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III. Buildings Integral to the Former Life and/or Persecution of Jews in Hamburg - Rotherbaum II/Harvestehude.© Wilhelm Mosel, Deutsch-jüdische Gesellschaft Hamburg. 3. Nos. 68 and 70 Heimhuderstraße.
In 1935 a private individual gave the Deutsch-Israelitische Gemeinde (German Israelite Community) the two buildings at Nos. 68 and 70 Heimhuderstraße. They functioned as community buildings. House No. 68 was initially used for exhibitions due to its poor structural condition. In 1937 it returned to private ownership. After being renovated, house No. 70 accommodated, among other things, two training courses. Firstly, a training course in domestic science was established in the cellar with kitchens and laundry, whose equipment and kitchenware mostly came from what remained from the former private household. An office, two conference rooms, and a teaching room were established on the ground floor. Two front rooms on the second floor were put at the disposal of a Jewish crèche. Kindergarten places had become scarse as Jewish children were prohibited from attending state Kindergarten. Teaching rooms for sewing courses, as they were modestly called, were also established on the second floor. In 1937 both courses, i.e. the Jüdische Haushaltungsschule, Abt. B, (Jewish Housekeeping School, Department B), a day school, and the Jüdische Fachschule für Schneiderinnen (Jewish Technical College for Women Dressmakers), both being training courses of the Beratungsstelle für jüdische Wirtschaftshilfe (Advice Centre for Jewish Economic Aid), situated at No. 2 Beneckestraße, became proper schools. In addition to the Housekeeping School there was a Schule für rituellen Haushaltungsunterricht für schulentlassene Mädchen (a school for ritual housekeeping for girl school leavers), which was a boarding school, situated in the Paulinenstift building at No. 37 Laufgraben.
At the Jewish Housekeepng School at No. 70 Heimhuderstraße it was possible to complete either a one year course in housekeeping or a one year course in home economics as preparation for a profession in the crafts. The housekeeping course provided a thorough practical and theoretical training in all aspects of domestic science: housework, laundering, ironing, cooking, baking, preserving, needlework, health care, diet, baby care, household accounting, Hebrew and English, and gymnastics. The aim was to provide the foundation for a position in the caring or nursing professions, or as a home help. The second course in home economics as preparation for a profession in the crafts provided courses in: the making of linen, dressmaking, plain and fine needlework, fashion drawing and designing. Domestic Science was also taught. This was a recognized Hachscharah training (Hakhsharah = preparation. The intellectual and physical training, aspecially the training in physical labour, such as farming, of pioneers (chaluzim), for settlement in Palestine). The Jüdische Fachschule für Schneiderinnen (Jewish Technical College for Women Dressmakers) offered a complete training in all aspects of tailoring, with the purpose of improving the chances of emigration. It was a two year training, sixteen being the minimum age of entry. There were courses in tailoring, fashion drawing, knowledge of fabrics, the history of fashion, Hebrew and English. Gertrud Pardo was head of the Haushaltungsschule (Housekeeping School). She had formerly run the housekeeping course of the Advice Centre that had been established at No. 70 Heimhuderstaße in 1934. The other teachers were: M. Breit, Dr. C. Friedheim, Margot Massé and Dr. C. Salomon. Gertrud Pardo had previously taught in the Hamburg school system and in 1933 was dismissed from the former Schrammsweg Commercial School at No. 34 Schrammsweg, in the district of Eppendorf. Margarethe Neumann was the first head of the Fachschule für Schneiderinnen (Technical College for Women Dressmakers). Prior to this she had run the course in sewing and cutting out, that had been established by the Israelitische humanitären Frauenverein (Israelite Women's Humanitarian Organization) in 1935 at No. 70 Heimhuderstraße.
Eva Warburg was head of the crèche at No. 70 Heimhuderstraße. A former girl pupil, Frau M. P., today living in Israel, recounts in a letter dated 23.11.1983 that Eva Warburg invested her entire idealism in her work. She had given a Zionist education. The crèche had been a home "with much love and warmth". Frau Warburg also saved the lives of many children. The children came to Palestine and Sweden.
In the spring of 1942, No. 70 Heimhuderstraße became a "Judenhaus" ("Jewish Building"). Deportation transports followed on 11.07.1942 to Auschwitz, on 15.07.19842 to Theresienstadt, and on 19.07.1942 to Theresienstadt. The following names are representative of those deported to Theresienstadt on 15.07.1942:
The following teaching staff of the schools at No. 70 Heimhuderstraße were deported:
The property at No. 70 Heimhuderstraße was compulsorily sold at the end of 1942.
Both houses at No. 68 and No. 70 Heimhuderstraße exist today and are residential buildings.
German text: Dipl.-Pol. Wilhelm Mosel, Deutsch-Jüdische Gesellschaft, Hamburg.
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