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Siegfried Schuster * 1892

Borgfelder Straße 24 (Hamburg-Mitte, Borgfelde)

HIER WOHNTE
SIEGFRIED SCHUSTER
JG. 1892
DEPORTIERT 1941
RIGA
ERMORDET

further stumbling stones in Borgfelder Straße 24:
Max Angres, Rosa Angres, Mathilde Dyhrenfurth, David Glücksohn, Georg Rosenberg, Hertha Schuster, Herbert Schuster

Herbert Schuster, born on 3 July 1924 in Hamburg, deported on 6 Dec. 1941 to Riga
Hertha Schuster, née Stern, born on 12 Dec. 1898 in Hamburg, deported on 6 Dec. 1941 to Riga
Siegfried Schuster, born on 15 May 1891 in Tuchel/West Prussia, deported on 6 Dec. 1941 to Riga, deported further on 16 Aug. 1944 to the Buchenwald concentration camp, died on 22 Dec. 1944 in Tröglitz/Zeitz Administrative District

Borgfelder Strasse 24

The Schuster, Stern, Angres, Dyhrenfurth, and Schickler families were associated very closely due to their businesses on Hammerbrookstrasse and their homes at Borgfelder Strasse 24, apparently also having contact to the Süsskinds, a married couple residing at Oben Borgfelde 11.

Hertha Stern, the only daughter of Siegmund Stern and his wife Helene, née Kant, was born on 12 Dec. 1898 in Hamburg. Her parents belonged to the Hamburg German-Israelitic Community. She grew into the "Siegmund Stern Jr.” textiles store at Hammerbrookstrasse 6 on Berliner Tor, continuing to manage the company on her own after her father’s death. Her mother helped in the retail business. Located next to it was the "R. & M. Schickler” finery goods and fashion store operated by the sisters Rosa Angres and Mathilde Dyhrenfurth, both née Schickler. Only separated by a household articles store at house no. 4, Adolf Schickler’s men’s fashion store occupied the house at the corner of Hammerbrookstrasse/ Besenbinderhof. The apartment of Helene and Hertha Stern was on the third floor above their store.

In Oct. 1922, even when he was still based in his apartment at Neanderstrasse 9 in Berlin, Siegfried Schuster applied for a business license as a merchant for the wholesale and retail trade with textiles in the "Siegmund Stern Jr. und Schuster & Co.” company in Hamburg. Siegfried Schuster was born on 15 May 1891 in Tuchel/West Prussia (today Tuchola in Poland). It was impossible to establish whether he fought in World War I. He had ties to Hamburg via the merchant Leo Schuster, who lived at Uhlenhorster Weg 49a.

On 26 Mar. 1923, Hertha Stern and Siegfried Schuster were married in Hamburg. Siegfried Schuster moved in with his wife and her mother to Hammerbrookstrasse 6. On 3 July 1924, their son Herbert was born. He was their only child. In the years before the world economic crisis, Siegfried Schuster earned a good income as a sales representative for textiles as well as men’s clothing and accessories. The decline of the store accelerated due to the boycott of Jewish businesses, ending in its termination. After the loss of the company, Siegfried Schuster moved with his family to Tiecksweg 17 in Eilbek. He started a business of his own, once again earning a living, and in 1935, he moved to Borgfelder Strasse 24, where the previous neighbors from Hammerbrookstrasse, Dyhrenfurth and Angres, already resided. In 1938, Siegfried Schuster became unemployed again, henceforth pressing on intensively with emigration to Argentina and Paraguay, respectively.

In light of his poor financial situation, no "Reich flight tax” (Reichsfluchtsteuer) became due, and the Chief Finance Administrator (Oberfinanzpräsident) did without imposing a "security order” ("Sicherungsanordung”). After examining the modest used household effects, the customs department found no clues requiring a duty to the Gold Discount Bank ("Dego-Abgabe”). The only new item in the house was a briefcase valued at 14 RM (reichsmark), evidently a gift from a friend. The new purchases of agricultural clothes for Siegfried Schuster and 14-year-old son Herbert were also exempted from the "Dego-Abgabe.” Business associates from Berlin covered the cost of passage. On 19 Nov. 1938, Siegfried Schuster received the tax clearance certificate (Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung). Valuables such as jewelry and the stamp collection were estimated, packed, and sealed; the moving goods were put in storage.

