Wilhelm Rosenbaum

The Commandant of the Sipo –SD School in Bad Rabka

Wilhelm Rosenbaum was born on the 27 April, 1915 in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin. His father, Peter Rosenbaum was a municipal worker at the central covered market at the Alexanderplatz. His mother died when Wilhelm was just one year old.

His father re-married which brought forth the stepbrother of Wilhelm, Franz, born in 1910. He has been listed as missing since the Second World War. The second marriage was dissolved after three years. In about 1917/18, his father married a third time. From this marriage comes the other stepbrother Kurt, born in 1919. He lives today in Freyburg.

Wilhelm had an unhappy childhood, experienced rejection and had to stand on his own two feet at a relatively early age. He spent his childhood with father and stepmother in Berlin, in a 3 room apartment. Since this accommodation quickly proved insufficient, Wilhelm was found a place in a catholic boarding school.

When he was 6 years old, he entered the ‘Volksschule’ (elementary school) until the age of 11 years. He then moved onto the ‘Realschule’ (secondary school) where he dropped out after the third grade, at the age of 16 years. His school reports were poor. It was said, that this was due to a bad, oppressing circumstances at home, holding back his development in every way.


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The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team