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Martha Schlesinger, geb. Schönewald, im Alter von 21 Jahren
© Privatbesitz

Martha Rosa Schlesinger (née Schönewald) * 1873

Kurzer Kamp 6 Altenheim (Hamburg-Nord, Fuhlsbüttel)

1942 Theresienstadt
1942 weiterdeportiert nach Minsk

further stumbling stones in Kurzer Kamp 6 Altenheim:
Dr. Julius Adam, Johanna Hinda Appel, Sara Bromberger, Therese Bromberger, Friederike Davidsohn, Margarethe Davidsohn, Gertrud Embden, Katharina Embden, Katharina Falk, Auguste Friedburg, Jenny Friedemann, Mary Halberstadt, Käthe Heckscher, Emily Heckscher, Betty Hirsch, Hanna Hirsch, Regina Hirschfeld, Clara Horneburg, Anita Horneburg, Emma Israel, Jenny Koopmann, Franziska Koopmann, Martha Kurzynski, Laura Levy, Chaile Charlotte Lippstadt, Isidor Mendelsohn, Balbine Meyer, Helene Adele Meyer, Ida Meyer, Ella Rosa Nauen, Celine Reincke, Friederike Rothenburg, Benny Salomon, Elsa Salomon, Louis Stiefel, Sophie Stiefel, Louise Strelitz, Eugenie Hanna Zimmermann

Martha Schlesinger, née Schönewald, born on 5.3.1873 in Kassel, deported on 19.7.1942 to Theresienstadt, deported on 21.9.1942 to Treblinka and murdered.

Kurzer Kamp 6, Old People's Home (Hamburg-North, Fuhlsbüttel), designated 1939 a "Judenstift"

Martha Schönewald was born on 5 March 1873 in Kassel as the first child of Selma, née Hauer (born 22.3.1852 in Hamburg), and the banker Felix Schönewald (born 10.7.1838 in Willebadessen). Martha's parents had been married three years earlier, in 1870, by Rabbi Dr. Max Sänger in the German-Israelite community in Hamburg. Initially, the family lived with her paternal grandparents, Fanny, née Schüler, and banker Feist Schönewald, in Kassel. Martha's younger brother Ernst Alexander was born there on 30 May 1875. When Martha was three years old, the family moved to Hamburg, where her eleven years younger brother Franz was born on 13 March 1884. He attended the Wilhelm Gymnasium and the Johanneum up to lower secondary school, completed a three-year apprenticeship at the Robertson & Bense company and worked as a "Commis" (clerk) for two years. Nothing is known about Martha's school years and education.

When Martha Schönewald was 20 years old, she married Georg Alfred Schlesinger (born 28.2.1857 in Breslau), 16 years her senior, on 26 July 1893 in Hamburg. He was the son of Auguste, née Schneider, and the merchant Isaac Schlesinger and, like his parents, belonged to the Jewish community. His mother was living in Breslau at the time, and his father, a native of Breslau, had already died. The 54-year-old merchant Fritz Wohlauer travelled from Breslau as best man for the bridal couple's wedding in Hamburg.

The young couple lived at Hansastraße 45 (renamed No. 55 in 1900). There, on the 2nd floor, their first daughter Gertrud Annelies was born on the afternoon of 16 July 1894. Their second daughter Hedwig Auguste followed a year later on 20 July 1895.

Martha Schlesinger's parents lived not far away at Rothenbaumchaussee 65. The house came from the estate of Simon Hauer, Martha's maternal grandfather. At the age of 16, he had followed his older brothers Philip Sander and Wolff Sander Hauer from Gehaus, Thuringia, to Hamburg and become a merchant on the Alsterdamm. In 1843 he had married the Hamburg woman Friederike, called Friedchen, née Zadik, in St. Thomas. On 18 March 1883, when Martha had just turned ten, he died in Hamburg. He was laid to rest in the Jewish Grindel cemetery. The grandmother then bought the house at Rothenbaumchaussee 172 (renamed No. 52 in 1900) and also lived there.

