Katharine Elsbeth Salomon
1884 - ?

Elsbeth (also Katharine Elsbeth) Schellens was born in March 1884 in Zabern (then German Reich) as the daughter of Dr. Jakob Schellens and Katharina Schellens, née Hofmann. Her Catholic father came from Neersen near Neuss (Prussia). He studied philology at the University of Bonn and received his doctorate in August 1864 with the thesis "De hiatu in Plutarchi moralibus". Jakob Schellens worked as a secondary school teacher in Zabern in the then German Alsace from 1874 and later became a senior secondary school teacher. He published a pocket dictionary of French and German languages in the Langenscheidtschen Verlagsbuchhandlung Berlin, which went through numerous editions. Elsbeth's brother Walter (also Walther) Schellens received his doctorate from the University of Strasbourg in Alsace in 1905 with a thesis entitled "On the behavior of plant and animal textiles to metal salt solutions" and then worked as a chemist.

In May 1914, the Old Catholic Elsbeth Schellens married Max Salomon. At that time, her family lived at Keplerstraße 20 in Heidelberg. Her father was already retired. At the time, her brother Walther Schellens lived at Alicenstrasse 23 in Darmstadt's Johannes district. Later, their father also lived in the same district of Darmstadt, but at Irenenstraße 2.

Elsbeth and Max Salomon had three children, who were baptized Catholic: Emma Judith (born in 1915), Ulrich (born in 1919) and Agnes (1921-2005). The Salomon family lived in Frankfurt on the Main, first at Holzhausen street 11 and then at Landvogt street 4 until they moved to Elberfeld in 1925. The family lost many old pieces of furniture and works of art in a fire in the house, but escaped without further damage. We do not have much information about Elsbeth Salomon. A file note on her husband's activities says the following about her:

"Seine Frau [Elsbeth Schellens] wäre eine sehr gern gesehene Dame, die es verstanden hätte, sich in den Elberfelder guten Kreisen bald Eingang zu verschaffen. Das Familienleben sei ohne Tadel. Er ist jüdisch, sie und die Kinder sind katholisch." (His wife [Elsbeth Schellens] would have been a very welcome lady who would have known how to make her way quickly into the good circles of Elberfeld. Family life was blameless. He is Jewish, she and the children are Catholic.)

After the family returned to Frankfurt from Erfurt in 1934, the Salomons lived at Eppsteiner street 45.

Elsbeth Salomon joined the Frankfurt section of the German and Austrian Alpine Club in 1922. Her husband Dr. Max Salomon had already been a member of this section since 1905. Her brother Dr. Walther Schellens had joined the Frankfurt section of the Alpine Club in 1912. According to the Frankfurt section Nachrichten-Blatt of January 1929, he donated 7 RM for the construction of the new Rauhekopfhütte. Elsbeth Salomon, like her husband, probably remained a member of the Frankfurt section despite the family's move from Elberfeld and later Erfurt. At least she is not listed in the Elberfeld membership directory of January 1, 1927.

The way in which she participated in the life of the section remains unclear for the time being due to a lack of suitable sources. Nevertheless, the files we have looked at show that the young Salomon family vacationed in the summer of 1920 in the hilltop village of Bernbach near Bad Herrenalb in the northern Black Forest. This makes their closeness to nature clear. Unfortunately, we have not yet found any documents that demonstrate hikes in the Alps, for example in the Frankfurt section area, or in the various German low mountain ranges. Furthermore, we are currently unable to say whether Katharine Elsbeth Salomon left the Frankfurt section in 1933 or not. As a non-Jew, she could have remained a member.

Katharine Elsbeth Salomon's husband Dr. Max Salomon was forced to retire at the end of 1934 for being Jewish. The family therefore moved from Erfurt to Frankfurt on the Main in mid-1934, where they had lived until 1925. The Salomons then lived at Eppsteiner street 45, not far from the Westend Synagogue. While her husband emigrated to Great Britain in April 1939, she was able to remain in Frankfurt on the Main for the time being as a non-Jew with her children Judith, Ulrich and Agnes. According to National Socialist racial ideology, the children were considered "Mischling first grade". This meant that they were barred from higher schools, universities and numerous professions.

In May 1941, Katharine Elsbeth Salomon finally emigrated to the USA with her children. In doing so, she saved them from further persecution. They lived in New York City, where her husband came after the Second World War. The family later moved to Great Britain. Dr. Max Salomon, who took the name M. S. Shellens, died there in Plymouth in February 1961. At least the youngest daughter Agnes also lived in this city at the time. We don't know what happened to her.