Franziska Selig was born on September 1, 1874 in Bischofsheim. She was the youngest of five children of Seligmann Selig III and Hannchen Wolf and sister of Siegmund Selig.

Until May 19, 1939, she lived in the family home at Frankfurter Straße 9. She was single and occasionally ran her brother's household. Possibly for reasons of age - she was already 65 years old at the time - she did not join her brother's flight to South Africa. Like many other single people from the Mainz area, she was probably forced to move to the Jewish retirement home in Mainz at Breidenbacherstraße 25 on May 19, 1939.

According to various sources, this was one of the many so-called "Jews’  houses" in Mainz. The Jewish population was either forced to move out of their own homes into a "Jews' house" or they had to accommodate other Jewish families in their own homes. In these accommodations, people lived together in very cramped conditions. At times, at least 122 people lived at Breidenbacherstraße 25.

Almost all residents of the "Jewish houses" in Mainz were deported to Poland or Theresienstadt (now the Czech Republic) in March and September 1942 as well as in February 1943. This affected more than 3,000 people in total.

Deprivation of rights, exclusion and robbery preceded this "resettlement" to the transit and extermination camps, as this barbaric action was cynically referred to. 

Franziska Selig also suffered this fate. She was initially taken to Darmstadt on the last transport leaving Mainz on February 10, 1943. The "collection point" was the Jewish old people's home "Rosenthalsche Klinik" in Eschollbrücker Straße. From there, she was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp - along with 52 other Jewish people, only six of whom survived the Holocaust. On May 16, 1944, together with 2,500 women, men and children, she was deported in cattle cars to the Auschwitz extermination camp. 

Given that the dates of the transport and her death correspond, it is reasonable to assume that she was gassed immediately after her arrival. Of the 2,500 people on transport Ea, no. 385, a total of 2,460 were murdered.

(Elke Möller)