Martha Schlesinger's father Felix Seelig Schönewald died on 22 August 1899 at the age of 61. He succumbed to the consequences of a kidney stone disease in his flat, Schlüterstraße 79. He was laid to rest in the Jewish cemetery Ilandkoppel Ohlsdorf, grave location B 11, No. 310. Martha's mother Selma Schönewald then lived with her son Franz, Martha's youngest brother, at Haynstraße 9.

Martha's husband Georg Schlesinger, a resident of Hamburg since 1876, had already held a Hamburg trade licence since 1886 and was admitted to the Hamburg State Association on 3 February 1900. As a merchant and "agent" (representative) he had to pay tax on an income of 8,200 marks per year at that time. His office was located at Große Reichenstraße 75 in the Rolandshof. Georg Schlesinger ran an agency for clover seed and seedlings.

Martha Schlesinger's maternal grandmother, Friedchen Hauer, née Zadik, died at the age of 88 on 17 April 1912 in her house Rothenbaumchaussee 52 and was buried in the Jewish cemetery Ilandkoppel, grave location B 10, No. 327. After her death, the house was sold to Dr. med. Ernst Wolffson.

During the First World War, Martha Schlesinger's husband died on 1 May 1917 at the age of 60 in the "Friedrichsberg Lunatic Asylum" as a result of "Korsakovian psychosis" and "cardiac insufficiency". The symptoms of his illness must have been an inability to remember, memory defects and disorientation. His ashes were buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery, grave location C, no. 635, grave letter 171.

According to the Kultussteuerkartei of the German-Israelite community, Martha Schlesinger worked in her husband's company as a secretary. As a widow, she moved with her two daughters to Flemingstraße 8, 2nd floor.

Martha's youngest brother Franz Schönewald had gone to London in 1905 for five years to work for the company Behr Bros Export und Import, where he last held the position of manager and authorised signatory. After his return, he set up his own business in Hamburg and, as co-owner of U. Beermann & Co, represented the champagne company Heidsieck, Black & White Whisky and Gordon Gin, among others. He was drafted into the army during the First World War and served as a front-line soldier from 1915 until the end of the war in 1918.

Martha's brother Ernst Schönewald had moved to Heidelberg in October 1893 to study medicine and had obtained his doctorate in Berlin on 25 May 1897. He had been Christian married to Carmen von Kaufmann (born 13.9.1892 in Hamburg) since 28 August 1911. He had his practice at Schillerstraße 20 and also lived there. Their son Friedrich, called Fritz, was born in Hamburg on 19 June 1912. Their second son Heinz Hugo Julius (born 6.8.1913 in Hamburg) had already died at the age of two months on 14 October 1913. He was buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery, grave location Y 16 IV, No. 411.

In July 1918, the Hanseatic Regional Court declared the marriage of Ernst and Carmen Schönewald, née von Kaufmann, null and void. From 21 November 1918, Ernst Schönewald lived with his sister Martha Schlesinger at Flemingstraße 8 for a month, then he moved to Haynstraße 9 to live with his brother Franz and his mother.

On 21 December 1918, Ernst Schönewald was admitted as a patient to the Friedrichsberg state hospital. After his release, he lived for a time in the Hotel Esplanade from 22 January 1919. On 2 March 1919 he died at the age of 43 in the flat of his brother Franz and his mother at Haynstraße 9, 1st floor. The cause of death was given by Dr. Moltrecht as "suicide by cocaine, poisoning". He was cremated in the crematorium Friedhof Ohlsdorf.

Martha Schlesinger's younger daughter Hedwig left the German-Israelite community in Hamburg on 14 October 1921 and married Paul Bendix (b. 11.4.1874) from Berlin, who was 20 years older. The connection will have come about through the family connection to Anna Bendix, née Hauer, the sister of Martha's mother Selma. She had married Hugo Bendix from Berlin in 1877, who was Paul's uncle. Paul Bendix had been divorced from Minna, née Kuhn, from Karlsruhe, whom he had married in Berlin in March 1904, since November 1909. His son Carl-Heinz (born 2.5.1905 in Berlin) came from this marriage.

