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Bertha Solymos (née Haagen) * 1886

Husumer Straße 14 (Hamburg-Nord, Hoheluft-Ost)

1941 Minsk
HIER WOHNTE
BERTHA SOLYMOS
GEB. HAAGEN
JG. 1886
DEPORTIERT 1941
MINSK
ERMORDET

further stumbling stones in Husumer Straße 14:
Marie Henschel, Margarethe Reyersbach, Moric Solymos

Moric (Maurice) Solymos, born on 19 Nov. 1882 in Komarom near Temesvar/Hungary, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Bertha Solymos, née Haagen, born on 16 Oct. 1886 in Lübeck, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk

Husumer Strasse 14

Moric Solymos came from a family of well-to-do Hungarian Jews, His father was Ignatz Solymos. His mother, Julie Solymos, née Zietz, was of German descent.

After training as a qualified bank clerk in Hungary, Moric set out for Hamburg as a young man to seek his fortune. He found a position as an employee at the Valk banking house and met Bertha Haagen, a Protestant and native of Lübeck.

On 27 Feb. 1908, by which time Solymos had become a German citizen, the two married and Bertha converted to the Jewish faith at the same time.

The marriage produced three children: In 1909, Heinz-Gustav, in 1917, Fritz, and in 1922, Waltraud Marion were born.

In terms of career, things also went well. In about 1912, Moric Solymos became the manager of the currency exchange office of the Commerzienrat Jaeger Company in the central train station (a company also operating the station restaurants). Quite a few clues suggest that he had a share in the company. In 1926, ownership of the foreign exchange office was transferred to the Deutsche Verkehrs-Kreditbank based in Frankfurt/Main. Solymos not only kept his lucrative job; he even negotiated a "special salary arrangement” ("Sondergehaltsregelung”), causing him to achieve an annual salary of a handsome 12,000 RM (reichsmark) on some occasions. The family’s lifestyle continued to rise.

That same year, 1926, they moved with the three children from the apartment at Marienthaler Strasse 157 (Hasselbrook), which had become too small, to the more upscale and spacious place at Husumer Strasse 14, on the third floor, which was comprised of six rooms. At this point, a live-in maid was in the house on a permanent basis, and sometimes an additional nanny, especially for the youngest child. They frequently attended concerts, went to the theater, and undertook extensive trips abroad, repeatedly to Hungary and particularly to Budapest. The city was home to one of Moric’s brothers, the lawyer Sandor Solymos. He managed several houses that Moric had purchased there.

The children received piano lessons, and a fine concert grand as well as a piano were purchased.

From accounts of Willy Haagen, Bertha Solymos’ brother, we are well informed about the interior decoration of the apartment. Willy Haagen, born in 1892, served in Hamburg as a judicial inspector and court bailiff. Thus, he had a professional eye for furnishings and their value. He frequently visited his sister’s family, especially during the Nazi period, and he also assisted with listing the furniture and effects of the Solymos family, as was demanded of the persecutees prior to their deportation. He remembered some very valuable items, for instance, an authentic Biedermeier room, originally owned by the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, that Moric had bought at an auction; exquisite oriental carpets (another one of Moric’s brothers, Karl Solymos, was a carpet dealer); solid silver utensils; finest chinaware; and many other indications of the luxurious lifestyle.

In the night of 7 to 8 Nov. 1941, Moric and Bertha’s the last night before their deportation, when Willy Haagen went through the apartment with them one last time to check the inventory lists, barely anything was left of the previous wealth.

Based on the so-called racial provisions (Rassebestimmungen), Moric Solymos had been dismissed by the Deutsche Verkehrs-Kreditbank as early as 1 Dec. 1933. The last salary statement dating from November already showed a diminished gross monthly income of 623.39 RM. Extrapolated to the year this amounts to a gross annual income of 7,488 RM, still corresponding to the income of an employee in the senior civil service. As much as he tried, Solymos failed to find a new job. The assets invested in Germany were blocked through "security orders” ("Sicherheitsverordnungen”) by the Nazi authorities and the property in Hungary did not generate any revenues. The family had no income. By then, Solymos was aged 51, Bertha 47. The two children were eleven and 16 years old.

