Search for Names, Places and Biographies

Ernst Wassermann * 1889

Eppendorfer Weg 258 (Hamburg-Nord, Hoheluft-Ost)

HIER WOHNTE
ERNST WASSERMANN
JG. 1889
MEHRMALS VERHAFTET
ZULETZT 1937
KZ FUHLSBÜTTEL
TOT AN HAFTFOLGEN
2.8.1938

further stumbling stones in Eppendorfer Weg 258:
Hans Wassermann

Ernst Wassermann, b. 11.12.1889, died on 8.2.1938 in the Israelite Hospital of Hamburg
Hans Wassermann, b.7.29.1893, died on 2.12.1940 in Langenhorn psychiatric hospital

Eppendorfer Weg 258

Ernst and Hans Wassermann were born, respectively, on 12 November 1889 and 29 July 1893 in Posen, the sons of the businessman Georg Wassermann and Lina, née Wolf. The brothers attended preparatory school in Posen. Ernst, the oldest, ended his schooling having completed the fifth form; he subsequently trained as a businessman. He worked in his father’s food company and, until being called up in 1915, in the Posen branch office of the Deutsche Bank. After graduating from prep school, the younger son Han studied law in Heidelberg, Berlin, and Breslau.

Both brothers fought in the First World War and each received the Front Soldier’s Cross of Honor. In 1922, Hans Wassermann brought to an end to the studies which had been interrupted by the war. After the cession of Posen to Poland, his father could no longer finance him. The family moved to Hamburg. Now, Hans, too, worked in the business realm, temporarily as a sales representative in Düsseldorf; in 1930, as a result of the world economic crisis, he was without steady work. It was the same with his brother Ernst whose last job was as a conductor with the Hamburg elevated railway, before he became unemployed.

Both brothers were homosexually oriented, something they tried to hide from one another for a long time. In 1925, Ernst was charged by the Hamburg District Court with creating "a common public nuisance," but was acquitted according to §51 of the State Penal Code on the grounds of diminished soundness of mind. In 1933, he appeared before the Hamburg Special Court for having "spread untrue assertions about the government" which led to ten days in jail. In 1935 he was denounced by an SA-youth leader. In spite of what were consensual sexual relations, he was punished for "slander" with 2 months in jail.

On 9 March 1937, both brothers were sentenced to "protective custody” in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp for violating §175 and on accusations of fraud. The brothers allegedly trafficked in treats (among others, chocolate and coffee) which they had stolen from the Jewish Congregation. In addition, they were further accused of having defrauded the Labor Office and the Welfare Authority. They had not reported the proceeds from their mother’s estate to the officials. Their dealings came to light after Hans Wassermann was named in a police investigation by his then partner, Siegfried Elkeles. Upon a subsequent house search, the police confiscated not only merchandise but also personal photographs which showed Hans Wasserman with, among others, Arthur Hansen, with whom he had had friendly relations since 1928.

Ernst Wassermann had to endure degrading cross-examinations and probable mishandlings before he was sentenced for continual violations of §175, as well as bad faith, to two years and nine months in jail. The imprisonment was interrupted on 17 January 1938 when he was transferred to the Israelite Hospital because of an alleged liver ailment. He died there on 2 August 1938.

Hans Wassermann was condemned to a total sentence of two years in jail, which he served in Fuhlsbüttel. In 1938, his attorney sought his release by means of a pardon for the purpose of emigration. Moreover, he felt responsible for his brother’s death and attempted suicide in Fuhlsbüttel. However, Hans Wassermann was by this time physically exhausted by his interrogations and time in prison; thus, his imprisonment was interrupted at the end of January 1939, when he was taken to the Langenhorn psychiatric hospital, where he died on 12 February 1940.


Translator: Richard Levy
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: May 2019
© Ulf Bollmann

Quellen: 1; StaH, 213-11 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht – Strafsachen, 3674/35, 4495/37, 6072/37 und 3514/39; StaH, 242-1 II Gefängnisverwaltung II, Ablieferungen 13 und 16.
Zur Nummerierung häufig genutzter Quellen siehe Link "Recherche und Quellen".