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Kurt Hirsch * 1906

Schmuckstraße Talstraße 47 (Hamburg-Mitte, St. Pauli)

HIER WOHNTE
KURT HIRSCH
JG. 1906
VERHAFTET 1936
KZ FUHLSBÜTTEL
DEPORTIERT 1941
ERMORDET IN
MINSK

Kurt Hirsch, born 9 Feb. 1906, imprisoned in 1936 and 1938, died after 8 Nov. 1941 in Minsk

Talstraße 47 (Schmuckstraße 6)

"On 18 Aug. 1936 the manager of the company Lindloff, Hamburgerstr. at the corner of Bachstr. informed me that a man living across from his business is apparently a homosexual. He and his personnel had observed the man on several occasions taking young people into his apartment. The employees and the manager of the company Lindloff found the man’s doings offensive. The director requests that the responsible authorities resolve this situation. The director is willing to provide further details about this man", is noted in crime warden Benz’s protocol from 20 Aug. 1936. The informer’s victims were the retired bank clerk Heinrich Buck (born 3 Feb. 1876 in Hamburg, died after 6 Dec. 1941 in Riga; Stolperstein: Telemannstraße 39/Eimsbüttel) and his friend Kurt Hirsch.

Kurt Hirsch was born in 1906 as the son of Jewish parents in Hamburg. After attending the Talmud Torah School, he began a commercial apprenticeship and worked as a messenger, assistant fitter at the Reiherstieg shipyard and between 1930 and 1933 as an ad man for a newspaper. From 1933 he was unemployed.

At the end of 1933 Hirsch met Heinrich Buck during lunch at Schäferkampsallee 27. Buck was also of Jewish extraction. The two maintained a loose sexual relationship until the summer of 1936. Buck supported his penniless partner with money and presents, like clothing.

On 7 Dec. 1936 the trial took place at the Hamburg District Court. Judge Dr. Günther Riebow sentenced Kurt Hirsch to two and a half years in prison for ongoing offences after § 175 of the Criminal Law of the German Reich (Reichsstrafgesetzbuch), old and new edition. Riebow stated in his judgement:

"The accused behaved extraordinarily filthy. Just to earn money he made his body available to the lascivious, old man for the basest perversities. His actions were those of a male whore. ... § 175 of the Criminal Code, number 4 does not apply, although Hirsch’ motivation for his activity was to earn money and nothing else. The law requires, for the term prostitution to apply, fornication with several partners. The vulgarity and dishonorableness of the accused’s actions must, however, be found in the sentence provided by § 175 of the Criminal Code."

Kurt Hirsch had the bad luck to have Riebow, an especially compliant NS judge, presiding over his case; in the Federal Republic of German, Riebow was able to continue his career begun under the National Socialists. In April 1954, he was appointed Regional Court Director. The reason given referred to his sound judgements during the National Socialist time and because he "would have already been appointed Regional Court Director had he not been released from his office as judge upon request in 1939". In 1939 Günther Riebow left state service to run a notary’s office with Paul de Chapeaurouge in Hamburg. He died in Hamburg in 1980.

On 10 Feb. 1937, the appeal trial took place at the Hamburg Regional Court, presided over by Regional Court Director Otto von Bargen. He reduced the sentence by six months to two years in prison. Von Bargen was of the opinion that Hirsch "found himself in a financial emergency, [therefore] the fact that he accepted monetary support from Buck could not be used to enhance the sentence".

His plea for clemency to reduce his sentence was rejected by Günther Riebow with the words, it "was an extremely filthy case. I request that under no circumstances a reprieve be given."

At the beginning of Nov. 1938, Kurt Hirsch applied for immigration; allegedly he wanted to go to Paraguay because he had a brother in Argentina. It is very likely that his immigration failed due to a lack of funds.

On 8 Nov. 1941, Kurt Hirsch was deported from the train station in Hanover to the ghetto in Minsk where he perished. His sexual partner Heinrich Buck was likewise deported from the train station in Hanover around one month later on 6 Dec. 1941 to Riga, where he perished.

Translator: Suzanne von Engelhardt

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: October 2016
© Bernhard Rosenkranz/Ulf Bollmann

Quellen: 1; 4; StaH 213-11 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht – Strafsachen, 1637/37; StaH 242-1 II Gefängnisverwaltung II, Abl. 16; StaH Oberfinanzdirektion (Devisenstelle und Vermögensverwertungsstelle) FVg 3807.