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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. 1. No. 17 Mittelweg.Former Office of Max M. and Dr. Fritz M. Warburg, known as the "Oase" (Haven).
In October 1938 Robert Solmitz was appointed director of the office of "Max M. Israel Warburg, Dr. F.M. Israel Warburg", as it was known later on the firm's letterhead, etc. (From 1.01.1939 onward, all "Jews" that did not possess a "Jewish" first name had to take the additional first name, "Israel" for males and "Sara" for females). This office initially administered the assets that were not taken over by the "Aryan" successor company, Brinkmann, Wirtz & Co., of the aryanized ("arisiert") M.M. Warburg & Co. Bank. However, the office was from the outset more than this. Firstly, the charity work and cultural programme was expanded when these moved to the Warburg family house at No. 17 Mittelweg, on the corner with Johnsallee. This occured after Dr. Fritz Warburg, having been released from the Hamburg Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp, emigrated to Stockholm in Sweden. He was the last member of the Warburg family to emigrate.
The house consisted of a basement and three floors. The basement was exceptionally spacious. The caretaker Bär, with his wife and three small children, lived here. In addition, there was a large room that served as an air-raid shelter for all occupants of the house during the later aerial bombardment of Hamburg.
The ground floor contained the library. This was run by the "excellent" librarian, Frau
Menken. In the course of time the library increasingly became a meeting place for members
of the Jewish community, the Jüdischer Religionsverband (Jewish Religious Federation) as it was then
called. (This name was given to the amalgamation of the four former independent Jewish communities in
Hamburg, i.e. Hamburg, Altona, Wandsbek, and Harburg-Wilhelmsburg, on 1.01.1938, following the
creation of Greater Hamburg, i.e. Hansestadt Hamburg on 1.04 1937). Here they were welcome, being
prohibited from practically all other venues. (A decree from the Reichsführers SS und Chefs der
deutschen Polizei (Gestapo) of 3.12.1938 prohibited Jews from attending theatres, cinemas, cabarets,
public concerts, libraries, museums, places of entertainment, ice rinks, public and private swimming
baths, etc.). The library was especially well attended during the winter as it remained well heated
despite the general difficulty in acquiring sufficient coal. When one entered the building it felt as
though one were entering a haven.
The office rooms were reached through the library. A large room contained Robert Solmitz's desk, work places for the two book-keepers, Heilbut and Tebrich, the two secretaries, Alice Ascher and Frau Baruch, and the bank-messenger Josephi's work place. An additional room was used by Robert Solmitz as a consulting room for assisting people to emigrate. On the first floor there were two rooms furnished as a doctor's consulting rooms. Doctor Berthold Hannes, one of the few remaining Jewish doctors in Hamburg, had his practice here. In addition there were two flats, one being that of Dr. Max Plaut, the chairman of the Jüdischer Religionsverband (Jewish Religious Federation). Herr Solmitz and his wife Hertha lived on the second floor. The cultural activities were not restricted to the library being used as a reading room, and board room for the Jüdischer Religionsverband (Jewish Religious Federation). Concerts, lectures, and readings were held and well received here. These were held in the afternoons as Jews were prohibitted from going out after 20.00 hrs. Of the soloists who performed in these concerts the pianist Richard Goldschmied and the violinist Bertha Dehn were especially popular. The actor Wolf Beneckendorff, who was a member of the cast of the Hamburger Kammerspiele theatre, was "exceptional". He showed unusual courage in holding a kind of dress rehearsal of his public reading of the poetry of Rilke and Goethe. Later, in June 1941, he accompanied Solmitz and his wife to the station when they emigrated. He was later blackmailed and murdered. Christian Niemeyer, company lawyer of the "aryanized" firm of Brinkmann, Wirtz & Co. contributed significantly in making No. 17 Mittelweg a haven. He had assisted in getting Fritz Warburg released from Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp, and arranged that there was sufficient coal for the heating of the building at No. 17 Mittelweg. The following poem expresses the importance of No. 17 Mittelweg as a haven to the Hamburg Jews during this appalling time:
"DENN ES IST WAHR: HIER BLÜHT, WÄCHST UND GEDEIHT
Robert Solmitz's work necessitated making journeys abroad for the company. Before the outbreak of war
he took journeys to the Netherlands, and later to Stockholm for meetings with Fritz Warburg. It was
unusual for Jews to make journeys abroad at this time. Jews were permitted to leave Germany but not
to return. When Solmitz had problems returning to Germany following one such trip abroad, Göttsche,
the head of the "Jews" Department of the Gestapo, issued him with papers that, among other things,
stated:
What follows is Robert Solmitz's account of the so-called Hamburger Plan, i.e. the
establishment of a state with discretionary powers (Reservatstaat) for Jews in the East:
I was again issued a passport and travelled to Stockholm. (...) Dr. Fritz Warburg dictated a letter,
that I took back with me to Hamburg for Göttsche. The letter read approximately as follows: In the spring of 1941 the winding up of the Bank was drawing to a close, and the cultural activities also discontinued. The building at No. 17 Mittelweg was confiscated by the Nazis. What remained of the office had to move to a small private house at No. 5 Böttgerstraße, where Dr. Plaut was also accommodated. Most of the employees of the Warburg office became victims of the various deportation transports, e.g. the caretaker Bär, with his wife and three children, the secretaries Ascher and Baruch, and the librarian Menken. In 1943 the owner of the building at No. 17 Mittelweg was the Hamburger Grundstücks- Verwaltungsgesellschaft von 1938 mbH (GVG). The NSD Studentenbund were the house occupiers. In mid 1938 the Hamburg Gauleiter (head of administrative district) instigated the compulsory confiscation of private property owned by Jews, with the intention of becoming involved in the selling of the property. This intervention was based upon the law of 6th July 1938 which changed the trading regulations within the Third Reich and which prohibited Jews from dealing in property, and prohibited them from persuing the occupations of estate agents, and house or property management. The Haus- und Grundbesitzervereine assisted in making a list of all Jewish property owners in Hamburg administered by Jewish property management which were then transferred by the Gauleiter to be compulsorily administered by a newly established property company, namely the Hamburger Grundstücks- Verwaltungsgesellschaft von 1938 mbH (GVG).
Today, the building is again in private ownership and predominantly in commercial use.
German text: Dipl.-Pol. Wilhelm Mosel, Deutsch-Jüdische Gesellschaft, Hamburg.
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