User:Eli185/Emilie Pauson

Commemorative stumbling stone for Emily Pauson

Emilie Pauson, née Ziegler ((April 2, 1901 – April 21, 1971) was a German refugee from Nazi Germany.

LifeIn the early 1920s, Emilie Ziegler (April 2, 1901 – April 21, 1971), a native of Münchberg, married Robert Pauson (November 15, 1897 – April 22, 1960) a businessman who managed the family business from 1920 to 1938. He trained as a merchant and served as an infantryman in World War I from September 1916. The couple lived with their daughter, Margit (b. 1928), and Robert's mother, Rosa Pauson (1864–1949), in the spacious rooms above the family’s basket factory, located in a grand sandstone building near the train station.

The family had an art collection which was looted by the Nazis.

Nazi persecution

When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, the Pausons were harassed and persecuted because of their Jewish heritage. Emilie, a Catholic, was even advised by a local priest to divorce her husband, Robert Pauson, as he was considered a (non-practicing) Jew.

After Emilie's brother-in-law, Stefan Pauson (March 23, 1887 – July 25, 1964), was deported from Bamberg to the Dachau concentration camp during the November pogroms, Emilie made the decision to leave the country immediately, taking her daughter Margit with her.

In September 1938, 10-year-old Margit Pauson and her mother, Emilie, fled Germany to escape growing persecution. Emilie communicated with her husband, Robert, in England, warning him not to return. They escaped first to Switzerland and then to England, where Robert worked in a furniture company after internment. The family’s fortunes declined, and Robert eventually returned to Germany, leaving Emilie in England. Emilie refused to return to Germany and died in Coventry in 1971. Margit later studied violin in Munich and married a doctor in England..