Rudolph Brandt

born born 14 August 1913 in Rathenow
died 5 February 1989 in Sant Julià de Lòria, Andorra
historical former address Mühlenstraße 4
Stumbling stone Mühlenstraße 4
Date of stone-laying 3 December 2019

Rudolph Brandt was born into a Jewish family in Rathenow on 14 August 1913. In 1920, Rudolph moved to Fürstenwalde with his parents Eugen and Rosa and his sister Gerda, who was a year younger than him. In their house at Mühlen­straße 4 in Fürstenwalde the family ran a shop for “haberdashery, drapery, trimmings, woollen and fashion goods”.

Following Eugen Brandt’s imprisonment during the November pogroms of 1938, Rudolph and his sister Gerda fled the “Third Reich”. Rudolph initially went to Strasbourg, then to the south of France. His parents moved to Berlin, where his younger brother Werner was living, following the father’s release. From there, the Brandt parents were deported on 12 January 1943 to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, where they were murdered. His brother Werner suffered the same fate on 26 February 1943.

Rudolph lived in Toulouse for several years. He got married there and had a daughter called Monique. Toulouse was also the place of Rudolph’s first reunion after the war with his sister Gerda, who had fled to Brazil thirty years earlier. With his second wife, Rudolph later moved to the small town of Pamiers, located at the foot of the Pyrenees. In the 1970s, the couple moved to Sant Julià de Lòria in Andorra. Rudolph soon took Andorran citizenship and remained there until his death on 5 February 1989.

Family members:
Eugen Brandt
Rosa Brandt née Hoffmann
Werner Brandt
Gerda Philippine Villemor Amaral Brandt née Brandt