Selma Guttman was born in 1879 in Nysa, Poland, to Jacob Guttman and Rosa Lasker. She had two brothers, Bruno and Walter. By all degrees, living in Nysa was a lovely childhood among the four surrounding rivers.
In 1900, Selma married Albert Israel Gassman and together they had two sons. They continued to spend their lives in Nysa, Poland, and were there when the Nazi regime invaded in September 1939. The S.S. staged a Polish invasion, which gave them valid reason to invade Poland – the “Polish invasion” was deemed “an act of aggression.” (History.com: This Day in History, Sep. 01)
While looking for information on this limb of my family tree, I came across information that no family with Jewish ancestry ever wants to find. Selma and her family were rounded up and taken to Auschwitz concentration camp. At the time that Selma and Albert were taken to Auschwitz, they were 64 and 79, respectively. Adults of an advanced age were not healthy enough to work in the camps, so, on September 10, 1974, the Gassmans were murdered by the Nazis. Based on what we have learned from history: they were probably shot shortly after getting off the train that had carried them. The trip was over 2 hours long and in horrible conditions.
Their son, Kurt, was also taken prisoner in Auschwitz. He was 41 at the time and he was forced to work and live there. Kurt was murdered by the Nazis on March 31, 1944. It is not known whether he was shot or if he was taken to the showers.
Selma, Albert, and Kurt are listed on the Central Database of Shoah Victims with the following notation: “List of Murdered Jews from the Netherlands”. (ynvg.yadvashem.org) They are also listed among the officially declared dead on the “Victims of the Persecution of Jews Under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933-1945”. (www.bundesarchiv.de)
The Gassmans had another son, Franz, who had left Poland before the German occupancy. Before leaving, Franz married Kathe Eva Hecht. Franz arrived at the Port of New York on the 17th of September 1935, aboard the SS Majestic. Franz was a physician who applied for naturalization in 1936. His request for exemption under the classification of “alien enemy” was denied in 1944. Franz and Kathe had only one daughter named Irma in 1917. Franz passed away in 2000 in the state of California while his wife passed away in 1976.