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Hugo Wolfers, 1930er Jahre
© Privatbesitz

Hugo Wolfers * 1875

Hofweg 31 (Hamburg-Nord, Uhlenhorst)

1941 Riga
ermordet

further stumbling stones in Hofweg 31:
Olga Wolfers, Heinz Wolfers

Hugo Wolfers, born on 22 Oct. 1875 in Hamburg, deported to Riga on 6 Dec. 1941
Olga Wolfers, née Oppenheimer, born on 14 Oct. 1885 in Hamburg, deported to Riga on 6 Dec. 1941

Hofweg 31

The forefathers of Hugo Wolfers had gained prestige and fortune in the Prussian garrison and civil servant town of Minden in Westphalia. Based on their annual incomes, three merchants named Wolf(f)ers belonged to the upper class of Minden in 1848. Since 1851, the seven-storey gabled house at Bäckerstrasse 1 was owned by the various branches and generations of the Wolfers. The house also accommodated the store called "Wolffers Söhne. Manufactures, fashion and finery goods, stationery and drawing materials, tapestry.” The family name was sometimes only written with an "f” in the land register.

Samuel Philip(p) Wolf(f)ers (1799–1851), the grandfather of Hugo Wolfers, was one of the most important merchants in Minden. His importance also emerged from the fact that he was a member of the city council and president of the trade council. Eduard Wolfers was born in 1839 into this self-confident bourgeois-Jewish milieu (his family name was consistently written with only one "f”). A good school education and sufficient financial means for a later independence may be presupposed with Eduard Wolfers. Backed by these qualifications and security, he moved north.

In 1869, he joined Moses Salomon Schönfeld (died in 1885 in St. Georg, at Grosser Kirchenweg 3), in founding the "Textilhandelsgesellschaft Schönfeld& Wolfers” (wholesale trade in linen and carpets) in Hamburg; for this purpose, they acquired the warehouse business of "Gebrüder Jaffé” (previous owners were the brothers David Abraham Jaffé and J. Jaffé), which already existed in 1842 as "Leinen- u. Drell Lager en gros, gr. Burstah no 35,” a linen and drill wholesale, in the Hamburg directory. As early as the 1870 directory, the entries for Schönfeld&Wolfers and Jaffé brothers read the same, "Leinen-Lager, Alterwall 20.” Nearby, at Neuer Wall 13 (Arcaden-Passage), Wolfers had rented an apartment. In 1875, 36-year-old Eduard Wolfers was granted Hamburg civic rights. The prerequisite for receiving the certificate of Hamburg civic rights (Bürgerbrief) was a documented annual income of 1,200 marks for five consecutive years. The certificate also meant the right to vote.

In the same year, his son Hugo was born in the Hanseatic city. Four years later, his daughter Elisabeth was born. The year of birth of son Gustav is not known. In 1885, the family lived at Moorweidenstrasse 15 (in the Rotherbaum quarter). In the 1892, Hamburg register of residents, Eduard Wolfers was listed as a merchant; the column with the religious affiliation remained blank. He was a member of the Jewish Community, and in 1884, the designation of "Mosaic” [Judaic] was entered under "denomination” on the student card of his son Hugo. In addition, even before 1897 Eduard Wolfers was probably a member of the "Lodge to the Fraternal Chain” ("Loge zur Bruderkette”), a Masonic lodge founded in 1847.

Eduard Wolfers and his wife Natalie, née Alsberg (1847–1906), succeeded in building up an economically and socially respected position in Hamburg within around twenty years. From 1892 to 1919, they lived at Hochallee 64 in the prestigious district of Harvestehude. Eduard Wolfers died on 17 May 1919 at the age of 80. He was buried in the Ohlsdorf Jewish Cemetery next to his wife, deceased in 1906.

Their eldest son, Hugo Wolfers, attended the respected Academic School of Johanneum High School (Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums) until obtaining his intermediate secondary school certificate (mittlere Reife) in 1890, subsequently learned the profession of a merchant, then went to Paris for a year "for further training,” and finally worked for Schönfeld&Wolfers – first as an employee, from 1897 as an authorized signatory, and from 1903 as a partner. A year earlier, his brother Gustav Wolfers (died in 1909) had already joined the company as a partner. Hugo Wolfers and Olga Oppenheimer had married in 1907. The Oppenheimers had already lived in Hamburg for generations as merchants and lawyers. Olga’s father was the lawyer Philipp (called Paul) Oppenheimer (1854–1937), her mother is said to have died shortly after her birth. Her stepmother, Alice Oppenheimer, née Oppenheim (1867–1942), came from a merchant family.

