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Moritz Nordheim * 1873

Trostbrücke 2–6 (Hamburg-Mitte, Hamburg-Altstadt)

MORITZ NORDHEIM
JG. 1873
GEDEMÜTIGT / ENTRECHTET
FLUCHT IN DEN TOD
18.8.1938

further stumbling stones in Trostbrücke 2–6:
Richard Abraham, Julius Adam, Julius Asch, Georg Blankenstein, Gustav Falkenstein, Ivan Fontheim, Henry Friedenheim, Albert Holländer, Max Israel, Gustav Heinrich Leo, Heinrich Mayer, Kurt Perels, Ernst Moritz Rappolt, Ferdinand Rosenstern, Walter Ludwig Samuel, Salomon Siegmund Schlomer, Ernst Werner, Heinrich Wohlwill, Alfred Wolff

Dr. Moritz Nordheim, b. 2.1.1873 in Kassel, suicide on 8.18.1938 in Hamburg
Clara Nordheim, née Steer, b. 2.2.1891 in Dassow, suicide on 8.19.1938 in Hamburg

Moritz Nordheim was a pediatrician. The original Jewish family stemmed from Lower Franconia (Bavaria); a forbear, Marcus Nordheim (1812–1899) had already received the right of citizenship in Hamburg in 1849. Through the selling of furs and hides, Marcus Nordheim had made a great fortune, which he in large part donated to charitable causes. Thus, he funded, among other things, the Israelite girls’ school on Karolinenstrasse in Hamburg. After his death, his estate called into being the Nordheim Foundation, which in 1903 founded the still functioning Sahlenburg Seehospital on the North Sea; it was originally a recreation home for children.

Moritz Nordheim had two brothers who also lived in Hamburg. Together with his wife Anna, née Tandler, they had four children: Saskia, Lothar, Maria, and in 1911 Gisela. In 1925, he married again, this time to Clara, née Steer, with whom he had no children.

In the 1912 Hamburg telephone directory, Moritz Nordheim was listed as "Directing Physician of the Hamburg Infant Home, specializing in pediatric medicine, Hochallee 111. His practice was located in Haus Esplanade 40. From 1920, according to the phone directory, he lived at Isestrasse 117; from 1932, the address was Maria-Louisen-Strasse 2. He was also active on the executive board of the Nordheim Foundation. He enjoyed high regard and was a member of the Patriotic Society until, in 1935, he was expelled because of his Jewish descent. Moritz Nordheim was, to be sure, a Protestant, but he was, like his brothers, classified as a "full Jew." His two brothers went into exile to Paris in 1933. The elder of the two, Robert, reported later that his young brother died "in misery" in 1942. Robert had gone to Paris with his wife and two younger children, while his oldest son, Günther, stayed in Hamburg in order to finish his apprenticeship in a savings bank. Even afterwards, he remained in the city and could, until 1939, still work for Jewish employers. He seems to have remained in contact with Moritz Nordheim and his wife until their deaths. After the closing of the last "Jewish" firms, he could no longer find work appropriate to his qualifications. In 1944–45, he had to do forced labor and was briefly jailed in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp because of "subversive speech."

From 30 September 1938, Jewish physicians had their licenses to practice medicine revoked; only a few of them received permission to care for Jewish patients as "medics." Moritz Nordheim had to anticipate, in addition to the already inflicted humiliations, also the loss of his economic existence. On 18 August 1938, he injected his wife and himself with a lethal dose of morphine. His wife died only on the following day.

Reworked and supplemented on 12.10.2012


Translator: Richard Levy

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: November 2017
© Ulrike Sparr

Quellen: 4; 5; Auskunft von Anna v. Villiez, 21.03.2008; StaHH 331-5, Unnatürliche Sterbefälle, 1938/1348; AB 1937 (Bd.1); StaH 351-11 5315; StaH 351-11 39831; StaH 351-11 43807; StaH 332-5 9899 1139/1938; StaH 332-5 9899 1140/1938; Amtliche Fernsprechbücher Hamburg, 1912–1939; Bundesarchiv Berlin, Liste der jüdischen Einwohner im Deutschen Reich 1933–1945; Marlis Roß, Der Ausschluss der jüdischen Mitglieder 1935, Hamburg 2007, S. 83; Eduard Seidler, Kinderärzte 1933–1945, entrechtet – geflohen – ermordet, Basel 2007; http://www.dasjuedischehamburg.de/inhalt/nordheim-marcus; www.nordheimstiftung.de; Mail Ralph E. Baer an die Autorin, 1.12.2008.
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