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Deportation Assembly Points.
No. 36 Moorweidenstraße.
- Provinzialloge von Niedersachsen (Provincial Masonic Lodge of Lower Saxony).
- Former Deportation Assembly Building for the following Deportation Transports:
On 25.10.1941, destination Lodz, Poland.
On 8.11.1941, destination Minsk, White Russia.
On 18.11.1941, destination Minsk, White Russia.
On 6.12.1941, destination Riga, Latvia.
© Wilhelm Mosel, Deutsch-jüdische Gesellschaft Hamburg.
Provinzialloge von Niedersachsen, No. 36 Moorweidenstraße, 1909.
The building which housed the Provinzialloge von Niedersachsen (Provincial Masonic Lodge of Lower Saxony),
at No. 36 Moorweidenstraße, was erected by the Freemasons in 1907-1909. The architects were M. Gerhardt,
H. Schomburgk and Chr. H. L. Strelow. In 1935 when the Nazis dissolved the Federation of Freemasons the
lodge was liquidated. In 1937 the City of Hamburg acquired the building for a ridiculously low price.
The new ownership continued until 1941. Initially, the Gestapo and the SS occupied the building. The
inside of the building was wantonly destroyed in the search for "secrets". At the start of the war
the building was used as a camp for foreign labourers, and later for prisoners-of-war labourers.
In 1941 the Provincial Masonic Lodge appeared as owner despite having been liquidated in 1937.
In 1942 the Hansestadt Hamburg appeared as owner. Initially, a rescue centre was established
here which in 1943 occupied the entire building.
No. 36 Moorweidenstraße served as deportation building for the four deportation transports of Hamburg
Jews in 1941.
The Gestapo had to decide from which railway station the Jews could be deported. Initially,
they decided on the former cattle railway station, with its sidings. It was relatively central,
was near the residential area most populated by Jews, i.e. the Grindel Quarter, and was relatively
hidden from unwanted observers. There was "dead" track that allowed the stationing of waggons for other
purposes than that of the slaughter-house, while the actual cattle transports could continue undisturbed.
Sternschanze and environs, detail, 1930, with the Cattle Railway Station ("Vieh-Bhf.")
and the Lodge building ("Log.Hs.") in Moorweidenstraße.
No. 36 Moorweidenstraße was specifically chosen by the Gestapo as an assembly building because of its
size, its relative proximity to the cattle railway station, and because it was still in the ownership
of the Freemasons despite having been forcefully dissolved years before.
Dr. Max Plaut, chairman of the "Jüdische Religionsverband Hamburg" (Jewish Religious Federation
Hamburg), gives detailed information regarding the first large deportation transport on
25.10.1941:
"On 25.10.1941, the Jewish Community in Köln made it known that during October 20,000 Jews were to be
"evakuated" ("evacuated" = deported) from Germany to Lodz (Litzmannstadt) in Poland".
On 17.10.1941, Kommissar Claus Göttsche, head of the Jewish department of the Gestapo phoned Plaut
and informed him that: "Next week, 1,000 Jews will be evacuated to Litzmannstadt".
When Plaut asked for more information he received the following statement:
"Initially, all Jews from pre 1918 Germany, all naturalized Jews from Eastern
Europe, all stateless Jews, and all Jews registered by the Gestapo as "mißliebigen" ("unpopular"),
and their families, were affected. Relatives, and those related by marriage, not falling within these
categories could voluntarily report. All Jews of Polish nationality, not having been already deported
on 28.10.1938 were included. Those concerned received "Evakuierungsbefehl" ("Evacuation Orders"
= Deportation Orders) by registered letter from the Gestapo, in which they were informed that they
should present themselves at the "Provinzialloge für Niedersachsen" (Provincial Masonic Lodge of Lower
Saxony), No. 36 Moorweidenstraße, one day before deportation.
This order literally stated:
"You are ordered to be evacuated to Litzmannstadt. Your property is immediately seized, anyone retaining
property will be punished".
There followed exact instructions regarding the taking of luggage, provisions for the journey, and money.
50 kg luggage (linen, clothing and blankets), and provisions for two days were allowed. The deportees
also had to fill out an enclosed list with their property and to hand it in at the assembly building
with their remaining money. After departing their flat the door key was to be deposited at the local
police station. The flat was then sealed by the police.
Later, the Oberfinanzpräsident (head of the Hamburg Finance Department) seized the property in the name
of the Reich, in accordance with the seizure order.
Provincial Lodge, a hall on the groundfloor, 1945.
The majority of those who received the deportation order were given advice and were, as far as possible,
provided for at the office of the Jewish community at No. 2 Beneckestraße. There was a well
stocked clothing store and an unprecedented readiness to help all Jewish people. The personnel of the
Jewish Volksküche (soup-kitchen) at No. 9-11 Hartungstraße supplied substantial warm meals to
No. 36 Moorweidenstraße. In addition, the community provided provisions for the journey. Special
articles were procured for the train: buckets and pots for washing, and drinking water, toilet paper,
hand towels and soap, hygiene articles and medicine, reading matter, etc.
(...) In the Provincial Lodge the deportees were processed by the Gestapo: baggage control, money
confiscation, collection of property list, etc. Jewish community personnel had unhindered access.
The Gestapo personnel had orders to handle the Jews decently and refrain from all harassment.
Nevertheless, occasional nasty incidents occuried. Over one hundred individuals voluntarily reported
for the first deportation transport in the hope of ending their life of persecuion in Germany. This
lead to a corresponding number of deportees being deferred. For a short period. The next day the
deportees were transported by van to the Hannöverscher Railway Station. A large contingent
of Gestapo personnel, and Jewish community helpers, were present. Adequate food, medicine and blankets
were brought. A Lieutenant and fifteen men of the Schutzpolizei (policemen), in uniform, escorted the
deportation transport."
Part of the former Hannöverscher Station, 1985.
Dr. Plaut writes further:
"(...) We gave 150,000 Mark for food, medicine and dressings. Our representative received the money
for the council of elders in Lodz.
(...) In Hamburg, Gestapo personnel informed us of the destination of the deportation transports,
many being opponents of this extermination policy and gave us much information, without being able to
alter the situation."
Varied figures are available for the first deportation transport:
The Gestapo Regional Headquarters Hamburg, in a letter to the Oberfinanzdirektion (head of the Finance
Department) on 21.10.1941, sent a list of names of the one thousand Jews, who were to be
"evacuated" (deported) on 25.10.1941. There were two hundred names additionally listed in case of
cancellations.
In addition the letter stated:
"The train departs Hamburg's Hannöverscher Railway Station at 10 a.m. on 25.10.1941 and, when on
schedule, arrives at 11 a.m. on 26.10.1941 in Litzmannstadt."
In contrast Leo Lippmann, former councillor of state in the Finance Department, and,
following his dismissal by the Nazis, financial expert on the board of the Jewish community, gives the
figure of 1,034 deportees.
The first edition of the Commemorative Book of Jewish Victims of National Socialism in Hamburg gives
a figure of 1,034 victims which was corrected, with the help of the Hamburg state archives,
to a figure of 1,021 victims.
Hans Lamm quotes a figure of 1,021 deportees.
What follows is an interview carried out by Herr Wilhelm Mosel with Herr R. in
Hamburg in the summer of 1982:
| Q. | "Thank you for coming here this evening. You are a survivor
of Lodz and Auschwitz. I would like to ask you certain questions which I hope you will answer as
fully as possible. Firstly, Herr R., I would like you to tell me about the members of your family
who accompanied you on this deportation transport, or the following ones."
| | Herr R. | "My father, a businessman, my mother, my two brothers,
one an apprentice joiner, the other an apprentice shoemaker, my wife, a paternal uncle, my
maternal grandparents, both renown Hamburg doctors, all received the same deportation order in
October 1941. The so-called evacuation (deportation) took place on 25 October 1941. (...)
