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Heinrich Levisohn * 1937

Wandsbeker Königstraße 38 / Ecke Quarree (Wandsbek, Wandsbek)

HEINRICH LEVISOHN
JG. 1937
DEPORTIERT 1941
MINSK
ERMORDET

further stumbling stones in Wandsbeker Königstraße 38 / Ecke Quarree:
Helene Levisohn, Louis Levisohn, Bernhard Levisohn, Käthe Levisohn, Gertrud Levisohn

Louis Levisohn, born 10/30/1866, deported to Theresienstadt on 7/15/1942, died there on 4/1/1943
Helene Levisohn, née Freudenberg, born 9/8/1869, deported to Theresienstadt on 7/15/1942, deported on to Auschwitz on 12/18/1943
Bernhard Levisohn, born 5/5/1898, deported to Minsk on 11/8/1941
Käthe Levisohn, née Mayer, born 5/9/1905 deported to Minsk on 11/18/1941
Heinrich Levisohn, born 6/21/1937, deported to Minsk on 11/18/1941
Gertrud Levisohn, née Grossmann, born 10/1/1907, deported to Minsk on 11/8/1941

Wandsbeker Königstrasse between Wandsbeker Marktstrasse and Quarree (formerly Königstrasse 84)

Louis Levisohn knew a lot about fabrics, colors and paints, about wallpaper and decorations. So that it was only natural that he was chosen to festively decorate his home town of Wandsbek when Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands, came to inspect the Hussar Regiment subordinated to her on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of its dedication on November 5th, 1903. The population celebrated the Regent as she rode through the town in her carriage from the railroad station to the new barracks. A part of the festive decoration of the streets had been made by Louis Levisohn, a fact that was duly accounted by the local newspaper Wandsbecker Bote: "The decorations of Goethestrasse had been entrusted to the decorator Herr Louis Levisohn … The decorations of the mentioned street were especially beautiful and achieved general acclaim.” Thirty years later, nothing was left of the former glory. The man who had been honored at the beginning to the century was now forced to leave his home town where he had been a respected craftsman almost penniless.

Louis Levisohn belonged to the second, if not the third generation of a Jewish family living and working in the Prussian town of Wandsbe(c)k. He was born there as the son of the agent and auctioneer Rudolf Levisohn and his wife Sophie, née Peine. He was the fourth of six children born in Wandsbek between 1857 and 1870. Levisohn attended primary and secondary school in his home town and subsequently absolved an apprenticeship as a saddler, upholsterer, painter and decorator. After stages "abroad” and absolving a period as assistant, he passed his master exam and set up his own business in Wandsbek in 1892.

Only a few years later, he was able to consider founding a family; in 1895, he married 25-year-old Helene Freudenberg from Lilienthal near Bremen, daughter of a Jewish master painter. Her mother had died when she was only a year old, her father when she was ten. She had worked as a domestic servant before meeting Louis Levisohn. The couple had five children: Philipp, Bernhard, Sophie Lotte, Martha and Mira, born between 1896 and 1910. The boys attended public, the girls private high schools in Wandsbek.

In the first years of their marriage, the Levisohns lived at Königstrasse 72, near the center of town, as in later years: Hamburgerstrasse 35, Lübeckerstrase 37 and, from 1913 to 1920 at Lübeckerstrasse 23. In 1920, Rolf Levisohn and his family established shop and workshop as well as their residence at Königstrasse 84 (now: Wandsbeker Königstrasse), close by the Wandsbek Town Hall, where they had a well-equipped four-room apartment. Helene ran a kosher household with separate china sets and cutlery in compliance with the Jewish dietary rules.

Louis Levisohn engaged in the Wandsbek Jewish Community; in 1910, he was the vice deputy and, as a member of the Kabbronim Association was responsible for conducting funerals at the Community Cemetery in Jenfelder Strasse. From 1925 to 1931, he was Vice President of the Community and temporarily also officiated for the Funeral Association again; until 1934, he was one of the three remaining members of the Community Board. Many well-top-do members of the Community had left Germany on account of the repressive Nazi policy against Jews, so that the Wandsbek Community had fallen into besetment and was forced to reduce the Board.

