Fritz Ball (1893 - 1976)

Born 19 Jul 1893 in Berlin, Brandenburg, Germany

Died 1 Aug 1976 at age 83 in New York, Uniter States.

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Biography

Fritz Ball was born in Berlin, Germany to a Jewish family in 1893 in Germany.

He qualified in Germany as a Lawyer as a Doctor of Jurisprucence, Dr.Jur. Fritz Ball

He married Eva Unknown possibly prior to 1923.

Fritz worked in Berlin as a lawyer and notary public until members of the Jewish faith were banned from that profession by the Nazi government in 1933 and it is understood that he took a job selling soap whilst, in his spare time, he liked to play the cello. He was arrested with his brother Kurt in March 1933 and they were imprisoned together at the SA Prison Papestrasse. However even that was not to last and the day after Kristallnacht (a program against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's paramilitary forces, and civilians, throughout Germany on 9th and 10th of November 1938) he was deported to the notorious Sachsenhausen concentration camp (the first of its kind to be established following the appointment of Heinrich Himmler as the chief of the German Police, in July 1936, and where initially the internees were predominantly German citizens) where he suffered from severe frostbite, which terribly damaged his bow hand for playing the cello in the chamber music he loved to play with composer/pianist Hans Gal

Because of the worsening political problems of that time in Germany they sent their 15 year old son Peter (bc1923), in 1938, to live with an aunt in New York. He was released in January 1939 and in March their two younger sons Ernest Dieter Ball bc1927 and Thomas W. Ball bc1929 arrived in the UK on the "Kindertransport". Their own survival had to wait for a for a few more months.

A translation into English of an unpublished memoir dated 1946 and entitled "Interned Three Times"(referred to and donated to the Palace House in Newmarket by a later granddaughter, Sandra Ball) indicates that he was interned by the Nazis twice in Germany, before, in May 1939, they fled with two suitcases and two cellos to Britain and were, following two days in London, found a home by Anthony Rothschild (1887-1961 and a wealthy race-horse owner) in Newmarket. He was there from May until September, a time described by Fritz as " an oasis in the desert of years of bleak life", with some 25 other refugees (ranging in age from a retired Judge to a boy o three or four and also included a doctor, a pianist, an opera singer and an oil factory owner) at the Palace House Stables in Newmarket in Suffolk. Initially made welcome his joy was soon overturned when at the actual outbreak of the Second World War it was declared that all the male German Nationals be Interned, as "potential enemy agents", for the security of the country. Mr Ball wrote "to be interned twice because one is viewed to be a Jew and not a German, and then to come here and be interned because you are a German is too much for us. My wife is crying, she is suffering terribly. The wounds from Germany are still too fresh" and it would appear that this implemented in him a plan that family's future would not be in England. His internment was spent, mostly, on the Isle of Man and lasted for just a few months by which time the authorities felt he did not occasion a threat. Research elsewhere (regrettably not seen) has shown that he and his wife remained in Newmarket prior to moving to Cambridge in 1942 where they were joined by their two younger children for the next four years.

At the age of 52 and showing an occupation as a Barrister he is shown on a passenger list emigrating, with 616 other people, many of whom it would appear were of German Origin, to the United States on the 21st May 1946, from Liverpool in England on the Cunard White Star Line ship "Gripsholm" and later arrived in New York. His wife and children are reported as being with him but as yet I have not seen that documentation.

He died on the 1st August 1976 at the age of 82 in New York and it is good to note that his memoir ends with the following quotes "We were very angry that the English - who had saved us from the Nazis - had interned us," however it is good to note that he added "But when I think back to my internment in England, it's with a very different feeling. It was an interesting time. A time I wouldn't want to miss."

Research Note

No Documentary Proof as yet seen for the following information that I believe may be correct.

Paternal Grandfather: Alwin Ball 1828 at Calau -5 Feb 1896 Paternal Grandmother: Dorothea Gradenwitz 21 Mar 1838 at Breslau -1875

Maternal Grandfather: Bernhard Mendlessohn 1834-11 Nov 1907at Sroda Poland Maternal Grandmother: Rosa or Rose Maower 1835-1909 the daughter of Jacob Makowe 1802-1865 & Gluskchen Kelle Jolowicz 1805-1853 their son was Jacques Mendlesohn

Maternal Great Grandfather: Isaak Mendelsohn Maternal Great Grandmother: -

Father: Ernest Ball 7 Nov 1862 at Hamburg -1936 at Berlin; Ocupation Barrister Mother: Bianca Mendlesohn 1864-1932 Siblings:

