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The Jewish Orphanages in Hamburg:
The Boys' Orphanage at No. 3 Papendamm (1900-1934) (Today Martin-Luther-King-Platz)
C.Z. Klötzel writes: "House no. 3 Papendamm was distinctly grand especially when compared to the neighbourhood in which it stood. A few tall, rather shabby, blocks of flats separated it from Grindelallee, an arterial road, the other side of which lay the Grindel quarter, an almost exclusively Jewish middle-class area. The other side of the orphanage verged on the yard of an elementary school and on the opposite side of Papendamm stood the ugly brick-built barracks of the No. 76 Hanseatic Infantary Regiment. House number 3 was like a small mansion, in brick-built Gothic architecture, with stepped gable-ends and a well proportioned roof. Over the entrance, reached via a flight of steps, the name "German-Jewish Orphanage" ("Deutsch-Israelitishes Waiseninstitut") stood in golden letters." An alien and isolated world awaited the nine-year-old Hans Klötzel who, in the hand of his mother, ascended these steps for the first time in 1900: around 30 Jewish boys between the ages of six and sixteen, orphans or half orphans like young Hans, inhabited these sparsely furnished rooms that were in no way reminiscent of a mansion. There was a dining hall with one long table and backless benches, two large dormitories, a bathroom with three bathtubs, two boys to a tub, a shoe-cleaning room and a classroom containing a teacher's desk and different sized school desks, a "library cupboard" and a number of pigeonholes where pupils could store their school books. It was here that the homework was done under the strict supervision of the director Samuel Plocki. This room also doubled as the only living room. There was no thought of toys for orphanage boys. And yet pleasant things often occured in the orphanage. There was a garden at the rear of the house with all kinds of gymnastic equipment. There was also a spacious veranda at the rear overlooking the garden which was utilized annually as a Sukka at Sukkoth (Feast of Tabernacles). Weeks prior to the festival the boys painted and constructed so that it was beatifully decorated. At Chanukka each child received a simple, little menora. These candle-lit menores were stood at the windows so that the entire front of the house was radiated with light. Religious festivals were the high points of the year not least due to the feast of cakes and other culinary pleasures. Good, plentiful, strictly kosher food was provided throughout the year.
The synagogue, with its places for 62 men and 50 women was the focal point of the house. Prestigeous and prosperous members of the Jewish community assembled here for the strictly orthodox religious services, held entirely in Hebrew. Many of these men donated larger or smaller sums of money for the upkeep of the orphanage. In return they stipulated that the orphan boys say Kaddish for their deceased relations during the year of mourning and on the annual day of death. The saying of Kaddish was also an important responsibility for the thirteen-year-olds before their Bar Mitzvah. After one's Bar Mitzvah one becomes a fully recognized prayer leader or reader, and as there was generally very little change in the daily routine of the orphanage this service was very popular. It never entered the boys' minds to enter the "board room". From time to time the worthy members of the deputation, who administered the orphanage independent of the Jewish community, met here. Moritz Warburg, (Hamburg 1839-1910), chairman, had tirelessly worked over the previous years for the new building in Papendamm (1841-1882: no. 4, 2. Marktstraße in the Neustadt, today no. 21 Markusstraße). The new building was officially opened in 1883 and was much appreciated as the old building had become totally inadequate. Neither Hans Klötzel nor the other orphans knew to whom they were owing for their benefaction: clothing, food, education, nursing - all free. They also received further help when seeking, for example, an apprenticeship, or funds for further vocational training. The "Society for the Care of Orphans" ("Verein zur Versorgung der Waisen") was founded as early as 1766, the second oldest Jewish orphanage in Germany. But who could expect the six to sixteen-year-old boys to be interested in the venerable tradition of Jewish charity? A charity that was incidentally very concerned that none of the orphans felt he was treated with either preference or disadvantage. An orphanage uniform was the result. Hans Klötzel: "It was made of ugly, grey cloth and consisted of short trousers and a jacket that was closed at the neck. In addition we wore the ugliest grey peaked cap imaginable." Hans Klötzel hated this uniform as much as the stipulated short, military haircut. However, the orphans enjoyed a privilege that no other orphan in Germany shared: they all attended a respected secondary school, namely the Talmud-Tora-Realschule (TTR). The contact between the orphanage and the school had always existed as it was self-evident that each child had a right to a basic education. Admittedly, not all achieved the lower school certificate (Einjährige). Hans Klötzel did however pass the difficult school leaving examination in March 1907. He did not regret leaving the "mansion" in Papendamm. "The orphanage was splendidly provided for with all things in which money played a role and no one could accuse the administration that they neglected the least thing in this regard; our food and health were amply cared for. However, it was never considered that young adolescents had psychological and intellectual needs to which belonged a certain measure of personal liberty", complained Hans Klötzel. In this respect the Jewish orphanage in Hamburg was no different to the corresponding Christian institutions at this time. Pedagogy was generally not progressive during the Hohenzollern Empire. After Eduard Schloß, with his wife Minne, became the new director of the orphanage at no. 3 Papendamm in 1914 the severity and uniformity of daily life gradually relaxed. The young director had pleasure in doing handicrafts and busying himself together with the boys; bookbindery and dexterity were some of the subjects he was trained to teach. Outings in the environs of Hamburg opened the eyes of the boys to the wider world. At sometime, the exact date it unknown, the grey, orphan uniform disappeared. In 1920 Eduard Schloß took up a post as teacher at the Talmud-Tora School and Raphael Plaut became the new director of the orphanage. Like his predecessor he saw it was important to get rid of the institutional atmosphere. The 1930s were a time of pedagogical reform that the Jewish orphanage neither could nor wished to evade. A visitor rightly asked: " ... how many children at home are as fortunate as those here in the orphanage?"
