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Rudolf Nürnberg * 1875

Waldweg 52 (Wandsbek, Sasel)

Verhaftet 1939
KZ Fuhlsbüttel
Flucht in den Tod
18.04.1939

Otto Eduard Rudolf Nürnberg, born 26 Nov. 1875 in Hamburg, detained in 1939, committed suicide 18 Apr. 1939 in Hamburg Remand Prison

Waldweg 52

The civil engineer Rudolf Nürnberg was the son of the land surveyor Wilhelm Nürnberg and his wife Emma, née Eberhardt. In 1904 he married Frieda, née Kuchel, and they had a son Johann who was born shortly after their wedding.

Rudolf Nürnberg belongs to the homosexuals about whom only scant information exists since neither the investigation files of the police or the Gestapo nor the public prosecutor’s office have survived. Consequently no further details about his life can be reported here, apart from the fact that he lived in Sasel and his wife was registered at Steilshooper Straße 147 in Barmbek-Nord.

Due to suspicion of an attempted offense according to section 175 a, paragraph 3 of the criminal code, a decision was issued by the Hamburg Local Court on 9 Mar. 1939 for remand detention. Prior to this, Rudolf Nürnberg had been held since 2 Mar. in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp by the 24th Police Inspectorate which was responsible for handling homosexual crimes. He was transferred from the concentration camp to Hamburg City Remand Prison.

Nothing unusual was reported about Rudolf Nürnberg while he was in prison. It was noted that he never expressed suicidal thoughts, nor did his behavior give any cause for concern. Yet on 18 Apr. 1939, he committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell at the remand prison at Holstenglacis 3 and became part of the 20 percent of Hamburg’s victims of homosexual persecution who saw death as their only means of escape.

Since his last address of his own choosing was at Waldweg 52 in Hamburg-Sasel, a stumbling stone will be laid there to commemorate his fate.


Translator: Suzanne von Engelhardt

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: November 2017
© Bernhard Rosenkranz (†)/Ulf Bollmann

Quellen: StaH 213-8 (Staatsanwaltschaft Oberlandesgericht – Verwaltung), Abl. 2, 451 a E 1, 1 d; StaH 242-1II (Gefängnisverwaltung II), Ablieferungen 12, Nürnberg und 16; StaH 331-5 (Polizeibehörde – Unnatürliche Sterbefälle), 801/39; Bernhard Rosenkranz/Ulf Bollmann/ Gottfried Lorenz, Homosexuellen-Verfolgung in Hamburg 1919–1969, Hamburg 2009, S. 240–241.