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Moritz Hergershausen * 1881

Seilerstraße 49 (Hamburg-Mitte, St. Pauli)

HIER WOHNTE
MORITZ
HERGERSHAUSEN
JG. 1881
DEPORTIERT 1942
THERESIENSTADT
1944 AUSCHWITZ
ERMORDET

Moritz Hergershausen, born on 25 June 1881 in Unna, deported on 19 July 1942 to Theresienstadt, further deported to Auschwitz on 6 Oct. 1944

Seilerstrasse 49

Moritz Hergershausen, born on 25 June 1881 in Unna, came from a Westphalian family of Jewish cattle dealers and butchers. He was the second son of Leser Hergershausen, born around 1850 in Unna, and his wife Sophie, née Weinberg, born 1853 in Drensteinfurth. His brother Gustav (see corresponding entry) was two years his senior, born in 1879, and they were followed by four siblings, of whom only sister Johanna, born in 1884, reached adulthood and married a Mr. Jacobi. Moritz became a cattle dealer, but we know nothing more about his life until the First World War.

During the First World War, Moritz Hergershausen was seriously wounded as a staff sergeant and returned to his parents in Unna, where he was awarded the Iron Cross First Class. As a severely war-disabled veteran, however, he found no lucrative occupation. He remained single, while his brother made a career in the Theodor Althoff-Karstadt Group and started a family.

Hergershausen’s father, Leser Hergershausen died in June 1926 and his widow Sophie the following year. Moritz reported her death at the registry office in Unna, while Gustav had traveled from Hamburg in 1926 to give official notice of their father’s death.

The next trace of Moritz Hergershausen can be found in Hamburg. He always resided as subtenant, initially at Thalstrasse 45 in the St. Pauli quarter.

Both brothers joined the Hamburg German-Israelitic Community, Moritz on 19 June 1934, Gustav one year later on 29 July 1935. Shortly before, Moritz had changed his quarters and had moved to a widow by the name of Olsen at Seilerstrasse 40.

Moritz Hergershausen received a tax-free war pension of 69 RM (reichsmark) per month. He also worked in agriculture for a living, but never reached the tax liability limit until 1940. Thus, he did not belong to the preferred target group of the November Pogrom of 1938. He was not arrested. There is also no evidence of emigration efforts on his part.

On 4 Oct. 1939, he moved one house further into accommodation with Kaplan at Seilerstrasse 38a. In 1940, his income was used for the first time to calculate his community contributions, but he was not even able to pay the estimated basic amount of 1 RM per month.

Moritz Hergershausen left the St. Pauli quarter and moved to Grindelhof 68 as a subtenant of Philipp, a merchant. His last address was the "Jews’ house” ("Judenhaus”) at Rutschbahn 25 a. There he received the Gestapo’s order to "outmigrate” on 19 July 1942 to the so-called Theresienstadt "ghetto for the elderly” ("Altersgetto”).

After a two-year stay there, Moritz Hergershausen was deported to Auschwitz on 6 Oct. 1944. All traces of him disappear there. He probably reached the age of 63.

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

Stand: September 2020
© Hildegard Thevs

Quellen: 1; 4; 5 digital; StaHH 351-11, Wiedergutmachung 4295, 6372, 31819, 36960; 522-1 388 Mitgliederkartei 1928; 390 Wählerverzeichnis; 391 Mitgliederverzeichnis 1935/36; Das Jüdische Echo, München 1932; Stadtarchiv Homburg, Sterberegister 1926, Nr. 176; Standesamt Oranienburg, Sterbeurkunde 1938, Nr. 424. Zur Nummerierung häufig genutzter Quellen siehe Link "Recherche und Quellen".