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Lucy Schilling (née Marcus) * 1883

Kreuzweg 10 (Hamburg-Mitte, St. Georg)

1941 Lodz

Luci/Lucy Schilling, née Marcus, born on 7.8.1889, deported on 25.10.1941 to the Lodz Ghetto and murdered.

Kreuzweg 10, St. Georg

On June 19, 1940, Luci/Lucy Schilling applied to the office responsible for Jews, Sonderdienststelle J. She requested an allowance for her coal bill in the amount of RM 71.80. Her application was rejected on the grounds that "Jews are not eligible for special measures, i.e. not for the Sonderaktion Kohlen either."

Who was Lucy Schilling, who could not pay her coal bill, and how had it come to this?

Her parents Julius Marcus and Pauline Marcus, née Frank, had had five children in Zerbst/Anhalt: Erich, born on July 25, 1885, Georg, born on October 24, 1886, Else/Elsa, born on April 10, 1884, and Luci/Lucy, born on August 7, 1889. At that time, there were about 20 Jewish families living in Zerbst. The youngest member of the Marcus family, Martha was born in nearby Bernburg on June 13, 1892.
Julius and Pauline Marcus belonged to the Jewish Community and raised their children in the Jewish faith. Julius Marcus worked as a merchant and manufacturist (dealer in manufactured goods).

It is nothing known about the childhood and possible education of Lucy Marcus. Even later she left hardly any traces in the records, from which her own life could have been revealed.

Lucy Marcus married on August 15, 1914 in London the Willy Johannes Friedrich Karl Schilling, who was born on January 31, 1888 in Hamburg. His parents lived in Hamburg. He was the first child of six children of the non-Jewish couple Ernst August Schilling and Sophie Elisabeth Jeanette Schilling, née Berghauer.

Willy Schilling had joined the Navy on November 4, 1908, after a training as a medical mate in Wilhelmshaven. He went to sea on the liner S.M.S (Ship of His Majesty) Hannover under the command of Friedrich Gädecke, Vice Admiral of the Imperial Navy. Willy Schilling had passed his medical mate examination before the examination board on November 22, 1910 with "very good".

After their marriage, the Schilling couple moved to Wilhelmshaven, where Willy Schilling was drafted as a medical mate at the beginning of World War I in August 1914. As a result of the war deployment, he suffered from a severe walking disability, rheumatism and he was blind. All together this resulted in a determined 100% severe disability. He received a pension.

Willy and Lucy Schilling moved to Hamburg in 1919, where they initially lived with his parents at Jenischstraße 5/Hammerbrook (today Wandalenstraße). They then moved into an own apartment at Grabenstraße 10 (St. Pauli). The marriage remained childless.

Willy Schilling found work as a telephone operator for the Cunard See Transport Gesellschaft, a shipping company that had its headquarters in the Neustadt at Neuer Jungfernstieg 5. His employer had a telephone connection set up in Grabenstraße, so that Willy Schilling could work from home.

Despite a pension and gainful employment, the income was not enough to cover the family's living expenses. In the following years, Willy Schilling repeatedly applied for one-time or long-term grants from foundations that had been set up to support war-disabled people: On April 27, 1920, he received 500 marks from the "Freies Meer" foundation for blind war veterans in need of assistance. A year later he received a loan of 300 marks from the War Blind Welfare Fund, which he conscientiously repaid on time.

In 1922, Lucy and Willy Schilling moved to Böckmannstraße 19 in St. Georg. On April 14, 1924, Lucy Schilling applied for a loan of 200 marks from the Kriegsblindenfürsorge to renovate her apartment. It was a 4-room apartment with a kitchen. Lucy Schilling sublet two rooms, a large one of 30 m² and a smaller one. For both together she received 41.25 marks per month from the subtenants. After a visit to the house, the Welfare Office classified the accommodation as very lived-in and approved a loan of 100 marks against the assignment of Willy Schilling's half pension.

However, this caused the couple financial difficulties. Thus, on July 3, 1924, Willy Schilling again applied for a loan of 200 marks from the Kriegsblindenfürsorge. Willy Schilling's income as a telephone operator for the Cunard Line was 120 RM. Together with the subletting income and the loan, they were able to carry out the renovation.

To alleviate his articular rheumatism, the pension office granted Willy Schilling a cure at the military health resort in Bad Oeynhausen in 1926, which his employer also subsidized. From there he traveled on to Sienna in northern Italy, a vacation booked by the couple before the cure, for whose return trip the Welfare Office stepped in.

As of July 8, 1927, the Hamburg Welfare Office granted Willy Schilling a higher pension, which now amounted to 154.06 RM per month. The Cunard Line also voluntarily paid him a 70 RM allowance for an indefinite period. Nevertheless, Lucy Schilling had to apply to the Welfare Office for an allowance for firing, since Willy Schilling suffered from severe joint pain and rheumatism and only heat could provide relief. They received an allowance for firing in the amount of 150 RM, as well as for a winter coat for Willy Schilling and warm underwear in the amount of 200 RM.