The emigration failed due to Siegfried Schuster being arrested. On 21 Feb. 1939, the Hamburger Fremdenblatt reported, "Because of racial defilement [Rassenschande], the 47-year-old Jew Siegfried Israel Schuster was arrested. He has confessed to having violated the Nuremberg Laws.” Why this case of so-called "racial defilement,” among many others, made it into the newspapers is not understandable. In the view of the official processing the emigration file, Mr. Jahncke, Siegfried Schuster could have emigrated upon producing the passports and visas, since all formalities had been completed, but the head of the "Jewish Affairs Department” ("Judenreferent”), Claus Göttsche from the Hamburg Gestapo, had him begin serving a prison sentence instead. During the German national census in May 1939, while he was absent, Elfriede Gumprecht and her daughter Hanni were registered as residing at his address, Borgfelder Strasse 24 on the fourth floor, even though they still lived in Harburg. Elfriede Gumprecht’s parents, Isaac and Hulda Süsskind, resided at Oben Borgfelde 11, above Borgfelderstrasse 24, which may have been the reason for this registration.

Until 20 Sept. 1939, three weeks after the start of World War II, Siegfried Schuster served his prison term, and subsequently he was released to Hansastrasse 55. In the meantime, Hertha Schuster was able to receive the reimbursed cost of passage. Largely destitute, Siegfried and Hertha Schuster received welfare assistance starting in Jan. 1940. That month, Julius Hellmann donated to them 40 RM; in April 1940, 25 RM; and in April 1941, 20 RM. Siegfried Schuster was enlisted to perform forced labor; Herbert was considered an apprentice by the Gestapo. It was not possible to establish any additional details.

Not until 1941 did Siegmund and Hertha Schuster receive back their moving goods. There was no way of clarifying whether they still hoped for emigration and refrained from demanding the goods back for this reason or whether they were denied delivery. By that time, they resided at Bornstrasse 16, a "Jews’ house” ("Judenhaus”), whose cramped conditions prevented them from fitting their household effects. What happened to the items remains unclear. The welfare section of the "Jewish Religious Organization” ("Jüdischer Religionsverband”) continued to pay welfare assistance. With respect to the valuables, the "Weber & Möller Company, Hamburg 11, Sandtorquai 28, received permission to deliver to you [Hertha Schuster] the package of valuables stored in said place, sealed by jeweler Hermann Schrader, Hamburg, for the purpose of transporting it to the customs zone. Of the contents – here follows the list with items 1–18 – you are obliged to immediately hand over items 1 to 6, 9 to 14, and 18 to the Öffentliche Leihanstalt [public pawnshop], Hamburg 36, at Bäckerbreitergang 73, and submit to me the delivery notice no later than 20 August of this year. Items 7/8 (silver necklace, sports watch) and 15/17 (2 rolled gold men’s watchbands men’s watch) can remain in your possession.” According to the instructions, Hertha Schuster delivered their valuables to the pawnshop, which also served as the central Hamburg lost property office up to the beginning of the twenty-first century. The articles remaining were probably taken from her and her husband during the various checks on the way to the ghetto.

Siegfried, Hertha, and Herbert Schuster received the order to "evacuate” to Riga as of 6 Dec. 1941. The traces of Hertha and Herbert Schuster’s lives end there.

Siegfried Schuster was committed to the Buchenwald concentration camp to perform forced labor, being registered there on 16 Aug. 1944 as a "political Jew” under prisoner number 82,739 and quartered in the tent camp of the small camp (Kleines Lager). On 8 Sept. 1944, he was assigned to the detachment Brabag/Treibstoffherstellung [synthetic fuel production], Tröglitz Wille external camp near Zeitz. A letter from "protective custody prisoner Siegfried Schuster 82,739, Block 17" ("Schutzhäftling Siegfried Schuster, 82739, Block 17”) to the master butcher Ernst Wangelin and his wife in Eilbek has been conserved: In it, Siegfried Schuster wrote to the married couple who were friends and to several non-Jewish acquaintances. He hoped that the addressees were in good health and indicated that he was reasonably well. His requests were focused on warm clothes they could spare, a towel and soap as well as food items, saying that one parcel with such items was permitted each week. Indicating that he would be forever grateful to them, he asked that the acquaintances mentioned contribute to these shipments so that he might be granted some joy at Christmas. This request was not fulfilled. He died on 22 Dec. 1944 in the Tröglitz Wille external camp, Zeitz Administrative District.


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

Stand: January 2019
© Hildegard Thevs

Quellen: 1; 2 FVg 3617; 4; 5; BA 1939; StaH, 332-5 Standesämter, 3472+155/1928; 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden, Abl. 1993, 42, Bd. 2; 390; 391; Altonaer Adressbuch 1875; Archiv Gedenkstätte Buchenwald, Schreiben vom 14.10.2009; Lachmund, Altona; Weinmann (Hrsg.), Lagersystem; Schreiben an Ernst Wangelin, Privatbesitz Wilhelm Meyer. *) Die Kategorisierung "politischer Jude" ließ sich nicht klären.
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