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Hertha Rosenberg * 1894

Brekelbaums Park 9 (Hamburg-Mitte, Borgfelde)

HIER WOHNTE
HERTHA ROSENBERG
JG. 1894
GEDEMÜTIGT / ENTRECHTET
FLUCHT IN DEN TOD
26.11.1941

Hertha Rosenberg, born on 29 Aug. 1894 in Hamburg, suicide on 26 Nov. 1941

Brekelbaumspark 9

"I then noticed further that the gas meter of Miss R. was turning very quickly and therefore I suspected a mishap. I ran to my son [-in-law] and informed him about it. My son forced the door open, also arranging for the police to be informed. For my part, I did not set foot in the apartment. In conversation with the mail carrier, I learned from her this morning that Miss R. had received an order by the Hamburg Secret State Police [Gestapo]. Now I assume that Miss R. is Jewish. She did not mention this to me when moving in.” This was the report about Hertha Rosenberg’s suicide attempt that her landlady, Franziska Bredow at Gabelsberger Strasse 4, gave as testimony to police. Hertha Rosenberg had moved in with her in Apr. 1940; she was unmarried and childless, and there were no relatives any more.

Hertha Rosa Rosenberg was born on 29 Aug. 1894 in Billwärder, the future Rothenburgsort, as the daughter of Moses Rosenberg and his wife Emma, née Wedel, born on 19 Nov. 1863, at Billwärder Neuerdeich 224. Soon after their wedding in 1891, her parents moved to Hamburg. As an equipment operator and machinist, the father practiced an occupation rather unusual for a Hamburg Jew. He was employed at the Norddeutsche Spritwerke in Billwärder, a manufacturer of spirits. The apartment, located nearby, saw the birth of their first daughter Margarethe on 5 Aug. 1893 and that of Hertha one year later.

Both daughters were trained as office workers and moved with their parents to Borgfelde, where they found a modern apartment at Brekelbaumspark 9. With their salaries as commercial clerks, they contributed to the family income. Margarethe and Hertha Rosenberg belonged, like their parents, to the Hamburg German-Israelitic Community, though they left the Community in 1926 when they had themselves baptized.

Hertha’s father Moses passed away on 1 Aug. 1933 and her sister Margarethe Rosenberg succumbed to the effects of a stroke at the St. Georg General Hospital on 14 Aug. 1938, at the age of 45. Mother Emma died after severe suffering at the Abendroth-Klinik at Hammer Landstrasse in Hamm on 17 Nov. 1939. The Abendroth-Klinik was originally established as a Christian "home for fallen girls” and was then extended by the maternity home, a maternity clinic that in case of emergency also took on the functions of a women’s hospital. The fact that Emma Rosenberg spent the last weeks of her life there is remarkable in that the health care systems for Jewish and "Aryan” patients were separated in 1938. Jewish doctors were deprived of their licenses to practice medicine in 1938; some were allowed to continue working as "treaters of the sick” ("Krankenbehandler”), though to treat Jewish patients only. Conversely, many an "Aryan” physician continued to take care of Jewish patients. Perhaps Emma Rosenberg or the accompanying person withheld her identity; perhaps she was admitted to the closest hospital as an emergency and nobody asked about it; perhaps Hertha Rosenberg was known as a Christian and people assumed the same of her mother. At any rate, from 28 Oct. 1939 until her death, Emma Rosenberg was treated by a non-Jewish physician.

As of 1 July 1939, Hertha Rosenberg was forced to join once again the "Jewish Religious Organization” ("Jüdischer Religionsverband”), the district branch of the Reich Association of Jews [in Germany] (Reichsvereinigung der Juden [in Deutschland]); she had her mail sent from there in neutral envelopes. Though only 46 years old, she lived on a modest pension, which she probably augmented by renting out rooms.

Since she did not earn any wages, she was exempted from communal taxes. Starting in 1940, she paid the monthly minimum contribution of 1 RM (reichsmark) from her income and assets, which were so insignificant that the Chief Finance Administrator (Oberfinanzpräsident) did not impose a "security order” ("Sicherungsanordnung”) on them. She lived inconspicuously and modestly until, after the third deportation of Hamburg Jews to the East in the fall of 1941, she received a summons from the Gestapo, in the course of which she was informed that she would be "evacuated” on the next transport. On the morning of 26 Nov. 1941, she laid out a handwritten farewell letter, her church membership card, and her health insurance card, sat down fully dressed on a kitchen chair next to the gas stove in her kitchen and turned on the gas tap. The police officers alerted placed her on the sofa. By the time the fire fighters arrived and started resuscitation attempts, she was already dead. Hertha Rosenberg was taken to the Harbor Hospital and the apartment was sealed.

An executor was not appointed until 13 Jan. 1942, followed by the reopening of the apartment and the auctioning of the furniture. The auction proceeds served to cover the costs of Henry Schlüter undertakers.


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

Stand: October 2018
© Hildegard Thevs

Quelle: 4; 5; StaH, 331-5 Polizeibehörde – Unnatürliche Sterbefälle 1942/535; 332-5 Standesämter, 2358+1751/1894, 1083+1371/1938, 1116+266/1939; 352-5 Gesundheitsamt, StA 5a, 266/1939.
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