Gertrude Benzian and the Pauline Foundation (Paulinenstift) (1920-1934)
The Jewish Girls' Orphanage (Israelitische Mädchen Waisenhaus) at no. 37 Laufgraben was only a short distance on foot from the boys' orphanage. However, it was in no way reminiscent of a mansion; the plain, two-storey building fitted inconspicuously into the row of houses. A plaque adjacent the entrance indicated its function and origin: "PAULINENSTIFT founded on the 14th June 1857 in honour of the memory of Pauline Jaffé." The Pauline Foundation was initially an independent institution. It was taken over by the German-Jewish community (Deutsch-Israelitische Gemeinde) in 1920. In 1857 the orphanage was still located at no. 5, 2. Marktstraße, today no. 38 Markusstraße, in the Neustadt. In 1884 the new building at no. 37 Laufgraben was ceremoniously opened and was from then on filled with the lively bustle of the 20 to 30 girls from the ages of five to sixteen. There was no institution uniform but the modest financial resources of the orphanage allowed little concession to individual taste. The common hairstyle was two plaits put up as plain "buns" above the ears. And thrift stipulated orderly pinafores to protect the clothes, one for the orphanage and one for school. All girl orphans attended the Jewish Girls' School (Israelitische Töchterschule) at no. 35 Carolinenstraße (today Karolinenstraße), where the headmistress, Mary Marcus, had a special affection for the Pauline girls and endeavoured to see they received a good education as a prerequisit for social advancement. Gertrud Benzian, (Hamburg 1882-1934), had taught at the Jewish Girls' School for 16 years when she decided to dedicate herself to caring for the orphan girls. In November 1920 the board of governors of the orphanage appointed her directress of the Pauline Foundation. Gertrude Benzian was convinced that the principal task of orphanage pedagogy was "not only to provide food and shelter but to bring up the girls to be independently minded, differentiating, free, worthy individuals." And the girls could only become independent when they were not spoon-fed but when they enjoyed a certain measure of freedom. They now decided themselves on the allocation of their various tasks which had previously been dictated. The older girls took responsibility for the younger girls after Gertrude Benzian had thoroughly explained the responsibilities and after taking individual wishes into account. It was permitted to openly criticize adults which also included the directress. She saw it as specially important to break the barrier with the outside world. "Most importantly, children must get out into the streets, learn to see the world, and gather their own experiences." The girls were allowed to go for walks in small groups to discover the city and to go shopping. In the evenings Gertrude Benzian read the newspapers together with the older girls and they discussed the events of the day. She also considered that theatre and concert attendance were part of life in the city but for financial reasons they remained rare exceptions. Museum visits were both popular and stimulating. And there was much more.
The girls were allowed to accept invitations from school friends and were occasionally allowed to be hostess - a possibility that was met with delight. They had gymnastics once a week at the Bar-Kochba Gymnastics Club. Finally, and most significantly, they celebrated the Jewish religious festivals. Friday evening was a focal point, "again and again, a renewed source of pure joy", for which the girls made loving preparation. In handicraft lessons they made covers for the Sabbath bread, Seder bowls, and matzah baskets, and in the autumn there was much to do preparing the decorations for Sukkoth. The girls proudly referred to themselves as "the Pauline children". They did not regard themselves as being in an orphanage. They would have preferred to rename this institution the "Pauline Foundation Children's Home".
