II. Buildings Integral to the Former Life and/or Persecution of Jews in Hamburg - Eimsbüttel/Rotherbaum I. © Wilhelm Mosel, Deutsch-jüdische Gesellschaft Hamburg. 11. No. 23 Sedanstraße. Former Louisenstraße. Franziskus-Kolleg, Internationales Katholisches Studentenheim (International Catholic Student Hostel). Former Altenhaus der Deutsch-Israelitischen Gemeinde, later Jüdische Religionsverband Hamburg (Old People's Home of the German Israelite Community, later Jewish Religious Association). Later a "Judenhaus" ("Jewish Building"). Franziskus-Kolleg Students Home entrance. Franziskus-Kolleg Students Home. On 10.01.1886 the Altenhaus der Deutsch-Israelitischen Gemeinde (Old People's Home of the German Israelite Community) was opened in the former Louisenstraße, renamed Sedanstraße in 1899, between the former Casernenweg (today Monetastraße) and Grindelallee. The architect was Seelig. Ephraime Edwards and his wife Esther, one of the two donators of the former Old People's Home at No. 23 Sedanstraße. Following Isaac Hartvig's donation of capital in 1839 for the establishment of a home for elderly men, in 1883 Ephraime Edwards made a donation to the Jewish community in memory of his deceased wife Esther. Together the two donations made possible the building of an old people's home. One wing of the home carried the inscription Isaac Hartvig Stiftung von Jahre 1839, and the other wing the inscription E. Edwards Stiftung seiner Gattin zum Andenken. In accordance with the specifications of the two donators the old people's home was to provide life-long free accommodation and keep for elderly Jewish men and women, with exceptions for cases specified in the statutes. There was to be a prayer hall established in "eternity", however, no one was to be compelled to attend the religious services. Men over the age of sixty, and women over the age of 55, who had been members of either the Deutsch-Israelitischen Gemeinde (German Israelite Community) or the Portugiesisch-Jüdischen Gemeinde (Portuguese Jewish Community) for the previous five years, and whose state of health caused no concern that they were likely to become infirm within a short period or likely to become a burden to the other charges, were admitted to the home. By donating 15,000 Marks individuals acquired the right to donate a room in their name or some other name, and to decide who was to occupy the room. The room was to eternally carry the inscription of the name of the donator. Today the 19 original plaques are afixed to the wall on the left of the entrance hall of the Altersheim der Jüdischen Gemeinde in Hamburg at No. 27 Schäferskampsallee. Former Louisenstraße/Casernenweg, today Sedanstraße/Monetastraße, section, 1888, with the sites 727, 236 and 891 of the former Deutsch-Israelitischen Gemeinde, upon which the Old People's Home was built. In 1888, the Hamburg Senat (executive) proposed the Hamburg Bürgerschaft (parliament) give their agreement that the public land, sites numbers 236 and 891 (see diagram above), on the corner of Louisenstraße and Casernenwegs, be sold to the Deutsch-Israelitischen Gemeinde (German Israelite Community). The community wanted to enlarge the existing old people's home, allowing it to be restructured into two separate houses, one for men and one for women. In addition the two houses were to have sufficient grounds for a garden. Between 1891-1895 the old people's home could accommodate a maximum of 23 charges. The extension of the building were not begun before 1898, under the direction of the civil architect Friedheim. The new building was planned as the central building. A wing was added on the right, the existing house being on the left. The prayer hall and dinning room were transferred to the central building, and 14 additional rooms were acquired in the original house through reconstruction. On 1.01.1924, the old people's home accommodated 45 charges, 27 women and 18 men. The men were expected, as far as their health permitted, to attend the synagogue service in which Kaddish was said for the deceased benefactors of the old people's home. Regular synagogue services were held on the Sabbath, and morning and evening services during the week, up until the house was closed in the Second World War. Numerous non-charges attended these synagogue services. The synagogue had seating for 52 men and 41 women. Alfred Levy was the chairman of the board of governors of the old people's home for decades. Samuel Leibowitz was the first manager of the old people's home, assisted by his first and second wives. In 1916, he was succeeded by Hirsch Kahn, assisted by his wife Lilly. In 1936, on the 50th anniversary of the home, it was said that everyone who knew the Kahns knew what untiring work they did for their charges day after day. Hirsch Kahn, like his predecessor, fulfilled the role of prayer leader in the synagogue. Meals were taken communally in the spacious dining room, and on the veranda during the Feast of the Tabernacles, which was decorated for the Succoth Festival. There were day rooms and in good weather a spacious garden, which lay on two sides of the building. Inhabitants of the Old People's Home playing chess. The Kahns, and the caretaker Otto Joshua, aimed not only to treat the elderly people as occupants of an institution in which it was their duty to provide for bed and board and other essential needs, but also to facilitate them a peaceful, pleasant, fulfilling old age. In 1934 there were 54 beds available. The following example demonstrates indirectly how the elderly people were cared for: The oldest inhabitant was a 95 year old man. In the spring of 1934 he travelled alone by semi-fast train to Flensburg, arrived at 11 p.m., stayed overnight, made a visit the following morning, and returned to Hamburg where he arrived "as pleased as punch" in the afternoon. Prof. Dr. Siegfied Korach was responsible for the medical welfare of the home from its founding. He did not have an easy task as his patients often knew better than he what ailed them. Prof. Dr. Siegfried Korach (30.06.1855-1.07.1943). All the rooms were cosy. There was a day room for non-smokers, with piano and radio, open until 10 p.m., and a day room for smokers. Married