We were received by members of the Jewish community at the Provincial Mason Lodge in Moorweidenstraße.
We were allocated rooms to spend the night. There was only the bare floor to sleep on. It was
impossible to sleep and, with the exception of a sick person, practically nobody slept as we
did not know when the deportation transport was to begin."
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| | Q. | "Herr R. please tell us what happened next."
| | Herr R. | "Next morning - I cannot recall the exact time - we
were loaded aboard lorries that arrived at the lodge and, as I remember, driven in the direction
of Sternschanze to Schlachthof in Kampstraße for entraining in passenger
carriages."
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| | Q. | "Herr R. can you recall the state of the other
deportees at the station? Was there weeping, or breakdowns, when people, perhaps now, grasped
the reality of the situation? How was the process explained so that you unwittingly participated?"
| | Herr R. | "Today, I cannot recall the situation precisely.
Naturally, there were tearful farewells as we were escorted by members of the Jewish community
(Jüdische Religionsverband). The rumour circulated that our destination was the so-called
Warthegau. I cannot remember if the term Litzmannstadt was used. I can no longer remember
the circumstances of the journey, not even how long it lasted. We were given provisions, which
I remember being sufficient. As the train made no stops we had little idea where we were at
any time. When the train stopped it was surrounded by guards and the entire train was escorted
by SS or police, I do not know which."
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Routes of the Deportation Transports to Lodz, Minsk and Riga; 1,034 is the number of deportees
of the first transport.
| Q. | "Could you tell us about the arrival in Lodz? Were
the deportees struck by the escorting guards? Was this the case with the entraining in Hamburg?
And what were the living conditions like in the Lodz ghetto?"
| | Herr R. | "I can no longer say anything regarding excesses.
I cannot remember that there were any violent incidents either by the entraining or detraining.
The guards acted violently at a later date when I was deported from Lodz to Auschwitz. I have
no experience of this occuring while being deported from Hamburg to Lodz. I remember little of the
arrival in the ghetto. I only know that we were met by guards. I cannot even say where. I think
it was at the station named Marischin (Marianów) situated 3-4 km north-west of the ghetto.
This was the line that was also used for the delivery of provisions and materials for the ghetto.
We were then allotted accommodation (...). You must image a city district that has been
arbitrarily fenced round with barbed-wire; the inhabitants having been transferred to
accommodation within the city. The Lodz ghetto was in my opinion the slum of Litzmannstadt.
There was no sewage system, little water, (...)
There were Jews that had formerly lived in this distict and who remained here. The ghetto was
called Baluty in polish, and was situated in the north-western part of Lodz (...)
Life in the ghetto was such that every individual had to work. This enclosed area housed factories,
among others clothes factories. Shoes and uniforms were manufactured, everything for the German
army. The materials were acquired and brought into the ghetto by the ghetto administration,
chaired by a member of the Gestapo. A very strict control was made. What entered the ghetto had
to leave it as finished products.
I enrolled with the fire department. As everyone had to work, this appeared to me to be the most
agreeable work. I was unaware of what awaited me. The ghetto had its own administration, the
ghetto administration, with the Jewish council of elders at its head.
The ghetto had its own currency, i.e. money.
Food, rationed, was acquired in exchange for ration-cards and was barely enough to keep one alive. Those who
did not work did not receive food ration-cards. I was able to assume my position as fireman
following several examinations in accordance with german military rules. The fire-brigade was a
well equipped organization that represented the interests of the german ghetto administration,
(...)
It had the job of protecting the buildings during air-raids and extinguishing fires. Each
factory had firemen detailed to it, who patrolled to supervise the ban on smoking, etc. We worked
a 24 hour on 24 hour off shift; this was automatically interrupted when air-raids occured. Those who
did not report for duty or did not carry out their duty were punished with withdrawal of their
ration-cards."
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Currency in the Lodz (Litzmannstadt) ghetto, receipt for two Marks, 1940.
| Q. | "May I ask you, Herr R., what occured to your relatives
in Lodz?"
| | Herr R. | "We were all allocated to different accommodation.
My wife, parents in law, and I lived in one 15 m². My parents, my brothers, and my uncle lived
in another flat, whereby there were no toilets. Buckets were available for this purpose, which
were then taken outside.
We had to survive on the rations that were allocated to us. There was a black market as was the
case everywhere during the war. One bartered bread for saccharin there being no real sugar. One
bartered saccharin for meat, when there was any, or one bartered sausage for a scarf or a cap,
according to need.
Everyone had to work, my parents-in-law, being doctors, in a hospital, my wife in a
clothes factory she being a dressmaker, me by the fire-brigade, one brother in a carpentary
department, the other manufacturing army boots for the armed forces."
| |
| | Q. | "Herr R., in July 1944, when the Lodz ghetto was
dissolved, you were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp and extermination camp.
Could you tell us about the deportation transport and about the short time you were in Auschwitz?"
| | Herr R. | "In July 1944, we learnt in the ghetto that
the german army was in retreat. We were almost the last to be deported to Auschwitz, the
fire-bigade being required to protect the ghetto from fire and air-raids until the end. My
brothers had been deported a year previously, to a destination unknown to me. As was my mother.
My father and uncle both died from malnutrician. I buried them myself, wrapped in a scarf.
My parents-in-law were deported to Auschwitz several months prior to us. My wife and I were
deported to Auschwitz in one of the last transports. In Lodz we were transported in goods waggons
under the most primitive conditions, being hardly able to take anything with us. I was still in
uniform.
In Auschwitz we were received on the so-called ramp. The "selection" proceeded on detraining.
The men were separated from the women. The few remaining children were immediately "selected". I
saw my wife for the penultimate time on the ramp. We immediately entered a barrack where we had to
remove our clothes and where our relatively good high boots quickly disappeared, and where we were
allocated prisoners' clothes with corresponding numbers. We were then taken to another barrack.
These barracks, which had once served as stables were our accommodation. It was warm enough inside
as the "stable" was full of people. It was endurable during the day, as long as the weather was
dry and we could linger outside, as long as we were not detailed to work. Here, by chance, I saw
my wife once more. I hardly recognized her as her head had been shaven and she had no head covering,
whereas we wore caps on our shaven heads. At the end of 1944 we were transported westwards."
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Routes of the Deportation Transports to Auschwitz, detail, the figure of 95 beneath Lodz is
the number of deported on 12.01.1944.