In addition to Gertrude Benzian there was a nursery school teacher, a housekeeper, and the wife of the caretaker, incidentally a Christian. Naturally, the older girls lent a hand. However, the work could not have been managed without the industrious "hares", girls who had left school and who were taken on as housekeeping apprentices, and who, under the direction of the adults, were instructed in all branches of housekeeping. Of the five "hares" in 1921 three came from out of town and slept in a small attic room, whereas the two Hamburg girls presented themselves at no. 3 Laufgraben each morning. There was a great deal of work, also laughter, song, "natter" and occasional discussion. All gathered together one evening a week for a discussion with Gertrude Benzian. By talking together about the problems they had experienced over the week they learnt a great deal about psychology and upbringing. All the apprentices agreed that the one-year housekeeping course was a marvellous experience. The trainee housekeepers were so valuable that more space had to be provided for accommodation. In 1929 a third storey was added to the building with rooms for 8 to 12 "hares". In September 1931 the Pauline Foundation took in the pre-school children who had been previously accommodated in the Wilhelminenhöhe home in Blankenese. The idea of having children of all ages living together was to promote the "spirit and atmosphere" of the parental home. In the summer of 1932, 11 pre-school children and 16 school-aged children filled the house with life. The 8 "hares" and two Pauline girls were occupied, from early till late, with all the domestic chores. The personnel was supplemented by a clerk, as technical teacher, and a children's nurse for the youngest children, supported by a trainee, the cheerful Alice Gramm, who had grown up in the Pauline orphanage. (Alice Gramm, born 6.02.1908 in Verden, deported to Auschwitz on 11.07.1942). Elisabeth Leibson, nee Mirabeau: "She cared for the youngest children with great love and self-sacrifice." Many of Gertrude Benzian's pedagogical ideas were put into practice, and there was great sadness when she died in the late summer of 1934. The First Years under Nazi Rule (1934-1938) The last years of Gertrude Benzian's life were clouded by the deep concern about the political situation in Germany. The children also sensed the growing danger. For some time they had not been able to move so freely as before in the small streets, passages and yards of the Grindel quarter. Older boys, with the peaked caps of the Hitler Youth, lurked behind the archways leading to the houses in the yards at the rear. They would suddenly appear in front of the Jewish children, blocking their way, jostling and abusing them. This occured ever more frequently. It was then good to find refuge with familiar friends in the house in Laufgraben. But Gertrude Benzian was no longer there, and other teachers and friends had emigrated. "I hope you like Tel Aviv. In geography we are learning about Palestine and discuss it in detail", wrote thirteen-year-old Ruth von der Wall to her former teacher Lilli Traumann. At the end of her long letter she longingly asks: "When will you return? Best wishes. Your former and ever grateful pupil Ruth." Other teachers were also missed. "What a pity Miss Strauß does not write to us, I would so much like to hear from her!", wrote Ruth. Several school-friends now lived in distant countries and were homesick. "I still hear from Summy, I have thirteen letters from her .. she does not live with her mother, which is sad. I do not think she is so very happy. She is in a college." On the 7th January 1935 the Pauline Foundation remembered Gertrude Benzian: "Yesterday evening we had a small celebration in memory of Miss Benzian's birthday. We read her last letters from Switzerland and then legends that she once read with pleasure. At the end we received whipped cream. It was then I said: 'That tasted as good as the time when she was still with us.' " It was now necessary to find a successor to Gertrude Benzian who would be equal to the exceptional difficulties. After the nursery-school teacher Gustel Gorski had run the Pauline Foundation for a year, in a deputizing role, the administration chose Elisabeth Mirabeau as directress. The reputation of the trade school teacher and head of the "Women's Commercial School in the country" ("Wirtschaftlichen Frauenschule auf dem Lande") in Wolfratshausen had preceded her and so it was confidently expected that she would prove herself. She had experience in running agricultural and domestic science courses in preparation for emigration to Palestine which was crucial at this time. Elisabeth Mirabeau energetically got to work. Initially, it was necessary to make the house in Laufgraben more homely; principally, the dormatories were impersonal. A sewing machine was bought and colourful blankets and friendly curtains were made. The girls eagerly sacrificed their night cupboards. Each Pauline girl was to feel she was at home. Elisabeth Mirabeau gave priority to establishing a state-approved Housekeeping School in the Pauline