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Feigel (Steffi "Fany") Thon (née Teichner) * 1876

Mühlendamm 70 (Hamburg-Nord, Hohenfelde)

HIER WOHNTE
FEIGEL THON
GEB. TEICHNER
JG. 1876
DEPORTIERT 1941
LODZ
ERMORDET 10.5.1942
CHELMNO

Steffi Feigel "Fany” Thon, née Teichner, born 25 Dec. 1876 in Weepers, Eastern Prussia (present-day Wieprz, Poland), deported 25 Oct. 1941 to the Lodz Ghetto, 10 May 1942 to the Chelmno extermination camp, murdered there

Mühlendamm 70

Steffi Feigel Teichner and Selig Lieb Thon married in the summer of 1905 in the Vienna City Temple. She was 29, her husband was 34. Steffi, who was called Fany, was originally from the town of Weepers in Eastern Prussia (today Wieprz, Poland). Her father, the Jewish poultry butcher Zacharias Teichner, was born there in 1843. Her mother Eitl Krieger, who was called Jetti, was born in 1850. Fanny had eight siblings: four sisters – Lenna, Bertha, Marl, and Sali – and four brothers – Abraham, Ariel (called Leopold), Jakob, and Elias.

Four years after they married, Fany and Selig, who was called Sigismund, moved to Hamburg. Two of Selig’s brothers lived there: Kopel, who was nine years his senior, and Samuel, who was four years older. His family was originally from Brody in Galicia, which had been a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire since 1772. Brody was a major trading center in Middle and Eastern Europe until the end of the 19th century, and had a large Jewish population. The Thon parents – Moses and Malka, née Gishner – placed great importance on their sons’ education. All of them graduated from the Gymnasium in Brody.

After finishing his schooling, Sigismund apprenticed as a merchant. This was his profession in Hamburg. He and Fany first lived at Lübeckerstraße 13/15, where he also had his office. In 1914 they moved to Mühlendamm 42, and again Sigismund worked from home. Both gave up their Austrian citizenship and became citizens of Hamburg. They had no children.

While Sigismund Thon traded in various goods, his brothers had both become druggists and each had a shop in Hamburg. After finishing his professional training, Kopel Thon had worked in the Russian city of Belz, then returned to Brody in late 1886. Two years later he married Laja Glasscheib, and their daughter Hermina was born in 1889. In 1890 the family moved to Hamburg, where Kopel Thon opened a druggist’s shop on Vierländerstraße in Rothenburgsort. That same year they had another child, Max Ludwig. Kopel Thon’s business was profitable, and in 1901 he opened a second shop on Lindleystraße in Rothenburgsort. He and his family had been granted Hamburg citizenship in 1898.

Sigismund Thon’s brother Samuel studied medicine, at his father’s wish, in Graz. He soon realized, however, that the field was not for him. He instead became a druggist like his brother and also moved to Hamburg. In 1900 he found a job at a druggist’s shop in Barmbek, then three years later opened his own shop on Süderstraße. Samuel Thon also applied for Hamburg citizenship, but his application was not approved. There were reservations about his "Jewish-Galician heritage.” A second attempt the following year was likewise unsuccessful, on the grounds that "the acceptance of Galician Jews was not in the State’s best interests.” His business was successful, however, and in 1907 he opened a second shop on Campestraße. He sold it in 1913, and in the following year Kopel Thon also sold his shop on Lindleystraße. Three years later, in 1917, Kopel sold his main shop on Vierländerstraße to Johann Opladen and moved his family to Berlin.

Fany and Sigismund Thon also moved, but just down the street to Mühlendamm 70. He continued to run his agency from home, as well as a new company that he had founded with his brother Kopel: Thon Brothers Technical Oils Wholesalers. The company only lasted a few years however. In 1929 Samuel Thon emigrated to the US.

Sigismund Thon died on 12 July 1938. He had suffered from diabetes and a related kidney disease for many years, and had been treated for both at the Israelitic Hospital. Fany, aged 61 when she was widowed, remained in the apartment on Mühlendamm, until she was forced to move to the "Jews’ house” at Rutschbahn 3 the following year. A short time later she was moved to the "Jews’ house” at Grindelallee 176, and then again to the one at Grindelhof 95.

Fany Thon was deported to the Lodz Ghetto on 25 Oct. 1941. Her name was on a list of 200 Jews who were to be "replacements” on the transport. She and eight others lived in one room in a building on Hohensteiner (Polish: Zgierska) Straße in the ghetto. On 9 May 1942 she was transferred to the Chelmno extermination camp and murdered. She was 65.


Translator: Amy Lee
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: December 2019
© Frauke Steinhäuser

Quellen: 1; 4; 5; 8; 9; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 7206 u. 804/1938; StaH 332-7 Staatsangehörigkeitsaufsicht B III 84038; StaH 332-7 Staatsangehörigkeitsaufsicht B III 79398; StaH 332-7 Staatsangehörigkeitsaufsicht B III 54271; StaH 522-1 Jüd. Gemeinden 390 Wählerliste 1930; StaH 522-1 Jüd. Gemeinden Nr. 992 e 2 Bd. 1 Transport nach Litzmannstadt am 25. Oktober 1941; Hamburger Adressbücher 1890–1941; Archiwum Panstwowe w Lodzi, An- und Abmeldedokumente des Gettos Lodz ("Litzmannstadt") für Feigel Fany (Fanny) Thon; ancestry.de (letzter Zugriff 1.8.2013); geni.com/jetti-eitl-teichner-krieger (letzter Zugriff 1.8.2013); Thon, Selig L., u. Teichner, Feigel F., in: Index der jüdischen Matriken Wien, online unter: GenTeam. Die genealogische Datenbank, www.genteam.at/index.php?option=com_gesamt (letzter Zugriff 21.5.2015).
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