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Max Bernhard Witt * 1887

Rothesoodstraße ggü. Nr. 8 (vormals Nr. 18) (Hamburg-Mitte, Neustadt)

HIER WOHNTE
MAX BERNHARD WITT
JG. 1887
IM WIDERSTAND
VERHAFTET 1934
KZ FUHLSBÜTTEL
TOT AN DEN HAFTFOLGEN
24.10.1935
UNIVERSITÄTS KRANKENHAUS
EPPENDORF

Max Bernhard Witt, b. 9.24.1887 in Treul, Westphalia, imprisoned in 1934, died at the University Hospital in Hamburg-Eppendorf on 10.24.1935

Rothesoodstraße across from House Number 8 (Rothesoodstraße 18)

The locksmith Max Bernhard Witt was born the son of Friedrich Witt and Rosalie, née Piergalski, in Treul, West Prussia. It is not known when he came to Hamburg. On 31 May 1929, he had married Anna Frieda Nolte, who was born in Belzig on 1 August 1902. The couple lived in the New City at Neuer Steinweg 39, House 1 and later at Rotesoodstrasse 18. Max Witt worked as an iron chipper in Heidenreich & Harbeck, Co. Foundry and Machine Factory (founded 1868) on Wiesendamm Strasse in the Barmbek district. On 22 August 1934, he was taken into "protective custody” on account of his Communist Party political activity. The circumstances of his arrest have not been recorded. On 19 July 1935, the Hanseatic Superior District Court sentenced him to eighteen months in prison on the grounds of "preparation to commit high treason.” On 19 October 1935, Max Witt was taken to the "prison infirmary” of the Fuhlsbüttel Police Prison.

Three days later came his transfer to the University Hospital in Eppendorf. Max Witt, 48 years old, died there on 24 October 1935. According to the death certificate, the cause was encephalitis. His widow, Frieda, who later remarried a man named Grier, believed with certainty that he had died from prison abuse.

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

Stand: June 2020
© Susanne Rosendahl

Quellen: StaH 351-11 AfW 9874 (Witt, Max Bernhard); StaH 332-5 Standesämter 13202 u 314/1929; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 9877 u 1481/1935; StaH 352-5 Todesbescheinigung 1935, Sta 3c 1481.