Foundation, in which practical training was supplemented with theoretical instruction. Together with Dr Ernst Loewenberg she drafted a curriculum that, additional to domestic subjects, included English, Hebrew etc. The goal of the course was: "The housekeeping trainees should be, after a one-year's training, capable of working independently in a household or of learning a profession." The curriculum was approved by the education authority and the board of governors of the Jewish community. The trainees of the Housekeeping School were exempted from attending the state housekeeping vocational school. An attic room was converted into a classroom. By chance the possibility arose to rent a first-floor flat in the neighbouring house so that the girl trainees who came from the surrounding areas, wishing to train in preparation for their emigration, could be accommodated. The girls, who had left school, had to work hard: they worked in shifts in four departments: in the kitchen, the laundry, the house, and with the pre-school children. Theory lessons were in the afternoons up until 7 p.m. There was a common work evening once a week when the trainees repaired their clothes. How they enjoyed the quiet of the Sabbath after such a week! Friday evening was begun as festively as possible. Following the common meal there was singing and reading aloud. The increasing problems were temporarily forgotten. There had now been four years of Nazi rule. It became increasingly more difficult to feed the children as the orphanages were run strictly according to religious ritual and due to the prohibition of ritual slaughter there had been no meat for years. But what was worse was the concern about relatives. Sometimes a child had to be told that the father had disappeared! The security of the family was under threat and the children who came from out of town experienced great anxiety whenever the post did not arrive. The staff of both orphanages did their utmost to protect the children from the feeling of threat and uncertainty; but they were not always successful. Emigration was the daily theme which meant loss of country and beginning again with that which was foreign and uncertain. It meant parting from people one had grown fond of. Nevertheless, quite naturally, one was happy to receive a certificate for emigration with the Youth Aliyah. The stipulated equipping was financed with contributions from the Jewish community. On the 8th September 1938 Elisabeth Mirabeau also departed Hamburg to emigrate to the USA. Edith Rosenthal, her reliable colleague, assumed leadership of the Pauline Foundation. It had now become impossible to work quietly and continuously in either of the two orphanages. New charges arrived almost daily, children from all over Germany who came to attend one of the two Jewish schools in Hamburg, i.e. the Talmud-Tora Realschule for boys and the Israelitische Töchterschule for girls. Following the "Poland Operation" ("Polenaktion") of Saturday the 29th October 1938 where hundreds of Jewish families of Polish extraction were suddenly and unexpectedly expelled, from German towns and cities, to Poland, and the terror of the pogrom of 9th/10th November 1938 ("Kristallnacht") when over 1,000 synagogues and countless homes and shops were destroyed, at least 100 people murdered and over 30,000 Jewish men incarcerated in concentration camps, girls and boys, whose parents were forced to leave them behind, sought refuge in the orphanages. Many of these children were disturbed and homesick. And still there were joyous occasions: when, for example, each week a group of children were invited by the family of Chief Rabbi Dr Joseph Carlebach at no. 76 Ostmarkstraße (today Hallerstraße). On 8.04.1940 Dr Joseph Carlebach wrote to his daughter Mirjam in Palestine: "It is sometimes very merry at home ... Every Sabbath (Saturday) the young children from the Pauline Foundation come to us for breakfast and relate their news and bring much innocent joy. Eva's little darling Erwin climbed up on me and allowed himself to be spoiled with love." (Erwin Kopf, born 18.11.1932, was deported to Lodz with his mother on 25.10.1941). (Chief Rabbi Dr Joseph Carlebach, his wife Lotte Carlebach, nee Preuss, their daughters Ruth, Noemi and Sara, and son Shlomo were deported to Jungfernhof concentration camp on the 6th December 1941; only Shlomo survived). Hildegard Cohen - Journey of Death with the Orphans Edith Rosenthal emigrated in July 1939. Her successor was Dr Martha Rosin until she also emigrated to the USA in July 1940. Who was to replace her? Director Raphael Plaut died on the 15th April 1940 and helplessness and sadness reigned in the orphanage at no. 3 Papendamm. Julius Gottschalk was appointed his successor. In the early summer of 1940 he, his wife and children Hermann, Ernst and Karola moved into the orphanage. (Julius Gottschalk, born 30.08.1898 in Esens and Minna Gottschalk, nee von der Walde, born 5.02.1903 in Hamburg, together with their three children were deported to Theresienstadt on 23.06.1943). In the Pauline orphanage Hilda Cohen had succeeded Martha Rosin as the new directress.
