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Betty Holstein * 1884

Eichenstraße 22 (Eimsbüttel, Eimsbüttel)

HIER WOHNTE
BETTY HOLSTEIN
JG. 1884
DEPORTIERT 1941
LODZ
1942 CHELMNO
???

• http://www.thunsdorff.eu/html/wider_das_vergessen.html
  (Das Paket, das die Hoffnung überlebte)

further stumbling stones in Eichenstraße 22:
Ellen Kämpfer, Channa Wiener, Jacob Wiener

Betty Holstein, born on 17 June 1884 in Hamburg, deported to Lodz on 25 Oct. 1941, deported on 10 May 1942 to Chelmno and murdered
Ellen Kämpfer, née Holstein, born on 11 Jan. 1894 in Hamburg, deported to Lodz on 25 Oct. 1941, deported on 10 May 1942 to Chelmno and murdered

Eichenstrasse 22

"At the time when the Jews were deported by the Nazis to the concentration camps, my mother, Elfriede Thunsdorff-Mollenhauer (1902–1994), was handed over a parcel from a good friend of hers – about 300 by 200 by 150 millimeters in size. On the backside of the parcel, the name of my mother’s friend is noted down in my mother’s handwriting: Ellen Kämpfer. Attached to the coarse wrapping paper is an ‘express goods’ label with ‘No. 1979 from Munich central station 3,’ as well as a second label with ‘via Lüneburg’ as a handwritten note. Probably, Ellen Kämpfer used second-hand wrapping paper, for – as we know now – she had an older sister who lived in Munich. Shortly before her deportation to the ‘labor camp,’ Ellen Kämpfer had asked my mother to keep the parcel with personal things. I believe my mother knew even then that she would probably never see her friend again, but hope is a powerful force that is the very last to die.” With these lines begins a text by Peter Thunsdorff on his web site. We also read the name of Ellen Kämpfer on the Stolperstein located at Eichenstrasse 22. What is the life story that belongs to this name and the name of Betty Holstein on another stumbling stone at this address?

Betty Holstein and Ellen Kämpfer were sisters. Their parents were Ferdinand and Johanna (Hana) Holstein, née Delmonte, who were married in 1883. Hana Delmonte came from a Sephardic family. Her mother Simcha’s maiden name was Sealtiel. Ferdinand Holstein owned a sales agency for ready-to-wear men’s clothing. When Betty was born, the family lived at Bellealliancestrasse 2. Nearly ten years later, when her sister Ellen Johanna was born, they lived at Fruchtallee 33. Probably, the family moved frequently. The family was comprised of four children overall, three daughters and one son. In Oct. 1885, daughter Selma Zimcha was born and in Dec. 1886, son Leo Martin. At this time, the address indicated was Kampstrasse 38. When the children were already grown up, the parents lived with the daughters at Bismarckstrasse 14. Mother Johanna Holstein reached the age of nearly 91 years. She died in Feb. 1941 in the retirement home at Sedanstrasse 23. She did not live to see the deportation of her daughters.

The last address of the sisters in Hamburg was Eichenstrasse 22 on the raised ground floor, where both probably lived together since 1936. Prior to that, Betty Holstein had resided with her mother at Bismarckstrasse 14, along with her married sister Selma and her husband and son. Betty and Ellen had worked as office workers and accountants, respectively, for the Coutinho, Caro & Co. KG Company, which had its headquarters at Bugenhagenstrasse 6 and exported metals.

The sisters received their deportation order for the transport on 25 Oct. 1941 to the Lodz Ghetto. Betty continued to be registered there as an accountant as well.

The address in Lodz entered on the list for the Hamburg transport was Rungestrasse. A letter dated 2 May 1942 is preserved in which Betty Holstein, who at the time had the address of Richterstrasse 9, apartment no. 11, asked for deferral of a "departure order.” She combined this request with her experience in horticulture. Since it was not possible to prove a corresponding job, the decision of the commission was clear: refusal. It is possible that Betty Holstein was taken on transport no. 4 on 7 May 1942 to the Chelmno extermination camp and murdered there. In the residents’ registration file appears the "departure date” of 10 May 1942. However, possibly it took some time until the information about the "departure” was entered at the residents’ registration office in Lodz. On this last journey, too, she probably set out together with her sister.

In August 1921, Ellen had married Johannes Kämpfer, moving in with him to Süderquaistrasse 11 in the St. Georg quarter. Prior to that, she, too, had lived with her parents, at Bismarckstrasse 14. Johannes Kämpfer was not Jewish and a Protestant. Probably for this reason, his wife had left the Jewish Community or was excluded, respectively. The childless marriage ended in divorce in 1935. On the file card of the Jewish Community, the date noted for re-entry into the Community is 5 Sept. 1938. Following her re-entry, she was still able to pay Jewish religious tax (Kultussteuer) until early 1940, that is, she had an income up to that time. After that, she had to cease paying any contributions. The file card contains a note saying "50 [reichsmark] per month for breakfast and lunch” dated 28 Nov. 1940. From that date onward, she received assistance from the Community.

