Ilse Berta (Falkenstein) Rübsteck (1922 - 2018)

Born 10 Jun 1922 in Deutschland

Ancestors

Died 2018 at about age 95 in Jüchen, Neuss, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Deutschland

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Holocaust Project WikiTree [send private message] and Gaile Connolly [send private message]

^{source index: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]}

Ilse (Falkenstein) Rübsteck survived the Riga ghetto, Stutthoff concentration camp, building roads in Sophienwalde labor camp, and Gotendorf concentration camp, from which she was liberated at the end of World War II. Join: Holocaust Project Discuss: holocaust

Biography

Ilse was born June 10, 1922 in Germany.^[1] She is the daughter of Victor Falkenstein and Sophie (Hähnlein) Falkenstein.^[2]

Ilse was employed by Walter Herzog as a housemaid in Krefeld, Germany until 1939. She attended a hairdresser's school in Hamburg, Germany from January to November of 1939, until she was "forced to finish". She then worked as a housemaid in Krefeld, Germany for the Steilberger family from November 1939 until the family was deported in October 1941. After that, Ilse was unemployed and living in Hochneukirch until she was deported to Riga, Latvia December 1941.^[1]

Ilse was a prisoner in a succession of ghettos, concentration camps and forced labor camps during World War II, with a variety of assignments:^[1]

• August 1943 to August 1944 - a laborer, later a cook in the Riga ghetto
• August 1944 to September 1944 - a prisoner in the Stutthoff concentration camp
• September 1944 to January 1945 - a roadbuilder in the Sophienwalde labor camp
• January 1945 to March 1945 - a prisoner in the Gotendorf concentration camp

After she was liberated from the Gotendorf concentration camp, Ilse worked as a nurse in a hospital in Lauenberg, Germany until May 1945.^[1]

Ilse returned home to Hochneukirch, where she married Kurt Rübsteck May 13, 1945 (see Notes). They lived at Bahn Hofstr 63. Kurt was an independent forwarding agent and Ilse was a housewife.^[1]

Kurt and Ilse applied to the International Refugee Organization for assistance December 20, 1948 in the British administered sector of Germany^[1] (see Notes). They were both issued certificates of eligibility on that same date, however the word "cancelled" is hand written across their certificates.^[3] There is no indication of when or why the certificates were cancelled.

Kurt and Ilse were documented as members of the synagogue in Mönchengladbach, Germany December 21, 1948.^[4]

Kurt and Ilse were apparently in a resettlement camp in Wentorf, Germany, where they were issued passports and scheduled to travel from Bremen, Germany November 11, 1949 aboard a ship transporting refugees to the United States. Kurt's occupation is shown as farm worker and their final destination is shown as Ilse's aunt Fanny Henlein at 610 West 141^st in Manhattan, New York, New York. Based on hand drawn lines through their names,^[5] it is believed that they were not aboard that ship and that they never went to the United States because no records have been found there for either of them.

Ilse may have died in 2018 in Jüchen, Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.^[6]

Notes

Marriage
Kurt, who was from Hemmerden, and Ilse, whose home town was Hochneukirch, lived less than eight miles apart, but probably didn't know each other while growing up because they were nine years apart in age and Ilse was only fifteen years old when she left to live with a family thirty miles away as a house maid.

It is believed more likely that they met when they were both in the Riga concentration camp at the same time for a year, then both in Stutthof for another three months, before being moved to a series of different camps.

Kurt probably sought her out on his way back home after having been liberated from the Theresienstadt concentration camp at the end of World War II. Ilse, also, would have just been arriving back home after having been liberated from Gotendorf concentration camp, then working briefly in a hospital. When they met again, after both had miraculously survived, they were married.

International Refugee Organization Application
This document is dated December 20, 1948 on several of its seven pages, however:

• Page 4 indicates that several documents were submitted in late January 1949.^[1]
• Page 6 has two stamps indicating that the document was entered in registration and eligibility statistics on January 4, 1949, which seems reasonable, but it also includes an entry showing an address for Kurt and Ilse as of 1951.^[1]

How is it possible for a document to include references to other documents submitted after it was filed and references to events that occurred after it was filed?

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8} International Refugee Organization Assistance Application for Kurt and Ilse Ruebsteck.

   click HERE for full size (1 of 7)

   click HERE for full size (2 of 7)

   click HERE for full size (3 of 7)

   click HERE for full size (4 of 7)

   click HERE for full size (5 of 7)

   click HERE for full size (6 of 7)

   click HERE for full size (7 of 7)

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Steinheim Institute, translation by google, Epigraph Databank, page for Salomon Falkenstein, includes:

   In 1875 his son Viktor was born, who married Sofie Hähnlein from Schwäbisch Hall and became the father of Ruth and Ilse Berta. The co-owner of the cigar factory Gebrüder Falkenstein, who had also served as a soldier during the First World War, also sold Mazzen from Burgsteinfurt and was one of the co-founders of VfB Hochneukirch. In 1942, he and his wife were deported to Theresienstadt and later to Auschwitz, where they were murdered. Her daughter Ruth married in 1936 Wilhelm Diekhoff, with whom she wanted to flee to Honduras via France, after Wilhelm Diekhoff had been temporarily deported to Dachau in 1938. However, the couple was interned in 1940 in France in 1940 and survived in the French underground.

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} International Refugee Organization Certificate of Eligibility for Ilse Ruebsteck.

   click HERE for full size

4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Certification by the Board of the Mönchengladbach Jewish Community

   click HERE for full size

5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Arolsen Archives, Lists of Passengers who emigrated from Europe, Africa, and Asia between 1946 and 1971, includes:

   Name: Ilse Ruebsteck

   Gender: Female

   Nationality: Germany

   Marital status: Married

   Departure Age: 27

   Birth Date: abt 1922

   Birth Place: Germany

   Occupation: Housewife

   Religion: Jew.

   Passport Place: Wentorf

   Departure Date: 11 Nov 1949

   Departure Place: Wentorf

   Resettlement Camp: Wentorf, Germany

   Arrival Place: Bremen-Grohn (Bremen), Germany

   Destination: 610 W 141st Street, New York, New York, USA

   Traveled With: Kurt Ruebsteck, age 36, farm worker

   NOTE: both names have line drawn through them
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Ancestry Profile. A more reliable source for this information is required. A paid subscription is required to access this information, which includes:

   Ilse Berta Falkenstein 1922–2018

   Birth 10 JUN 1922 • Germany

   Death 2018 • Juchen, Rhein-Kreis Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

See also:

• jewishgen.org, The JewishGen Yizkor Book Necrology Database - Germany, page for Ilse Berta FALKENSTEIN RUEBSTECK, includes:

Surname RUEBSTECK

Given Names Ilse Berta (nee FALKENSTEIN)

Other Surnames FALKENSTEIN

Town Juechen