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Therese Meier geb. Levin
© Yad Vashem

Therese Meier (née Levin) * 1899

Moltkestraße 47 a (Eimsbüttel, Hoheluft-West)

HIER WOHNTE
THERESE MEIER
GEB. LEVIN
JG. 1899
DEPORTIERT 1941
MINSK
ERMORDET

further stumbling stones in Moltkestraße 47 a:
Leopold Meier, Georg Neumark, Blanka Redlich, Hans Redlich

Leopold Meier, born on 3 Oct. 1893 in Friedrichstadt, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Therese Meier, née Levin, born on 12 May 1899 in Hannover, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Rolf Meier, born on 18 May 1921 in Friedrichstadt, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk

Moltkestrasse 47 a

After the horrors of the November Pogrom of 1938, Therese and Leopold Meier fled from the small Schleswig-Holstein town of Friedrichstadt to Hamburg. None of the approx. 30 Jewish residents stayed in Friedrichstadt after the pogrom night.

Friedrichstadt was the center of Leopold Meier’s life; he was born in this place, growing up and becoming a businessman there. His parents were Josua and Rahel Meier, née Heymann. He had two siblings, Martin and Selma. At Easter of 1899, he was enrolled in the Friedrichstadt elementary school, and from 1904 onward, he attended Rektorschule, a secondary school comparable to a Realschule [a practice-oriented secondary school up to grade 10]. Starting in 1909, he completed a commercial apprenticeship in Hamburg. He was a soldier in World War I.

In 1919, he took over his father’s business, Karl Meier Nachf. [Succrs.] This was a secondary raw materials company (Rohproduktenhandlung), i.e., he traded in waste and used materials from industry and households. The family owned a house with a storage shed at Am Markt 6. The building still exists; today Stolpersteine are located there for Leopold, Therese, and Rolf Meier. In 1938, there were five other Jewish entrepreneurs, trading in tobacco and yard goods, or – like Leopold Meier – in used raw materials. One of them operated a butcher’s shop.

Probably, Leopold Meier’s business prospered. He kept two horses, probably used as draft horses in combination with a cart to transport goods. In 1923, he got his driver’s license, and in June of that year, a motor vehicle of the "Adler” make was registered. In early 1925, he bought a Chevrolet truck for his business. However, goods were also conveyed by sea. For instance, a newspaper report reveals that in Aug. 1933, scrap iron was shipped from Altona aboard the "Möwe,” a powered sailing boat. The company had three employees. The family owned another house at Ostermarkt 10.

On 17 Apr. 1920, Leopold Meier celebrated, at Parkallee 11 in Hamburg, his engagement to 21-year-old Therese Levin, a native of Hannover who had grown up in Hamburg; on 12 Aug. 1920, the wedding took place in Hamburg. In the spring of 1921, son Rolf was born in Friedrichstadt and in Jan. 1926, daughter Rita Helene.

Until they were driven out, the Meiers led an entirely normal middle-class life in Friedrichstadt. For instance, they were members of the "Neuntöter” bowling club. Photos bear witness to celebrations and outings. Leopold Meier’s name also appears on lists of donors and on the list of the school parents’ council. On top of that, Leopold was involved in the executive committee of the Jewish Community.

The children went to school in Friedrichstadt. Daughter Rita remembered a happy and secure childhood. The first years of school, too, were a good time for her. She found a non-Jewish girlfriend, a friendship that continues to this day. Only decades later, Rita found out that in those days, her friend in Friedrichstadt was offered a minor leadership role with the Nazi Young Girls’ League (Jungmädel), a section within the League of German Girls [the Hitler Youth for girls], on condition that she break off contact to her Jewish friend. She did not do so but instead decided in favor of the friendship. The situation changed for Rita when she got a new, anti-Semitic teacher. Quickly the situation escalated to the extent that her parents took her out of school and instead had her take lessons with Rabbi Cohen for several weeks.

Rolf, born in 1921, attended the eight-grade elementary school (Volksschule) in Friedrichstadt. At Easter of 1936, he left school, subsequently starting an apprenticeship for wholesale merchant at his father’s company. Among the 41 students of his school year, he was the only Jew. All of his classmates were Lutheran. At the end of 1937, the 16-year-old adolescent came up against the law: He had been caught at the "Stadt Flensburg” inn after 10 p.m. without a parent or legal guardian accompanying him. He was punished because of his young age; the files do not mention any imputation of him being Jewish though.

Therese Meier always missed the city atmosphere in Friedrichstadt and therefore she undertook outings to Husum from time to time. She enjoyed swimming but after 1933, she had to listen to comments such as "Keine Judenbeene in unserer schönen Treene” ("No Jews’ legs in our beautiful Treene River”). At this point, everyday life changed for all family members. To be sure, Leopold Meier had always been called "the Jew Meier,” but before 1933 that did not have an offensive sound to it. The daughter recalls him going for a walk with her and her friend, one girl each by his side, and people asking, "So who is Jewish?” In fact, his daughter had light brown hair whereas her friend Hanne Lore had black hair, thus looking "more Jewish” in people’s understanding at the time.

