Hannelore Le Gendre was born in Stuggart, Germany before the Second World War in a time where she and her parents lived a full and active life enjoying many family outings in the Black Forest, skiing, camping, hiking and traveling in Europe. Her passion for literature and classical music stem from her father’s family business as book publishers to this day in Germany and her mother’s side included classical music composers and conductors.
The peaceful life of her youth was thrust into turmoil during the rise of Nazi Germany when she was separated from her parents. If not for arrangements her parents made to hide and protect her on a farm she may not have survived what became the largest modern horror of the time in Europe until American troops came through the town she was in and revealed the war was over.
As a holocaust survivor Hannelore was amazingly reunited with her mother who survived the camps after the war but never knew what became of her father. It is important to note that the incredible feat of survival had much to do with the stability she enjoyed before the war and cemented in her an inner strength that helped her persevere challenges she faced throughout her life.
No matter how devastating her experiences had been she never allowed her life to be forestalled by adversity with anger, fear or resentment. In fact, when recounting these stories, she told it with a sense of dignity and thankfulness that she did survive such a horror. So, it was not surprising when she heard her recent diagnosis of breast cancer that she said, “If I could survive the Holocaust, I can survive this too”. And, remarkably though she was in the fight of her life she said “look I’m 94 years old, I’m not going to be around forever.” She said happily that she was in her happy place in Cape Cod if this was to be her final weeks, months or maybe years.
Over the years, Hannelore’s love for the arts only grew as she made a life in New York. She and her husband, Henri who died in 2001 were avid patrons of the arts spanning sixty years from the NY art scene of the 50s and 60s to Provincetown, Massachusetts where they spent over 50 years of summers with their family.
Hannelore worked for many years in the garment industry, as a real estate broker and in the NYC education system. She enjoyed the theater, opera and music and dancing. She was a loyal jeopardy viewer and enjoyed playing scrabble with family and friends.
Hannelore is survived by her children, Serge, Darren and his wife Shawn, Monique and her wife Evelina and Dina and her Husband Ben-Zion. She is predeceased by her husband Henri and eldest daughter Barbara who had one child David and his wife and two children as well as seven grandchildren from her daughter Dina(Noah, Jemima, Yehuda, Meir, Yosef, Nachman and Sruli and their children)and Serge’s children Milo and Isiah.
Her final days were spent in a place she loved, raised her family over the span of 50 years and once again returned recently to enjoy the peace and serenity of Provincetown, affectionately her “happy place”. Hannelore will be laid to rest by her husband’s side in New York. “Mein geliebter ever thine, ever mine” together again.