Ludwig Assenheimer

In April 1936, Ludwig Assenheimer came to Belgium from Bremen to attend the Nid d’Aiglons boarding school in Kalmthout. His parents emigrated a year later, after which the family was reunited in Antwerp in early 1937. Ludwig, the eldest son, then took an apprenticeship in the textile industry. Like many others, the Assenheimers  fled from the fighting that began on 10 May 1940. Ludwig was detained as a ‘suspect’ by the Belgian authorities in Veurne, handed over to the French administration and interned at Le Vigeant. He was subsequently held at Saint-Cyprien and Gurs, before being interned at Les Milles in May 1941. Ludwig was assigned to the Foreign Labour Group at Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer in spring 1942. He took the opportunity to escape and went into hiding in Marseilles. 

Ludwig was arrested attempting to cross the Swiss border illegally on 16 September 1942 and was sent to Rivesaltes. He wrote a farewell letter from the camp to his relatives, who did make it to Switzerland: ‘left Rivesaltes for an unknown destination […] Mes adieux!’ Ludwig Assenheimer (22) was deported from Drancy via Transport 37 on 25 September 1942. He was ordered off the train at Cosel, along with the other men declared fit for work. Ludwig was used as a slave labourer at a paper mill in the Ottmuth camp and at Blechhammer. He survived the death marches to Gross-Rosen and was liberated from Buchenwald at the beginning of February 1945. He was repatriated and reunited with his family in May.