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Elisabeth Windmüller * 1872

Innocentiastraße 19 (Eimsbüttel, Harvestehude)

HIER WOHNTE
ELISABETH
WINDMÜLLER
JG. 1872
DEPORTIERT 1942
THERESIENSTADT
ERMORDET 6.8.1942

Elisabeth Windmüller, born on 2 Nov. 1872 in Hamburg, deported to Theresienstadt on 15 July 1942, died on 6 Aug. 1942

Innocentiastrasse 19

Elisabeth Windmüller was deported, aged almost 70 and seriously ill, in the summer of 1942 to the "ghetto for the elderly” ("Altersgetto”) in Theresienstadt, where she died just three weeks after arrival. The same transport included her cousin Percival Windmüller (see corresponding entry) and his wife Gertrud, née Friedländer (see corresponding entry). Percival Windmüller died three months after her. The ghetto, which was completely overcrowded at the time, lacked the bare necessities and infectious diseases were rampant, killing the elderly people in large numbers.

This first transport from Hamburg to Theresienstadt, to which Elisabeth Windmüller was assigned, took place at such short notice that the Hamburg district office of the Reich Association of Jews in Germany could not yet conclude formal "home purchase contracts” ("Heimeinkaufsverträge”) with the individual persons affected. The later deportees transferred their remaining assets with such contracts for future accommodation (whereby the Reich Association had to transfer the funds to the RSHA [Reich Security Main Office] for the alleged financing of the Theresienstadt Ghetto). In the case of the first major deportation, this procedure was carried out without this fictitious formality. Elisabeth Windmüller’s assets still amounted to 18,162.50 RM (reichsmark), her old-age security for which she had made provisions as an independent singing teacher.

Elisabeth Windmüller’s family background involved a large family of Jewish merchants, bankers, and doctors, some of whom had musical talents. Her cousin Julia Alice Windmüller, who, like her, had remained single, also earned her living from giving music lessons ("Egele” Windmüller, see Stolpersteine in Hamburg-Eppendorf und Hoheluft-Ost, vol. 2, p. 422 f.); the cousin Percival Windmüller had become a dentist, but cultivated his musical inclinations intensively. While the family connections are known, nothing can be said about Elisabeth Windmüller’s relationships except for those with her parents.

Few details are known about Elizabeth’s childhood, youth, and education. Her father was the doctor Hermann Henry Windmüller. He was born on 29 July 1835 in Hamburg-Neustadt as the ninth of ten children of Philipp Hirsch Windmüller and his wife Adelheid, née Bauer. After studying medicine, he settled at Neuer Wall 87 in 1860 as a doctor, surgeon, and obstetrician and married Bertha Derenberg, born on 18 Oct. 1844, nine years his junior, in Hamburg around 1870. They moved to Fuhlentwiete 95 located in Hamburg-Neustadt, near the Windmüller parents, where Elisabeth was born on 2 Nov. 1872. They were still living there when Elisabeth started going to school. We do not know what school education she got, but apparently, she received singing training. The father moved his apartment and practice to Grosse Bleichen 54/56 and in 1898 to Rothenbaumchaussee 62, where he died on 23 May 1899 at the age of 63.

Elisabeth Windmüller apparently remained the only child. After the death of her father, she moved with her mother to Hallerstrasse 43.

Her mother, Bertha Windmüller, died on 15 Dec. 1911; she had reached the age of 67. Not her daughter Elisabeth, but the merchant Hugo Cohn from Leipzig notified the records office of her death. Elisabeth inherited a small fortune, whose interest contributed to her livelihood. She moved to Isestrasse 54 on the third floor. In 1912, after the death of her mother, she became an independent member of the Jewish Community and she was taxed as such. In 1918, she got herself a telephone line and from 1920 onward, she used the hyphenated name of Windmüller-Derenberg. Her income from her work as a singer was modest. Until 1922, she paid a monthly contribution to the Jewish Community amounting to 25 RM, after which she was exempted for the time being.

In 1922, Elisabeth Windmüller became self-employed as a singing teacher. The change from singer to vocal pedagogue may have had something to do with her age – she was 50 years old by then. After obtaining the approval of the "authority for vocational and further education schools” (Behörde für Gewerbe- und Fortbildungsschulen), she acquired a trade license on 18 Mar. 1922. She gave the lessons in her apartment. Her income was so low that she paid small contributions to the Community only twice until 1935.

In 1933, Elisabeth Windmüller-Derenberg moved from Isestrasse to Innocentiastrasse 19, an urban villa owned by the merchant Max Lefeld, which housed the "Home for Jewish Girls and Women.” We have no knowledge about Elisabeth Windmüller’s relationship to this institution. From 1935, she paid regular taxes to the Community; they were twice the basic amount. The permit to teach singing expired on 13 Jan. 1937, two months after her sixty-fourth birthday.

On 4 Mar. 1940, Elisabeth Windmüller had to report her assets to the Chief Finance Administrator (Oberfinanzpräsident). Meanwhile 67 years old, she suffered from various diseases. She had had multiple operations on her eyes, chronic nerve pain, and acute inflammation of her hip joints. The costs associated with these conditions put a considerable strain on her. At that time, her assets consisted of a savings bank balance of 10 RM and 25,282 RM in securities. Except for an allowance of 250 RM [per month], these were blocked in a "security account” ("Sicherungskonto”), which she could only dispose of with the approval of the Chief Finance Administrator. When determining the amount of the allowance, "increased expenses and benefits” were taken into account because of her ailments. From the assets, she had to pay the "levy on Jewish assets” ("Judenvermögensabgabe”) in the amount of 3,310.64 RM and the "atonement payment” ("Sühneleistung”) amounting to 2,700 RM. The income from interest was no longer sufficient to cover the living expenses, so that she had to fall back on the principal.

In the meantime, she had moved from Innocentiastrasse 19 to the retirement home and infirmary of the Jewish Community at Schäferkampsallee 27, which in turn meant reducing her household. On 30 June 1942, she was notified of the obligation to pay an extraordinary contribution to the Community of RM 60 and agreed with the Community to pay it in two installments, with the second installment due by 14 July 1943. It did not come to that anymore.
On 15 July 1942, she was deported to Theresienstadt together with over 40 residents of the nursing home on Schäferkampsallee. She died on the evening of 8 Aug. 1942 in the central infirmary, of "circulatory weakness in conjunction with cancer of the gall bladder.”

Elisabeth Windmüller had no heirs. The "Jewish Trust Corporation for Germany” (later merged into the "Jewish Claims Conference”) called for restitution of her assets, which were included in the 1950 Global Agreement with the German Federal Ministry of Finance, from which the Federal Republic of Germany made restitution payments to countries.


Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: May 2019
© Hildegard Thevs

Quellen: 1; 2 OFP, R 1940/164; 3; 4; 5; 7; 9: Hamburger Adress- und Telefonbücher; 213-13 Landgericht (Restitution), Z 10008-10010; 314-15; 332-5 Standesämter, 7925-1046/1899; 332-8 Reisepassprotokolle, A 24, Band 163; 376-3 Zentralgewerbekartei, 741-4 (Filmarchiv) K 3878; 552-1 Jüdische Gemeinden, 992 e Band 4; (zu 3: Nationalarchiv Prag, Zidovské matriky, Ohledaci listy – ghetto Terezin, Band 9); freundliche Mitteilungen von Ingela Johnson, Juni 2017.
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