Ludwig Freudenthaler (1889 - 1928)
Ludwig Friedrich Freudenthaler is one of the four Jewish men from Steinsfurt, that are honoured as victims on the WWI-Memorial in the synagogue.
He was born on January 9, 1889 in Richen as son of Aron Freudenthaler (1848 - 1912), a butcher and trader, and his wife Sophie née Bär (1851 - 1937) ◊. The couple had four children: Adelheid (*1879, Julius (*1881), Wilhelm (*1883) and Ludwig. Adelheid died within the year of her birth. Wilhelm was killed in action in March 1918 and is remembered on the memorial in the Jewish cemetery in Eppingen.
On January 6th, 1920 Ludwig Freudenthaler married Hedwig Ottenheimer (1893 - 1945) in Heidelberg ◊. She was from Heinsheim and daughter of the trader Moses Ottenheimer (1861 - 1942) and his wife Hannchen née Kaufmann (1867 - 1932). Ludwig and Hedwig Freudenthaler had two daugters, Anna (*1925 in Heidelberg, ✡ 2010 in Paris) and Hilde (*1926 in Steinsfurt, ✡ 2015 in Baltimore).
In Steinsfurt he was accountant in the firm Eichterheimer, that dealt with building materials. In 1927 he started his own firm dealing with metals, timber and building materials ◊.
.jpg "Gravestone of Ludwig Freudenthaler on the Eppingen cemetery, grave no 630")
On the WWI-Memorial in the synagogue is to be read that Ludwig had been wounded on May 6, 1915. He died on June 20, 1928 during a visit in his brother's Julius house in Richen and is buried in the Jewish cemetery of Eppingen ◊.
The Hebrew on his grave stone gives his name as Levi.
.jpg "Obituary for Ludwig Freudenthaler in the Eppinger Zeitung June 21, 1928: Richen, 21. June. On Wednesday last week the merchant Ludwig Freudenthaler, resident of Steinsfurt, had a stroke while he visited his brother, the butcher Julius Freudenthaler from which he died yesterday evening. The deceased was much-loved and well-respected by all and his death is honestly mourned. He came back disabled from the campaign. He lost his foot at the Height of Loretto. The funeral starts tomorrow afternoon from here")
In the local newspaper 'Eppinger Zeitung' an obituary was published on June 21, 1928
After her husband's death the widow Hedwig Freudenthaler moved back to Heinsheim where her parents lived. In October 1940 she was deported to Gurs and in 1942 to Auschwitz where she was murdered. We remember her on our Shoah page.
Sources:
Material from the {snippet AS-e}
Entries of civil registers for Eppingen, Heidelberg, Heinsheim and Sinsheim (now in the corresponding town archives)
We got the photo of Ludwig by his grandchildren.
The photo of the grave is by M. Heitz.
The Stadtarchive Eppingen kindly provided the clipping with the obituary.