In 1928, Louis Levisohn had almost reached retirement age, and had to declare bankruptcy. His son Bernhard, however, managed to continue the company and was even able to create a salaried job for his father.

However, after the Nazis came to power in 1933, the Levisohns were unable to hold out for long in Wandsbek. In the middle of the 1930s, the names of Louis and Bernhard Levisohn appeared on an NSDAP hate pamphlet. Deprived of their economic basis, the family at the end of 1934 had no choice but to give up their well-established business and leave Wandsbek. They moved to Heinrich-Barth-Strasse 24 in the Grindel quarter of Hamburg.

The business had not fallen victim to attrition, the Jewish proprietors had. A successor was quickly found: the "Aryan” paper-hanger and decorator Johs. Czaja took over the company with its rich heritage.

It seems that Louis Levisohn stuck to his trade. After a further relocation in 1939, he had his name entered into the address book as "paper hanger”, living at Brahmsallee 18; he was also working from Bogenstrasse 15, ground floor. In 1939, the Jews’ already precarious situation worsened still, as they were forbidden to perform self-employed work in almost all trades.

Louis Levisohn was forced to apply for welfare support: in his application, he wrote: "no assets, nothing to expect.” Nonetheless, an official of the welfare agency came to visit the family a week later, on February 7th; six persons were living in the 2 ½-room apartment. Besides the parents and their divorced son Bernhard, there was his married, unemployed sister Sophie Lotte as well as Sophie Freudenberg, a pensioner and an unmarried sister of Helene Levisohn. On top, one room was rented out to a female Jewish subtenant, who did not belong to the family. The total rent amounted to 85 RM, including heating. Daughter Lotte was supported by her parents. In its report, the welfare agency official remarked that Louis and Helene Levisohn’s son Philipp, a former shareholder of the Strauss Works, could be assumed to have savings that enable him to support his parents, and went on to state: "[Louis] Levisohn and his wife are extremely cautious in their statements and keep giving each other signs, so that their statements are to be interpreted with some doubt. The furniture is good. The situation of their son Philipp must be thoroughly checked before approving W[elfare payments]. The apartment is also too expensive.”

A few weeks later, the welfare agency ruled that Philipp Levisohn was obliged to support his parents. Philipp, however, declined to pay or would only be able to do so when the trustee who managed Philipp Levisohn’s share in the Strauss Works paid his share of the revenue. The responsible supervising agency, however, refused its necessary approval.

At the end of 1939, Philipp Levisohn was ordered to support his parents. He must have followed this ruling, as a note on Louis Levisohn’s culture tax card describes his dire situation: "No income, not assets, is being supported by his children.”

The following years were not only overshadowed by daily reprisals, but also by separations. In 1939, Louis and Helene Levisohn bade farewell to their daughters: Sophie Lotte emigrated to the USA, Martha to England. And at the end of 1941, they had to part with their sons Philipp and Bernard, along with their wives and children, who were deported to an uncertain fate in Lodz, respectively Minsk. Louis and Helene themselves were once more forced to move, to Bundesstrasse 43, a "Jews’ house”, from where they were deported to Theresienstadt on July 25th, 1942; their arrival was registered the following day. Louis Levisohn died there on April 1st, 1943. His reserved grave at the cemetery in Jenfelder Strasse remains unused.

On December 18th, 1943, Helene Levisohn was deported on to Auschwitz, where her trace is lost. In 1957, Helene Levisohn was declared dead effective May 8th, 1945. None of her likewise deported next of kin survived (see below).