Only the oldest son, Heinz, who had completed his medical studies and obtained his doctorate, had an income at the end of 1933, working as an intern for the physician Dr. Korten. Since 1936, son Fritz contributed as well. He was a commercial clerk at the Davidson Company, initially earning 75 RM gross a month, and since November 95 RM. This sum was so modest that he was noted as not assessable for taxes on the Jewish religious tax (Kultussteuer) file card of the Jewish Community.

In 1936, for the first time such a card was filed for Moric Solymos as well. He is registered on it as an unemployed person without any assets and income; support from the Community is also mentioned. Possibly, Moric Solymos only joined the Community when he was in dire straits. And the distress was mounting. First, the domestic helps had been dismissed; then the family moved closer together and rented out first one, and then two rooms, furnished, to other Jews. Bertha recalled her skills as a bridge player and gave lessons. It was not enough. Bertha’s brother Willy helped as often as he could, with a few bank notes here and there. Then began the sale of furniture, at prices far below value. Many thought: Why should we, the "Aryans,” pay good money to the Jew when he is forced to sell?

The declarations of in lieu of an oath made by Willy Haagen reveal, for instance, that the Biedermeier room, worth at least 10,000 RM, fetched only 2,000 RM. The situation was similar in the case of the concert grand. It had cost 12,000 RM and had to be sold off cheaply, also for 2,000 RM. Part of the apartment furnishings were confiscated without any compensation. Thus, a premium-quality radio of the Schaub brand disappeared, as did the 24-piece set of silver cutlery and the solid candelabras and whatever else made of precious metal.

In the so-called restitution proceedings (Wiedergutmachungsverfahren) from 1953 until 1957), Willy Haagen testified under oath: "I estimate the value of items sold dirt cheap to have been worth at least 150,000 RM. Added to this is the value of items confiscated and left behind in the course of the deportation.” The community of joint heirs made up of the three children received a restitution payment of 4,000 DM (deutschmarks) overall in 1958.

The Solymos children survived in the USA: Heinz, who changed his name to Henry Sommer, emigrated to Baltimore in 1938. Fritz, who Magyarized his very German-sounding first name, calling himself Frigyes Ernö, arrived in Newark/New York in 1939 via Tientsin (Tianjin)/China and San Domingo (Hispaniola). Waltraud escaped in 1940, at the age of 18, also to Baltimore.

After the children’s flight, things had become very lonely around Moric and Bertha. Except for Willy Haagen, who repeatedly visited and tried to stand by the two, there were no more contacts to the outside world.

In Sept. 1941, the order came to wear the "Jews’ star” ("Judenstern”) henceforth.
Later, Moric and Bertha Solymos were told by mail to prepare for leaving their apartment and for departing the country on 8 November. No destination was specified. The assembly point indentified was the Masonic Lodge on Moorweide.

On that day, 968 persons were deported from Hamburg to Minsk.
Moric and Bertha Solymos have been considered missing in Minsk. The Hamburg District Court (Amtsgericht) Hamburg officially declared them dead as of 8 May 1945.

There is a statement by Willy Haagen dated 31 Dec. 1953 to the following effect: In 1945, his son Günther, born in 1923, worked as a case officer for the "Emergency Association of the Persons Aggrieved by the Nuremberg Laws” ("Notgemeinschaft der durch die Nürnberger Gesetze Betroffenen”) in Hamburg. One day, Günther related at home that a young lad, 15 years old, had shown up at the offices of the Emergency Association and reported having lived together with his father and a couple by the name of Solymos in one room in the Jews’ camp in Minsk. The husband, Moric, he said, had died of debilitation. The widow, Bertha by name, had refused to do any more work and had been deported to Auschwitz, together with his father.

Willy Haagen provided the account under oath. Unfortunately, his son had omitted to ask for more details and stay in contact with the informant. No year was given for the occurrences.


Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

© Johannes Grossmann

Quellen: 1; 2; 4; 5; 8; StaH 351-11 AfW, 6315; StaH 332-8 Meldewesen, A 51/1 (Moric Solymos und Bertha Solymos).
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