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Already layed Stumbling Stones



Heinz Cossloff * 1922

Marienthaler Straße 26 (Hamburg-Mitte, Hamm)

1941 Minsk
ermordet

further stumbling stones in Marienthaler Straße 26:
Esther Minden, Julius Minden, Ingeborg Simon, Gerhard Simon

Esther Minden, widowed name Cossloff, née Maletzki, born on 25 July 1887, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Heinz Cossloff, born on 24 Mar. 1922, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Ingeborg Simon, née Cossloff, born on 13 Jan. 1921, deported on 18 Nov. 1941 to Minsk

Marienthaler Strasse 26

"Emigration is out of the question because after expiry of the permit it is no longer possible.” With this sentence, Esther Cossloff’s efforts toward emigration ended on 4 June 1940. She and her youngest son, Heinz, were deported to Minsk on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk. Afterward, there were no further signs of life from them.

Esther, Ingeborg, and Heinz Cossloff were the last members of the Cossloff family still living in Germany. Originally, the family included the parents Samuel and Esther (Emma) Cossloff and the three daughters Paula (born in 1910), Margot (born in 1923), and Ingeborg (born in 1921), as well as the brothers Günther (born in 1917) and Heinz (born in 1922); they lived at Marienthaler Strasse 26.

Father Samuel was born on 12 Apr. 1880 in Leipzig, came to Hamburg, and joined the German-Israelitic Community at the end of 1917. He worked as a commercial clerk for the N. Fuchs Company at Gänsemarkt 58. It is not known when and where he married his wife Emma. She was born as Emma Maletzki on 25 July 1887 in Kalisch (Province of Posen) and called herself Esther. The family was stateless.

In 1917 and 1918, the financial situation of the family was still good enough to enable Samuel Cossloff to pay all required taxes. In terms of taxes payable to the Jewish Community, afterward he was either no longer able to pay them or he was no longer assessed at all to begin with. He passed away in 1930. His widow worked as a cashier.

After their schooldays, the children completed vocational training. Paula began her apprenticeship at the Ost-Indien-Haus on Neuer Wall in 1935; Heinz his horticulturalist’s training with Warburg in Blankenese in 1937, simultaneously joining the Jewish Community as an independent member.

Ingeborg attended the Talmud Tora School until 1937, finishing school early to commence a three-year apprenticeship in 1938 in the glove department of Gebr. Robinsohn (Robinsohn Bros.) on Neuer Wall. After the company was destroyed in Nov. 1938, she found employment as a "Tagmädchen” [a maid hired in return for low wages as well as partial board] doing household work.

Following the November Pogrom of 1938, the mother began working toward the family’s emigration. The oldest daughter Paula, married name Salomon, emigrated to the USA on 3 Mar. 1939. She was able to do so only with assistance from the Relief Organization of Jews (Jüdischer Hilfsverein). Margot, the youngest, reached Britain in Apr. 1939.

The mother remained behind with Ingeborg and Heinz. Toward the end of 1939, he dropped out of his apprenticeship and had to perform forced labor in the lead industry starting in Mar. 1940. By then, they already lived at Dillstrasse 16, where they received their deportation orders in 1941. In the meantime, Heinz had obtained Turkish citizenship, calling himself Caym.

The efforts toward emigration for Ingeborg and Heinz/Caym failed. The "children transport” (Kindertransport) for which they had been scheduled was postponed and the permits expired.

Heinz lost his Turkish citizenship and was forced to bear the compulsory additional first name of Israel. Esther Cossloff had obtained a tax clearance certificate (Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung) for her own emigration. It, too, expired. No new opportunity for emigration presented itself. She had no income and no assets, living in 1940 from renting out rooms. On 22 Aug. 1941, she married the sales representative Julius Minden, born on 8 Oct. 1889 in Altona. The three were deported to Minsk on 8 Nov. 1941.

On 10 July 1941, Ingeborg Cossloff, by then holding German citizenship, had already married Gerhard Simon according to Jewish rites. Gerhard Simon was born on 11 Sept. 1920 in Hamburg. The two husbands moved in with their wives to live at Dillstrasse 16. On the deportation list, Gerhard Simon’s occupation is indicated as excavator, Ingeborg’s as seamstress. They were called up as replacements for the transport on 25 Oct. 1941 to Lodz, though they were actually not deported until 18 Nov. 1941, to Minsk.

Ingeborg Simon, née Cossloff, is not listed in any memorial book. The whereabouts of Günther, the oldest son, remains completely open.


Translator: Erwin Fink

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: October 2017
© Hildegard Thevs

Quellen: 1; 2 FVg 8687; 4; 5; StaH, 522-1, Jüdische Gemeinden, o. Sign. Mitgliederzählung der DIGH 1928; 390 Wählerverzeichnis 1930; 391 Mitgliederliste 1935; 922 e 2 Deportationslisten Bd. 1, 2 und 3; BA Bln., Volkszählung 1939; AfW 130121.
Zur Nummerierung häufig genutzter Quellen siehe Link "Recherche und Quellen".

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