Hugo and Olga Wolfers had four children: two boys and two girls. The family initially lived at Rothenbaumchaussee 73 (Rotherbaum). In 1919, after the death of his father, the family moved to the parents’ house at Hochallee 64 (Harvestehude). In 1928, the company relocated again, to Hofweg 31 (Uhlenhorst). Since at least 1913, the spouses had belonged to the German-Israelitic Community and the liberal Israelite Temple Society (Israelitischer Tempelverein), which had implemented reforms to the conventional synagogue worship service, e.g., the sermon held in German and organ playing.

The younger son Gustav (born in 1910), named after his uncle who had died a year earlier, attended the Heinrich-Hertz-Realgymnasium in the district of Winterhude until obtaining his intermediate secondary school leaving certificate. After attending the Grone commercial school and doing a three-year commercial apprenticeship at "Hamburger Regenmantelfabrik GmbH Harefa,” a producer of raincoats, he set up his own business in 1932 as a commercial agent and textile wholesaler (including shirts and shirt fabrics). For this activity, he used the front rooms of his parents’ six-and-a-half-room apartment at Hofweg 31.

The boycott calls of the Nazi party in 1933 led to a sharp decline in business for the young entrepreneur. From 1935/36 onward, he considered emigration and attended language courses at the university in English, French, and Spanish for this purpose – the exact destination for emigration had not yet been determined. In addition, the learning of the carpentry trade took place under this aspect. One week after the marriage to Grete Abrahamssohn (born in 1912), the newlyweds left for Australia via Holland and Britain in Oct. 1937. Gustav Wolfers had a German sailor smuggle textiles to Britain in order to avoid the 90 percent transfer losses of the money transfers required for the passage to Australia. From the proceeds of the sale, Wolfers paid for the ship passage on the "Orama” from Tilbury to Sydney. Ten boxes and several suitcases were sent to him by his parents; the furniture was left behind in Hamburg.

Sister Ellen (born in 1920), ten years younger, had attended the private girls’ secondary school of "Frl.” ("Miss”) Firgau (Sierichstrasse 53) from 1927 to 1937. For "racial reasons,” she was expelled from sixth year. From 1937 to 1938, she attended drawing and painting classes with Gretchen Wohlwill (at Flemingstrasse 3), still with the aim of training as a decorator. However, the restrictions against Jews were already so far-reaching that an apprenticeship for Ellen Wolfers was no longer possible. As a result, the only option left to her was attending the home economics school of the Jewish Community.

Ellen Wolfers emigrated to London in Feb. 1939. In 1940, she was evacuated to Somerset in the southwest of the British Isles. When the area was declared a "protected area,” where refugees were not allowed to stay, she returned to the British capital after 18 months.

The Schönfeld&Wolfers Company formed the basis of the family’s prosperity. The company imported linen and cotton goods from England, Indian carpets, straw mats and silk handkerchiefs from China and Japan, as well as angora skins. Linen fabrics, cotton, linen or silk handkerchiefs and travel blankets were exported throughout Europe. Around the turn of the century, the company also had a branch in Manchester. From 1906 to 1909, Henry Pels (born in 1890), a graduate of the Talmud Tora Realschule [a practice-oriented secondary school up to grade 10], worked as an apprentice in the company before joining his father’s Wolf Pels Company (founded in 1882), an "agency of the knitwear, hosiery, and weaving goods industry in Hamburg and environs.” Ernst Alsberg (born on 8 June 1879 in Kassel), probably a nephew of Natalie Wolfers, née Alsberg, the wife of the store owner, held full power of attorney for the company from 1911 to 1919. He was deported to Theresienstadt on 15 July 1942 together with his wife Gertrud.

In 1920, after the death of company co-founder Eduard Wolfers, the legal form of the company was changed from an OHG (general partnership) to a KG (limited partnership). Hugo’s sister Elisabeth Gorden, née Wolfers, and his sister-in-law Gertrud Wolfers, née Fränkel, contributed large sums of money to the company. The only personally liable partner of the limited partnership was Hugo Wolfers. At the end of 1928, the company got into economic difficulties and bankruptcy was averted by judicial composition proceedings. In 1929, the company headquarters relocated from Rödingsmarkt 40 to Hohe Bleichen 31–32 (Brandenburger Haus). As late as 1931, the company tried to obtain more substantial assistance from a hardship fund of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce.

