Three descendants in search of clues in Bocholt

Talia and Maya Lieber visited the city of Bocholt for a day with their cousin Sarah Bamberger. They walked in the footsteps of their family here. Their Jewish grandmother Ursula (Friede) Bamberger lived in Bocholt until she fled from the National Socialists. The Friede family had the textile factory "D. Friede - Mechanische Baumwollweberei, Patentrauherei, Ausrüstungsanstalt" on Mühlenweg.

Josef Niebur and Hermann Oechtering from Bocholt accompanied the three descendants at the various stops related to the Friede family in Bocholt.

Visit to the grave of the great-grandfather

The journey began with a visit to the Jewish cemetery in the Stadtwald. There is the grave of David Friede, the great-grandfather of Talia and Maya Lieber as well as Sarah Bamberger. They continued to the information boards at the gate of the former Stadtwald camp. There, the young ladies diligently took photos to show to the family in the USA and Israel.

Tour of the LWL Textile Factory in Bocholt

At the former site of the textile factory on Mühlenweg, only pictures showed what it looked like until the 1980s. The head of the LWL Textile Works Bocholt, Dr. Hermann-Josef Stenkamp, had taken the photos out of the archives especially for this visit. Last but not least, the visit to the local textile museum with its weaving mill brought the history of the Friede family's own factory back to life.

News from Bahnhofstraße

There was only a brief stop in Bahnhofstraße. The Friede family house there no longer stands. Nevertheless, a conversation with Josef Niebur and Hermann Oechtering revealed a completely new fact: Talia, Maya and Sarah's grandparents met in the United States. But as it turned out, their families already lived on the same street in Bocholt.

Visit to the site of the former synagogue

The site of grandmother Ursula (Friede) Bamberger's house is now the Bocholt customs office. Finally, the three descendants visited the former site of the Jewish synagogue in Bocholt. Here too, Josef Niebur and Hermann Oechtering were able to explain the history of the synagogue to the young ladies.

Support from the city of Bocholt

After their stay in Bocholt, Talia and Maya Lieber went on to Cologne. Sarah Bamberger travelled back to the Netherlands, where she competes for the Israeli team as a dressage rider. The three were the third generation to visit Bocholt after the Second World War. Until the 1980s, grandmother Ursula (Friede) Bamberger and her husband came. Then Talia and Maya Lieber's parents were in Bocholt, most recently in 2015. The city of Bocholt supports these visits by descendants of former fellow citizens of the Jewish faith by preparing and accompanying the programme and the stay in Bocholt.