There would be nothing known about the last phase of the Pauline Foundation if four letters (7.01.1941, 19.10.1941, 2.11.1941 and 12.11.1941) Hildegard Cohen wrote to her friend Trude Simonsohn in New York had not been preserved. Through Trude, Hildegard hoped to contact her fiancé Max Warisch who, in the spring of 1941, was prisoner in Camp de Gurs in the south of France; it was not possible for her to write to him directly. She sometimes spoke to him in her letters to her friend Trude. (Max Warisch, born 25.06.1895 in Hamburg, murdered in Auschwitz in 1942).
In 1934 Hildegard Cohen, as a Jew, was made redundant from her beloved teaching
profession. Following this she struggled through with commercial work and private
language tuition for adults, but she longed for work with children and was therefore,
despite all the torment, happy about her new post. "I have become
completely familiar with the work in the Pauline Foundation and it feels like I have
always been here", she wrote to Trude on the 7th January 1941. At the same time
she did not conceal her overwhelming anxiety: She, her mother, her brother
Waldemar and his fiancée Lotti Schreiber, waited in vain for the entry permit for the
USA, although all the necessary steps had been taken. Her worry about the fate of
her fiancé tormented her most. On the 19th October 1941 she informed Trude
Simonsohn:
The situation changed daily. On the 22nd October 1941 registered letters were
delivered to numerous houses occupied by Jews, including the orphanages in
Papendamm and Laufgraben. They contained the terrible information from the
Gestapo: "Your 'evacuation' to Litzmannstadt (Lodz) is ordered." (The first large
deportation transport to Lodz left Hamburg on 25.10.1941). The "evacuation order"
("Evakuierungsbefehl") affected several children from both children's homes. Again people
packed, again there were farewells but this parting was very different to those before
the war when the imminent departure to another country meant rescue! On the 22nd
November 1941 Hildegard Cohen wrote to Trude:
A few days later there were "evacuation orders" again, and again the children of the
orphanages were affected. Hildegard Cohen's last letter of the 12th November 1941
reflected her deep depair: On 1.06.1941 the Housekeeping School was dissolved. Shortly after the November deportations (8.11.1941 and 18.11.1941, both to Minsk) Hildegard Cohen and the remaining staff and children of the Pauline Foundation had to move into the orphanage at no. 3 Papendamm. The house at Laufgraben became the Jewish old people's home and nursing home ("Jüdisches Alters- und Pflegeheim"), under the direction of Julius Gottschalk, until the last of these elderly and infirm people were sent to their deaths - together with the Gottschalk family. At no. 3 Papendamm deprivation and confinement reigned as this house also had to take in elderly people in addition to the children. In June 1942 they were again forced to make room for others. As the result of an application from the Hamburg education authority for the use of the school building at no. 35 Carolinenstraße, i.e. the Jewish Girls' School (Israelitische Töchterschule), the more than 70 children and their teachers were turned out with nowhere else to go. These pupils crowded together five mornings in the week to receive a makeshift education in the hopelessly overcrowded "mansion" until on the 30th June 1942 this "school" was also prohibited by the Nazis. A few days later the deportation order came for Hildegard Cohen, her staff and the remaining 14 orphans, the youngest being three-years-old. Hidegard's mother had died in the meantime. On the 11th July 1942 the "transport" departed for its undisclosed destination. (On 11.07.1942 the deportation transport left Hamburg for Auschwitz).
The children and staff whose address on the deportation list was entered as no. 3
Papendamm were:
Front, third from right Hildegard Cohen, second from right Emma Simonsohn. On the 9th August 1946, Berthold Simonsohn, former secretary of the northwest German district office of the "Reich Organization of the Jews in Germany" (Bezirksstelle Nordwestdeutschland der "Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland") replied to Trude Simonsohn, who had searched in vain for her missing friend: "I knew Hildegard Cohen from Hamburg well. Finally, she ran the orphanage in Papendamm. On 11.07.1942 she, and those remaining in the orphanage, departed on a transport that was allegedly destined for Warsaw. However, in all probability its destination was Auschwitz and there has been no sign of life from the deportees since. I spoke to her personally, together with her children, at the Ludwigslust railway station. She travelled together with the children and was very composed, as no one suspected that fate could take this form." (Dr Berthold Simonsohn was deported to Theresienstadt and survived).
Text in German:
Literature:
C.Z. Klötzel: Eine jüdische Jugend in Hamburg von dem Ersten Weltkrieg,
Hamburg o.J.
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