Lucie Schilling's life was severely limited by her husband's health situation. Willy Schilling's arms were by now could not be moved and his back was bent. Soon he was completely confined to a wheelchair and did not leave the apartment at all. He needed extensive help in everyday life, which Lucy Schilling was no longer able to provide. She applied to the Welfare Office for a nurse, but the office refused to pay for it.

In 1928, Lucy Schilling joined the Jewish community.

In the same year, Willy Schilling was able to spend a short month at the Salzhausen Rest Home for the War Blind, again with subsidies from the Welfare Office. When he returned from there, he applied to the Nieth Foundation for a one-time grant of 150 RM. The Nieth Foundation supported needy, incapacitated and infirm people, regardless of their religion or nationality. For this purpose, it examined the income of the applicants. Willy Schilling's earnings at the Cunard Line now amounted to RM 116.25, and he received a care allowance of RM 100 from the pension office. As a war-disabled person, he received a supplementary pension of RM 42.85 and an invalidity pension of RM 30. The Nieth Foundation granted him a one-time payment of 150 RM.

Willy Schilling also received a detector device, a predecessor of the radio. This enabled him to participate in public life, at least acoustically. The "Free Sea" Foundation also supported him with a financial grant. Likewise, in 1929, another cure was granted in Bad Oeynhausen, with Lucy Schilling accompanying him. However, he was unable to take this one because his health had deteriorated.

Lucy Schilling tried once again to obtain help in caring for her husband from the Welfare Office. During the interview with the caseworker, she suffered a nervous breakdown accompanied by crying fits. The case worker asked the parish nurses in St. Georg whether they could support Lucy Schilling in caring for her husband. But it remained with a one-time financial support of 50 RM. Since the fall of 1929 Willy Schilling was bedridden.

On December 16, 1929, Willy Schilling died at Böckmannstraße 19 and was buried in the War Memorial Cemetery in Ohlsdorf.

Now widowed, Lucy Schilling suffered greatly from the death of her husband. She became mentally and physically ill. The doctor certified that she had suffered severe trauma and hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid gland). Apparently Lucy Schilling had also worked, although it is not clear from the surviving documents what activity she had been engaged in. After Willy Schilling's death, her doctor attested that she was continuously ill. She received a small widow's pension of RM 40.80.

Obviously she wanted to improve the financial situation again by subletting. However, one of the subtenants owed the rent for several months and left the apartment in mid-1930.

On August 25, 1931, she received a home visit from the Welfare Office. Lucy Schilling continued to be in very poor health, both mentally and physically. The employee feared that Lucy Schilling would no longer be able to avoid admission to the Friedrichsberg state hospital. At the same time, Lucy Schilling refused any medical treatment. She justified her refusal by saying that she was not capable of sitting in a doctor's waiting room.

On April 12, 1932, the welfare worker visited Lucy Schilling again. The latter had become a chain smoker in the meantime. The welfare worker now also suspected her of being addicted to intoxicants.

Lucy Schilling was declared 60% incapacitated by a medical report. Her financial situation remained strained. In 1933, the widow's and invalid's pensions amounted to RM 84.70 and RM 12.30 respectively, supplemented by the quarterly supplementary pension in the amount of RM 34.70.

Since June 2, 1933, Lucy Schilling lived at Schmilinskystraße 92 in St. Georg and occupied a 3-room apartment. The rent was RM 55 per month, of which she rented out a furnished room for RM 15.
Only a few months later, she moved to Schmilinskystraße 30 and moved into an apartment on the first floor.

In the meantime, the National Socialists had taken power in Germany, so that the everyday life of Jews in Germany and also in Hamburg changed abruptly.

On March 26, 1935, Lucy Schilling received a subsequent official notification that the quarterly supplementary pension of 34.70 RM, had been discontinued on December 31, 1934. This was paid for the last time in October 1934.

In April 1934 she had moved to a cheaper apartment at Kreuzweg 14 (St. Georg) on the second floor, again a 3-room apartment.in which she sublet one room. (A stumbling stone commemorates her at this address).

Lucy Schilling's doctor applied for preferential treatment with a medical officer because of her nervous condition. Whether this was granted, we do not know.

On September 2, 1938, Lucy Schilling, the widow of a war-blind man, received a travel grant from the National Socialist War Victims' Fund/Landesverband Nordmark for a stay in Swinemünde: She suffered from heart trouble. Also, her doctor prescribed special treatment for a skin condition for which she was treated at the Jewish Hospital in August 1939. The Jewish Religious Association, as the Jewish community now had to call itself, covered the treatment costs, since Lucy Schilling did not belong to any health insurance fund.

Her financial situation became increasingly tight. In the fall of 1939, the last lodger moved out because he was called up for military service at the beginning of the war. She tried to find a smaller apartment, but was unsuccessful. On May 24, 1940, she applied to the Jewish Welfare Office for an allowance of 30 RM, since the widow's pension was no longer sufficient for living expenses. One month later, Lucy Schilling turned to the Special Office J to obtain the above-mentioned subsidy for heating. The application was rejected and Lucy Schilling was referred to the Jewish Religious Association, which in the meantime had to pay for the welfare benefits for Jews.

