were brought up in the Jewish faith, with the younger son, Simon, born in 1962 in Tasmania, celebrating his Bar Mitzvah.
Part of a collection that contains 21 documents: birth certificates, letters of reference from 1939, identity cards (Kennkarten), Red Cross messages, police clearance certificates and applications to the Australian Department of Immigration pertaining to Alice Boothman’s (nee Alizah Jacobs) family and their escape from Austria just prior to World War II. The collection was donated by Alice Boothman in 2007.
Recha Rebeka Jacobs, the donor’s mother, was born in 1920, in Poznan, Poland to Ernestyna and Maks Moses Gallewski. Her mother was a music teacher. Her siblings were university students expelled after the Anschluss of Austria by the National Socialists. Her father, a physician, had died from injuries sustained during WWI.
Recha met Jakob Jacobs at an Austrian Hachschara farm set up to train Jewish youngsters for immigration to Palestine. Jakob was born in 1911 to Simon and Berta Jacobs, “excellent farming people and horse handlers” in the north of Germany. His younger brother Otto escaped to England. Classified as ‘enemy alien’, he was arrested in May 1940 and shipped on 10 July 1940 - together with 2,541 detainees - on the Dunera to Australia. Upon arrival, the ‘Dunera boys’ were interned in Hay and Tatura.
Jakob’s father also made plans to escape. In a letter of reference from the district farm leader of Aschendorf, Germany, 26 July 1939 [M2007/084:003], Simon Jacobs (with the enforced middle name 'Israel' inserted into the document) was praised as “a farmer of great skill who had managed a 18 hectare farm for more than 30 years in Sögel.” The farm leader also confirmed that his children, Jakob, Otto and Else had also worked on the farm and that Jakob and Otto could carry out various kinds of farm work from milking to caring for cattle, and cultivating grains, potatoes, turnips and beets.
It can be established from the documents and Red Cross messages in the collection that Simon died on 26 March 1942 in Sögel, a small town in North Germany, aged 68, but it is not known why. On 15 July 1942 his wife Berta was deported to Theresienstadt where she was murdered along with her daughters Else, Rosette and Karli, Rosette’s child. Jakob and Otto felt guilt over this for the rest of their lives. In September 1940, Eichmann’s Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung (Central Office for Jewish Emigration) was involved in chartering three ships to transport 3,600 Jewish refugees from the Rumanian port of Tulcea to Palestine. Recha and Jakob were among the passengers. Palestine was under the British Mandate government at the time and the British considered these refugees to be illegal immigrants. Arriving in Haifa, they were denied entry and put aboard the ‘Patria’, to be deported to Mauritius. Zionist organisations opposed the deportation, and on 25 November 1940 the Haganah – the Zionist underground organisation - planted a bomb intended to disable the ship to prevent it from leaving Haifa. Miscalculating the effects of the explosion, the ship sank in less than 16 minutes, killing 267 refugees. Recha and Jakob managed to cling to wreckage and survived.
Following this disaster, the refugees were allowed to stay. Recha and Jakob married in Palestine on 20 February 1942. [Ketubah M2007/084:016] They had two daughters, Alizah and Shulamith. Jakob served in the 1948 War of Independence, initially as a soldier then later as a cook. In 1951 the family immigrated to Australia to join Otto, who now went by the name Jack. He had joined the Australian Army after his release from internment, and purchased a soldier settlement in Sheffield, Tasmania, where he established a farm, called Bonnie Doon. The family adapted to life in Tasmania and anglicized their names: Alizah became Alice, Shulamith became Betty, Recha changed to Rita and Jakob to Charlie. The family hid their Jewish identity in public, but the children were brought up in the Jewish faith, with the younger son, Simon, born in 1962 in Tasmania, celebrating his Bar Mitzvah.
Production placeSogel, Germany
Production date 1939-01-18
Subjectpre-World War II, Nazi political activities (1933-1939), farmers, farms, farm workers, cereals, cattle, harvesting, families
Object namereferences
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- width: 205.00 mm
height: 280.00 mm
Language
- German To Whom it May Concern
The farmer, Mr. Simon Jacobs, sen., of Sogel i/H. has for more than 30 years managed a farm extending on about 18 hectare, and for more than 5 years have his children: Jakob, Otto and Else Jacobs managed this establishment well and with success. Jakob and Otto are capable to carry out all kinds of farm works forthcoming single-handed and well. They can milk, they know how to care for cattle, they are experts of pasture, and they are in a position to cultivate cereals (rye, oats, barley) as well as potatoes, turnip, beet-root, etc. and to carry out all kinds of harvesting works.
Sogel, the 18.1.1939
(sd) S.A. Spunkel (m.p.) Mayor
Official stamp: Community Sogel, District Kirchenhof-?.
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Alice Boothman
DocumentationOur family history300003807