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Recha Lübke * 1880

Rosenallee 11 Schule (Hamburg-Mitte, Hammerbrook)

1942 Theresienstadt
1944 Auschwitz
ermordet

further stumbling stones in Rosenallee 11 Schule:
Bella Spanier

Recha Lübke, born on 6 Mar. 1880 in Altona, deported on 19 July 1942 to Theresienstadt and on 9 Oct. 1944 to Auschwitz
Bella Spanier, born on 25 Feb. 1884 in Burg-Lesum, deported on 25 Oct. 1941 to Lodz and on 10 May 1942 to Chelmno

Recha Lübke and Bella Spanier taught for many years at the eight-grade elementary school (Volksschule) at Rosenallee 11, before they were dismissed based on the "Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service” ("Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums”) dated 7 Apr. 1933 – Recha Lübke after 34, Bella Spanier after 27 years of professional life. Both had received their training at the female teacher training college in Altona. Recha Lübke began her teaching career on 1 Apr. 1899, at the age of 19, starting her service in the Hamburg school system two and a half years later, on 15 Oct. 1901. Bella Spanier began her working life at the age of 22, on 15 June 1906, working in Hamburg from the outset. Both belonged to professional associations, Recha Lübke to the "Association of Hamburg Female Elementary Teachers” ("Verein Hamburger Volksschullehrerinnen”), Bella Spanier to the "Society of Friends of the Patriotic School and Education System” ("Gesellschaft der Freunde des Vaterländischen Schul- und Erziehungswesens”). Recha Lübke also got greatly involved in the Hamburg German-Israelitic Community in an honorary capacity. She lived at Isestrasse 21 in Eppendorf, Bella Spanier at Tegettoffstrasse 9.

When the deportations of Jews began, Bella Spanier had not yet reached the age of 60 and she was thus considered young enough for the alleged "development work in the East” ("Aufbauarbeit im Osten”), as the deportations were called in the veiling terminology of the day. She was part of the first transport, departing for Lodz on 25 Oct. 1941. On 10 May 1942, she was deported further from there to the Chelmno extermination camp, which meant her murder using automotive exhaust fumes.

Due to her older age, Recha Lübke’s deportation took place on 19 July 1942 to the so-called "ghetto for the elderly” ("Altersgetto”) in Theresienstadt. She lived there for another two years, before being deported to Auschwitz on 9 Oct. 1944 in the course of the gradual evacuation of the ghetto. After that, any traces of her life disappear.


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

Stand: March 2017
© Hildegard Thevs

Quellen: Lehrerverzeichnisse.