Ralph Moratz (M / Germany, 1931-2016), Holocaust survivor

Ralph Moratz (M / Germany, 1931-2016), Holocaust survivor

• KEYWORDS : SS Serpa Pinto Sep41 -- <Germany> <Auerbach Orphanage> -- <Refugees, France> <Chateau de Quincy> <Chateau de Chaumont> -- <Refugees, Spain> <Refugees, Portugal> <Refugees, United States>

Biography

Ralph Moratz was born 10 Oct 1931 in Berlin, Germany. He lived in the Auerbach Orphanage. On Jul 4, 1943, the children left Berlin on a Kindertransport to France. They went to Chateau de Quincy, near Paris, until Dec 1940. Ralph then moved to Chateau de Chaumont. In July 1941, he was allowed to go to Spain and Portugal and reached the United States aboard the SS Serpa Pinto in September 1941.

In the United States Ralph worked as a character actor.

Died March 10, 2016 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

IMDb Mini Bio (by Ralph Moratz)

Ralph Moratz was born in Berlin, Germany on 10/10/31. As Hitler's power increased he was subjected to ever increasing incidents of harassment: on krystalnacht, he and the other children were locked in the Synagogue in the Auerbach, the Jewish orphanage where he was living ... and the eternal flame was disconnected from the gas supplying pipe, an early attempt to gas them by the nazis... One of the children broke a window and the fresh air mercifully revived them. From then until he left, the gestapo kept two machine guns trained on the orphanage from the surrounding rooftops to prevent the children from forming any kind of resistance. On July 4th, 1939 the children of the orphanage were able to leave Berlin on a kindertransport to France. They went to Chateau de Quincy 30 km SE of Paris. Shortly before the Germans occupied Paris, they tried to escape the rapidly closing pincer movement of the Blitzkrieg. After 3 days of traveling by road and coal barge down the Seine, constantly dodging the onslaught of the luftwaffe strafing the retreating French army, they suddenly found ourselves at the battlefront. Ralph spent two hellish days in a barn waiting for one of the showers of shells around him to score a direct hit....then on the third day the occupying Germans told him to return to where he had come from and so back to Chateau de Quincy. The chateau had already been acquired by the German army when Ralph arrived back. The children were allowed to live on the second floor and had to become the German's servants. Preparing their food, polishing their boots, currying their horses, and whatever other menial tasks needed to be attended to. Several months into this arrangement, an incident occurred that angered the Germans and the children were kicked out of the chateau. The children were dispersed around Paris. Around December 1940, while Ralph was living in a Jewish orphanage in Paris, the Nazis were becoming more active. The Jewish lady in charge of the orphanage was taken away in custody and the same night Wolfgang Grajonsca (also known as Bill Graham Presents) and Ralph were spirited to a train station in Paris and then somehow successfully transported into un-occupied France. Ralph and Wolfgang stayed there at Chateau de Chaumont, Mainsat, Creuse until July 1941 and then made their way along with a group of other refugees to Marseille, Spain, and Portugal where they boarded the Serpa Pinto and after 14 days at sea arrived in NY. Ralph later found out that his mother, father's mother and grandaunt were murdered at Auschwitz. Grandfather Hermann Jungmann (father of his mother) was a Rabbi in a Synagogue in Bernburg, had been arrested during Krystalnacht and released after several months in a concentration camp. His synagogue was burned to the ground. He was admonished to never hold services again. He then held clandestine weekly services in the back rooms of Jewish stores and various apartments... usually by candlelight. Ralph found out on May 19, 2011 that grandfather Herman Jungmann and his wife Paula were both deported to Auschwitz, extermination camp on July 13, 1942. After graduation from Flushing HS, Ralph enlisted in the USAF for a four year stint. Joining Central Casting and SEG in Nov 1953 Ralph subsequently was booked on over 2,000 extra days. Several bits. Becoming a member of SAG in 1955 and AFTRA in the 1980s. Ralph took a 30 year hiatus to become a programmer, programmer analyst, and Application Manager of Payroll and Consumer Loans at a Major bank in Los Angeles. After retirement Ralph returned to background acting.

Personal Website (Ralph Moratz, 2011)

I was born in Berlin, Germany on 10/10/31. As Hitler's power increased we were subjected to ever increasing incidents of harassment: on krystalnacht, we were locked in the Synagogue in the Auerbach, the Jewish orphanage where I was living ... and the eternal flame was disconnected from the gas supplying pipe, an early attempt to gas us by the nazis... One of the older children broke a window and the fresh air mercifully revived us. From then until we left, the gestapo kept two machine guns trained on our orphanage from the surrounding rooftops to prevent us from forming any kind of resistance.

On July 4th, 1939 the children of the orphanage were able to leave Berlin on a kindertransport to France. We went to Chateau de Quincy 30 km SE of Paris. Shortly before the Germans occupied Paris, we tried to escape the rapidly closing pincer movement of the Blitzkrieg. After 3 days of traveling by road and coal barge down the Seine, constantly dodging the onslaught of the luftwaffe strafing the retreating French army, we suddenly found ourselves at the battlefront. We spent two hellish days in a barn waiting for one of the showers of shells around us to score a direct hit.... yet somehow, none did. The Germans told us to return to where we had come from and so back to Chateau de Quincy. The chateau had already been acquired by the German army when we arrived back. We were allowed to live on the second floor and had to become the German's servants. Preparing their food, polishing their boots, currying their horses, and whatever other menial tasks needed to be attended to. Several months into this arrangement, an incident occurred that angered the Germans and we were kicked out of the chateau.

We were dispersed around Paris. Around December 1940, while I was living in a Jewish orphanage in Paris, the Nazis were becoming more active. The Jewish lady in charge of the orphanage was taken away in custody and the same night Wolfgang Grajonsca and I were spirited to a train station in Paris and then somehow successfully transported into un-occupied France. I stayed there at Chateau de Chaumont, Mainsat, Creuse until July 1941 and then made my way along with a group of other refugees to Marseille, Spain, and Portugal where I boarded the Serpa Pinto and after 14 days at sea arrived in NY. I later found out the my mother, my father's mother and grandaunt were murdered at Auschwitz. Grandfather Hermann Jungmann (father of my mother) was a Rabbi in a Synagogue in Bernburg, had been arrested during Krystalnacht and released after several months in a concentration camp. His synagogue was burned to the ground. He was admonished to never hold services again. He then held clandestine weekly services in the back rooms of Jewish stores and various apartments... usually by candlelight.

I just found out today(May 19, 2011) That grandfather Herman Jungmann and his wife grandmother Paula Jungmann were both deported to Auschwitz, extermination camp on July 13, 1942. They were my mother's parents.

Since I've posted this web page, I've been contacted with several of the children who I lived with at the Auerbach orphanage in Berlin and at Chateau De Quincy and at Chateau De Chaumont. These have been very rewarding reconnections with our pasts.... if any other children from the Auerbach, Chateau De Quincy, Chateau De Chaumont happen to read this, please send me an e-mail.

I recently gave a more detailed testimony for the Survivors of the Shoah project and I will elaborate more on this in the future.

During my research for the testimony, I contacted the National Archives in Washington DC and was gratified to receive a copy of the page of the passenger manifest of the Serpa Pinto which included my name as well as the other children of the group that I was a part of for the voyage to the United States. We arrived at NY harbor on Sept 24, 1941..we had departed from Lisbon, Portugal on Sept 9, 1941. We zigzagged across the Atlantic to avoid the U-boat menace. But halfway into our voyage we were detained by a U-boat for 2 hours. The dreaded torpedoes never materialized and we continued our travels to New York.