Search for Names, Places and Biographies

Already layed Stumbling Stones


Raphael Broches * 1906

Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1 (Hauptgebäude Universität Hamburg) (Eimsbüttel, Rotherbaum)


HIER LERNTE
RAPHAEL BROCHES
JG. 1906
ABGESCHOBEN 1938
ZBASZYN / POLEN
1940 GHETTO WARSCHAU
ERMORDET

see:

further stumbling stones in Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1 (Hauptgebäude Universität Hamburg):
Ernst Delbanco, Friedrich Geussenhainer, Hedwig Klein, Agathe Lasch, Gerhard Lassar, Hans Konrad Leipelt, Reinhold Meyer, Martha Muchow, Kurt Perels, Margaretha Rothe

Salomon Broches, born 3 Nov. 1876 in Vilnius, expelled from Germany to Zbaszyn, Poland 28 Oct. 1938, deported to the Warsaw Ghetto 1939, died there
Olga Broches, née Elias, born 16 Oct. 1891 in Hamburg, expelled from Germany to Zbaszyn, Poland 28 Oct. 1938, deported to unknown destination
Raphael Broches, born 8 Feb. 1907 in Warsaw, expelled from Germany to Zbaszyn, Poland 28 Oct. 1938, deported to the Warsaw Ghetto 1939, presumably transferred to the Treblinka Extermination Camp and murdered

Grindelallee 115

Salomon Broches was the son of a civil servant and trained as an optician. In 1903 he married Nadja Gleichenhaus in Warsaw. She was born on 15 Feb. 1880 in Minsk. The couple had three sons, all born in Warsaw: Raphael on 8 Feb. 1907, Emanuel on 8 Apr. 1909, and Daniel on 15 Oct. 1910. The family moved to Hamburg before the First World War, but spent most of the war years in Poland. In 1919 they returned to Hamburg, where they lived at Grindelallee 115. Salomon had his optical dispensary in the same building.

The eldest son Raphael played the violin and was considered a child prodigy. He attended the Vor dem Holstentor upper secondary school, from which he graduated at Easter 1928. His music teacher was Heinrich Bandler, concertmaster and first violinist with the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra. On 2 May 1928, Raphael enrolled in the Faculty of Arts of the Hamburg University to study music. When he wrote his CV for his dissertation, he stated that he had studied musicology and French philology from 1928 to 1930, but his university records indicate that he took classes through the summer semester of 1931. He took a break from his studies in Hamburg to "perfect his violin playing," studying first at the State Conservatory of Strasbourg, and then at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris under the violinist Jacques Thibaud. He returned to Hamburg on 15 April 1935 to pursue a doctorate in musicology. In September 1936 he played in a fund-raising concert for the Jewish Cultural Association, where he was a member of their small orchestra. His father Salomon Broches provided his optical dispensary as a donation point for the Cultural Association.

Since Raphael Broches had no intention of performing as a soloist, he applied for a place in the Palestine Orchestra in Tel Aviv, which had been founded by the Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman in 1935 and whose first conductor was Hans Wilhelm Steinberg. Broches was accepted to the orchestra, and he applied for and received an immigration certificate. He planned to leave Hamburg for Palestine in October 1936, but things turned out differently. On 26 Oct 1936, his mother Nadja Broches died in the family home at Grindelallee 115. Raphael reported her death to the registry office. A few days later, he had to call Bronislaw Huberman in Tel Aviv and tell him that his doctoral exam had been postponed to about mid-December. Huberman replied that it was impossible to keep the position open for that long, but added that he should under no circumstances give up on his doctorate, and take into consideration that it had been his mother’s wish that he get the degree. Huberman and Broches agreed to dissolve the contract, and that Broches should reapply at a later date. However, it is unclear whether the contract was ever actually dissolved or whether it remained and was renewed, since Broche’s visa was not withdrawn or changed. According to a note in the orchestra's archive, Raphael Broches arrived in Palestine on 28 Dec. 1936, and left the country in mid-January with a return visa dated 11 Jan. 1937 in order to finish his dissertation at the "Hanseatic University," complete his oral defense and get his doctoral degree. In contrast to German Jews, foreign Jews were not excluded from doctoral examinations, in accordance with an order issued by the Reich Minister of Education on 15 April 1937. This applied to Broches, who had Polish citizenship.