Dr Kurt Jacob Ball-Kaduri 20 Jan 1891at Berlin -29 May 1976 Tel Aviv

Spouse: m1920. Charlotte Ester Senger 24 Jun 1894 at Neubranenburg -18 Mar 1979 daughter of Gustav Senger b14 May 1863-murdered 17 Sep 1942 (as attached death certificate) & Ella Lowenhaupt 1865-1935 Lost licence to practice law and teaching in 1933 and worked as a non-lawyer for Jewish clients Imprisoned, see above, from 11 Nov 1938-16 Dec 1938 & on his release suffered from severely suppurated hands Immigrated to Palestine with wife and child where he studied music as he was unable to practice his profession and they lived on his wife's earnings as a domestic help. .......their children were -----Gad (Klaus Gerhart Sylvester) Ball Kaduri born 22 Aug 1925 in Berlin who later married Hannah Ruth Landshut and was the father of an unknown child, and -----Robert Herman Ball Ball Kaduri born 29 Dec 1938 who later married and had a son Eyal Kidor Ball whose partner was Yally Plotkin and they had three children, unknown, Kidor Ball & a daughter Kidor Ball Tal with an ex wife Rone Kidor Falk He changed his name in 1945 to Jacob Ball Occupations; Lawyer, Tax Lawyer, University Teacher, Writer of historical studies on Jewish history and had unfinished books on tax law that laid the foundation for later tax law, founder of a private research centre for genealogy in Tel Aviv and in 1956 joined 'Yad Vashem'

NB. I understand from a comment I have received from a Julia Weinberg Ensel Shor that Kurt Jakob Ball Kaduri, was a witness for the prosecution at the Jerusalem Eichmann trial. (although, that too at present, is not covered by documentary evidence)

Walter Ball 9 May 1892-May 1940

Fled to Belgium and was a victim of the Shoah (Holocaust)

Dr Ema Dorothea Ball 11 July 1894-March 1981at Berlin

Occupation-Neurologist, Physician, & Psychiatrist Emigrated to United States 1934

Further Unsupported Notes He married Eva Guttfeld (c 1863-1923) Their children were Son: Peter Ball who married? with children Ruth, Ellen & unknown Daughter; Dieter who married? with childen Sandra, Unknown & Sandra Van Der Linde Son: Thomas NB. Granddaughter Sandra Ball was born in US before moving to the Netherlands. Her husband is Leo van der Linde Is this husband the same De Linde as Carl Johannes L. Van de Linde who was a passenger on the ship Jon V Oldenbarneveli, born in Netherlands arriving in New York in 1955.

It may be possible that the family extends back as follows; 1. Ernst 1862 2. Alwen 1828 b to Meyer & Leonore his children were Ernst & Klara 3. Mayer 1786 b to Alwin & Ernestine his children Jeanette Boas, Rosalie Nathanso, Saloma Ball Alwen Doris and 5 more 4. Alwin 1721 parents not known his children were Meter & Loeser

Outstaning Questions; where did three children go until 1942/46?

where is the paperwork for the wife and younger children go to America as not shown on ship with them? There was an Isla on the ship .........is Isla the same as Eva? Was the ship's record actually him?

Where did Fritz and the family live and work in States?

Who was Helene Ganz who married a Ball?

Sources

• 1946 Passenger List;

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=TNA%2FBT27%2F1584000111%2F00213 Transcript; First name(s) Fritz Last name Ball Gender Male Birth year 1894 Age 52 Age as transcribed 52 Marital status M Occupation Barrister Departure day 21 Departure month 5 Departure year 1946 Departure port Liverpool Departure country England Entry struck out N Destination port New York Destination New York State New York Country United States Destination place - country USA Destination country United States Ship name Gripsholm Ship registered tonnage 18000 Shipping line Cunard White Star Limited Number of passengers 592 Ship departure port LIVERPOOL Ship destination port New York Ship destination country USA Record set Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 Category Travel & migration Subcategory Passenger Lists Collections from Great Britain, England, United States, Americas

• 1976 Death:

https://www.gedenkort-papestrasse.de/dr-jur-fritz-ball-eng.html

Acknowledgements

for extra Research Documents and Photos: Suffolk News archives and Suffolk News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-61030320 https://holocaustmusic.ort.org/resistance-and-exile/hans-gal/ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Jacob_Ball-Kaduri https://www.holocaust.cz/en/database-of-victims/victim/32357-gustav-senger/