Ralph Neumann lived in Berlin with his mother Gertrud and his sister Rita. After training as a gardener, he worked at the Jewish cemetery in Weißensee. From the fall of 1942, he performed forced labor for the Osram company.
All three family members went underground in mid-February 1943 to evade deportation. They were soon hiding separately. A former Osram colleague, Leo Fraines, supported 17-year-old Ralph. Gertrud Neumann was found by the Gestapo. She died in imprisonment in June 1943.
In the summer of 1943, Ralph Neumann hid on the Fleischer farm in Melchow, outside Eberswalde. Threatened with discovery, he had to leave in August 1943. The pastor’s wife Agnes Wendland hid him in Berlin from the fall of 1943.
In mid-February 1945, he was spot-checked on the street, imprisoned, and tortured. Ralph Neumann was taken to the Jewish Hospital with blood poisoning and saw his sister there as a prisoner. The two of them managed to escape in March 1945. They spent two weeks hiding in the home of the prison chaplain Harald Poelchau, then stayed with the journalist Ruth Andreas-Friedrich.
Ralph Neumann emigrated to the United States in 1946.
Forged labor card for Ralph Neumann, received from Ruth Andreas-Friedrich in April 1945. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Ralph Neumann in Berlin-Wannsee, 1946. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Ralph Neumann’s birthday party, Berlin, May 22, 1946, from left: Lilo Pereles, Dr. Hans Brombach, Angelika Rutenborn, Ralph Neumann, Grete Kirch, Maria Groffick (kneeling), Ruth Wendland, and Elisabeth Abegg. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Ralph Neuman and Angelika Rutenborn, Berlin, June 2005. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