In conclusion follows a selection of names of those deported to Lodz on 25.10.1941
Deportation Transport on 25.10.1941 destination Lodz:
| Name | Date of Birth | Place of Birth
| Occupation | Last Address
|
| Abrahams, Denny | 20.09.1938 | Hamburg
| | No. 17 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Behrens, Alfred | 7.09.1935 | Hamburg
| | No. 4 Beneckestraße
| | Behrens, Uri | 22.11.1938 | Hamburg
| | No. 4 Beneckestraße
| | Beith, Günther | 14.06.1933 | Hamburg
| | No. 11 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Beith, Harald | 19.10.1927 | Hamburg
| | No. 11 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Beith, Uri | 23.09.1938 | Hamburg
| | No. 11 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Blankenstein, Edith | 15.05.1881 | Hamburg
| Teacher | No. 5 Böttgerstraße
| | Brummer, Hans | 31.12.1925 | Hamburg
| | No. 63 Schlüterstraße
| | Brummer, Irma | 18.07.1926 | Hamburg
| | No. 63 Schlüterstraße
| | Brummer, Ruth | 2.08.1929 | Hamburg
| | No. 63 Schlüterstraße
| | Cohn, Arnold | 12.05.1927 | Lübeck
| | No. 17 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Finkel, Ludwig | 27.05.1885 | Posen
| Choir-Master | No. 95 Grindelhof
| | Frankenthal, Lothar | 2.08.1924 | Hamburg
| Apprentice | No. 15 Dillstraße
| | Freudlich, Siegfried | 18.01.1882 | Hamburg
| Musician | No. 14 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Glück, Bernhard | 5.08.1938 | Hamburg
| | No. 5 Rutschbahn
| | Hammer, Alfred | 21.10.1936 | Hamburg
| | No. 153 Grindelallee
| | Hirsch, Denny | 25.08.1938 | Hamburg
| | No. 13 Rappstraße
| | Hirsch, Rolf | 15.11.1934 | Hamburg
| | No. 13 Rappstraße
| | Jacobsohn, Rolf | 28.12.1926 | Hamburg
| | No. 15 Rutschbahn
| | Kahan, Gustav Jacob | 15.02.1930 | Hamburg
| | No. 16 Bornstraße
| | Kahan, Rahel | 27.12.1926 | Hamburg
| | No. 16 Bornstraße
| | Kahan, Rosi | 25.06.1925 | Berlin
| | No. 16 Bornstraße
| | Kargauer, Gisela, née Mularski | 12.04.1920 | Breczyin
| | No. 1 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Kuppermann, Gerda | 22.06.1922 | Hamburg
| Trainee Nurse | No. 6 Beneckestraße
| | Maidanek, Herbert | 5.04.1920 | Harburg
| Builder | No. 15 Dillstraße
| | Mannheim, Ester Ella | 18.12.1889 | Lübeck
| Language Teacher | No. 16 Bornstraße
| | Monheit, Mirla | 21.04.1926 | Kiel
| | No. 3 Rappstraße
| | Münster, Ester Sara | 4.12.1920 | Hamburg
| Worker | No. 8 Dillstraße
| | Mularski, Siegfried | 11.09.1930 | Lübeck
| | No. 1 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Nossen, Henry | 23.05.1892 | Freiburg/Schl.
| Pharmacist | No. 2 Rappstraße
| | Pippersberg, Gerd | 20.10.1931 | Hamburg
| School Pupil | No. 68 Grindelallee
| | Plessner, Esther | 1.03.1924 | Hamburg
| | No. 168 Grindelallee
| | Plessner, Ruth | 6.02.1925 | Hamburg
| | No. 168 Grindelallee
| | Rendsburg, Norbert | 26.07.1921 | Hamburg
| | No 20 Bornstraße
| | Rendsburg, Werner | 12.11.1924 | Hamburg
| | No 20 Bornstraße
| | Schwarz, Helga | 6.05.1930 | Berlin-Wilmersdorf
| | No. 95 Grindelhof
| | Taubermann, Else | 5.07.1920 | Koposvar
| Packer | No. 123 Grindelallee
| | Westfeld, David | 16.04.1885 | Braunschweig
| Nurse | No. 4 Beneckestraße
| | Behrend, Edith | 15.01.1895 | Hamburg
| Teacher | No 20 Bornstraße
| | Blumenthal, Anni | 26.03.1922 | Nürnberg
| Worker | No. 123 Grindelallee
| | Neumann, Miriam | 27.11.1923 | Hamburg
| | No. 6 Rappstraße
| | Melamerson, Reha | 15.08.1941 | Hamburg
| | No. 7 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Melamerson, Ruth Sonja | 28.06.1922 | Hamburg
| Worker | No. 7 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Herrmannsen, David | 1.01.1920 | Ignalinow
| Locksmith | No. 6 Rappstraße
| | Herrmannsen, Jakob | 10.01.1922 | Wilna
| | No. 6 Bornstraße
|
There are also varied figures available for the deportation transport to Minsk on
8.11.1941:
The Gestapo Regional Headquarters Hamburg, in a letter to the Oberfinanzdirektion (head of the Finance
Department) on 7.11.1941, sent a list of names of the one thousand Jews, who were to be
"evacuated" (deported) to Minsk on 8.11.1941.
In addition the letter stated:
"The train departs Hamburg's Hannöverscher Railway Station at 10.25 a.m. on 25.10.1941 and, when on
schedule, arrives in Minsk on 8.11.1941."
In contrast Leo Lippmann, former councillor of state in the Finance Department, and,
following his dismissal by the Nazis, financial expert on the board of the Jewish community, gives the
figure of 959 deportees.
The first edition of the Commemorative Book of Jewish Victims of National Socialism in Hamburg gives
a figure of 965 victims which was corrected, with the help of the Hamburg state archives,
to a figure of 963 victims.
Hans Lamm quotes a figure of 1,004 deportees.
Dr. M. Plaut, relates the following regarding the two deportation transports to Minsk
(i.e. on 8.11.1942 and 18.11.1941):
"I was informed that further deportation transports were to take place within the following few weeks.
This time all people under 65 years of age (women under 60) were affected. The circular to all
Gestapo departments from the Reichssicherheitshauptamtes (Gestapo Headquarters) contained the precise
timetables and number of people. The local Jewish organizations were to "collaborate". Among other
things, I was instructed to draw up lists of deportees. I absolutely declined to do this. Thereby,
Kommissar Göttsche instructed his colleagues Walter W. Wohlers and Walter M. Mecklenburg
to do this miserable business. It was forbidden to use the word "Evakuierung" ("evacuation"). The term
that was now to be used was "Abwanderung" ("migration"). The regulations remained the same for all
following deportation transports, as did the transport procedure (...)"
Later in his report Dr. Plaut mentions that the escorting officer of the Hamburg Schutzpolitei (police)
of one of the deportation transports to Minsk had so badly maltreated a deportee that he died
immediately.
He remarks that the Hamburg civil service departments were comparatively "tolerable" and in comparison
to other cities, e.g. Hannover, Kassel, Berlin, more "humane".
Dr. Plaut concludes:
"The deportees bore themselves not only with composure but also with courage. The feeling that
"it cannot get much worse" may have made some fatalistic, but the majority knew their fate under
Nazi power and endured it. (...)"
Frau W., living in Hamburg, gave the following report as an eye-witness to the
procedure from the receiving of the "Evakuierungsbefehle" ("evacuation order"), i.e. deportation
order, by a family living at No. 8 Heinrich-Barth-Straße to her accompanying them to
the Provincial Masonic Lodge building at No. 36 Moorweidenstraße:
"I was visiting a family living at No. 8 Heinrich-Barth-Straße one day in November 1941 when the
postman brought "Evakuierungsbefehle" ("evacuation orders"). I heard the doors of the flats being
opened and people receiving their orders and how they immediately burst into screams and tears.
The Evakuierungs-Nummer ("evacuation number") had to be written or sewn on to every piece of luggage,
suitcase, rucksack or bag.
I was there when our friends, Gustav and Rosa Spiegel, with their 11 and 14
year old daughters Marga and Rita, and their two foster sons received their
"evacuation order".
Gustav Spiegel worked, up until the last moment, for HAPAG, i.e. Hapag Lloyd Shipping Line
(Hamburg-Amerikanische Paketfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft) and had, through his untiring work, enabled
numerous people to emigrate. For himself and his family it was too late.
A form was enclosed to list all household goods. The flats were to be sealed up after the keys
were deposited at the police station in Sedanstraße.
Imagine the situation: they had only a few hours to pack a suitcase to a specified weight and make
a very detailed list of their household goods. This was done with a panic-stricken fear of the fate
that awaited them, and the uncertainty whether they could stay together.
