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Ronia Appermann (née Back) * 1908

Kantstraße 4 (Wandsbek, Eilbek)

HIER WOHNTE
RONIA APPERMANN
GEB. BACK
JG. 1908
DEPORTIERT 1941
MINSK
ERMORDET

further stumbling stones in Kantstraße 4:
Ruth Appermann, Mali Appermann, Wera (irrt. Vera) Appermann, Gerhard Appermann

Gerhard Appermann, born 26 Apr. 1907 in Hamburg, deported 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Ronia Appermann, née Back, born 13 Dec. 1908 in Bohorodczany (Galicia, modern-day Ukraine), deported 18 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Ruth Appermann, born 19 Dec. 1931 in Hamburg, deported 18 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Mali Appermann, born 16 Mar. 1933 in Hamburg, deported 18 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Wera Appermann, born 10 June 1936 in Hamburg, deported 18 Nov. 1941 to Minsk

Kantstraße 4

Gerhard Appermann was the son of the postcard wholesaler Moriz Appermann (see Literature: Stolpersteine in Hamburg-Eimsbüttel und Hamburg-Hoheluft-West) and his wife Elka, née Verschleisser (see Biography: Elka Appermann). Both of his parents were from Jewish families in Vienna. They had four children: besides Gerhard, the sons Heinz (*1908) and Walter (*1909) and a daughter Werra (*1910). The parents divorced in 1920.

Ronia Back, Gerhard Appermann’s wife, was born on 13 December 1908 in Bohorodczany in Galicia. She was also Jewish. Gerhard Appermann and Ronia Back were married in a Jewish ceremony on 9 August 1931 and in a civil ceremony in Hamburg on 14 August 1931.

Later documents repeatedly state an incorrect date of marriage as 16 December 1908. This error is evidently based on the Gestapo’s deportation list. Both Gerhard and Ronia were registered as stateless.

At the time of their marriage, the Appermanns lived at Schellingstraße 57 in Hamburg-Eilbek. In 1935 their address was listed as Eilbecktal 70 (modern-day Eilbektal), and then from the summer of 1937 onwards as Kantstraße 4, also in Eilbek.

Ronia and Gerhard Appermann had three daughters: Ruth (*19 Dec. 1931), Mali (*16 Mar. 1933), and Wera (*10 June 1936), who was named after Gerhard’s sister. Both of the elder daughters attended the Talmud Torah School in Hamburg. Mali began her schooling there in April 1939; Ruth transferred there in 1939, after having attended the German-Israelitic Community’s girls’ school at Carolinenstraße 35.

Gerhard Appermann’s church tax file lists an apprenticeship, followed by employment as a sales clerk and then as a travelling salesman. The marriage certificate from 1931 lists the job title "commercial clerk.” He was also listed as such in the 1937 Hamburg address book. In the 1938 edition, "linen goods shop” was added.

The Appermanns’ financial situation deteriorated steadily after 1933, due to the increasing persecution of Jews. The church tax file states that the family received welfare subsidies from the Jewish Community from December 1939 to April 1940.

Like many other Jewish men, Gerhard Appermann was arrested in connection with the November pogroms (Kristallnacht). On 12 November 1938 he was sent to the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp, which was officially called the "Fuhlsbüttel police prison.” He remained in Fuhlsbüttel until he was released on 30 November 1938, but was "lucky” in that his arrest was too late for the transfer to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

All five members of the Appermann family were deported to Minsk: Gerhard on 8 November 1941, the other four ten days later on 18 November 1941. At the time of their deportations, Gerhard Appermann was 34 years old, his wife Ronia was nearly 32, Ruth was not quite 10, Mali was eight, and the youngest daughter Wera was five.

There are no records of the family after 18 November 1941. It can be assumed that they were murdered in Minsk.

Moriz Appermann, Gerhard’s father, re-married in September 1921 after his divorce from Elka Appermann. He had one son, Fritz, with his second wife Martha (née Kröger), a non-Jew. He evidently did not remain in contact with the children from his first marriage. Moriz Appermann died on 30 March 1942 in the Fuhlsbüttel police prison. There is a Stolperstein in his name at Emilienstraße 67 in Hamburg-Eimsbüttel (see "Stolpersteine in Hamburg-Eimsbüttel”).

As the child of a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother, Moriz Appermann’s son Fritz survived the Holocaust. After the war he finished his studies in economics – the Nazis had forbidden him to attend college – and continued his father’s postcard business together with his mother.

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

© Ingo Wille

Quellen: 1; 4; 5; 6; 8; 9; AB, StaH 213-8 Staatsanwaltschaft Oberlandesgericht – Verwaltung Abl. 2 451 a E 1,1 c Verpflegungsabrechnungen für Häftlinge; 314-15 OFP Oberfinanzpräsident FVg 4586 (Wera Appermann); 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden 705 Band 10, (religiöse Trauungsurkunde Gerhard und Ronia Appermann), 922 e 2 Deportationslisten; 332-5 Standesämter 9585-980/1932, 13518-244/1931; 351-11 Amt für Wiedergutmachung 11118 Moriz Appermann; Standesamt Hmb.-Nord, Geburtsurkunden 518/1910 Werra, 3482/1931 Ruth, Mali 99/1933, Wera Appermann 261/1936; Gedenkbuch Kola-Fu, S. 15; Randt, Ursula, Talmud Tora Schule; Archiwum PMAB – Auschwitz Museum Archives; Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien; Diercks, Gedenkbuch Kola-Fu, S. 15; Randt, Talmud Tora Schule.
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