Her widow's pension of RM 92.80 was not enough to live on. Presumably, she had to make use of supply facilities of the Jewish Community, which were intended to alleviate the hardship of the people, e.g. the food distribution to needy community members in the home at Innocentiastraße 37, the clothing store and, from 1941, in the Volksküche at Schäferkampsallee 27.

The prelude to the systematic deportation of Jews was the first transport on October 25, 1941 from Hamburg to the ghetto set up by the Germans in occupied Lodz. Lucy Schilling, now without the protection of the mixed marriage, also received the deportation order. Like all those summoned for deportation, she had to present herself at the lodge house on Moorweidenstraße one day before the deadline. The Jewish Community had set up double bunk beds there and provided food for travelling.

On October 25, 1941, the train with 1034 people departed from Hanover Station (today HafenCity) in Hamburg. It arrived the following day at noon at Radegast station in Lodz, which the German occupiers had renamed "Litzmannstadt." The walk to the ghetto was short. The German occupiers had set up a residential and manufacturing ghetto with numerous factories where mainly textiles were produced.
Lucy Schilling was assigned accommodation at Talweg 11/36. A total of five women had to share this room. Here in Lodz their trace is lost.

On the fate of Lucy's siblings:
Erich Marcus was killed in an explosion in Berlin on March 22, 1919.

Georg Marcus married Minna Faller, also Jewish, born on May 9, 1886. The couple was deported from Berlin to Riga on January 25, 1942 and murdered.

Else/Elsa Marcus married Julius Lübschütz, also Jewish, born on January 9, 1889. They had two children, Ruth Lübschütz, born on January 7, 1922, and Judy Lübschütz, born on May 15, 1927. The couple fled with their daughter Judy to Shanghai and emigrated from there to the United States in 1948. Else/Elsa Lübschütz died on October 28, 1970 and Julius Lübschütz on July 19, 1976 in the USA.
Judy Lübschütz married Ernest Urman in Shanghai. They moved to Israel in 1948 and had three children there.

Ruth Lübschütz married Max Nathan, born September 24, 1911, and they were deported to Theresienstadt with their children Uri Nathan, born December 4, 1939, and Judis Nathan, born March 29, 1941. Gideon Nathan was born in Theresienstadt on September 13, 1942. The family was further deported to Auschwitz and murdered there. (For biographies, see www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de)

Martha Marcus married David Meier in London. Martha Meier died in London on October 16, 1963.

Stand: October 2023
© Benedikt Behrens/ überarbeitet von Bärbel Klein

Quellen: 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9; StaH, 351-14 Fürsorge 1878 Lucie Schilling; 332-5 Geburtsurkunde 2173 Nr. 680/1888 Willy Johannes Friedrich Carl Schilling, 2318 Nr. 4184/1893 Erna Sophie Schilling, 2372 Nr. 1522/1895 Auguste Caroline Schilling, 2430 Nr. 1713/1897 Carl Schilling; 332-5 Sterbeurkunde 414 Nr. 799/1897 Carl Schilling, Nr. 810/1897 Otto Schilling, 951 Nr. 2021/1929 Willy Friedrich Johannes Carl Schilling, 9881 Nr. 762/1936 Ernst August Schilling, 9930 Nr. 752/1942 Sophie Elisabeth Jeanette Schilling; 351-8 Unterstützung für Kriegsteilnehmer und deren Angehörige B480 Stiftung des Vereins Freies Meer Zweck: Kriegsopferunterstützung; Mail 30.03.2023 aus Bernburg, von Christian Brenk, Geburtsurkunde Martha Marcus Registernr. 524/1891; Sterbeurkunde Julius Marcus, Magdeburg, Registernr. 1925/1921; Bundesarchiv Berlin, B 578/B 3367, Seite 95 – Befähigungs- und Führungszeugnisse Sanitätspersonal, Marinelazarett – Wilhelmshaven 1899-1923; Bundesarchiv Freiburg, Pers 9/8456 Krankenakte Willy Schilling; Unterlagen aus dem Getto Lodz/Litzmannstadt 1620637006-1279378-RG15.083M.0203.00000523 Nachweis der Unterkunft; Stefanie Fischer, Familie und Alltag, in: Hamburger Schlüsseldokumente zur deutsch-jüdischen Geschichte (Zugriff am 16.04.2023); Marianne Büning, ...nur wie Fremdlinge in unserm eignen Wohnorte betrachtet, Geschichte der jüdischen Gemeinde von Zerbst, Moses Mendelssohn Gesellschaft Dessau e. V., 2007 erschienen; Mail von Ruth S. Leland 25.10.2023; www.ancestry.de (Einsicht 03.07.2022); www.wikipedea.de (Einsicht 03.07.2022).
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