Heilberg Breslauer Addenda

Marianne Breslauer née Schäffer was born in Breslau on December 20, 1914, to Hans Schäffer (1886-1967) and Eva Schäffer née Heilberg (1891-1977). Hans’ parents were Julius Schäffer (1852-1904) and Charlotte Schäffer née Schäfer (1865-1946). Eva’s parents were Adolf Heilberg (1858-1936) and Rosa Heilberg née Frankenstein (1866-1919).

Marianne and her sister Renate (1917-2002) moved from Breslau to Berlin with their parents in 1919. Their sisters Ruth (1920-2018) and Leonore (Lore) (1928- ) were born in Berlin. From 1933 until 1936, Marianne traveled with her father on behalf of the Swedish company STAB, which took them between Stockholm and New York. STAB then offered Hans Schäffer a directorship with the company in Jönköping, Sweden. Hans accepted the offer and brought the family from Berlin to Jönköping, where they settled at Brunnsgatan 42.

Marianne came to United States to attend the New York School of Social Work. She sailed from Bremen to New York in December 1936, arriving on December 30. Marianne graduated with a master’s degree in social work in 1938. Thereafter, she worked for Jewish Family Services and later the Community Service Society in New York.

Marianne married Henry Edward (Heinz Eduard) Breslauer on September 3, 1939. He was born in Breslau on January 28, 1910, to Georg Breslauer (1881-1937) and Margot Breslauer née Kreutzberger (1888-1980). Georg’s parents were Max Wilhelm Breslauer (1854-1916) and Rosa Breslauer née Fliess. Margot’s parents were Hugo Kreutzberger (1857-1926) and Laura Kreutzberger née Schweitzer (1865-1946). Henry immigrated to the United States in April 1937. He died in New York on June 15, 1992.

The wedding of Marianne Schäffer and Henry Breslauer was held in the apartment of Marianne’s maternal aunt Frieda Heilberg in Manhattan. The couple moved into a house on Linden Street in New Haven, Connecticut, in November 1939. Henry’s mother Margot and grandmother Laura came to the United States in 1939, after which they lived with Henry and Marianne in the Linden Street house. The Breslauers moved from Connecticut to an apartment in Jackson Heights, Queens, before their first child Helen Joyce was born on November 4, 1942. Their second child George William was born on March 4, 1946. Marianne, Helen, and George sailed in February 1947 for Sweden, arriving February 26. They stayed with Marianne’s family in Jönköping for seven months. The Breslauers’ third child Kenneth John was born on May 8, 1947. The family sailed back from Sweden around September. While they were in Sweden, Henry bought a house at 34-38 70th Street in Jackson Heights. They moved in on November 4, 1947. In October 1997, Marianne moved out of the house into a condo in Highland Park, New Jersey, to be close to her son Kenneth and his family. Marianne Breslauer died February 21, 2015, in Highland Park.

Frieda Heilberg was born in Breslau on February 19, 1894, to Adolf Heilberg and Rosa Heilberg née Frankenstein. She was the sister of Marianne Breslauer’s mother Eva Schäffer née Heilberg. Frieda received her doctorate in economics and social sciences from the University of Breslau in November 1923. Thereafter, she worked as a research assistant at the Chambers of Industry and Commerce in Breslau and Chemnitz (1924-1925), the Federal Bureau of Statistics in Berlin (1925-1929), and the District Labor Office of Silesia (1929-1933). From 1933 until 1934, she undertook volunteer work with the Jewish Welfare Bureau of the Province of Brandenburg. She then served as Senior Placement Worker for the Employment Service of the Jewish Community in Berlin (1934-1936) and Executive Secretary of the Division of Child Placement in Foreign Countries of the National Jewish Welfare Organization in Berlin (1936-1938).

Frieda Heilberg came to New York in 1938, arriving in April of that year. From 1938 until 1939, she was a trainee at the Federation Employment Service, then a Family Caseworker at the National Refugee Service (1939-1943). Heilberg then returned to school, receiving her master’s degree from the New York School of Social Work. After completing her degree, she was employed as an Area Worker for the National Council of Jewish Women (1945-1946), Casework Supervisor in the Migration Department of the Brooklyn Section of the National Council of Jewish Women (1946-1949), and Supervisor in the Location Department of the Brooklyn Section of the National Council of Jewish Women. Frieda moved to Milwaukee where, beginning in 1950, she was a Case Supervisor at the International Institute of Milwaukee. Frieda Heilberg died on February 7, 1986, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.