Meanwhile rumours spread of a previous deportation transport where people vanished without trace,
mothers and children being torn apart, i.e. no "Umsiedlund" ("resettlement") as officially reported.
I knitted a pair of gloves for the eleven year old Marga Spiegel, that she had always wished
for and not acquired, Jews not being given Kleiderkarten (clothing coupons). In exchange she gave me
a picture and a small valueless brooch. I am in possession of them until today and the small pin is
worth gold to me.
  
Gustav Spiegel (1896-1942) Marga Spiegel's brooch Marga Spiegel (born 24.10.1931)
On the following day we went to the Provincial Masonic Lodge building in Moorweidenstraße. I still remember it
being a grey, cloudy, very cold November morning. We stood there. A barbed-wire barrier had been
erected around the Masonic Lodge. My friends had to enter, and were probably registered, but we could not
see this as the Gestapo prevented us from entering.
I recollect how all of us stood in front of the building, mute, like a frightened flock of sheep. I
particularly noticed a little girl. She stood with her back to me and had long, blond pigtails. She
must have been of school-age as she had her satchel on her back and a doll in her arms. It was
especially dreadful to see such children. One had the feeling of complete desolation.
The Gestapo were most hostile. Suddenly they clubbed the nearest people to them and kicked them up
the steps of the building.
My mother told me how later, when the people were being loaded onto lorries, one of the Gestapo officers
had told her that if she did not "clear off" immediately, she could go with them. My brother reported
that people stood around and that some had applauded with approval."
Jews in No. 8 Heinrich-Barth-Straße on receiving the "Evakuierungsbefehle" ("Evacuation Order"), drawing by an eye-witness.
Heinz Rosenberg, one of the very few survivors of Minsk, reports in detail about his deportation
on 8.11.1941 from Hamburg to Minsk, and the unbelievable years there in his book:
Jahre des Schreckens: ... und ich blieb übrig dass ich Dir's ansage. Steidl, Göttingen 1985 &
1992:
On 7.11.1941, Heinz Rosenberg's family received the following letter:
"The Jew Fritz Alexander Israel Rosenberg, his wife Elsa Sara, his son Heinz Ludwig Israel, and
daughter Irmgard Sara must present themselves to the Provincial Masonic Lodge in Moorweidenstraße. (...)
All property, bank accounts, cash and valuables are hereby seized. (...)"
Heinz Rosenberg gives the following detailed information:
His parents telephoned him and his sister at work and they had immediately returned home. All were
horrified. His mother had wept, his aunt Meta had arrived and had also wept, but could do nothing to
help.
Rosenberg family, 1936; from left to right: Heinz, Father, Curt, Irmgard; sitting:
Mother.
They had sat down to lunch together for the last time, but no one was hungry. Eventually, it was time
to pack the suitcases and rucksack. Lastly, they wrote some letters for aunt Meta to post. None could
sleep that night. Mother was particularly in despair that she had to leave behind all her furniture,
pictures, china, etc.
The following morning his father took the house key to the police station. On returning he recounted
how there had been hundreds of Jews doing the same thing. They left No. 40 Hansastraße at 10 a.m. and
cast a last look at what they were never to see again.
When they reported to the Masonic Lodge in Moorweidenstraße firstly their suitcases were examined by
members of the Jewish community and the Gestapo and placed in a storeroom. Then they had to line up,
left or right, according to the first letter of their names. Left and right were four tables each
with a member of the Jewish community and a Gestapo or SS man behind. At the first table one gave
ones name, date of birth and address. Thereupon a card was taken out of the index and the SS man
crossed through the name on a long list of names.
At the next table one handed in ones identity card
and signed the following document:
"I, the undersigned Jew, hereby attest to being an enemy of the German government, and as such have
no entitlement to my remaining property, furniture, valuables, bank account or cash. My German
citizenship is hereby revoked and I am, from 8 November 1941, stateless."
As soon as the document was signed the SS or Gestapo man placed it inside the identity card.
At the next table one had to empty out all pockets and throw all wallets and money into a large
waste paper basket. All letters had to be ripped up.
At the fourth table gold, silver and jewelry was collected.
Finally, one entered the large room in which hundreds of people were assembled. One came across
many friends there.
The Jewish community had equipped the empty rooms with beds and straw to make the night as bearable
as possible. Hot bean soup, tea and bread were shared out. Dr. Plaut told them that the transport
was intended to rebuild the cities in the East. Their suitcases were to arrive in special railway
carriages and in addition there were three goods-waggons with food, bedding, medicine and work
tools.
There was a strange atmosphere consisting of hope and despair, laughter and weeping, praying and
cursing.
At 5 a.m. next morning large, closed police vans arrived. The people were loaded into the vans
under police guard and driven to the Güterbahnhof (goods depot). 20 people and 5 goods waggons
awaited us there. The carriages were old but had doors and windows, which however could not be opened
from the inside. Each carriage held 50 people and all places were occupied. The entrainment took
many hours. Finally, the SS appointed Dr. Edgar Frank as the Jewish leader of the transport, who
in his turn appointed someone responsible for each carriage. He was himself responsible for a
carriage. He received a yellow armband and distributed food and water when the train made a stop. Even
before the train departed Hamburg three goods-waggons of food and special provisions were distributed.
The Jewish community again stressed that there was no grounds for panic. Finally, the SS men alighted
their special carriage and the train departed at 10 a.m.
Irmgard and Curt Rosenberg, Hamburg 1937.
The carriages were unheated and the compartments were over full with people and luggage. Some family
members and friends were separated. Disquiet and anxiousness was so intense that the least thing
provoked a dispute. At each stop - approximately every eight hours - armed SS guards patrolled the
train. The train travelled via Berlin, through Poland to the Russian border and on
to Minsk where it arrived on the evening of 11 November 1941. We were under way for three days
and nights. As it was late evening when we arrived the SS decided not to let us off the train until the
morning. And so we spent another cold night on the train. By this time water and provisions were low.
We were able to detrain at 5 a.m. An SS officer gave various orders. Suddenly he called the Jewish
leader of the transport. Dr. Frank immediately reported, stood to attention, and reported the number
of men, women and children from Hamburg.
The SS officer looked at him and called him "dirty Jew". He added that when wishing to speak to an
officer, or some other German, he was to remove his hat and wait until he was spoken to. At the same
time he took his leather whip and struck Dr. Frank to the ground with such force that he had to be
helped up on his feet.
Next we were ordered to march, under guard by soldiers, to the Minsk ghetto. Anyone trying to
flee or not obeying the order was to be shot. One hundred of us were to be shot for every one that
attempted to flee.
Clearing-up operations in the ghetto had to begin immediately. No one was allowed on the streets of
the ghetto between 8 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Dr. Frank and the twenty individuals responsible for the train carriages were taken to the ghetto
first. It lay above a very old city district. It was completely fenced around with barbed-wire and
only had one exit.
They were given the order to clear-out a particular building. On entering the building they were
confronted with a second terrible experience: the floor was covered with hundreds of corpses. There was
blood everywhere. There was still food on the stove and tables. All the rooms were in a havoc. There
was not one person left alive.
Gradually, the other deportees arrived from the station. It was a long way. It was too far for the
elderely, who were loaded onto lorries.
The day was soon over. The SS gradually released "residential buildings" and a massive wire fence
was erected around the ghetto. We cleared the houses with the most primitive of resources. In the
following weeks deportation transports arrived from Berlin, Vienna, Prague and Bremen/Hamburg, each
with 1,000 deportees. The last transport from Bremen/Hamburg brought some relatives of the deportees
from the first transport from Hamburg.
