Unanswered questions: The Death and Disappearance of Walter Pelz

Today's NYTimes featured an article by David Stout on the opening of Germany's largest archives on the Holocaust. According to the article, the archive, located in the town of Bad Arolson stretches up to 15 miles and contains more than 50 million documents. It is one of the largest Holocaust archives in the world.

The article also explains that recently researchers and Holocaust survivors could request information from the archives but that some responses would take years. Citing that it contained sensitive information, the German government was previously reluctant to open the archives to the general public. It seems that today, the underlying diplomatic tension between Germany and the United States regarding Bad Arolsen will finally come to a close.

This is a remarkable development for many individuals including those who still search for the fate of lost family members.

Including my own family.

My Oma (maternal grandmother, Wilma Reich), lost her mother (Paula Bloch), brother (Max Bloch), sister-in-law (Liza Bloch), two nephews (Tommy Bloch and Walter Pelz), and one niece (Jeanette Bloch) during the war. Through research conducted by my grandparents and mother, we believe that my great-grandmother was killed at Sobibor while the remaining family members were probably gassed at Auschwitz. All were deported from Holland as they had left Germany years earlier in the hopes of avoiding Hitler.

My great-aunt Maja and great-uncle Georg hid with their two sons Walter and Peter Pelz in an attic much like that made famous by the diary of Anne Frank. Gentile friends facilitated this life-saving solution and brought the family food whenever possible. Needless to say, they were eating dirt from the flower pots by the time Holland was liberated.

A sad chapter of this particular family history must also be told. Due to the difficult conditions, older son Walter felt the need to somehow get out and work for extra food. Radio announcements advertised jobs for those young Jewish men in hiding; these announcements gave Walter hope. The family begged him not to leave the apartment fearing that this was yet another trap for the young and unsuspecting. Walter could not be convinced otherwise and left with the promise of returning with food for all.
He would never be seen again.

What happened to Walter Pelz? We still don't know and on her deathbed, my Oma spoke to Walter in German as if she was physically seeing him for the first time in years. Thus far, my research has come up short. Perhaps the opening of this new archive will assist families like mine to make peace with the final yet painful information regarding the deaths of those who were taken away too soon. Despite the fact that I never met Walter and only saw one picture of him, his undetermined fate tortures me. It seems that generations and circumstance may prevent family members from meeting one another, but justice for those who suffered at the hands of the aggressor will be sought despite the long passing of time.

To read the article in the NYTimes, cut and paste the link below:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/18/world/18cnd-holocaust.html?hp&ex=1145419200&en=6d06cffd56e8e2ab&ei=5094&partner=homepage