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Sylvia Mitz * 1894

Moltkestraße 57 I (Eimsbüttel, Hoheluft-West)

1941 Lodz
1942 ermordet in Chelmo

Sylvia Mitz, born on 22 June 1894 in Hamburg, deported to Lodz on 25 Oct. 1941, murdered on 10 May 1942 in the Chelmno extermination camp

Moltkestrasse 57 on the second floor

Sylvia Mitz was the daughter of the merchant (oils wholesale) Bernhard Binem Mitz and his wife Hanna, née Hagenow. Binem Mitz, born in the mid-nineteenth century, was a native of Lemberg in Galicia (today Lviv in Ukraine). His parents later lived in Vienna. In 1894, when Sylvia was born, the family resided at Grindelberg 39 and subsequently at Parkallee 19. Both parents died in 1939 within a few weeks of each other in the Israelite Hospital and a Jewish retirement home, respectively. Sylvia had a sister Erika, one year her junior. Moltkestrasse 5 was Sylvia Mitz’ last address. Her landlords’ name was probably Carow. It is rather unlikely that this was still accommodation of her own choosing. Before that, she had lived at Parkallee 19, Schlankreye 43 on the second floor, and Grindelberg 45 (with Samson). Grindelberg 45 was the address indicated in the 1939 national census. Sylvia Mitz remained unmarried. She was a master tailor by trade. A trace of her emerges in a classified ad in the Hamburger Familienblatt dated 10 Dec. 1936, featuring an advertisement for the "clothing workshops” of Sylvia Mitz at Schlankreye 43 on the second floor. A marginal note dating from July 1939 on Sylvia Mitz’ birth certificate poses a mystery. It says that her married name is Goldschmidt, a status for which no other proof could be found.

On 25 Oct. 1941, Sylvia Mitz was deported to Lodz. Her address in the ghetto was Rauchgasse 37, apartment no. 10. She lived there together with her cousin Herbert Mitz, five years her junior, who had been a merchant in Hamburg and who died in Lodz in Feb. 1942. In the spring of 1942, Sylvia Mitz received a "departure order” ("Ausreiseaufforderung”). In response, she wrote a letter to the "Ghetto Resettlement Office” (Aussiedlungsamt Getto) that read, "Today I received a departure order for 4 May 1942. I would like to ask for withdrawal of this order. I am a tailor (master) by trade and I have repeatedly applied for work in the tailoring section (work identification card no. 15,591). During the entire winter, I was quartered with seriously ill persons that I had to nurse, including my cousin Herbert Mitz who passed away. Moreover, I suffered extreme frostbite, partially still openly visible on my hands and feet. When I tried to get work a few weeks ago, no Germans were hired any longer! I am 47 years old, very skilled, and very suitable for any tailoring work or handiwork.”

Her request was not approved. On 10 May 1942, Sylvia Mitz was taken to Chelmno and murdered.


Translator: Erwin Fink

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: October 2017
© Susanne Lohmeyer

Quellen: 1; 4; 5; StaH 332-5 Standesämter, 1104 + 558/1939; StaH 332-5, 5419 + 1692/1939; StaH 332-5, 9098 + 1124/1894; StaH 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden 992e2 Band 3 Deportationsliste; USHMM 300/265-266; HAB II 1939 und 1942; Hamburger Familienblatt vom 10.12.1936; Deportationsliste Litzmannstadt, Gedenkstätte Lodz Radegast.
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