In Lodz, both women lived together at Richterstrasse 9, apartment no. 11. Like her sister, Ellen also wrote a petition to avert the "departure order” III/498, asking for an exemption from the "departure order” by pointing to her work in the "Adolf Getz working party.” According to her information, she had assisted in this unit as a commercial clerk, substituting for a stenographer and correspondence clerk for five weeks in early 1942. At the time of her request, she was apparently designated as a "public official.” The request was actually approved, for it showed the stamp indicating "Nadkontyngent” (surplus quota). Nevertheless, the register of residents contains the entry indicating that the "departure” was carried out as of 10 May 1942. This date also appears in the Memorial Book of the German Federal Archives, which means one can assume that Ellen Kämpfer was forced to leave the ghetto between 7 May (the date of the fourth transport, on which most Hamburg residents in Lodz were transported to Chelmno) and 10 May (date of the seventh May transport). The letter was probably the last sign of life from her.

Shortly before her deportation, Ellen Kämpfer entrusted a female friend with a parcel containing personal effects for safekeeping. This friend, Elfriede Thunsdorff-Mollenhauer, kept the parcel with her at all times, although she moved many times. She never opened it. Only much later, in early 2001, after the death of Elfriede Thunsdorff-Mollenhauer, did her children reveal the secret, partially researching the history of the parcel and making it over to the Jewish Museum in Berlin, which showed the exhibits in various contexts. The parcel contained a few personal effects: pieces of clothing, drug store articles, an invoice slip, and a photo folder. The photo folder originated with the "Drogerie und Photohaus Erich Rotermund, Hamburg 19, Eppendorferweg 84,” a drugstore and photo studio. This business – it was later a perfume store – still existed in this very place until a few years ago. Son Peter Thunsdorff said in an interview, "Ellen Kämpfer surely knew that this was a reliable friend to whom she could entrust this parcel.”

Since the parcel had an "express goods” label from Munich attached to it, there is probably a connection with the sister, Selma Zimcha, who had married the commercial clerk August Ludwig Baier, a resident of Munich, in 1918. Probably, Selma lived in Munich for a short time, as she worked for Munich-based Metzeler & Co. For the most part, however, she resided with her family in Hamburg. Her husband obtained Hamburg citizenship in 1919. Until 1922, he attempted to gain a foothold in the export business. This did not succeed, and Selma Baier had to provide for the family. For health reasons, her son Ludwig, born in 1919, was temporarily put up in the Glüsing Lichtschulheim, a progressive [naturist] boarding school closed in 1933. In the apartment at Bismarckstrasse 14, Selma operated a typing and translation office, where she typed, for instance, manuscripts of doctoral candidates and authors or wrote business letters. Attached to the façade, a sign pointed to this office. In the directory, however, for the address of Bismarckstrasse 14, only her husband is entered with the occupational designation of accountant. In 1939, she lived separated from her husband at Goebenstrasse 46 on the ground floor. In May 1939, she emigrated to Britain, where she lived and worked until her death in 1957. The emigration was financed by the Relief Organization of Jews (Jüdischer Hilfsverein). Selma did not have any assets. In Feb. 1939, she was forced to prepare a list with items she wished to take along. When already in Britain, she asked her sister Betty to forward a few forgotten things to her. To this end, Betty once again had to go to bureaucratic trouble, as she was not simply allowed to pack and ship a parcel to Britain. In Nov. 1942, Selma was divorced in absence as the guilty party pursuant to Sec. 49 of the matrimonial law in accordance with Sec. 60 Par. 1. This meant that she was accused of a serious matrimonial offense in combination with breakdown of the marriage. Thus, to her "Aryan” husband, the emigration was grounds for divorce. After the divorce, her husband remarried immediately. He died in 1953. We do not know what induced the emigration, as Selma was already more than 50 years old in 1939 and emigration took a lot of courage. Apparently, she had not been able to prompt her two sisters to emigrate, though they had no families and were actually more independent than she was. Selma’s son Ludwig survived like his mother. In the 1950s, he lived with her in Birmingham.

The only brother of the Holstein sisters, Leo Martin, was already killed in the First World War and therefore did not live to see the period of persecution.

Translator: Erwin Fink

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: October 2016
© Susanne Lohmeyer

Quellen: 1; 2 (FVg 4655; R1940/800); 4; 5; StaH 332-5 Standesämter, 8987 und 2362/1884; StaH 332-5, 8759 und 509/1921; StaH 332-5, 8724 und 229/1918; StaH 332-5, 8174 und 40/1941; StaH 332-5, 9101 und 149/1894; StaH 351-11 AfW, 8526; StaH 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden 992e2 Band 3 Deportationsliste; USHMM 299/773 und 301/1474 (Last letters from Lodsch); HAB II 1926, 1932 und 1937; http://www.thunsdorff.eu/html/wider_das_vergessen.html; Beate Meyer, "Jüdische Mischlinge", S. 68ff.; Archiv Landgericht HH, 2R29/42; Archiv Jüdisches Museum Berlin, PR 051215, Interview Peter Thunsdorff, RBB-Kulturradio 2005; Deportationsliste Litzmannstadt, Gedenkstätte Lodz Radegast.