Bernhard Levisohn, Louis and Helene Levisohn’s second eldest son, was born May 5th, 1898 in Wandsbek. His twin brother Rudolf died at the age of six months.
Like his elder brother Philipp, Bernhard attended the Matthias-Claudius-Gymnasium, Wandsbek’s renowned high school. After graduation, he followed in his father’s footsteps and absolved an apprenticeship as a paper hanger and decorator. In the middle of the 1920s, Bernhard entered into his father’s business as a partner and took it over in 1928, after his father had declared bankruptcy.
Apart from his military service from 1917 to 1919, Bernhard Levisohn always lived with his parents, even after marrying Käthe, née Mayer, on November 16th, 1934. Käthe was the daughter of Samuel and Caroline Mayer, née Lazarus.

Like his father, Bernhard Levisohn had joined the German-Israelitic Community of Hamburg on January 5th, 1935, where they belonged to the cultural association of the conservative New Dammtor Synagogue. By 1937, Bernhard Levisohn’s financial situation had deteriorated to the point where he was no longer able to pay the Community taxes. At the end of 1938, he was forced to quit his own business. From 1939 on, he worked as an assistant paper hanger for the Hartmann Company at Revalerstrasse 10, where he earned 40 RM per week.

In addition, his marriage failed. The couple separated, and in January, 1937, he was divorced from Käthe Levisohn. Within the year, their son Heinrich was born, for whom Bernhard Levisohn had to pay alimony.

Following the deportation of the initial 1,000 Hamburg citizens the end of October, 1941, the remaining Jews lived under the constant fear they, in their turn, were soon to receive the deportation order. It was probably common knowledge among Hamburg’s Jewish population that further deportations were to follow in the coming months. Many of these people wanted to avoid being separated from their next of kin or their friends. As married couples were deported together, many a marriage followed in the fall of 1941.

Bernhard Levisohn, too, decided to take this step; on November 4th, 1941, he and Gertrud Grossmann presented themselves at the Eimsbüttel registrar’s office. The fathers of the bridal couple served as witnesses. Bernhard’s second wife was the daughter of the former merchant Max Grossmann and his wife Henriette, née Weinberg. In 1930, she had given birth to a daughter, who was given the name Henriette; the younger Henriette died as a child. Gertrud Grossmann had worked as a domestic servant and lived as a subtenant at Ottersbeckallee 19/I with the Eichengrüns. In 1938, she had worked for Leopold Katz for six months, the owner of the matzo bakery. On the date of her marriage, her registered residence was Kleiner Schäferkamp 32, as was her father’s, who was detained at the Fuhlsbüttel prison in 1940/41. The first brief living together of the newlyweds in Hamburg was also to be their last: Gertrud Levisohn moved in with her husband at the "Jews’ house in Bundesstrasse 43. From there, they started out for the Masonic house at the Moorweide, where Gertrud Levisohn’s father, too, had to report. On November 8th, 1941, four days after their wedding, they had to board the freight train for Minsk. Bernhard Levisohn was 43 years old, his wife 34.

Käthe Levisohn’s registered address in 1939 was Loogestieg 10/II with Mendel; her little son lived at Eppendorfer Landstrasse 12, obviously a compromise to facilitate childcare. In 1940, she succeeded at placing Heinrich at the Paulinenstift in the street named Laufgraben, an orphanage for girls run by the Jewish Religious Association that, for a food allowance, also admitted children whose parents were unable to care for them. Käthe Levisohn had access to a savings account with more than 2,000 RM, which, however, belonged to her mother. On the questionnaire of the currency agency she declared on March 20th, 1940: "I make 60 RM a month as a domestic servant, with which I have to pay 30 RM for the care of my son Heinrich Israel Levisohn and all my own expenses. Käthe Sara Levisohn, née Mayer.”

Her situation deteriorated even more in 1940 due to an illness; her salary was reduced to 45 RM. From August, 1941, her registered address was in Altona, Grosse Prinzenstrasse 28, with Gräber, where she lived up to her deportation.

Käthe Levisohn, 36 years old, 4-year old Heinrich and his grandmother Caroline Mayer were also deported to Minsk on November 18th, 1941, It might be that they met the other Levisohns there.

