Alice Markiewicz

Alice Markiewicz (née Reich) was born on 7 September 1912 in Berlin-Charlottenburg, the daughter of Else Müller and Hermann Reich^.1 Most of the information about the Reich family comes from the archives of the Berlin Compensation Office. Her father worked as a bank clerk, her mother was his second wife. He had a daughter Valerie from his first marriage, whose mother Walburga died on 25 July 1910^.2 Valerie Reich probably emigrated with her husband to Rio de Janeiro before the war^.3

The Reich family had lived at Leibnizstra?e 31 since 1912/1913, but were later forced to leave their home and moved into a much smaller flat (Dahlmannstra?e 11), which they had to share with another family. Hermann Reich died on 15 February 1920 before the move^.4

Alice Markiewicz studied at the Faculty of Philosophy at Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin from 1931 until at least June 1933^.5 We do not know whether she was able to graduate. She married Hans Markiewicz on 29 April 1937. They lived together with Else Reich in Dahlmannstra?e. Hans Markiewicz was a merchant and Alice Markiewicz worked as a shorthand typist^.6 They had no children. Unfortunately, their fate during the first years of the war is not exactly known.

Else Reich was separated from the family and deported to Riga on 14 December 1942 on the 25th Osttransport. She has been considered "missing" since then^.7

Alice and Hans Markiewicz were deported to the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp almost two months later, on 3 February 1943, on the 28th eastern transport. The Ledermann family, with whom they shared a flat, were also deported with them^.8 Here is the description of the transport from Danuta Czech's book:

"A transport (404) of the RSHA arrived from Berlin with 1000 Jewish men, women and children on the special train Da15. After the selection, 181 men, who were given the numbers 99915 to 100095, and women, who were given the numbers 34183 to 34288, were sent to the camp as prisoners. The remaining 713 people were killed in the gas chambers. "⁹

Both married couples, Markiewicz and Ledermann, were labelled as "fit for work"^.10 However, they did not survive. The memorial book of the Federal Archives dates the death of Alice Markiewicz and her husband to 3 February 1943 in Auschwitz^.11