Paul Bendix, Martha's son-in-law, was a merchant and, together with his brother Fritz and cousin Otto, Hugo's son, the owner of the weaving factories "Julius Bendix & Söhne". The company had been founded in 1870 by his father Max Bendix and his brothers George and Hugo and named after his grandfather, with headquarters in Berlin, Neuer Markt 1, and weaving mills in Bohemia and Silesia.

Paul Bendix had a flat in Charlottenburg, Bleibtreustraße 38/39, 1st floor. He ran the linen factory in Bohemia. Near this factory in Qualisch, No. 212, Trautenau District, he lived with Martha's daughter Hedwig. On 5 July 1925, their child Brigitte, Martha's granddaughter, was born there.

Martha Schlesinger's eldest daughter Gertrud had married Julius Heinrich Martin Hartmann (born 30 August 1883 in Eschelbach, Württemberg) in Hamburg on 28 January 1922. He was non-Jewish and a pharmacist at the "Billbrooker Apotheke", Billbrookdeich 75c. Her uncle, Martha's youngest brother Franz Schönewald, was best man. Franz Schönewald also married in September of the same year, Margarethe Friedmann (born 5.6.1899 in Essen-Werden). Their son Hans, Martha's nephew, was born in Hamburg on 29 February 1924.

Martha's son-in-law Julius Hartmann entered the lease of the "Habicht-Apotheke" in Habichtstraße 34 (from 1932 no. 104), Barmbek-Nord, as a pharmacy owner on 12 December 1930. Together with his wife, Martha's daughter Gertrud, and presumably his widowed mother, he lived at Habichtstraße 12.

Martha Schlesinger suffered another heavy blow of fate. Her daughter Gertrud died on 12 January 1933 in the St. Georg General Hospital. At 38, she succumbed to influenza with pneumonia and circulatory failure. She was cremated in the crematorium of the Ohlsdorf cemetery and buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery, grave location X 21, No. 257.

Martha Schlesinger's nephew Friedrich Schönewald, called Fritz, went to Morocco after the National Socialists came to power in 1933. In June 1937 he returned to Hamburg to marry Annemarie Mader (born 20.11.1914) from Hamburg, she was of Catholic denomination. It was not noticed at the registry office that Friedrich Schönewald was of Jewish origin, since his parents' marriage certificate stated "Christian" and they did not ask for the birth certificate of his father Ernst Schönewald. So it later turned out that Friedrich Schönewald was drafted as a soldier in 1940 and was to come back to Morocco with the German Africa Corps.

Martha Schlesinger had continued to work as a secretary in her late husband's company at Rolandshof, Große Reichenstraße 75, until February 1936. Later she is entered in the Jewish Community's cultural tax file as unemployed. With her move to the Mendelson-Israel-Stift at the beginning of 1935 - together with her mother Selma Schönewald - she had promised herself a secure retirement. The two lived together for two years in flat no. 24, 1st floor. On 15 April 1938, Martha's mother Selma Schönewald, née Hauer, died there at the age of 86. Her final resting place was next to her husband in the Jewish cemetery Ilandkoppel, grave location B 11, No. 311.

In the days of the November pogrom in 1938, Martha Schlesinger had to witness her brother Franz Schönewald being arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp until 11 December. At the same time, his son Hans had to leave the Wilhelm Grammar School because he was Jewish. Franz Schönewald's wine and spirits business came to a standstill. On 5 September 1939, Franz Schönewald, his wife Margarethe and son Hans were able to escape the persecution of the National Socialist rulers via Rotterdam to New York on the "Statendam" of the Holland America Line, cabin class, cabin 21 and 22. His company was deleted from the commercial register in May 1940.

