III. Buildings Integral to the Former Life and/or Persecution of Jews in Hamburg - Rotherbaum II/Harvestehude.


© Wilhelm Mosel, Deutsch-jüdische Gesellschaft Hamburg.

12. No. 15 Dillstraße.

  • Former Zacharius and Ranette Hesse, and Mathilde and Simon Hesse Stiftung (Housing Trust).
  • Later, "Judenhaus" ("Jewish Building").


The Zacharius and Ranette Hesse, and Mathilde and Simon Hesse Stiftung was founded by Simon Hesse in his will. He died on 19.04.1903. The purpose of the Hesse Trust was to provide subsidized housing for needy single or married Jews. The board of the trust were free, in their best judgement, to rent out the flats of the society's buildings so as to receive the means for necessary maintenance, repairs and other expenses.

In 1906, the sole trust building was No. 15 Dillstraße. It contained 8 flats which, in 1908, were occupied by eight families, rent free.

At this time, and until 1936, Ahron Wittmund and Jacob Tannenberg administered the trust. From 1937 onward Edgar Franck administered the trust alone.

No. 15 Dillstraße, 1987.

M. Josias, chief officer of the Beerdigungs-Brüderschaft der Gemeinde "Chewra Kadischa" (funeral brootherhood of the "Chewra Kadischa" community), lived at No. 15 Dillstraße between 1930 and 1932. The communities burials had to be registered with him.
In 1933 Rabbi W. Diamant lived here.

In Spring 1942, the Hesse Trust building at No. 15 Dillstraße was designated as a "Judenhaus" ("Jewish Building"). Prior to this, it and other housing trusts were incorporated into the Jüdischen Religionsverband (Jewish Religious Federation).

Practically all Jews registered by the Gestapo had to be accommodated in Jewish Religious Federation buildings before April 1942.

In 1942 Dillstraße was renamed Dillweg.

The following individuals are representive of those deported on the various deportation transports to ghettos, concentration camps, and death camps, whose last address in Hamburg was No. 15 Dillstraße:

Deportation Transport on 11.07.1942 destination Auschwitz:

Name Date of Birth Place of Birth Occupation Last Address
Jacobsen, Gerson 28.01.1941 Hamburg   No. 15 Dillstraße
Jacobsen, Regina 18.11.1924 Hamburg   No. 15 Dillstraße

Deportation Transport on 19.07.1942 destination Theresienstadt:

Name Date of Birth Place of Birth Occupation Last Address
Moritz, Judith 2.01.1924 Hamburg   No. 15 Dillstraße
Moritz, Margot 6.10.1925 Hamburg   No. 15 Dillstraße
Streim, Kurt Salo 12.04.1927 Hamburg   No. 15 Dillstraße
Streim, Siegfried Dr. 13.04.1896 Hamburg Dentist No. 15 Dillstraße
Streim, Sulamith 18.05.1932 Hamburg   No. 15 Dillstraße
Streim, Werner 15.11.1930 Hamburg   No. 15 Dillstraße

Following the deportations in July 1942 the Gestapo ordered practically all Jews living in "nichtprivilegierten" Mischehen ("non-privileged mixed marriages") to be accommodated in these "Judenhäuse" ("Jewish Buildings"). No. 15 Dillstraße was one of these specified buildings. In accordance with Paragraph 5 of the 10. Verordnung zum Reichsbürgergesetz (Reich Citizenship Act), of 4.07.1939, in the course of 1942 No. 15 Dillstraße was incorporated into the "Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland" ("Reich Organization of Jews in Germany"). All "Jews" (as defined by the Nuremberg decrees) living in the Reich became compulsory members. The "Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland" was a registered society with its office in Berlin. The local branches of the "Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland" replaced the local Jewish religious associations. The organizations had the goal of promoting the forced emigration. It was also responsible for Jewish education and social welfare.

Grindelhof with rubble, and the rear side of the houses in Dillstraße (left) and Rappstraße (right), 1945.

No. 15 Dillstraße exists today. It is again in Jewish ownership (Jüdische Gemeinde in Hamburg = Hamburg Jewish Community), and is a residential building.


German text: Dipl.-Pol. Wilhelm Mosel, Deutsch-Jüdische Gesellschaft, Hamburg.