Cottbus suitcase: Return of a Jewish fate after 85 years

Cottbus suitcase: Return of a Jewish fate after 85 years

A suitcase with a moving story is back in Cottbus after 85 years! This special piece belongs to a Jewish family that fled to the National Socialists in 1939. From now on, the suitcase can be admired in the Cottbus City Museum, an impressive testimony of the fate of many Jewish citizens from the region who had to leave their homes in the late 1930s.

The historical home club Cottbus has worked intensively for getting this case back to Lausitz. It was originally offered to a man from Switzerland at the beginning of the year who discovered the historical artifact in a flea business. Florian Bassani from Lugano immediately recognized the value of the suitcase and knew that he could not simply be converted into a living room table. The name Samuel Neumann and the note "Santiago de Chile" aroused his interest and led him on the trail of the Neumanns, a Jewish family from Cottbus.

The flight of the Neumanns

Samuel and Thekla Neumann have lived in Cottbus since 1927. Samuel worked as a merchant, but the pogrom night forced the family to escape. They had to leave almost all of their assets behind due to the "imperial fleeing tax" and the "emigrant tax". The path led them to Chile, where they became part of a large group of around 13,000 German Jews who were looking for refuge in this country. However, the exact circumstances of the life of the Neumann are still unclear. Her daughter Edustraut received Chilean citizenship, while the parents probably returned to Europe in the 1960s and lived in Switzerland and later in Germany.

The city of Cottbus is currently carrying out further research on the Neumann family to learn more about their life in Cottbus and the course of their escape. The suitcase is not only a historical relic, but also a symbol for the moving fates of the Jewish community in the region.