On 27 January, it will be the 77th anniversary of the day when the surviving prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp were liberated. To mark ‘Remembrance Day in German Football’, which has existed since 2004, the DFL and clubs of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 will again be commemorating the victims of National Socialism on 27 January of this year.
As a representative of the many Jewish victims of National Socialism, this year as part of the ‘50 Eintrachtler’ project we would like to commemorate the tennis player Alice Ries, who was deported and murdered.
Bella Ries, née Hirsch, was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1873. In September 1897 she married businessman Max Ries. The couple, who were Jewish, lived at Sandweg 14 and owned another house on Günthersburgallee. Max Ries was the owner of the leather company Max Ries on Luisenstraße in Offenbach.
In 1898, son Ludwig was born, followed by a second son named Felix. Alice Ries was born on 8 October 1913. While the sons worked in the father’s company after finishing school and became partners in 1922, Alice trained to be a language teacher after leaving school. In 1928, Alice Ries became an Eintracht member.
The National Socialists’ seizure of power shook the family profoundly. Sales fell, and in 1937 the company was dissolved. The sons emigrated to America, while mother Bella stayed in Germany with Alice.
In 1938, Bella Ries was forced to sell the property on Günthersburgallee, which was once intended as an inheritance for daughter Alice. Bella also had to sell the house on Sandweg. From 12 September 1939, Jews were only allowed to shop at separate food outlets, opening hours were severely restricted and often during the working day.
Three days after this further harassment, Alice Ries was admitted to the Eichberg state sanatorium due to manic depression. On 31 October 1939, she was granted leave and returned to her mother at Sandweg. In November 1939 she was treated again at Rothschild's Hospital. Here she attempted suicide. In the years that followed, Alice was repeatedly treated in hospital. On 8 July 1941, Bella Ries was admitted to the Bendorf-Sayn sanatorium and nursing home for arteriosclerosis.
Alice Ries was also taken to Bendorf, although the exact date and reason are not clear from the available files. Together with her mother Bella and seven other patients, she was deported on 15 June 1942. In total, 573 people from the Bendorf-Sayn sanatorium and nursing home were sent to the extermination camps across five transportation instances between March and November 1942. Alice and Bella did not survive the deportation, the dates of their death are not known.
On 22 June 2013, Eintracht laid so-called ‘Stolpersteine’ (commemorative plaques) at Sandweg 14 in memory of Alice and Bella Ries. There is also a memorial stone for the two at Börneplatz. Earlier in 1978, Jane Pitt, a niece of Alice Ries, made a memorial leaf for Alice at the Yad Vashem memorial in Israel.
