In September 1938, 19-year-old Robert Eisenstädt lost his job because he was Jewish. During the November pogrom two months later, he was imprisoned in Buchenwald concentration camp; he was released on February 16, 1939. After that he performed forced labor in a mattress factory in Frankfurt am Main. He met the Jewish Eva Müller there, and the couple soon became engaged.
In May 1942 he was deported to Lublin with his family. Two months later, he escaped from Majdanek concentration camp. On his return to Frankfurt, he was able to hide in Eva Müller’s home.
For a while, Eisenstädt also stayed with the non-Jewish Waider family in Hanau. Hans Waider, his sister Martha’s boyfriend, obtained Wehrmacht identity papers into which Fritz Kahl inserted a photo of Robert Eisenstädt.
At the start of 1943, Fritz and Margarete Kahl hid him for a time. Along with other helpers, the couple planned Robert Eisenstädt and Eva Müller’s escape to Switzerland. On February 21, 1943, they managed to cross the border. Eisenstädt made a slow recovery from this difficult time. The couple’s daughter Maria Adina was born in Basel in July 1943. The family emigrated to New York in 1947.
Robert Eisenstädt working in the Hanau rubber shoe factory, around 1938. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Robert Eisenstädt with his siblings Rosa and Heinrich and their mother Henriette, Hanau, around 1938. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Robert and Eva Eisenstädt, New York City, 1950. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Robert and Eva Eisenstädt with their daughter Maja (Maria Adina), New York City, 1950. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