As a Jew, the businessman Hugo Wolfers was facing increasing impediments from 1933 onward. Through the allocation of import quotas, import companies were at the mercy of the Nazi-controlled bureaucracy. In this rather inconspicuous way, the economic basis could be withdrawn from Jewish company owners and a sale of the company could be forced. According to the "Third Ordinance to the Reich Citizenship Law (3. Verordnung zum Reichsbürgergesetz) dated 14 June 1938, companies were classified as "Jewish” if their owners were considered Jews according to Nazi standards. Nevertheless, the company was able to report a net profit of 38,500 RM in the 1938 financial year. In 1939, Schönfeld&Wolfers was "Aryanized”; this meant the forced sale of the company below its actual value, usually accompanied by the blocking of all private assets of the former owners.

As early as Feb. 1939, a first takeover agreement was concluded with Ernst Kistenmacher (E.G. Kistenmacher&Co. import and export company, at Mönckebergstrasse 9), a businessman of the same age, but this was rejected by the Nazi Reich Governor (Reichsstatthalter). Among other things, the objection was aimed at the fact that the "good will” for the company typically assessed in the event of a change of ownership was to be paid, a kind of added company value that took into account the good reputation of the company and positive earnings prospects, for example. This payment was generally not permissible for "Aryanization contracts.” It is not known why the contract was not amended. Perhaps factors opposing Ernst Kistenmacher as a purchaser were his lack of party membership and possibly also his partner, who was married to a Jewish woman.

In June 1939, a contract was signed with the merchant Peter Schlumbom (1887–1959). Through his lawyer, the buyer announced his version of the takeover in 1947. He had learned from a Hamburg merchant that "the merchant Hugo Wolfers, owner of Schönfeld&Wolfers, was looking for a buyer for his trading business because he wanted to emigrate to join his son in Australia. This tip was given not long before the outbreak of the war. The appellant (Schlumbom) then contacted Mr. Hugo Wolfers.

The negotiations led to the conclusion of the purchase contract on 29 June 1939. Mr. Wolfers was prevented from leaving the country by the outbreak of the war, even though he had already obtained an exit permit and had reserved the passage. As a result, the takeover had been delayed and came into force only on 25 Sept. 1940 by means of an addendum to the contract. In June 1948, the Appeals Committee for Denazification Proceedings (Berufungsausschuss für Entnazifizierungsverfahren) at least questioned whether this corresponded to the actual circumstances. The Committee had the impression that "the appellant (Schlumbom) had unlawfully exploited the predicament of the Jewish sellers and enriched himself at their expense.”

Peter Schlumbom, operating as a hapless East Asian merchant in Japan from 1934 to 1938, had booked his "political return ticket” while still abroad, joining the German Labor Front (1 June 1935) and the NSDAP (1 Nov. 1936). In 1939, he became a member of the "Reich League of "Reich League of Large Families” (Reichsbund der Kinderreichen) (he had four children) and worked as a block helper/block leader. In addition to the "Aryanization purchase” of Schönfeld&Wolfers’, he acquired the company of the Dutch wholesaler of workwear, Joseph Veffer (Amsterdam, Jodenbreestraat 15), on 1 Jan. 1942 via a company commissioned by the German occupying power with the forced sale of "Jewish” companies.

The Hamburg Nazi Reich Governor agreed to the purchase contract in Oct. 1940. In the same month, a notarial contract was drawn up: "The business was transferred to the businessman Peter Christoph Schlumbom by means of company law. The latter person continues the business as sole owner under the same name.” At the end of the contract, the essence of the Nazi race laws was translated into the sober language of the authorities and merchants in a single sentence and sealed by the notary: "The persons mentioned in connection with 1), 2), 4) and 5) [author’snote: Hugo Wolfers, Elisabeth Gorden, née Wolfers, Sigrid Hess, née Wolfers, and Natalie Kramer, née Wolfers] are Jews, the person mentioned in connection with 3) [author’s note: Gertrud Wolfers, née Fränkel) is a Jewish crossbreed of the first degree [Mischling ersten Grades], the one in 6) [author’s note: Peter Schlumbom] is an Aryan.” However, Reich Governor Karl Kaufmann had only approved the purchase subject to conditions.