The primary dissertation advisors for Broches’ dissertation, titled "Die Korrelation von Musik und Bewegung und das Problem der geigerischen Nachgestaltung,” were Wilhelm Heinitz and Giulio Panconcelli-Calzia; Georg Anschütz was also on the dissertation committee. However, there were difficulties, because Friedrich Blume from the University of Kiel, who was also asked to review the dissertation, refused to do so because he was not qualified in the field. The faculty insisted, however, and Blume rejected the dissertation. The reason for the rejection was probably an academic dispute between the historical musicologist Blume and the systematic musicologist Heinitz. As a consequence, Raphael Broches re-submitted his dissertation for a doctorate in phonetics and comparative musicology, because he already had two positive reviews in these areas. He failed the oral defense in his minor subject of Romance studies, repeated the three exams in the following year successfully and passed on 25 June 1938. On 9 Aug. 1938 he was granted a PhD, under the auspices of the head of the University Adolf Rein and during the deanship of Wilhelm Gundert in the Faculty of Arts of the "Hanseatic University." His dissertation was given the mark "good", and his overall rating was "sufficient."

Raphael Broches sent his diploma to the Palestine Orchestra and his contract was extended a second time, because he was expected to arrive in Tel Aviv in November 1938. Between August and November he wanted to stay in Hamburg to supervise the printing of his dissertation, which was published in 1938 and bore the dedication "To my Mother." However, due to the delay the visa for Palestine had expired, and all attempts to extend it were unsuccessful.

In February 1938, the welfare office had removed Salomon Broches’ optical dispensary from its list of businesses that were approved for reimbursement for welfare recipients. The same thing happened to the Jewish opticians Campbell & Co. and Alfred Henschel. The extent to which Salomon Broches' business was affected by anti-Semitic measures after 1933 has not been documented.

After the death of his wife, Salomon Broches had become engaged to Olga Elias. She was born on 16 Oct. 1891 in Hamburg to Jacob and Herve "Hedwig" Elias, née Jacobsohn. Olga was a German citizen of Jewish faith and worked as a book keeper at the Siegfried Halberstadt company. Olga Elias and Salomon Broches presumably married between March and July 1939. At that point Salomon Broches had already been expelled from Germany to Poland, so he must have returned to Germany for the wedding. A document states that "papers for the purpose of marriage ... were at the Polish Consulate, Hamburg." Documents from December 1938 and January and March 1939 indicate that Olga Elias was living in Hamburg and using her maiden name. In the tax records with the Jewish Community she was listed as Olga Broches. The records give two dates for her withdrawal from the Jewish Community, 28 Oct. 1938 and 24 July 1939.

Salomon, Raphael, and possibly Olga Broches were expelled from Germany to Zbasyn, Poland on 28 Oct. 1938 in the Polenaktion, an operation in which all Polish Jews living in the German Reich were arrested and expelled.

Emanual Broches was able to flee to France, and Daniel Broches to Palestine. Daniel Broches tried to appeal the expulsion of his father and brother through the Hamburg attorney Siegfried Urias, but the appeal was unsuccessful. Urias had been appointed by Salomon Broches to manage his afffairs.

Raphael and his father were held in Zbaszyn until the summer of 1939. The last sign of Raphael Broches was a card sent to his brothers in 1940 from the Warsaw ghetto informing them of the death of their father. In 1941 he was still a member of an orchestra that gave concerts in the Warsaw ghetto. When the orchestra was disbanded, he was probably sent to the Treblinka Concentration Camp and murdered there. The location to which Olga Broches was deported is unknown, but she did not survive the Shoah.

There is a second Stolperstein for Raphael Broches at Edmund-Siemers-Alle 1, in front of the main building of the Hamburg University.

Translator: Amy Lee
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

© Melanie Pieper

Quellen: 1; 5; 8; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 8138 und 537/1936; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 2260 und 4488/1891; StaH 351-11 Amt für Wiedergutmachung 3881; StaH 364-13 Phil Fak Prom 704, o. Bl., Doktorbrief der Hansischen Universität; StaH 621–1/86 Familienarchiv Siegfried Urias, Sig. 22, Einspruch gegen den Ausweisungsbeschluß gegen Salomon Broches; StaH 351-10 I Sozialbehörde, WA 10.18, vergl. dazu auch: Ingo Wille über Alfred Henschel, http://stolpersteine-hamburg.de/index.php?&MAIN_ID=7&p=90&BIO_ID=1962 (letzter Aufruf: 17.1.2016); Hamburger Bibliothek für Universitätsgeschichte, Antrag auf Einschreibung/Studentenkarte von Raphael Broches; Hamburger Bibliothek für Universitätsgeschichte, Hansische Universität, Doktor-Album der Philosophischen Fakultät; Broches: Die Korrelation; Müller-Wesemann: Theater, S. 467f.; Petersen: Musikwissenschaft, S. 634; von der Lühe: Die Musik, S. 94f., 115f., 230ff.; Müller-Wesemann/Fetthauer: Raphael.
Zur Nummerierung häufig genutzter Quellen siehe Link "Recherche und Quellen".

print preview  / top of page