couples had a living-room and a bedroom. All rooms, most of which overlooked the garden, had central heating. Former Old People's Home, No. 23 Sedanstraße, 1936. The old people's home played a special role in the days following the so-called Reichskristallnacht (Pogrom Night) of 9th/10th November 1938: Practically all the members of the Jüdische Religionsverband (Jewish Religious Federation) were arrested or deported following the Pogrom Night. By chance or intentionally, Dr. Max Plaut, the community's sole legal representative, was forgotten in an interrogation cell, while practically all the 1,200 Jews arrested in Hamburg were transported to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. When, after three days of hunger and despair, Dr. Plaut was able to bring attention to himself, he was released on the condition that he reported regularly to the Gestapo. The families of those arrested made contact with him on the day of his release. On the day following of his release Dr. Plaut, with his female assistants, opened a provisional office in a corridor of the old people's home. Typewriters and paper were placed at their disposal. Petitions for the release of those arrrested were typed out each morning. Seaking reasons for the release of the arrested they had the idea firstly to establish the eldest among them, then those with military rank, military honours, or war injuries, then those individuals essential to the work of the community, e.g. teachers. Dr. Plaut, who had to report daily to the Gestapo, took a pile of petitions for release with him. In this way those Hamburg Jews who had been arrested and imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp following the Pogrom Night of 9th/10th November 1938 were released, but on the proviso that they immediately emigrate. In fact all were enabled to emigrate before 1939. However, many had previously died in Sachsenhausen. Following the Pogrom Night of 9th/10th November 1938 in Sedanstraße: "In small side-streets, made reassuring by darkness and November fog, we slipped food and money into the hands of our men in hiding" (Frau W., Hamburg, 1983). The old people's home at No.23 Sedanstraße functioned as a "Judenhaus" ("Jewish Building"). The address of the old people's home is often registered as the last address in the Gestapo deportation lists, especially those on 11.07.1942 to Auschwitz and 15.07.1942 to Theresienstadt. There are 92 such individuals listed on the two named deportation transports. Taking into account that only eight years earlier only 54 beds were available in the home, the building must haver been very overcrowded, especially considering that house personnel were also accommodated here. From the two deportation transports the following deportees are representative: Deportation Transport on 11.07.1942 destination Auschwitz: Name Status Date of Birth Place of Birth Occupation Address Nationality Emanuel, Jacob I. Married 29.07.1876 Hamburg Accountant No. 23 Sedanstraße German Emanuel, Rosa S. née Joelson Married 11.02.1889 Hamburg   No. 23 Sedanstraße German Deportation Transport on 15.07.1942 destination Theresienstadt: Name Status Date of Birth Place of Birth Occupation Address Nationality Kahn, Hirsch I. Married 14.07.1884 Baisingen Home Manager No. 23 Sedanstraße German Kahn, Lily S. née Bing Married 9.12.1885 Frankfurt am Main   No. 23 Sedanstraße German Leibowitz, Fanny née Löwenstein Married 5.01.1869 Hamburg Kindergarten Teacher No. 23 Sedanstraße German Wolff, Rutchen S. Single 8.08.1857 Friedrichstadt   No. 23 Sedanstraße German Wolff, Michael I. Married 11.03.1854 Friedrichstadt Civil Servant No. 23 Sedanstraße German Frau W., in October 1982 in Hamburg, gave the following account relating to the deportation transport on 15.07.1942 to the ghetto in Theresienstadt: It was a hot summer's day. Several lorries drove up to the entrance of the old people's home in Sedanstraße. From the window of her parents' flat in Sedanstraße she observed the elderly people being loaded into the lorries. These included men crippled in the First World War. They were transported seated in their wheelchairs. She had had the impression that the entire old people's home was being evacuated. People had not known at the time precisely where the elderly people were being taken. Later, from the kitchen window, she had seen how old furniture had been burnt in the yard of the old people's home. Shortly thereafter, the building became a military hospital. Julius Gottschalk, from 1941 the last director of the old people's home, was not deported on 15.07.1942. He was deported on 23.06.1943 from Beneckestraße. On 31.12.1945 the building at No. 23 Sedanstraße was returned to the re-established Jüdische Gemeinde in Hamburg (Hamburg Jewish Community) and regained its former function. After the war the synagogue was used on High Holidays to hold a parallel service to that held in the Synagogue in the Oppenheimer Stiftung, Nos. 22 and 24 Kielortallee, as there were insufficient places in the latter. Franziskus-Kolleg, International Catholic Student Hostel, No. 23 Sedanstraße, 1982. Following the opening of the new Altersheim der Jüdische Gemeinde (old people's home) on 18.05.1958 on the former site of Nos. 25, 27 Schäferkampsallee, the building at No. 23 Sedanstraße was sold to the Franciscan Order. Despite the major changes made to the building in accordance with its new function as a students hostel, substancial sections of the original building, both inside and outside, remain recognizable. The former synagogue is today the chapel of the student hostel. A commemorative plaque has been erected on the wall of the student hostel. It reads: Am 10.1.1886 wurde hier - ermöglicht durch Stiftungen von Isaac Hartvig und Ephraime Edwards - das Altenhaus der ehemaligen Deutsch-Israelitischen Gemeinde eröffnet. Dieses bot den alten Menschen unentgeltlich Wohnung und Lebensunterhalt. Im Juli 1942 wurde mehr als neunzig Bewohner in das KZ Auschwitz und das Getto Theresienstadt deportiert. ERINNERUNG IST DER WEG ZUR ERLÖSUNG. (Gedenkstätte Jad Waschem, Jerusalem) Bezirksversammlung Eimsbüttel 1986. German text: Dipl.-Pol. Wilhelm Mosel, Deutsch-Jüdische Gesellschaft, Hamburg.