In January, the Jewish ghetto leadership was arrested. Dr. Edgar Frank, and his colleagues Spiegel,
Fritz Rappolt, Gerhard Akermann, etc. were placed in an SS prison. Nothing was heard of them until
March. Then on a Sunday morning all the German Jews were ordered to assemble on the large square.
An SS lorry arrived and the twelve "living skeletons" were thrown out onto the middle of the square.
They were bound hand and foot. The SS-Sturmbannführer announced that Dr. Frank and his "rogues" were
to be shot for disciplinary offences. The men were then killed where they lay with a shot to the back
of the head.
In the Spring a new SS ghetto commander was appointed: SS-Haubtscharführer Adolf Rübe. He was a
violent, medium-sized man. His conspicuously large hands permanently brandished a whip or pistol. His
"speciality" was to stroll through the ghetto with two Latvian SS men and to call one to ten Jews
to him - mostly women, elderly people or children - and to lead them to the nearby cemetery, and shoot
them. Atrocities like this occured practically every day. Once Rübe saw a beautifully painted sign.
Having found out that Marion Baruch, from Hamburg, had painted it he ordered her to him. He
spoke shortly with her, led her to the cemetery and shot her.
Marion Baruch (born 19.03.1919).
In conclusion a selection of names of those deported to Minsk on 8.11.1941 follows:
Deportation Transport on 8.11.1941 destination Minsk:
| Name | Date of Birth | Place of Birth
| Occupation | Last Address
|
| Appermann, Gerhard | 26.04.1907 | Hamburg
| Representative | No. 4 Kantstraße
| | Behrens, Ruth Bella | 13.10.1932 | Hamburg
| | No. 15 Rappstraße
| | Bleiweiss, Oskar | 16.11.1927 | Hamburg
| | No. 7 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Bandmann, Siegfried | 21.06.1884 | Hamburg
| Engineer | No. 122 Grindelallee
| | Baruch, E. Marion | 19.03.1919 | Hamburg
| Designer | No. 8 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Cohn, Edgar | 23.12.1929 | Hamburg
| | No. 16 Mittelweg
| | Cohn, Hans | 26.05.1925 | Hamburg
| | No. 64 Grindelhof
| | Cohn, Julius | 16.01.1886 | Hamburg
| Supervisor for Ritual Foodstuffs | No. 16e Dillstraße
| | Cossloff, Heinz | 24.03.1922 | Hamburg
| Gardener | No. 16 Dillstraße
| | Ehrmann, Harold | 14.04.1922 | Hamburg
| Apprentice | No. 24 Grindelallee
| | Falck, James | 11.08.1902 | Hamburg
| Esoteric Doctor | No. 8 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Flörsheim, Dr. Arthur | 23.03.1890 | Wildungen
| Dentist | No. 17 Grindelhof
| | Frack, Dr. Edgar | 28.07.1896 | Hamburg
| Banker | No. 40 Heilwigstraße
| | Frank, Max | 14.02.1877 | Chemnitz
| Teacher | No. 15 Rappstraße
| | Hasenberg, Kurt | 8.07.1920 | Hamburg
| Locksmith | No. 6 Bornstraße
| | Hoffmann, Walter | 25.04.1930 | Hamburg
| | No. 13 Rappstraße
| | Israel, Hans | 16.08.1920 | Borken
| Carpenter | No. 46/48 Grindelallee
| | Jacoby, Walter | 27.02.1925 | Hannover
| | No. 80 Grindelhof
| | Josephs, Hanna | 21.03.1923 | Hamburg
| Trainee Nurse | No. 6 Beneckestraße
| | Jutrosinski, Alexander | 15.02.1909 | Hamburg
| Pharmacist | No. 63 Schlüterstraße
| | Kaftal, Gabriele | 2.12.1922 | Hamburg
| Nurse | No. 6 Beneckestraße
| | Kahn, Hubert | 25.03.1922 | Walldüren
| | No. 8 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Kahn, Ingrid | 28.07.1924 | Hamburg
| | No. 8 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Kahn, Ruth | 17.03.1922 | Hamburg
| | No. 15 Rutschbahn
| | Katz, Manfred | 12.04.1921 | Gellichhausen
| | No. 18 Rappstraße
| | Katz, Mathilde | 3.02.1924 | GIlsa
| Dressmaker | No. 18 Rappstraße
| | Laupheimer, Rolf | 24.01.1922 | Hamburg
| Painter | No. 22 Bornstraße
| | Levinson, Erwin | 3.09.1929 | Hamburg
| | No. 21 Dillstraße
| | Levinson, Ilse | 11.09.1921 | Hamburg
| Trainee Nurse | No. 6 Beneckestraße
| | Levy, Else, née Heynssen | 3.05.1991 | Hamburg
| Nurse | No. 2 Bieberstraße
| | Levy, Ester | 18.02.1930 | Hamburg
| | No. 16 Rappstraße
| | Löwenstein, Ilse | 21.09.1924 | Hamburg
| Domestic Servant | No. 21 Grindelallee
| | London, Sophie, née Cohn | 3.04.1894 | Hamburg
| Teacher | No. 134 Grindelallee
| | Mathias, Vera | 15.12.1923 | Hamburg
| Domestic Servant | No. 6 Beneckestraße
| | Meinhardt, Ernst | 2.12.1886 | Schwedt
| Pharmacist | No. 18 Binderstraße
| | Menke, Arthur | 23.02.1927 | Hamburg
| | No. 2 Ostmarkstraße
| | Menke, Hannelore | 14.08.1924 | Hamburg
| Dressmaker | No. 2 Ostmarkstraße
| | Moses, Ruth | 1.05.1925 | Altona
| | No. 116 Grindelallee
| | Nissensohn, Joachim | 25.01.1924 | Berhometh
| Gardener | No. 15 Dillstraße
| | Oppenheim, Hermann | 26.11.1927 | Hamburg
| | No. 22 Bornstraße
| | Pilatus, Günther | 22.03.1931 | Hamburg
| | No. 15 Rutschbahn
| | Rappold, Fritz | 22.08.1900 | Berlin
| Textile Manufacturer | No. 10 Haynstraße
| | Rosenberg, Heinz | 15.09.1921 | Göttingen
| Businessman | No. 40 Hansastraße
| | Rosenschein, Ernst | 25.01.1897 | Harburg
| Lawyer | No. 25 Rutschbahn
| | Seelig, Gert | 24.05.1927 | Stettin
| | No. 2 Grindelhof
| | Seelig, Horst | 25.09.1929 | Stettin
| | No. 2 Grindelhof
| | Seelig, Manfred | 10.12.1921 | Stettin
| Locksmith | No. 2 Grindelhof
| | Seelig, Ernst | 29.11.1922 | Friedrichstadt
| Textile Salesman | No. 20 Bornstraße
| | Seelig, Werner | 30.08.1921 | Friedrichstadt
| Clerk | No. 20 Bornstraße
| | Spiegel, Gustav | 9.11.1896 | Versmold
| | No. 8 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Spiegel, Marga | 24.10.1931 | Versmold
| | No. 8 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Spiegel, Rita | 26.09.1929 | Versmold
| | No. 8 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Spiegel, Rosalie, née Wolff | 20.02.1899 | Wesel
| | No. 8 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Schlachcic, Rita | 3.06.1935 | Harburg
| | No. 13 Dillstraße
| | Schlesinger, Ester | 16.03.1928 |
| | No. 25 a Rutschbahn
| | Deutsch, Fritz Heinz | 6.12.1936 | Hamburg
| | No. 15 Rappstraße
| | Falck, Bescha | 11.01.1939 | Hamburg
| | No. 8 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Graff, Gerd | 7.12.1928 | Hamburg
| | No. 25 a Rutschbahn
| | Scheier, Ilma Hedwig | 16.10.1934 | Hamburg
| | No. 83 Rothenbaumchaussee
| | Hoffmann, Gerhard | 9.02 1923 | Hamburg
| Factory Worker | No. 13 Rappstraße
| | Hirschhorn, Ester | 5.05.1924 | Vijnita
| Dressmaker | No. 11 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Meinhardt, Hans | 23.07.1923 | Stettin
| | No. 18 Binderstraße
| | Lazarus, Ursula | 17.07.1921 | Hamburg
| Factory Worker | No. 21 Grindelallee
| | Meyer, Inge | 9.06.1927 | Hamburg
| | No. 63 Schlüterstraße
| | Gerson, Jutta | 2.03.1928 | Vechta
| Domestic Servant | No. 15 Rutschbahn
| | Wolf, Friedel | 24.11.1927 | Niederohmen
| | No. 8 Bornstraße
| | Schlesinger, David | 6.01.1924 | Hamburg
| | No. 25 a Rutschbahn
| | Löbenstein, Inge | 5.09.1923 | Hamburg
| Dressmaker | No. 4 Beneckestraße
| | Wagener, Bela Reha | 11.01.1939 | Hamburg
| | No. 19 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Wagener, Jana | 15.11.1940 | Hamburg
| | No. 19 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
| | Meier, Rolf | 10.05.1921 | Friedrichstadt
| Locksmith | No. 8 Heinrich-Barth-Straße
|
The next deportation transport departed on 18.11.1941 also from Hamburg to Minsk.
