Memorial Signs for the Sänger family,
Winzererstraße 68

24.05.2023 11:00 a.m.

Veranstaltung

The siblings Berta, Fritz, Alfred and Stephan Franz Sänger came from Augsburg and all settled in Munich.

In memory of the Sänger family, an event was held in the rotunda of the City Archive in Winzererstraße on 24 May 2023. Dr Daniel Baumann, Head of the Munich City Archive, and City Councillor Dr Evelyne Menges, representing the Lord Mayor of the City of Munich, as well as Barbara Hutzelmann from the City of Munich's Department of Culture, spoke at the event. Family members then had their say: Nancy Freund-Heller, a relative and initiator of the memorial signs, spoke about the Sänger family, Jeffrey Heller read the poem Sh'mah by Primo Levi, Sandra Freund Coonley read Each of Us Has A Name by Zelda, Nancy Freund-Heller concluded by reciting Psalm 92 Tzadkik Katamar by Louis Lewandowski, and the Kaddish was said.

During the course of the day, the memorial signs for the siblings and their families were presented at four addresses - the respective former places of residence of the siblings:

11.00 a.m.
Commemorative event
Rotunda in the Munich City Archive
Winzererstraße 68

Dr Daniel Baumann, Head of the Munich City Archive
City Councillor Dr Evelyne Menges, representing the Lord Mayor of the City of Munich
Barbara Hutzelmann, Public History
Nancy Freund-Heller, family member and initiator of the Memorial Signs
Jeffrey Heller: Sh'mah by Primo Levi
Sandra Freund Coonley: Each of Us Has A Name by Zelda
Nancy Freund-Heller: Psalm 92 Tzadkik Katamar by Louis Lewandowski
Kaddish

Flyer English (PDF)

Memorial event for seven members of the Sänger family

Dr Daniel Baumann, Head of the Munich City Archive

City councillor Dr Evelyne Menges

Barbara Hutzelmann, Public History Munich

Live broadcast of the commemorative event via Zoom

Nancy Freund-Heller, relative and initiator of the Memorial Signs

Jeffrey Heller, relative

Sandra Freund Coonley, relative

During the memorial service for the Sänger family

The father of Sandra Freund Coonley and Nancy Freund-Heller joined the memorial service via Zoom from New York City.

Memorial Sign for Stephan Franz Sänger

Tengstraße 32

The civil engineer Stephan Franz Sänger moved to Munich with his first wife in 1933 and worked for the company Kleofaas & Knapp, where he was a partner with his brother Fritz. After his marriage ended in divorce, he moved into the flat at Tengstraße 32. In 1939 he married Selma Sänger. In 1942, together with his wife and mother-in-law, he was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto and then to Auschwitz in October 1944, where he was murdered.

After short speeches by Nancy Freund-Heller, the initiator of the Memorial Sign, and Janne Weinzierl from the Schwabing-Freimann district committee, the Memorial Sign for Stephan Franz Sänger was placed at his former address.

Memorial for Staphan Franz Sänger

Janne Weinzierl (right), district committee Schwabing-Freimann

Das Erinnerungszeichen für Stephan Franz Sänger wird angebracht

Carol R. Wagt-Lehman, Sandra Freund Coonley und Nancy Freund-Heller, relatives

Relative of the Sänger family

Dr. Daniel Baumann, Amtsleiter des Stadtarchivs München, und Nancy Freund-Heller

Memorial Sign for Selma Sänger

Haimhauserstraße 2

The shorthand typist Selma Sänger lived with her widowed mother Sofie Rosenfelder at Haimhauserstraße 2 from 1934. She married Stephan Franz Sänger in 1939, but continued to live with her mother in Haimhauserstraße. In July 1942, Selma and Stephan Franz Sänger were deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto together with Sofie Rosenfelder. Like her husband Stephan Franz, Selma Sänger was deported from there to Auschwitz in October 1944 and murdered there. Her mother survived the Holocaust and emigrated to the USA.

Janne Weinzierl from the Schwabing-Freimann district committee, Nancy Freund-Heller and family members spoke before the Memorial Sign for Selma Sänger was placed at her former home.

Nancy Freund-Heller, initiator of the Memorial Signs

Janne Weinzierl, district committee Schwabing-Freimann

Nancy Freund-Heller in conversation with the owner of the house

The former apartment of Selma Sänger and Sofie Rosenfelder

In the former kitchen of Selma Sänger and Sofie Rosenberger

In Selma Sänger's former apartment

Relatives Nancy Freund-Heller and Sandra Freund Coonley with the Memorial Sign for Selma Sänger

Nancy Freund-Heller, Jeffrey Heller and Sandra Freund Coonley

Memorial Sign for Alfred Sänger

Franz-Joseph-Strauß-Ring 4 (formerly Prinzregentenstraße 8)

Alfred Sänger studied mechanical engineering and later civil engineering and worked for the company Kleofaas und Knapp. From 1936, he lived at Prinzregentenstraße 8, where he was arrested by the Gestapo during the so-called ‘Kristallnacht’ and deported to Dachau concentration camp for several weeks. In 1939, Alfred Sänger moved in with his brother Fritz in Maria-Einsiedel-Straße. In November 1941, the Gestapo deported him to Kaunas, where he was shot by the SS.

After speeches by Dr Thomas Gruber, Head of the Bavarian State Ministry of Housing, Building and Transport, Andrea Stadler-Bachmaier from the Altstadt-Lehel district committee, Nancy Freund-Heller and family members, the Memorial Sign for Alfred Sänger was placed on the site of his former home at Prinzregentenstraße 8, now Franz-Joseph-Strauß-Ring 4.

Memorial event for Alfred Sänger

Nancy Freund-Heller

At the memorial for Alfred Sänger

Relatives place the Memorial Sign for Alfred Sänger

Dr Thomas Gruber, Head of Office, Bavarian State Ministry of Housing, Building and Transport and Jeffrey Heller, family member

Sandra Freund Coonley

Stele with Memorial Signs for Alfred Sänger

Prof. Dr Michele Barricelli, Chair of Didactics of History and Public History, LMU

Dr Thomas Gruber, Head of Office, Bavarian State Ministry of Housing, Building and Transport and Jeffrey Heller, family member

Nancy Freund-Heller, family member and initiator of the memorial signs and Dr Thomas Gruber, Head of Office, Bavarian State Ministry of Housing, Building and Transport

Memorial Signs for Anneliese, Berta, Irene und Fritz Sänger

Maria-Einsiedel-Straße 4

The civil engineer Fritz Sänger lived in Augsburg and was a partner in the company Kleofaas & Knapp with his brother Stephan Franz. In 1932, he married Irene Lehmann, 13 years his junior, and their daughter Anneliese was born the following year. Fritz Sänger was also deported to Dachau concentration camp by the Gestapo in 1938, where he was forced to sell his company. In 1939, the family moved to Munich to Maria-Einsiedel-Straße 4. Little is known about his sister Berta Sänger, born in 1891, who remained unmarried and lived with her brother Fritz and his family in Maria-Einsiedel-Straße from 1939.

In April 1942, the Gestapo deported the entire family to the Piaski ghetto and later to the Sawin camp. In Piaski, Fritz Sänger campaigned for the interests of the deportees. It is not known when and where Irene, Fritz, Anneliese and Berta Sänger died.

Before the Memorial Signs for the Sänger family were placed in Maria-Einsiedel-Straße, family members and Dr Ludwig Weidinger from the Thalkirchen-Obersendling-Forstenried-Fürstenried-Solln district committee spoke.