Berlin Deportations1941–1945

Regina Jonas

born 1902

Regina Jonas was born in 1902 in Berlin's Scheunenviertel and studied at the liberal Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums. On 27 December 1935 she received rabbinical ordination; she is regarded as the first woman ever ordained as a rabbi. She worked as a teacher of religion, preacher and chaplain, and a memorial plaque marks her former home at Krausnickstraße 6 in Mitte. On 6 November 1942 she and her mother, Sara Jonas, were deported from Berlin to Theresienstadt on transport I/77, and in the ghetto she continued to work as a rabbi. On 12 October 1944 mother and daughter were sent on to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where both were murdered. Sources disagree on her date of death: some place it shortly after arrival in October 1944, others give 12 December 1944, so the date is left open here.

Murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Sources

  1. Bundesarchiv, Gedenkbuch – entry Jonas, Regina Birth date and place, residence Berlin-Mitte, deportation from Berlin 6 Nov 1942 to Theresienstadt, onward 12 Oct 1944 to Auschwitz
  2. holocaust.cz (Terezín Initiative Institute) – victim record Regina Jonas Transport I/77 (no. 9690), 6 Nov 1942 Berlin → Terezín; transport Eq (no. 722), 12 Oct 1944 Terezín → Auschwitz; murdered
  3. holocaust.cz – Transport I/77 (Berlin → Terezín) Transport I/77 dated 6 Nov 1942
  4. statistik-des-holocaust.de – 71st–80th Alterstransport 6 Nov 1942 = 73rd Alterstransport, Theresienstadt code I/77
  5. Wikipedia (en) – Regina Jonas Ordination 27 Dec 1935; occupations; rabbinical work in Theresienstadt; uncertain death date (12 Oct or 12 Dec 1944)
  6. Gedenktafeln in Berlin – Regina Jonas Plaque at Krausnickstraße 6; deported with her mother 6 Nov 1942; to Auschwitz 12 Oct 1944; header gives death 12 Dec 1944
  7. Bezirksamt Pankow press release (2024): 80th anniversary of Regina Jonas's death Born in the Scheunenviertel; mother and daughter deported 6 Nov 1942; both to Auschwitz-Birkenau 12 Oct 1944 and murdered shortly after arrival