Max Schönthal
1901 - 1987

Max Schönthal was born in Frankfurt on the Main in October 1901, the son of the merchant Simon Schönthal (1867-1951) and Jenny Schönthal, née Rothenberger (1876-1968). His Jewish parents had married in September 1898 in Giessen, the birthplace of Jenny Rothenberger. Max had an older brother named Ludwig, who died of a long illness in New York City in 1934. The Schönthal family lived at Große Seestraße 29 in 1901, later at Jordan street 74 and, according to the Frankfurt address books, at Adalbert street 26 from 1917 until the 1930s.

Max changed his surname to Sheldon in Great Britain. In 1942 in Hendon (Middlesex, England), he married Annie (also Anny) Löwenthal, born in Frankfurt on the Main in May 1913, daughter of the merchant Isidor Löwenthal (1880-1959), born in Bad Kissingen (Bavaria), and Netty Seligmann (1890-1981), born in Frankfurt on the Main. They had three children, including their daughter Joan Chana Sheldon, who was born in London in July 1946. However, she died in April 1974 when she was not even 28 years old and was buried in Adath Yisroel Cemetery in Enfield (Greater London). Max Sheldon died in July 1987 and was also buried in this Jewish cemetery. His wife Annie Sheldon was 99 years old and died in July 2012.

Max Schönthal joined the Frankfurt on the Main section of the German and Austrian Alpine Club in 1922. Just like his brother Ludwig Schönthal, who also joined in 1922, he donated 3 RM for the new construction of the Rauhekopfhütte, according to issue 2 of February 1930 of the Frankfurt section's Nachrichten-Blatt. However, the news sheet notes that Max was living in Belgrade (Yugoslavia) at the time.

We are currently unable to say whether Max Schönthal, as a Jew, left the section after the National Socialists came to power in 1933 or was expelled from the section after the introduction of the so-called "Arierparagraf" (Aryan paragraph), as we do not have the relevant sources.

At present, we do not know exactly when Max Schönthal left the German Reich. In 1930, he lived at least temporarily in Belgrade. During the Second World War, he lived in London. His father Simon Schönthal died here in April 1951 and was only listed in the Frankfurt address books up to and including 1932. Therefore, he probably emigrated from Frankfurt at the beginning of the Nazi dictatorship. Max Schönthal started a family and lived in London under the surname Sheldon until 1987.

In November 1941, his uncle Louis Schönthal was deported from Frankfurt on the Main to Minsk and murdered there. In the same month, his aunt Frieda Appel, née Schönthal, was also deported from Frankfurt, but to Kaunas in German-occupied Lithuania. She was shot by the Germans there shortly after her arrival. His aunt Jenny Spanjer, née Schönthal, who had probably emigrated to the Netherlands in 1939, was deported from the Westerbork concentration camp to Auschwitz together with her husband Jacob Spanjer in February 1943 and murdered there. His cousin Albert (Peter) Spanjer went into hiding in the Netherlands in 1942, but was betrayed and arrested by the Germans in March 1945. He was deported to the Westerbork concentration camp and, in April 1945, was liberated there.