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Stolperstein von Moses (Moritz) Stern

Moses (Moritz) Stern * 1880

An der Alster 28 (Hamburg-Mitte, St. Georg)

HIER WOHNTE
MOSES (MORITZ)
STERN
JG. 1880
DEPORTIERT 1941
MINSK
???

Moses (Moritz) Stern, b 4.22.1880, deported on 11.8.1941 to Minsk

An der Alster 28

Concerning Moses Stern, who was born on 22 April 1880, the son of Yoel and Johanna Stern in Holzminden, there is only slight information. Mrs. Katharina Hoffmann assumed the sponsorship for the commemorative stone. She knew Moses Stern when he lived at Habichtsplatz 3, and she also lived there with her parents. Presumably, he had to leave his apartment at An der Alster 28 (upper floor) in 1937 or 1938. He was married to Hanny Haysen, whose Jewish Communal tax record noted that she was "Ev. [Evangelical] Aryan.”

On his Jewish Communal tax record, "Moritz" was added to his first name, and his occupation was given as "businessman" with his premises as Neuer Wall 54/60. In 1940, the Hamburg directory lists at Habichtsplatz 3 an entry for "Fritz Stern.” Under this name in 1938 there is an amended entry for "Stern, Fritz, banker, Suhrsweg 10, HH 33.” The occupational designation "banker” is also to be found in the database of the Yad Vashem Remembrance Center in Jerusalem on a "Page of Testimony,” contributed in 1956 by a relative, Mikhael Even Ari. The names of his parents also derive from this "Page of Testimony.”

In Frank Bajohr’s index of Hamburg’s "Aryanized” enterprises, there is listed a private banking house operated by Michael Belmonte at the Neuer Wall 54/60 address, which was also Moses Stern’s business address on his communal tax record. It is within reason, therefore, to believe that Moses Stern worked in this bank.

There are notes concerning the time Moses Stern lived at Habichtsplatz left by Katharina Hoffmann’s mother. She reports that on the staircase a man approached, whom she did not yet know, who tipped his hat, bowed slightly, and greeted her with "permit me, Stern.” She also remembered how touching "Mr. Stern was with the children in the air raid cellar. He paid attention to them, made up easy word games for them, and the like." Katharina Hoffmann still remembers the answer to one of his riddles: "Habichtsplatz 3, come helter-skelter into the air raid shelter.”

In the house at Habichtsplatz 3, Moses Stern, who was characterized as a distinguished man, lived with the Winskowitz family. Mrs. Winskowitz reported to Mrs. Hoffmann after the war that Mr. Stern had firmly promised to send her postcards. However, none ever arrived and also Mrs. Winskowitz had no sort of news about his stay.

On 8 November 1941, Moses Stern with almost a thousand other Hamburg Jews was deported to Minsk. Among the 952 people on this transport, murdered by the Nazis, was Moses Stern.


Translator: Richard Levy
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: January 2019
© Johann-Hinrich Möller

Quellen: Brief Katharina Hoffmann vom 16.4.2006
Staatsarchiv Hamburg, 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden, 992 b, Kultussteuerkarte Nr. 10883
Frank Bajohr: ‚Arisierung’ in Hamburg, Hamburg 1997, S.349
Jürgen Sielemann, Gedenkbuch – Hamburger Jüdische Opfer des Nationalsozialismus, Hamburg 1995