Milwaukeean Herta Hoffmann died April 29 at age 92 of complications of pneumonia.
She was born in Aurich, Germany, and married her husband Harri there. Having witnessed Kristallnacht in 1938, and fearing for their lives, they left their middle-class German life in 1939 and boarded a ship for America on her 30th birthday.
Her daughter, Lorraine Hoffmann, recalled hearing stories about her mother and her sister-in-law, who began their new lives scrubbing floors at the Jewish orphanage here. “They often said they didn’t need the scrub water; they could use their tears,” she told The Chronicle.
Eventually, the Hoffmanns became successful members of the business community and active in the Jewish community.
Harri Hoffmann’s first job was at the Greenebaum Tanning Co., where he met a man who made shoe polish that he began to sell to make extra money. Though they parted ways, the Hoffmanns continued in the shoe polish business, establishing products under the Hoffco brand that are still sold nationally and internationally.
Lorraine said it was her mother who actually learned to make the polish on a hot plate in the family’s apartment, and her dad sold it. Today, Lorraine, who lives in Chicago, runs the company, which operates a factory on Water St.
The couple was active in numerous Jewish organizations, including Lake Park Synagogue. Last year they donated a Torah to that synagogue in commemoration of the 62nd anniversary of Kristallnacht and in Harri’s memory. He died in December 1999. Herta also belonged to Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue and Women’s American ORT.
Known for her cooking and crocheting, Herta was not even five feet tall, but full of energy. “Disappointed with the matzo balls served at the New Home Club’s seder, she took it upon herself to make them for the more than 100 people the next year,” Lorraine said. “And anyone who had a baby always got an afghan from my mother.”
Rabbis David Fine, Israel Shmotkin and Raphael Wachsman officiated at the funeral on April 30. Burial was at Greenwood Cemetery.
Memorials to Lake Park Synagogue, the Wisconsin Institute for Torah Study or Lubavitch of Wisconsin would be appreciated.
Loading ...