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Frieda Aron * 1901

Heinrich-Barth-Straße 10 (Eimsbüttel, Rotherbaum)

1941 Minsk
ermordet

further stumbling stones in Heinrich-Barth-Straße 10:
Sara Aron, Isidor Blankenstein, Adele Levy

Frieda Aron, born 13 Jan. 1901 in Hamburg, deported 18 Nov. 1941 to Minsk, date of death unknown

Heinrich-Barth-Straße 10

Frieda Aron was born on 13 January 1901 in Hamburg. She lived with her parents and her younger brother Willy in a four-room apartment at Hallerstraße 24 II b. Her father, Wolff Moses Aron (*1 Dec. 1853) was a merchant. He retired from his business in 1924 at the age of 71. Frieda’s mother Sara (*26 Apr. 1864 in Werthsheim), was his second wife. The family’s income came from taking in boarders, and they received financial support from the grown children from Wolff Aron’s first marriage. One son lived in Farmsen, two married daughters lived in East Frisia, and one daughter lived in the US, probably with her grandparents in New York. All of them supported their father as best they could. Willy, born on 7 May 1902, moved to the US in 1927, and also sent money to his mother and sister after the death of his father.

Frieda trained and worked as a kindergarten teacher, but she contracted TB at the age of 24 and was no longer able to pursue her profession. The welfare agency paid the (nominal) costs of a ten-month stay at the M.A. Rothschild consumption sanatorium (M.A. Rothschild’schen Lungenheilstätte) in Nordach in the Black Forest. This charitable institution, founded in 1905, was intended to provide care free-of-charge to Jewish women with pulmonary disorders, but economic difficulties made it necessary to impose fees. The Hamburg Labor and Welfare Agency assumed the costs, since Frieda strictly adhered to the Jewish dietary laws. The sanatorium, which also had a synagogue and a cemetary, provided kosher meals.

But even after her stay at the sanatorium, Frieda was not well. Welfare agents who visited her at home repeatedly noted health problems. Beginning in October 1932, she suffered from a nervous disorder that left the left side of her body paralyzed. She also lost the vision in her left eye due to a corneal ulcer. In December 1932 she was living with her family at Grindelallee 12 b, since she was bed-ridden and her mother cared for her. Her brother Willy sent 10 RM per week from the US to help with the rent. Frieda’s health worsened in February 1934, and she was hospitalized for four weeks. It was some time before she was again able to work, and it was a year before she was able to find a job, this time as household help with Jewish families. Because of her employers’ dwindling incomes, or their emigration, she had to change jobs frequently. But she was able to notify the welfare agency that she no longer required subsidies.

From October 1937 onwards, Frieda and her mother Sara lived at the May Home (May’sche Stiftung), a charitable institution for the sick and needy. She received subsidies from the Jewish Winter Relief Association (Jüdische Winterhilfswerk), which had been founded in 1935. She injured her hand, probably while doing housework, which resulted in blood poisoning. She was treated at the Israelitic Hospital (Israelitische Krankenhaus) in Hamburg. She went back to work on 9 October 1937, even though her hand was not fully healed. She took out insurance with the AOK Hamburg health insurance company, and she continued to work as household help for Jewish families.

Frieda never married nor had children. Her closest companions seem to have been her mother and her landlord, Gustav Seligmann.

Frieda and Sara Aron were deported to the Minsk ghetto on 18 November 1941. Frieda was listed as a manual laborer on the deportation roll.

Jewish acquaintances repeatedly attempted to contact Frieda after she was deported, and to get money to her. Her landlord Gustav Seligmann, in particular, sent money to her in the ghetto several times before he was deported to Theresienstadt on 19 July 1942. He died there on 23 January 1943.

Frieda Aron’s exact date of death is unknown. Her name is mentioned in daily reports at the Minsk ghetto until 19 September 1942, so it can be assumed that she lived in the ghetto for at least nearly a year.

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

© Kristina Rudi

Quellen: StaH, 314-15 Oberfinanzpräsident J3. 3/11 Unterakte Aron, Frieda; StaHH, 351-14 Arbeits- und Sozialfürsorge, 901, Fürsorgeakte; StaH, 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden, 992b Kultussteuerkartei; StaH, 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden, 992e Band 1-5 Deportationslisten; Benz, Wolfgang. Nationalsozialistische Zwangslager. Strukturen und Regionen. Täter und Opfer, Dachau, 2011; http://www.bundesarchiv.de/gedenkbuch/directory.html.de?result#frmResults (Stand: Mai 2014); http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=3851410&language=en (Stand: Mai 2014); http://www.dasjuedischehamburg.de/inhalt/j%C3%BCdisches-leben-zur-zeit-der-nationalsozialistischen-verfolgung-1933-1945 (Stand: Mai 2014).