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© Archivum Panstwowe, Lodz
Irma Louis * 1901
Caspar-Voght-Straße 63 (Hamburg-Mitte, Hamm)
1941 Lodz
ermordet
Irma Louis, born on 20 Mar. 1901, deported on 25 Oct. 1941 to Lodz
In 1940, in the underground air-raid shelter at Caspar-Voght-Strasse 63, "Miss” ("Frl.”) Louis consoled a little girl, an unforgettable memory to that girl.
"Frl.” Louis lived at Caspar-Voght-Strasse 63a. She was an assimilated, emancipated woman, allegedly without religious creed, but a member of the Harburg-Wilhelmsburg Jewish Community in about 1930, and of the Hamburg Jewish Community from 1939 onward. Irma Louis was born on 20 Mar. 1901 in Strasburg/West Prussia; her parents were Moritz Louis and Rosa, née Zielinski. She had left her birthplace in West Prussia and built a secure livelihood in Hamburg as an authorized agent, before being classified as Jewish and dismissed from her job, though relatively late, a scenario that stood in contrast to the rental agreement for her apartment, for which she was not given notice at all. As the recollection, testified to in 2006, reveals, "Frl.” Louis, too, went to the underground shelter along with her neighbors during air raids.
After her dismissal, Irma Louis lived on the severance pay, the sum of which – approx. 19,000 RM (reichsmark) – shows the kind of status she had attained. In 1940, about 7,000 RM were left, and she was forced to deposit this sum into a blocked account, a "security account.” Starting on 1 May 1940, she was allowed to withdraw 250 RM a month toward her free disposal as well as pay all sorts of taxes and levies, without submitting an application in each case. It is remarkable that she was granted an allowance exceeding the 235 RM she had indicated as monthly expenses.
On 23 Oct. 1941, Irma Louis applied for unblocking 100 RM for "evacuation purposes.” This application was probably an immediate reaction to the order for "resettlement” ("Aussiedlung”) to Lodz on 25 Oct. 1941. It was approved. The rest of Irma Louis’ assets were confiscated to the benefit of the German Reich even before the end of Oct. 1941.
In the Lodz Ghetto, Irma Louis lived at Gänsenstrasse 16/2. She shared a room and a kitchen with six other people and worked for the German Wehrmacht as a stenographer and uniform seamstress, respectively. We do not know why Irma Louis was "resettled” again as early as May 1942. Perhaps she had fallen ill. She was probably murdered in the Chelmno extermination camp.
Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.
Stand: March 2017
© Hildegard Thevs
Quellen: 1; 2 R 1940/275; 4; 5; StaH, 522-1, Jüdische Gemeinden, 976 Steuerkonten; 992 e 2 Deportationslisten Bd. 1; BA Bln., Volkszählung 1939; Archivum Panstwowe, Lodz.
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