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Engeline Behr (née Rosenstamm) * 1866

Grindelhof 35 (Eimsbüttel, Rotherbaum)

HIER WOHNTE
ENGELINE BEHR
GEB. ROSENSTAMM
JG. 1866
DEPORTIERT 1942
ERMORDET IN
AUSCHWITZ

further stumbling stones in Grindelhof 35:
Röschen Behr

Engeline Behr, née Rosenstamm, born 22 June 1866 in Norden, deported 11 July 1942 to Auschwitz, murdered there
Röschen Behr, born 3 Sep. 1903 in Norden, deported 11 July 1942 to Auschwitz, murdered there

Grindelhof 35

Engeline Behr was the third daughter of Moses and Rebekka (Rieckchen) Rosenstamm. Moses Rosenstamm was a business owner, but also sold lottery tickets and worked as a restauranteur. Engeline married Martin Behr, who was from Hamburg, in Norden. They had five children: Ludwig Meinhard (*17 Dec. 1899), twins Röschen and Frieda (*3 Sep. 1903), and Hermann (*22 May 1906). Their second son Manfred Hermann (*4 Mar. 1901) died in infancy.

After the death of Engeline's mother in 1907, the family moved to Hamburg. The Hamburg address book for 1913 lists Martin Behr as a sales agent, living at Grindelallee 24. In the following years he worked as a broker for banks and financial services. According to his tax records with the Jewish Community, the family had a regular income until 1926. In 1919 the family moved to an apartment at Sedanstraße 22. Max’s death in 1926 was a doubly hard blow for the family, since his income had been their entire financial support. Although the eldest son Ludwig had completed a commercial apprenticeship, he was not employed at the time of his father’s death, probably because of the generally poor economic situation. He worked intermittently as an independent sales agent and traveling salesman, thus bringing in at least some income for the family. His brother Hermann worked as a painter, and Röschen as a salesclerk. Welfare office records show that in 1931 the only income the family had was from Ludwig’s work. All other family members were dependent on the meager unemployment benefits from the welfare office. Beginning in October 1933, Frieda worked now and again for the Winterhilfswerk (Winter Relief Drive) as temporary help, and from October 1936 onward in the household of a Dr. Lindenberg.

The Nazi persecution and boycott measures became an increasing burden for Engeline Behr and her children. Although Ludwig Behr was able to get a job at the Joseph Lazarus metal shop in Altona at the end of 1935, he still had to work as a traveling salesman. He had married Susi Hoffmann from Felsberg near Kassel and moved with her to an apartment at Werderstraße 80. Their daughter Mary was born on 1 July 1936. In June 1937 he lost his job and decided to flee the country. The family emigrated to the US via the Netherlands and England in October and settled in New York.

Engeline's youngest son Hermann found temporary work in 1937 at Rudolf Oberschützky’s Evo-Schuh shoe store at Große Bleichen 22. He supported himself and his mother with his small earnings. Despite the efforts of all family members, they could no longer afford the apartment at Sedanstraße 22, and in mid-1937 had to move to an apartment on the ground floor of the building at Grindelhof 35. Soon after, daughter Frieda married Arthur Meyer and moved with him to Fruchtallee 80 in Eimsbüttel.

The following months brought little change in the Behr family’s situation. Hermann decided to join his brother Ludwig in the US. He emigrated to New York on 29 Mar. 1939. Röschen and Engeline again had to move. They lived briefly with Frieda and her husband before they were forced into "Jews’ houses." Until she was deported, Engeline lived in the "Jews’ house" at Bornstraße 22, Röschen in the one at Johnsallee 68. Both were deported to Auschwitz on 11 July 1942, where they were murdered.

Röschen’s twin sister Frieda and her husband had both been deported to the Minsk Ghetto in November 1941. Their dates of death are unknown.

Engeline’s sons Ludwig and Hermann lived the rest of their lives in New York. Ludwig worked as a hospital orderly and died on 24 Dec. 1949. Hermann died on 5 Sep. 1955.

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

© Thomas Rost

Quellen: 1; 4; 5; StaH, 351-11 Amt für Wiedergutmachung 1092, 22308 u. 37179; StaH 351-14 Arbeits- und Sozialfürsorge 1553; StaH 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden 992e2 Band 3 Liste 1; Hamburger Adressbücher 1913–1942; E-Mail von Frau Almut Holler (Ökumenische Arbeitsgruppe Synagogenweg Norden) vom 2.7.2014.
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