The Pogrom of November 1938 saw rioting in Friedrichstadt. Leopold Meier was arrested and detained in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp until Dec. 1938. As early as 31 October, a "security order” ("Sicherungsanordnung”) was issued by the Chief Finance Administrator (Oberfinanzpräsident) Nordmark. As a result, Leopold Meier was able to dispose of his real estate only with permission. Immediately after the pogrom night, his business was closed and his real estate "Aryanized.” On 6 Dec. 1938, the hotel owner Curt Jacobi bought the property located on Am Markt for 10,000 RM (reichsmark). The house at Ostermarkt 10 was purchased by the hairdresser Max Metzner for 1,900 RM. The Meiers’ house was vandalized, making it impossible to stay in their hometown after these events. Certainly, they found temporary accommodation with another Jewish family, the Heymanns, but subsequently they moved to Hamburg. The authorities revoked Leopold Meier’s trading license. Thus, the family’s livelihood was destroyed. Possibly, Leopold Meier commuted for some time between Hamburg and Friedrichstadt, where he lived at Kirchenstrasse 31. In Jan. 1939, Leopold and Therese Meier applied for passports for the purpose of emigrating and they did obtain them. Repeatedly, they had to apply for the money they needed per month to secure their livelihood. The application was submitted and extended every three months. At first, Leopold Meier was allowed to dispose of 300 RM, subsequently only of 200 RM a month. During this entire time, he undertook futile efforts toward emigration.

Son Rolf had already moved to Hamburg on 20 May 1938, that is, before the November Pogrom. Probably he did not see a future for himself in the small town because, being Jewish, he experienced hostility. His Hamburg address was Klosterallee 24. His younger sister Rita also moved to Hamburg half a year later, in Dec. 1938, to Schlüterstrasse 63 on the second floor. In 1939, she was sent to the Netherlands on a children transport (Kindertransport), eventually reaching Britain from there. She lives in Israel today.

In Hamburg, the Meier family lived as subtenants in various apartments. Not until 10 Oct. 1940 was the family registered with the authorities as residing at Parkallee 18 on the second floor (with Mrs. Lewardt). Her husband, Arthur, had decided to commit suicide in Oct. 1940. Prior to the Parkallee address, the files reveal places of residence at Dillstrasse 13 on the ground floor, Schlüterstrasse 63 on the second floor, and Hartungstrasse 1 on the third floor. From Parkallee, the family moved to Moltkestrasse 47a on the fourth floor (with Bernthal). This was also the address appearing on the deportation list. The Bernthals were probably the sisters Ilse and Alice.

Also residing at Hartungstrasse 12 were an uncle and an aunt of Leopold Meier, Goldine Meier, née Nathan (born in Hamburg in 1865), and Jacob Meier (born in Schleswig in 1872). Both perished in Theresienstadt. The Hamburger Anzeiger published on 9/10 Apr. 1938, i.e., before the November Pogrom, contained an article entitled "Jewish profiteers arrested. Purge in Hamburg’s raw products trade.” The article also mentioned the Jewish major offender by the name of Jacob Meyer based at Hartungstrasse 13. The person in question was Leopold Meier’s uncle.

As early as the fall of 1939, that is, directly after the family’s move to Hamburg, Rolf already did harvesting work in the village of Garzin east of Berlin. Coming from there, he arrived together with seven or eight adolescents in the Grüner Weg retraining camp in Paderborn on 13 Nov. 1939. The small group also included Moritz Wilhelm Beer (see entry on the Beer family). From Paderborn, he got to the Schlosshofstrasse 739 retraining camp in Bielefeld on 25 Jan. 1941, going from there back to Hamburg. In the very end, he lived at Heinrich-Barth-Strasse 8 b (with Loeb), from where he was deported. His files contain the occupational designation of "fitter.” Perhaps he had learned the fitter’s trade at a training workshop in Paderborn and Bielefeld.

The parents as well as son Rolf Meier were deported to Minsk on 8 Nov. 1941. Their names had appeared on the "reserve list” for the deportations to Lodz as early as 25 Oct. 1941, but they were turned away because the planned number of deportees had already been reached. Regina van Son, who lived as a subtenant with relatives of the Meiers, wrote to Amsterdam on 29 Oct. 1941: "Leopold and Resi as well as their 20-year-old son – L. and R. are the nephew and niece of my landlords – came back the first time around because L. was severely war-disabled in the last war. The son had reported voluntarily in order not to leave his parents alone. Now probably the son will have to move, and Resi, his mother, is tearing out her hair one by one. She wants her husband to go with the son, and she intends to follow a bit later, one week afterward. I just got word that the son’s move was postponed by eight days.” On the deportation list for 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk, the names of the Meiers were entered in the column of those that had "volunteered” for the transport. Perhaps they wished to live in uncertainty no more or were tired of waiting, as they saw their deportation approaching inevitably. Regina van Son lived as a subtenant with the Meiers’ relatives on Hartungstrasse, mentioning Therese and Leopold Meier in her published family letters. Judging from one letter, it appears that the Meiers were forced to give up their apartment even prior to the deportation in October. When they were not deported for the time being, they stayed with their uncle and aunt on Hartungstrasse, looking for a new room.

On 15 July 1942, Jacob and Goldine Meier were deported to Theresienstadt, where Jacob perished on 1 Jan. and Goldine on 10 Jan. 1943.

Translator: Erwin Fink

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: October 2017
© Susanne Lohmeyer

Quellen: 1; 2 (R1940/454); 4; 5; StaH 351-11 AfW, Abl. 2008/1 Browne, Rita 300126; StaH 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden 992e2 Band 3 Deportationsliste; Jürgen Sielemann, Aber seid alle beruhigt, S. 117 , S. 123, S. 126 und S. 148, S. 149; Peter Offenborn, Jüdische Jugend, S. 523 und S. 1225; Brief von Rita Bar-On (ehemals Rita Meier) vom 10.7.2009; Stadtarchiv Friedrichstadt M14 und M17; Landesarchiv Schleswig 320 Schleswig L/359; IZRG, Schleswig; Hamburger Anzeiger 51 (1938, Nr. 84) (9./10.4.1938), S. 3.
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