In February 1940, Martha Schlesinger had to fill out a questionnaire about her financial circumstances for the Hamburg Chief Finance President. She stated that she had securities in the amount of RM 16,000 in a deposit at the Deutsche Bank and that she had been receiving an annual life annuity of RM 1,500 since 2 January 1940. According to the file note, a "security order" was not issued: "Considering the assets and the circumstances, an SA (security order) can be refrained from."

Martha Schlesinger's daughter Hedwig with her husband Paul Bendix and daughter Brigitte were forced to leave Qualisch on 5 August 1940 and move to Prague in Beethovenstraße. On 27 September 1938, half of the houses at Bleibtreustraße 38/39 in Charlottenburg, which had been owned by Hedwig Bendix, had already been forcibly sold. On the company's 70th anniversary in 1940, the expropriation of the entire Bendix family factories was recorded in the family register.

Hedwig and Paul Bendix with their daughter Brigitte had to leave their flat at Beethovenstraße 49 in Prague; they were deported to Lodz on 21 October 1941 and murdered. Paul Bendix was 67 years old, Hedwig Bendix, née Schlesinger, 45 years old and Brigitte Bendix 24 years old. Stumbling blocks in Prague are to commemorate them.

There is no record of whether Martha Schlesinger still received a message from her daughter. On 19 July 1942, she was deported from the Mendelson-Israel-Stift to Theresienstadt together with 22 fellow victims. Eugenia Zimmermann also shared the fate with her, Martha's grandcousin, her maternal grandfathers, Simon Hauer and Wolff Sander Hauer, were brothers.

After two months, on 21 September 1942, Martha Schlesinger was dragged on from Theresienstadt to Treblinka and murdered. She was 69 years old. Before her deportation, she had had to sign a "home purchase contract" for payment in the amount of RM 16,413.77, supposedly for board and lodging in Theresienstadt.

The fate of the other family members
Martha Schlesinger's former sister-in-law, Ernst Schönewald's divorced wife Carmen Schönewald, married the farmer Hermann Burchard in Hanover in April 1920 and emigrated to Africa at the end of 1921. According to the Schönewald family records, she is said to have died in July 1924 at the age of 31. She left behind a twelve-year-old son, Friedrich, called Fritz, who was married to Ernst Schoenewald.

Martha Schlesinger's widowed son-in-law Julius Hartmann had continued to run his pharmacy in 1936, initially with the help of his second wife Martha, née Stark, but then leased it to Carl Fr. Heyn on 1 October 1941 for health reasons and moved to Quickborn.

At the end of July 1943, the Habicht pharmacy was completely destroyed by aerial bombing. From 22 December 1949, the tenant Hans Pein took over the pharmacy business and continued it with the "Gartenstadt-Apotheke", Lesserstraße 162. Martha Schlesinger's son-in-law Julius Hartmann died on 26 March 1951 and was buried in the grave next to his first wife, Martha Schlesinger's daughter Gertrud. A new tenant was granted the concession to continue running the pharmacy by his second wife Martha Hartmann in 1958.

In 1943, Martha Schlesinger's nephew Friedrich Schönewald had managed to get into American captivity in Morocco. After the war, he lived in Hamburg and Bad Godesberg. He died in Hamburg on 4 October 1983 and was buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery, grave location AF 25, No. 330, his wife Annemarie in August 1997. Descendants of his live in Hamburg.

Martha Schlesinger's step-grandson Carl-Heinz Bendix escaped to the USA in 1939. Married to Anne, née Stark, he lived with her on Broadway in New York. Carl-Heinz Bendix died in New York on 7 June 1959 after a long illness; he was 55 years old.

Martha Schlesinger's brother Franz Schoenewald died on 25 November 1962 in Chicago. He was 78 years old. It is thanks to his family that the printed photo of Martha Schlesinger has been preserved.