For instance, one passage read, "Mr. Wolfers’ employment as an employee is initially approved only until 31 Dec. 1940.” Stipulations regarding the company name were made as well: "The previous company name may only be continued until 31 Dec. 1940 at the latest, even with an addition indicating the succession. On 2 Apr. 1941, Hugo Wolfers acknowledged receipt of 4,026.33 RM (reichsmark) for his company, including office equipment and stocks on hand. According to the buyer Schlumbom, the former company owner was employed as a paid member of staff even until 31 Mar. 1941. Although humiliating, this secured a living for Hugo Wolfers in this situation. The annual revenues of the "Aryanizer” Schlumbom quadrupled due to his company acquisitions.

The 20-month delay in the sale of the company made a possible departure dramatically more difficult. Besides the disabled son Heinz, it was also his wife Olga who needed emotional support and probably persuaded Hugo Wolfers to stay. The 1940 phone directory identified Uhlenhorsterweg 2 as a residential address by then. Deprived of their source of income, the Wolfers couple moved as subtenants into the nearby apartment of the widow Eugenie Zimmermann, née Isaacs, (born on 27 Oct. 1873 in Hamburg, deported to Theresienstadt on 19 July 1942, died there on 16 Apr. 1945) in Nov. 1939. By this time, two of the Wolfers children had already emigrated (their oldest daughter Alice had died of polio at the age of 17 in 1932).

The oldest son, Heinz (born on 14 Sept. 1908) suffered from schizophrenia. As late as 1933, he lived at Rothenbaumchaussee 103 on the second floor as a subtenant of Rosa Rothenburg (born on 18 Mar. 1866 in Güstrow/Mecklenburg), who was deported to Theresienstadt on 15 July 1942 and further deported to Treblinka on 23 Sept. 1942. Rosa Rothenburg made so little money renting rooms of her apartment that she was also dependent on welfare assistance. Possibly, in addition to subletting the room, she had taken over the care of Heinz Wolfers as well.

After the "Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases” ("Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses”) had come into force in 1934, Heinz Wolfers was committed to the "Friedrichsberg state lunatic asylum” ("Staatsirrenanstalt Friedrichsberg”). When the Friedrichsberg institution was dissolved in 1935, it was transferred to the Langenhorn "state hospital” ("Staatskrankenanstalt” Langenhorn, founded in 1893 as a branch of the Friedrichsberg mental institution) on 18 Jan. 1935. Since the early 1930s, the living conditions of patients in the institutions were deteriorating because of cost-cutting measures and politically motivated restrictions. During the war, the staff situation also worsened due to the drafting of doctors and nursing staff.

On 24 Jan. 1940, Heinz Wolfers, sewn into a blanket, was transferred by bus on a collective transport to the Strecknitz "sanatorium” near Lübeck (at Ratzeburger Allee 160). Due to negative medical diagnoses, he did not participate in occupational therapy measures. He was already physically very weak and in the end, he was bedridden almost all of the time. According to a medical report, he died of the consequences of pulmonary tuberculosis on 3 May 1940, which suggests poor nursing care. In Sept. 1940, the remaining Jewish patients were deported from Strecknitz via Hamburg to Brandenburg, where they were most likely killed using gas.

Hugo and Olga Wolfers were deported to the Riga Ghetto on 6 Dec. 1941. The Hamburg transport was transferred to the Jungfernhof state-owned farming estate. There, Hugo and Olga Wolfers perished; the exact circumstances and dates of their deaths are not known. The Hamburg District Court (Amtsgericht) retroactively ruled the date of death to be 8 May 1945.

Hugo Wolfers’ sister, Elisabeth Gorden, née Wolfers (born on 23 Dec. 1879 in Hamburg) and her son Herbert Gorden (born on 24 Sept. 1902 in Hamburg) had already been deported to the Lodz Ghetto on 25 Oct. 1941. She was married to the District Court Judge (Amtsrichter) Felix Gorden (1863–1939) and a member of the Lutheran Church. At the age of 23, the legal trainee Felix Gorden had given up his Jewish surname Cohn in Berlin and assumed the British-sounding name Gorden. In 1892, he moved to Hamburg as an assistant judge (Assessor), where he was appointed judge in 1895 and retired on 15 July 1933. As late as Feb. 1939, the independent businessman Herbert Gorden had submitted all the documents necessary for his departure to the relevant authorities. It is not known why the emigration did not take place. Possibly, his father’s death on 15 Mar. 1939 had led to a rethinking.

