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Ida Weinstein * 1910

Eimsbütteler Chaussee 37 (Eimsbüttel, Eimsbüttel)

1942 Riga deportiert aus Leipzig
ermordet

Ida Weinstein, b. 11.17.1910 in Felsberg, on 1.21.1942 deported from Leipzig to Riga, dying there

Eimsbütteler Chaussee 37

Ida Weinstein lived only a short time in Hamburg. She kame from the little north Hesse locale of Felsberg. In 1933, the Jewish congregation there had about 100 members, making up almost 9% of the inhabitants; by May 1939, Felsberg no longer had any Jewish inhabitants. Among the former community members belonged the associates of the various Weinstein families in Felsberg.

Ida was born the daughter of Emma, née Speier, and Isidor Weinstein. Her mother came from Züschen in North Hesse and was 27 years old at Ida’s birth. Her father was two years older. In the course of the next eight years Ida received three siblings: Johanna (b. 1912), Siegward (b. 1914), and the later child Max (b. 1920). The name of the eldest son, Siegward ("Guardian of Victory”), born shortly before the First World War, is indicative of the parents’ national orientation.

In the framework of reparations proceedings for Ida Weinstein, the Fehlberg Registry Office wrote on 20 January 1960: "(…) According to testimony of reliable persons, the named person was already in her youth put into a home because of feeble-mindedness.” Whether this assertion is true is not verifiable.

In 1928, when Ida was 17 years old, her father died. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Felsberg. A few months later, the family grieved the death of its daughter Johanna. She died, at sixteen, in the north Hesse city of Treysa.

Exactly when and why Ida Weinstein came to Hamburg is not known. In any case, she was registered as a member of the Hamburg Jewish Congregation in 1933. Irene Weinstein, a woman from Fehlberg approximately the same age, worked as a domestic at Harvestehuder Parkallee 7. Perhaps, the two young women were related and Ida’s mother hoped to get similar employment for her daughter. During her months in Hamburg, Ida Weinstein lived at Eimsbütteler Chaussee 37, where today a commemorative stone has been placed for her. Occupational activity is not determinable from her communal religion tax record.

It is noted on the communal record: "in arrears because departed 5.20.33 to Felsberg.” Thus, Ida Weinstein returned after a short time to her home town. On the same day, Irene Weinstein left for Palestine.

Ida Weinstein did not remain long in Felsberg. Six months later, in November 1933, she had moved to Leipzig.

Just like the other Jewish inhabitants of Felsberg, her family suffered greatly from antisemitic oppression. In February 1936, her brother Siegward, who had meanwhile married, moved with his wife to Buenos Aires. During the night of 8 and 9 November 1938, Felsberg experienced violent excesses against Jews. Among the first of the fatalities of the November Pogrom in Germany was Ida’s uncle Robert Weinstein, who had been a municipal councilor in Felsberg following World War I.

In November 1939, Emma Weinstein left Felsberg, following her son Siegward to Buenos Aires. The youngest son of the family, Max, had moved to the Netherlands and lived as an agricultural worker in Renkum, a small town near Arnheim.

Ida Weinstein came with the deportation group of 21 January 1942 from Leipzig to the Riga ghetto, where all trace of her was lost.

Max Weinstein was deported at the beginning of 1943 first to the Herzogenbusch concentration camp, one of the five such camps established by the Germans in the Netherlands. From there, on 3 July 1943, he was sent to Westerbork and eight weeks later to Auschwitz. There – at 23 years of age – he was presumably murdered on 3.31.1944.

Siegward Weinstein returned to Felsberg for the first time in 1980. Three years later he joined the church community there and visited again his birthplace in 1986 on its 700th anniversary.


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

Stand: May 2019
© Frauke Steinhäuser

Quellen: 1; 5; 8; Joodsmonument Niederlande; Auskunft von José Martin, Gedenkstätte Westerbork, per E-Mail am 25.1.2012; Telefongespräch mit Gerd Romahn, Felsberg, am 9.6.2011; Telefongespräch mit Dr. Kurt Schilde (Universität Potsdam, Forschung zu Robert Weinstein) am 9.6.2011, von ihm stammt auch der Hinweis auf die Wiedergutmachungsakten beim Hessischen Hauptstaatsarchiv Wiesbaden (Abt. 518, Regierungspräsidium Kassel) nach Ida (Nr. 2149/11), Siegward (Nr. 5299/14), Max (Nr. 10140) und Emma Weinstein (Nr. 9770).
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