There are also varied figures available for the deportation transport to Minsk on
18.11.1941:
The Gestapo Regional Headquarters Hamburg, in a letter to the Oberfinanzdirektion (head of the Finance
Department) on 15.11.1941, sent a list of names of the 420 Jews that were to be "evakuiert"
("evacuated" = deported) to Minsk on 18.11.1941. These Jews were to join a transport of 580 Jews from
Bremen
.
In addition the letter stated:
"The train departs Bremen on schedule at 8.40 a.m. on 18.11.1941 and should arrive in Hamburg at
11.32 a.m.
In contrast Leo Lippmann, former councillor of state in the Finance Department, and,
following his dismissal by the Nazis, financial expert on the board of the Jewish community, gives the
figure of 355 deportees.
The first edition of the Commemorative Book of Jewish Victims of National Socialism in Hamburg gives
a figure of 402 victims which was corrected, with the help of the Hamburg state archives,
to a figure of 404 victims.
Hans Lamm quotes a figure of 407 deportees.
A letter from Hermine Mayer, born 21.07.1914 in Altona, dressmaker, address No. 3
Lenhartzstraße, written on the journey to Minsk follows:
Schneidemühl,
19.11.1941 15.00 hrs
My Dear Elsa,
Thus far 23 hours under way in wildly shaking, old, Czechoslovakian railway carriages, without water
supply, completely filthy, a small foretaste of what is to come. Being 10 persons to a compartment
(naturally a passenger train) there is no thought of sleeping, this will be the third night. However,
morale is not bad, we are not letting things get us down. We have a good relationship with the person
responsible for our carriage, we worked together helping with the previous transports. The children
under 6 years of age are accommodated with small hammocks, with their families, in additional
carriages. The escort (Landespolizei = police) is not so harsh as the impression their bayonetted
weapons give. The man responsible for the train is also good, however, the further east we travel the
more antisemitism one experiences at the stations. - The Jewish community has organized everything
magnificently, as an example, I only wish to say that the financing of the last transport of 1,000
individuals cost RM 70,000. - The journey will take 5 days, very nice, especially as Ruthi and I do not
have seats, and are camped out in the corridor with our luggage. Washing is a luxury, water being
limited to what we are allowed to carry on board at the various stations. - In the Masonic Lodge building Mama
fell down the stairs on the way to the toilet at night. The doctor established that there is no
concussion or fracture, but her forehead - and especially eye sockets and eyelids - is suffused with
blood, as if it was painted with ink; it looks terrible. Incidentally, in Hamburg I collapsed weeping under
the weight of my monstrous rucksack. If only we will be met in Minsk! Otherwise, I must throw half
the contents away. Hopefully, our men are allowed to meet us. That would be nice. I dread the nights.
- When possible, I will write to you, for the time being this will be the last letter. (...)"
Telegram from William Philip (born 4.08.1974) to Werner Philip in Haifa; regarding the third Deportation Transport.
In conclusion a selection of names of those deported to Minsk on 18.11.1941 follows:
Deportation Transport on 18.11.1941 destination Minsk:
| Name | Date of Birth | Place of Birth
| Occupation | Last Address
|
| Ascher, Chana | 22.06.1940 | Hamburg
| | No. 64 Grindelhof
| | Bieber, Denny | 15.10.1939 | Hamburg
| | No. 13 Rappstraße
| | Bieber, Ilse | 19.07.1936 | Hamburg
| | No. 13 Rappstraße
| | Bieber, Ruth | 31.05.1931 | Hamburg
| | No. 13 Rappstraße
| | Brager, Asriel | 24.11.1940 | Hamburg
| | No. 25 a Rutschbahn
| | Ehrenberg, Inge | 18.01.1933 | Hamburg
| | No. 64 Grindelhof
| | Ehrenberg, Lotte | 3.07.1936 | Hamburg
| | No. 64 Grindelhof
| | Flörsheim, Hanne | 12.01.1931 | Hamburg
| | No. 17 Grindelhof
| | Flörsheim, Margot | 19.05.1927 | Hamburg
| | No. 17 Grindelhof
| | Hansen, Henny, née Daltrop | 3.01.1889 | Harburg
| Nurse | No. 68 Johnsallee
| | Jacobsohn, Bertha | 9.03.1924 | Hamburg
| | No. 55 Ostmarkstraße
| | Jacobsohn, Ernestine | 18.06.1925 | Hamburg
| | No. 55 Ostmarkstraße
| | Jacobsohn, Eva | 28.04.1927 | Hamburg
| | No. 55 Ostmarkstraße
| | Jacobsohn, John | 17.03.1894 | Altona
| Lawyer | No. 55 Ostmarkstraße
| | Jacobsohn, Mathilde | 30.08.1934 | Hamburg
| | No. 55 Ostmarkstraße
| | Jacobsohn, Sally | 22.07.1930 | Hamburg
| | No. 55 Ostmarkstraße
| | Levy, Tirze | 31.07.1939 | Hamburg
| | No. 4 Beneckestraße
| | Rosenberg, Irene, née Oppenheim | 4.02.1920 | Berlin
| | No. 21 Grindelallee
| | Rosenberg, Ivel | 6.01.1941 | Hamburg
| | No. 21 Grindelallee
| | Simon, Gerhard Wilhelm | 11.09.1920 | Hamburg
| Navvy | No. 16 Dillstraße
| | Simon, Ingeborg, née Cosloff | 13.01.1921 | Hamburg
| Seamstress | No. 16 Dillstraße
| | Schmul, Berl | 5.04.1941 | Hamburg
| | No. 16 Dillstraße
| | Schmul, Lieselotte, née Keibel | 23.03.1921 | Hamburg
| | No. 16 Dillstraße
| | Szeslanski, Rita | 25.11.1936 | Hamburg
| | No. 43 Grindelhof
| |
|
There are also varied figures available for the deportation transport to Riga on
6.12.1941:
The Gestapo Regional Headquarters Hamburg, in a letter to the Oberfinanzdirektion (head of the Finance
Department) on 1.12.1941, sent a list of names of the 794 Jews that were to be "evakuiert"
("evacuated" = deported) to Riga, Latvia on 4.12.1941.
