Ilse Wagner

Ilse Wagner was a daughter and only child of Salomon Alfred Wagner (1891-1942) and Johanna Goldstein (1896-1943.^[1]  The Wagner family fled from Hamburg to the Netherlands at the end of March 1939, following  father Salomon's arrested after the Novemberprogrom of 1938 and imprisonment in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp until 11 January 1939.^[2] Grandmother Golda Wagner - Levien followed in August of that year.^[3] The profession of Ilse's father is as yet unknown; her mother is listed as a bookkeeper and typist. She is said to have held a diploma from a German trade school.^[4]

Ilse may have attended the Deurlooschool in Dintelstraat in Amsterdam. When she finished primary school in 1941, she was enrolled at the Gemeentelijk Lyceum voor Meisjes (Municipal Lyceum for Girls) at Reinier Vinkeleskade 62. On 19 May 1941, her parents proudly write to Ilse's mother's brother and sister-in-law, who had emigrated to America, that Ilse would be able to start at this secondary school in mid-September.^[5] But four months later, they write: 'Ilse is no longer allowed to attend the school we chose and must wait until another school is assigned to her.'^[6] From 1 September 1941, Jewish students and teachers were banned from attending regular schools. They write that Ilse, while waiting to transfer to a new school, received private tuition together with five other girls from her class.^[7] Eventually, she had to attend the Jewish Lyceum. In the 1941-'42 school year, she was in class 1L2, the same class as Anne Frank. In 1942-'43, she was in class 2B.^[8] In her diary Anne writes about her: "Ilse is a nice, cheerful girl (...). Ilse is very fond of me, she is very clever but lazy."^[9] But a couple of weeks later Anne writes that  she thinks of Ilse as childish and not very nice any more.^[10] According te Anne, Ilse was Hanneli Goslar's best friend.^[11] She owned a ping-pong game, which was used by the club Kleine Beer minus 2 (Little Dipper Minus Two) of which she was a member.^[12]

According to her personal card in the population register, Ilse's mother was an employee of the Jewish Council.^[13] Her index card in the Jewish Council's card catalogue states that she worked at rest home Margaretha. The card also states that her husband had left for Germany.^[4]

Salomon Alfred Wagner was probably deported from Westerbork to Auschwitz on 19 October 1942, where he was most likely murdered on 22 October 1942, immediately uopn his arrival.^[14] In maart 1943, Ilse, her mother Johanna and her grandmother Golda were also arrested and taken to Westerbork. On 30 March 1943, they were deported with another 1,252 people in freight cars to the Sobibor death camp. It can be assumed that Golda, Johanna and Ilse were murdered immediately upon arrival on 2 April 1943. None of the people from this transport survived the camp.^[15] In Sobibor, there is a cenotaph in memory of the three women of the Wagner family.^[16] In Hamburg, as well as in Amsterdam, there are Stolperstieine (stumbling stones) commemorating the Wagners' stay there.^[17]

Johanna Wagner - Goldstein had a brother, Herbert Josef, born 18 January 1899 in Hamburg, who managed to emigrate to England before the war. After the war, he settled in the United States, where he died in 1992.

An eight-part podcast series has been prodcued about Ilse Wagner and her family.^[18]  In 2024, distant relatives of the Wagners turned up who were in possession of correspondence dating from 1940 to 1942, allowing the podcast's creators to find out more about the lives of Ilse and her Wagner family in ds shadow of impending doom.^[19] 

Source personal data.^[1] Addresses: Schäferskampsallee 11, Hamburg; Biesboschstraat 17-II, Grevelingenstraat 11 I; President Steijnplantsoen 11 II (May ’42).^[20]