All names on The Wiener Holocaust Library Wall of Honour in Great Russell Street can be viewed here on our Digital Wall of Honour.
This is where biographical information, photographs and reflections can be recorded and shared regarding those honoured with a commemorative plaque at the Library.
Please click on a name from the list below to be taken to their dedicated page.
If you happen to know one of those honoured here and wish to share an anecdote or a picture, please feel free to upload it under the comment section below the individual entry.
To share biographical information, photographs or a special message please contact the Development Coordinator via email or on 020 7636 7247.
Wall of Honour Names
Rabbi Simon J Franses
As regards the history of the family, without any verification of papers, it is as follows. I was born on the 24th of May 1943 in Larissa, which at the time was under Italian occupation.
B’nai B’rith Leo Baeck (London) Lodge
This is to commemorate the contribution to the work of The Wiener Library made by the B’nai B’rith Leo Baeck
Hans and Else Briess
In 1939 Hans started to plan to move the family first to England and later to Australia, however this became difficult following the invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. Jews were targeted but only gradually and life seemed to continue with some form of normality although only later did it emerge that Hans and his father had been detained for a week in prison and interrogated about their political views.
Prof David Cesarani OBE
Prof David Cesarani OBE born 13 November 1956, London, died 25 October 2015, London.
Mirjam and Ludwik Finkelstein
In celebration of the rich lives of Mirjam and Ludwik Finkelstein
Paul Fränkel
Paul Fränkel, the second youngest of seven siblings, was born in Nepolokovitz, Bukovina on Purim 8 March 1900 into a chassidic family. His father, Rabbi David Frankel, was a prominent member of the Community.
Ernst Fraenkel
Ernst Fraenkel was born in Breslau, Germany and grew up there and in Berlin. He came to Britain aged 16 on one of the last Kindertransport from Germany in 1939, being separated from his parents and four siblings. He went to live in Bury, Lancashire, lodging with local families and attending the Bury Grammar School.
Felix and Hedy Franks
Felix and Hedy were both refugees but their paths to the UK and journeys throughout the war were very different. After Kristallnacht, Felix and his two sisters came to the UK from Berlin on the Kindertransport, reaching Southampton in April 1939. Remarkably, both his parents were able to escape Berlin and join them, just two days before the outbreak of World War II. The family resided together in Hampstead Heath, North London.
Ludwig and Selma Friedmann
Ludwig Friedmann, 30 October 1880 to 7 March 1943, – and Selma Friedmann, 8 August 1890 to 7 March 1943.
Jean Frances Harff
Jean was a long time member of the Wimbledon & District Synagogue, who decided to leave a legacy to the Wiener Library because of the close connection with her Aunt, Lady Rose Henriques, whose archive papers are deposited here in the library. In her own handwritten notes, Jean wrote: “My mother was a Coleman and their family went back to the Spanish & Portuguese Jews in the 16th Century. My mother’s sister, Auntie Rosie, was a real dear and married Sir Basil Henriques, the well-known youth magistrate and founder of the Bernard Baron Settlement. Rosie later became Dame Henriques in her own right.”
Dr Karl Michael and Selma Kupfer
A legacy from Karl and Selma’s son Erich has been used to endow this plaque and those for Erich’s grandparents Josef and Marie Weiermann and for his uncle Julius Weiermann.
Henry and Rika Leek
Henry and Rika were double 1st cousins: they shared both sets of grandparents: Samuel Benjamin Leek and Hester Joseph de Groot Isaac Hartog Nort and Rika (Joseph Levie) Van Ronkel. The first known Leek ancestor was one Samuel Victor b.1735c in Leer on the German side of the border. He came to the village of Leek near Groningen in The Netherlands, from which the family took its name. The family later moved to Groningen. The Nort family is in part descended from the Van Ronkel family who came to Groningen from Runkel near Koblenz in the early 18th century. The families lived in and around Folkingestraat, where the synagogue still stands and was the heart of the Jewish Quarter.
Dr Ruth Levitt
Dr Ruth Lang Levitt who died at the age of 66 from cancer, was a remarkable polymath, turning into practice strong beliefs in the public good and the importance of culture. Growing up in a secular Jewish family in North London, the daughter of Harry and Herma Levitt, she attended Camden School for Girls, then read Social Science at Sheffield University and LSE.
Catherine Lewis
Catherine was a beautiful and highly intelligent young woman who was always the centre of her circle. Her family and friends miss her constantly but celebrate her life.
Susan (Elsa) Marshall
Susan (Elsa) Marshall (née Held), the youngest of four surviving siblings, was born in Vienna in 1920. At the age of 19 and having witnessed the horrors of Kristallnacht first hand , she fled Vienna to London in 1939 on a domestic visa with her sister Luzi and her mother Esther who she cared for throughout this traumatic period of their lives.
Hilda Schiff
Hilda was sent to the UK as a seven year old in February 1939 on a Kindertransport, along with her older sister Gitti (Gisella). Although they were together at first in a host family in Islington, Hilda was then moved to the host family relatives near Shepherd’s Bush. From there she was evacuated three times, ending up in Penzance. She learned English quickly and did well at school, but her education was quite fragmented and she was away from her sister.
Josef and Marie Weiermann
Josef (sometimes spelt Joseph) Weiermann was born in Burgkunstadt, Bavaria, on 26th March 1863, son of Simon Weiermann and Johanna née Hellborn. He married Marie Steinhäuser, born on 24th October 1868 also in Burgkunstadt, daughter of Juda Steinhäuser and Sophie née Springer.
Julius Weiermann
Julius Weiermann was born in Burgkunstadt, Bavaria, on 28th November 1892, son of Josef and Marie Weiermann. It appears that he moved to Munich with his parents, but nothing else is known about his life there. He was deported to Kaunas, Lithuania, on 20th November 1941 and is believed to have died there on 25th November 1941, although there is an unverified report that he was seen near Minsk about a year later.