In addition the letter stated:
"These Jews are to join 44 Jews from Lüneburg, 136 from Kiel and Lübeck,
and 75 from Danzig.
The train departs on schedule from Hamburg's Hannöverscher Railway Station at 12.11 hours on
4.12.1941."
Regarding the Hamburg Jews, the typed figure of 750 is crossed out, as is the destination
of Minsk.
In contrast Leo Lippmann, former councillor of state in the Finance Department, and,
following his dismissal by the Nazis, financial expert on the board of the Jewish community, gives the
figure of 744 deportees.
The first edition of the Commemorative Book of Jewish Victims of National Socialism in Hamburg gives
a figure of 747 victims which was corrected, with the help of the Hamburg state archives,
to a figure of 744 victims.
Hans Lamm quotes a figure of 766 deportees.
A letter from Thekla Bernau, born 29.05.1900 in Dannenberg, worker, address No. 57 Lehmweg,
written to her daughters Margarethe and Selma, living in Friendsfield, USA, shortly
before her deportation to Riga follows. Before she was deported she was accommodated with 10
strangers, in two rooms of four houses, in Hartungstraße. Many of the last addresses of the
deportees on the deportation list for the 6.12.1941 are other than their own, so that they were
probably quartered elsewhere shortly before being deported.
The letter relates:
"We now know: we leave on the 5 or 6 December. Nobody asks where. Everyone knows but
no one admits to it. We are now eleven in two rooms in Hartungstraße. (...) This
morning SS men arrived on three separate occasions demanding our papers. We informed them that we had
already handed them in and that we were registered. We asked if we could have fuel for the stove
and a doctor for Fanny Borower. They grinned and said we did not need a stove anymore and that
there were not even doctors for respectable people.
Then a woman arrived. Fat and coarse. Medical inspection. She reached under everyones shirt and in
their trousers. We had to raise our arms and spread our legs. She felt everything and removed the
tincture from old Wolf Borower's knee. She said it was alcohol and that Jews were forbidden
all alcohol. On penalty of death. Fanny whimpered, Wolf said nothing. The woman said that she was
knitting a pullover for her son for Christmas but that one could not find such lovely wool as in
Celine Wenkel's scarf anywhere. The Jews always had everything! The best! But soon she would
also own such wool. Perhaps tomorrow! (...)
The woman said departure was early tomorrow. We would be woken, and would have to hand over watches
and wedding rings. And woe betide anyone who hid anything. (...)
Two black cars are parked in front of the house. Guards. We are all accommodated in four houses.
(Probably 9-11 Hartungstraße). Above us children are crying. (...)
In the evening I had a crying fit. Celine Wenkel said it was like previous deportation transports.
At the Sternschanze railway station the cattle-waggons were waiting. Open. Forty to a waggon.
Women and men were separated. In Altona waggons from Kiel and Hannover were
added. (...) It is now shortly before midnight, or later. (...) The hauswart (caretaker) came
and said that it would be better to give all remaining valuables to him for safekeeping. I
have nothing. Only these pages and indelible pencil. He will give me an old envelope. I will put
everything into it and give it to him. He promises to send it to Margarethe and Selma. I will stop
writing now. Farewell, my loves. Do not think ill of me."
Frau W., gave the following report, in Hamburg in 1982, that highlights the
catastrophic conditions in the Masonic Lodge building in Moorweidenstraße during the night of
5/6 December 1941:
"I wish to relate what occured here on a very, very cold night. At this time I was helping in
the Gemeinschaftshaus (Jewish community building). The people had to spend the night in the
Masonic Lodge building. As they required something to eat and drink we made coffee. That meant that
in less than an hour we had to find hundreds of thermos flasks, coffee, and cooking facilities. I
have no idea how many thermos flasks I filled that night.
Herr Fritz Benscher, who was also helping, then transported these flasks to the
Masonic Lodge building. Suddenly, he returned with the flasks and said we must stop. The toilets had
become frozen due to the frost and the unheated building. The toilets had overflowed with so many
people using them. Thereby the Gestapo had ordered us not to give the people any food or drink.
Benscher said we should pour the coffee away. He required ladles. When I asked him why, he replied
that he was going to ladle the toilets empty. He did this. And then finally at dawn, just before the
deportation transport left, we were allowed to make coffee again and fill thermos flasks."
Großer Mozartsaal (Larger Mozart Hall), Provincial Lodge, 1988.
Chief-Rabbi Dr. Joseph Carlebach, his wife Charlotte and their four youngest
children: Noemi, Ruth, Salomon and Sara Stella were also members of the fourth
deportation transport.
Charlotte Carlebach (1900-1942).
An eyewitness of the Carlebach's last night in Hamburg relates:
"(...) He expected that one day he and his family would be deported like all other Jews. However,
he did not hide his disappointment when he and those members of his family still remaining in Hamburg
were allocated to the deportation transport to Riga. His deep concern was that of all Jewish
fathers, with the additional pain of not being able to stand by the remains of his now
abandoned community (...). The conflict between the duty to his family and the
intellectual-spiritual leadership of his community had long been a burden. During his last
night in Hamburg he professed that he took heart from the fact that the tyranny of the oppressor
had resolved this difficult conflict (...)."
In conclusion follows a selection of names of those deported to Riga on 6.12.1941:
Deportation Transport on 6.12.1941 destination Riga:
| Name | Date of Birth | Place of Birth
| Occupation | Last Address
|
| Arnheim, Rudolf | 13.12.03 | Hamburg
| Architect | No. 2 Beneckestraße
| | Brill, Dr. Erich | 20.09.1895 | Lübeck
| Artist | No. 2 Beneckestraße
| | Carlebach, Charlotte, née Preuss | 16.12.1900 | Berlin
| | No. 76 Ostmarkstraße
| | Carlebach, Joseph | 30.01.1983 | Lübeck
| Chief-Rabbi | No. 76 Ostmarkstraße
| | Carlebach, Noemie | 24.10.1927 | Hamburg
| | No. 76 Ostmarkstraße
| | Carlebach, Ruth | 11.08.1926 | Altona
| | No. 76 Ostmarkstraße
| | Carlebach, Salomon | 17.08.1925 | Hamburg
| | No. 76 Ostmarkstraße
| | Carlebach, Sara Stella | 24.12.1929 | Hamburg
| | No. 76 Ostmarkstraße
| | Crossmann, Inge | 26.09.1924 | Rostock
| | No. 8 Bornstraße
| | Dammann, Gertrud | 17.10.1920 | Göttingen
| Worker | No. 76 Ostmarkstraße
| | Dammann, Lotte | 4.05.1922 | Göttingen
| Worker | No. 76 Ostmarkstraße
| | Daniel, Bernhard | 27.03.1937 | Hamburg
| | No. 20 b Beneckestraße
| | Daniel, Hannelore | 26.02.1936 | Hamburg
| | No. 20 b Beneckestraße
| | Daniel, Maja | 22.09.1934 | Hamburg
| | No. 20 b Beneckestraße
| | Daniel, Manfred | 15.08.1924 | Hamburg
| | No. 25 a Rutschbahn
| | Eldot, David | 24.12.1937 | Hamburg
| | No. 55 Ostmarkstraße
| | Eldot, Eli | 1.12.1940 | Hamburg