The two daughters of Fritz Bendix, the brother of Martha's son-in-law Paul Bendix, had been rescued on the Kindertransport from Berlin to England. Fritz Bendix and his wife Johanna had managed to escape to the USA via China and Japan. Their daughter Evelyn Fielden, née Bendix, lives there today. She cherishes her only memento of the Paul Bendix family, a photo in which she can be seen together with her "favourite cousin" Brigitte Bendix - the granddaughter of Martha Schlesinger.

Translated by Margot Löhr

Stand: November 2023
© Margot Löhr

Quellen: 1; 2; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; StaH, 213-13 Landgericht Hamburg-Rückerstattungssachen, 14050 Schlesinger, geb. Schoenewald; StaH, 314-15 Oberfinanzpräsident, R 1940/0969 Schlesinger Martha; StaH, 332-5 Standesämter, 6482 u. 394/1911, 6961 u. 822/1917, 7788 u. 736/1883, 8011 u. 198/1912, 8561 u. 288/1893, 9098 u. 1965/1894, 9110 u. 1473/1895, 9590 u. 56/1922, 9773 u. 821/1919, 1004 u. 94/1933; StaH, 351-11 Amt für Wiedergutmachung, 38119 Friedrich Franz Felix Schönewald, 7170 Schönewald, Franz; StaH, 352-5 Gesundheitsbehörde, Todesbescheinigungen, 1883, Sta 3, 736 u. 1917, Sta 21a, 822 u. 1919, Sta 3a; StaH, 332-7 Staatsangehörigkeitsaufsicht, BIII 60742; StaH, 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden, Abl. 1993/1 A 10, 1852 Nr. 251; StaH, 741-4 Fotoarchiv, K 6881; StaH, Hamburger Börsenfirmen, A 902/0022, 1910-1913; LaB, B Rep. 032, Nr. C 2962/JRSO/B; LaB, B Rep. 025, Nr. 41 WGA, Nr. 1001/55; LaB, B Rep. 025, Nr. 43 WGA, Nr. 1387/55; Hamburger Adressbücher 1849–1943; Datenbankprojekt des Eduard-Duckesz-Fellow und der Hamburger Gesellschaft für jüdische Genealogie, Ohlsdorf 1896–1901, 1931–1939, B 11-310/311, http://jüdischer-friedhof-altona.de/datenbank.html, eingesehen am: 22.2.2022; Leo Baeck collection Elkisch-Bendix AR 6138, http://findingaids.cjh.org/?pID=475673, eingesehen am: 25.2.2022; Bendix familycollection, https://ia600609.us.archive.org/24/items/bendixfamilyf004/bendixfamilyf004.pdf, eingesehen am: 25.2.2022; Auskünfte, Dr. Reinhard Hanpft, Apothekerkammer Hamburg; Auskünfte Barbara Schulze und Frau Schmolinske, Förderkreis Ohlsdorfer Friedhof e. V., Verein für Kultur und Denkmalpflege, Gertrud Hartmann; Archiv Friedhof Ohlsdorf, Beerdigungsregister, Nr. 10693/1913 Heinz Schönewald Grabbrief 73387, Nr. 2753/1983 Friedrich Schönewald Grabbrief Nr. 304246, Feuerbestattungen, Nr. F 270/1917 Georg Schlesinger, Nr. F 159/1919 Ernst Schönewald, Nr. F 241/1933 Gertrud Hartmann, Nr. F 2043/1951 Julius Hartmann, Grabbrief Nr. 13625; Auskünfte Birgit Stuke, International Tracing Service (ITS) Arolsen, SL/Schlesinger 7.8.47; Auskünfte Nicolai M. Zimmermann, BArch, R 1509, Reichssippenamt, Ergänzungskarten Volkszählung 17.5.1939; Rudolf Schmitz: Geschichte der Hamburger Apotheken 1818–1965, unter Mitarb. von Sieglinde Lefrère, Hamburg 1966, S. 171. Herzlichen Dank an Evelyn Fielden und Robert Schönewald!
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