Other members of the Levisohn family were deported to Lodz, among them Philipp, Louis and Helene Levisohns eldest son, born June 1st , 1896 in Wandsbek. He attended the Matthias-Claudius-Gymnasium, served in the army in WW I from 1915 on. After the war, he made a career from clerk to an executive and finally a partner in the Strauss Works, who manufactured hair dressers’ supplies. He lived at Lübeckerstrasse 23 and later until 1925 at Lindenstrase 35 in Wandsbek-Marienthal. He, too, was a member of the Wandsbek Jewish Community. In 1925, he moved to Moorende 8 in Hamburg-Hamm.
Philipp Levisohn was first married to Martha, née Wiener (born 1898), who died in 1932 and is buried at the cemetery in Jenfelder Strasse; their daughter Manja was born December 16th, 1929 Philipp’s second wife was Margrit (Marguerite), née Löwenstein (born 1913); the couple’s son Manfred was born on February 27th, 1937. Their last home was at Greflingerstrasse 1 in Winterhude. On October 25th, 1941, Philipp Levisohn and his family were deported to Lodz. On September 12th, 1942, they were taken to Chelmno and murdered there.

Albert Levisohn, born March 17th, 1891 in Hamburg as the son of William and Bertha Levisohn, was a nephew of Louis Levisohn and a cousin Bernhard and Philipp. He fought in WW I from 1914 on, was wounded and decorated with the Hanseatenkreuz, a medal awarded for valor in combat by the three Hanse cities Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck. After the war, he first had his own business; then, he worked as an accountant and later as a book auditor for the Siegfried Halberstadt company at Hohe Bleichen 31 in downtown Hamburg. His wife Cilly, née Magnus (born December 31st, 1894), a native of Hamburg; the couple had two children: Rolf William and Ruth Lotte, both born in Hamburg: the son on September 11th, 1920, the daughter in 1928. The family was members of the Wandsbek Jewish Community Wandsbek. From their home in Gluckstrasse in Barmbek, they could easily reach the shops and the synagogue in Wandsbek.

Rolf Levisohn attended the Talmud Tora Realschule in Grindelhof and belonged to the last class to pass the Abitur, the finishing exams. For his essay, he chose the subject: "Calamity is no Good, but it has Three Good Children: Power, Experience, Compassion.” He wrote: "I no longer want to live. Why did this misfortune happen to me? …Succumb or take up the struggle again, the slogan goes… Collect all energy for the final decisive battle.” As he was over 18 when the opportunity came, he was no longer eligible for a children’s transport to England, on which his younger sister Ruth was sent and thus saved in June, 1939.

On October 25th, 1942, Rolf Levisohn and his parents were deported to Lodz from their longtime home at Gluckstrasse 24. Albert Levisohn died there on February 18th, 1942; Cilly and Rolf Levisohn were killed in Chelmno on April 25th, 1942.
All 13 members of the Levisohn family from Wandsbek were killed in the Holocaust.


Translated by Peter Hubschmid
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: March 2017
© Astrid Louven

Quellen: 1; 2 R 1940/669; 3; 4; 8; AfW 301066, AfW 080969; StaHH Meldekartei 332-8 K 4487, ebd. Auskunft von Jürgen Sielemann E-Mail vom 13.8.2003; AB 1897 IV, AB 1910, AB 1911 IV; AB 1919 IV, AB 1939 II; Wandsbecker Bote Nr. 261 vom 6.11.1903; Bundesarchiv Berlin, Liste der jüdischen Einwohner des Deutschen Reichs 1933–1945; Jahrbuch, 1929/30 S. 37, 1931/32 S. 75f, 1932/33 S. 75, 1933/34 S. 47f; Astrid Louven, Juden, S. 34, 43, 131, 134f, 201, 206, 219, 220, 229, 234; Hans-Werner Faerber, Wandsbeker Husaren, S. 30–36; Heinz Rosenberg, Jahre, S. 19–26; Hildegard Thevs, Stolpersteine, S. 107f.
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