Sister Hildegard had already emigrated to Palestine, and Herbert Gorden was the only one who could provide his mother with support and help in the time after his death. Two and a half years later, mother and son were deported and died in the Lodz Ghetto. Elisabeth Gorden’s date of death is not known. Herbert Gorden died on 9 Mar. 1942. Both are commemorated by Stolpersteine at Parkallee 84 in Hamburg-Harvestehude, where the family had lived since at least 1902.

For Alice Oppenheimer, née Oppenheim (1867–1942), and her son Ernst Oppenheimer (1897–1942?), Stolpersteine were laid at Sierichstrasse 58 in the Winterhude district.

The parents of Grete Wolfers, née Abrahamssohn, Joel Abrahamssohn (1869–1942), and Pauline Abrahamssohn, née Meyer (1872–1942), are commemorated by Stolpersteine at Peterstrasse 33 in Hamburg-Neustadt.


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

Stand: May 2019
© Björn Eggert

Quellen: 1; 2; 5; 8; StaHH Staatsangehörigkeitsaufsicht, A III 21 Bd.2, Aufnahme-Register 1865-1879, M-Z; StaHH 332-8, Alte Einwohnermeldekartei; StaHH 351-11, AfW, 221075 (Hugo Wolfers); StaHH 351-11, AfW, 271090 Henry Pels; StaHH 352-8/7, Staatskrankenanstalt Langenhorn, Abl. 1/1995, 21121 (Heinz Wolfers); StaHH 231-7, Handels- u. Genossenschaftsregister, B 1982-104, Band 1 u. 3 (Schönfeld & Wolfers); StaHH 314-15, OFP, FVg 4758; StaHH 314-15, OFP, R 1940/492; StaHH 241-2, Justizverwaltung, Personalakten, A 1229; StaHH 221-11, Staatskommissar für die Entnazifizierung, C 3169; StaHH 221-11, Staatskommissar für die Entnazifizierung, C 6984; AB 1842 (Jaffé), 1870, 1885, 1896; Amtliche Fernsprechbücher Hamburg 1895, 1906, 1914, 1917, 1919–1920, 1925, 1928–1930, 1933, 1938–1940; Gräberkartei Jüdischer Friedhof Ohlsdorf; Auskünfte des Historikers Hans-Werner Dirks (Warmsen), 2008; Auskünfte und Privatfotos von Howard Wolfers (Australien), 2008 u. 2009; Auskünfte von Ernest Stiefel, Seattle/USA, 2009; von Rönn/ Lunderup: Wege in den Tod. S. 233ff.; Press, Judenmord in Lettland 1941-1945, S. 67ff., S. 71, S. 89ff.; Sparr, Stolpersteine in Hamburg-Winterhude. S. 188ff.; Hamburger Börsenfirmen, 11.Auflage, Hamburg 1910, S. 591, S. 720f.; Hamburger Börsenfirmen, 34.Auflage, Hamburg Febr.1933, S. 764, S. 931; Hamburger Börsenfirmen, 36.Auflage, Hamburg 1935, S. 446 (Kistenmacher & Co.); Hamburger Handel und Verkehr, Illustriertes Export-Handbuch der Börsenhalle 1912/14, Hamburg ohne Jahresangabe, S. 130 (Schönfeld & Wolfers); Bajohr, "Arisierung" in Hamburg, S. 371 (Schönfeld & Wolfers); Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe und Westfalen, Amt für Denkmalspflege, Bau- u. Kunstdenkmäler von Westfalen, Band 50, Stadt Minden – Teil IV, Minden 2000, S. 132ff. (Wolffers-Haus); Herzig, Das Sozialprofil der jüdischen Bürger von Minden; Storz: Als aufgeklärter Israelit wohltätig wirken. S.172ff.; Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums, Bibliotheca Johannei (Schülerkarte Hugo Wolfers); Königliche Kunst – Freimaurerei in Hamburg seit 1737, Ausstellung im Jenisch-Haus vom 24.3.–22.11.2009, Schriftstück von 1897 in der Ausstellung (darauf erwähnt Ed. Wolfers u. Ernst Wolfers).
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