| | No. 55 Ostmarkstraße
| | Eldot, Judith Getta | 15.12.1936 | Hamburg
| | No. 55 Ostmarkstraße
| | Eldot, Naphtalie | 3.02.1899 | Höchberg
| Secondary School Teacher | No. 55 Ostmarkstraße
| | Eldot, Rosa, née Fröhlich | 8.02.1908 | Bad Mergentheim
| | No. 55 Ostmarkstraße
| | Eldot, Walter Samuel | 27.08.1934 | Hamburg
| | No. 55 Ostmarkstraße
| | Heilbut, Jettchen | 7.09.1885 | Altona
| Teacher | No. 184 Grindelallee
| | Heilbut, Julia | 12.08.1934 | Hamburg
| | No. 20 Bornstraße
| | Heilbut, Rosa | 12.12.1925 | Hamburg
| Domestic Servant | No. 20 Bornstraße
| | London, Martin | 31.05.1928 | Hamburg
| | No. 24 Rappstraße
| | Menke, Elisabeth | 16.11.1894 | Kiel
| Nurse | No. 22 Bornstraße
| | Philip, Denny | 17.06.1941 | Hamburg
| | No. 68 Grindelhof
| | Philip, Senta | 29.10.1921 | Hamburg
| | No. 68 Grindelhof
| | Salomon, Ida | 2.08.1878 | Altona
| Singer | No. 24 Ostmarkstraße
| | Szpic, Bernd | 15.07.1938 | Neumünster
| | No. 26 Beneckestraße
| | Szpic, Denny | 12.08.1941 | Hamburg
| | No. 26 Beneckestraße
| | Szpic, Egon | 5.02.1934 | Neumünster
| | No. 26 Beneckestraße
| | Szpic, Hans | 22.12.1929 | Barmen
| | No. 26 Beneckestraße
| | Szpic, Ines | 29.03.1931 | Elberfeld
| | No. 26 Beneckestraße
| | Schuster, Herbert Victor | 3.07.1924 | Hamburg
| Apprentice | No. 16 Bornstraße
| | Schwarzschild, Abraham | 8.07.1937 | Hamburg
| | No. 27 Bornstraße
| | Schwarzschild, Leopold | 2.02.1924 | Hamburg
| Apprentice Gardener | No. 22 Bornstraße
| | Schwarzschild, Sara | 9.09.1938 | Hamburg
| | No. 22 Bornstraße
| | Streim, Ephraim | 4.07.1903 | Hamburg
| Teacher | No. 184 Grindelallee
| | Streim, Mirjam | 24.06.1927 | Hamburg
| | No. 184 Grindelallee
| | Streim, Walter | 23.12.1928 | Hamburg
| | No. 184 Grindelallee
| | Weldt, Helga Lina | 3.04.1933 | Hamburg
| | No. 19 Heinrich-Barth-straße
| | Wolff, Ellinor | 9.09.1935 | Hamburg
| | No. 8 Heinrich-Barth-straße
| | Koff, Werner | 27.03.1924 | Hamburg
| | No. 2 Beneckestraße
| | Littmann, Lotte | 4.10.20 | Hamburg
| Nurse | No. 54 Johnsallee
| | Strauss, Hilde E. M. | 22.06.1914 | Hamburg
| Apprentice Nurse | No. 54 Johnsallee
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Today the building at No. 36 Moorweidenstraße once again houses the
Provinzialloge von Niedersachsen der Großen Landesloge der Freimaurer von Deutschland
(Provincial Masonic Lodge of Lower Saxony, the largest Freemason Lodge in Germany).
Memorial Stone with the Provincial Masonic Lodge in the background, 1983.
The area fronting the Provincial Lodge is now called "Platz der Jüdischen Deportierten"
(Square of the Deported Jews).
Platz der Jüdischen Deportierten (Square of the Deported Jews):
The Platz der Jüdischen Deportierten is a triangular green area lying between Moorweidenstraße
and Edmund-Siemers-Allee which fronts the Privincial Masonic Lodge and lies adjacent to
the Hamburg University main building. In the years 1941/42 thousands of Hamburg Jews
were assembled here for deportation to the concentration and extermination camps.
Monument for the Deported:
Plans to erect a commemorative stone on this spot were initiated in 1980 through a
dialogue between private and political initiatives and the Jewish Community.
In 1982 the Department for the Arts commissioned Ulrich Rückriem (born 1938), at that
time professor at the Hamburg College of Art, to construct a memorial.
The dedication ceremony took place in January 1982.
The commemorative stone, a 4 metre high, 2 metre wide and 0·7 metre thick granite block,
stands in the left base angle of the triangular shaped green area.
Ulrich Rückriem proceeded with the project according to his charateristic method of
working. In 1968 the artist had developed his individual concept of dividing up stone.
Rückriem took a block of Finnish granite weighing 35 metric tonnes, one of his favourite
materials, and divided it into seven separate sections: three foundation stones,
three columns and a roofing slab. These separate sections were then reassembled.
Precise horizontal and vertical dividing lines reveal the block to be a reassembled
unity of its divided sections. The regularly spaced holes along these dividing lines
and the notches on the outer edges of the skulpture reveal where the chisel was driven
into the stone in the process of dividing up the block.
Rückriem proportioned the separate sections so that the lengths of the edges are
divisible by seven, a significant number (however, not a "sacred" number) within
Judaism. The stone is intended to arouse associations with the Western Wall/Wailing Wall
in Jerusalem.
Despite such references Rückriem's artistic stance corresponds more with minimal
and conceptual art such as developed in the 1960s by the american artists Donald Judd
and Sol LeWitt. The philosophy of this movement was that skulptures were objects in
themselves and were not representative of anything. Rückriem extended this approach by
focusing on the object's "presence". The material of the stone is highlighted thereby
denighing its functionality as a memorial. Accordingly, the granite block is not
engraved with any explanatory inscription. The rough natural surface of the stone with
its visible signs of the working process speaks for itself.
Memorial Plaques at two corners of the triangular area on Edmund-Siemers-Allee.
The Hamburg Department for the Arts has erected plaques at the three points
of the triangular area. Two read:
Platz der Jüdischen Deportierten
Im Jahr 1933 lebten in Hamburg 24.000 Juden
Hier began der Weg tausender jüdischer Bürger Hamburgs
der in den Vernichtungslagen des Nazi Regimes endete.
Memorial Plaque at the corner of Moorweidenstraße and Schlüterstraße.
The plaque at the corner of Moorweidenstraße and Schlüterstraße, in
accord with the Jewish Community, reads:
DEM GEDENKEN AN DIE JÜDISCHEN BÜRGER HAMBURGS
DIE IN DEN TAGEN DER
NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN GEWALTHERRSCHAFT
ZU THAUSENDEN VON DIESEM PLATZ
IN DEN TOD GESCHICHT WURDEN.
VERGESST ES NICHT
SEID WACHSAM.
"In remembrance of the Jewish citizens of Hamburg who, during the National Socialist
tyranny, were sent from this place to their deaths in their thousands. Remember always,
remain vigilant". This, however, has not prevented criticism of the abstract and
inscriptionless memorial.
It was Rückriem's understanding that the monument constituted the entire expanse of
the Square of the Deported. The plaques erected at the three angles of the triangular
green area were not part of his original conception. These were erected in 1989 on the
occasion of the official naming of the area as "Square of the Deported", within the
framework of the so-called "Black Plaques" programm, within which the City of Hamburg
erected explanatory commemorative plaques in all places connected with atrocities
perpetrated by the National Socialist tyranny.
Memorial Stone, from the other side, with the Radisson SAS Hotel Hamburg in the background, 1983.
Literature:
Rosenberg, Heinz: Jahre des Schreckens: ... und ich blieb übrig dass ich Dir's ansage, Stedle, Göttingen, 1985 & 1992.
German text: Dipl.-Pol. Wilhelm Mosel, Deutsch-Jüdische Gesellschaft, Hamburg.
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