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Rosa Heilbut (née Hanau) * 1876

Bogenstraße 27 (Eimsbüttel, Eimsbüttel)

1941 Riga

further stumbling stones in Bogenstraße 27:
Else Bernstein, Kätie Bernstein, Gertrud Hess, Siegfried Kleve, Erna Kleve

Rosa Heilbut, née Hanau, born on 1 Jan. 1876 in Friedberg, deported on 6 Dec. 1941 to Riga

Bogenstrasse 27

Rosa Heilbut was born in Friedberg (Hessen) in 1876 as the youngest of eight children. Her parents were Georg Hanau and Bella, née Garde, who had married at the age of 20 and 19 years, respectively, in 1863. The father, Georg Hanau, was a watchmaker and operated a watch and gold articles store at Kaiserstrasse 10 in Friedberg. The family was quite well-to-do. Rosa’s siblings were Ida (born in 1864), Louis (born in 1866), Jenny (born in 1867), Franziska (born in 1868), Simon (born in 1869), Emmi (born in 1871), and Betty Bertha (born in 1873).

In Jan. 1900, Rosa married the Hamburg jurist and lawyer Dr. Salomon Heilbut (born in 1866) in Friedberg. The witness to the marriage was the Hamburg merchant Ludwig Ascher, a brother-in-law of Rosa. In fact, he had married Rosa’s sister Ida and then, as his second wife after Ida’s early death in 1893, the sister Franziska. Ludwig Ascher died in Hamburg as early as 1903. After the death of her husband, Franziska left the Hanseatic City of Hamburg again.

Ten months following the wedding of Rosa and Salomon, the first daughter, Lotte, was born (on 8 Nov. 1900) in Hamburg, and four years later, the second daughter Anne Lise arrived (on 3 July 1904). The family lived at Brahmsallee 18. The building at the intersection of Hansastrasse outlasted the war. Two Stolpersteine are located in front of this building: one stumbling stone for Walter Hauptmann (born in 1905) and one for Siegmund Silberberg (born in 1874). The Heilbuts and Siegmund Silberberg were neighbors for a long time. In the 1930s, the Heilbut couple moved from Brahmsallee to Gluckstrasse 2 in Barmbek-Süd. Likely, they had not given up the apartment on Brahmsallee of their own free will, so either they, being Jews, had to leave the house, or due to his occupational ban, Salomon Heilbut was no longer able to pay the rent. Probably since 1938, Salomon and Rosa Heilbut lived in the house of the May Foundation (May-Stiftung) at Bogenstrasse 25/27. Martin M. Heilbut was chairman of the Z. H. May and Frau Stiftung. Perhaps he was a relative of Salomon and Rosa Heilbut.

Both daughters married Hamburg doctors. Lotte was married to Dr. med. Julius Cohn (born in 1888 in Loitz/Pomerania), who had a medical practice at von-Essen-Strasse 62, and in 1927, Anne Lise married the physician Dr. med. Fritz Pagel (born in 1894 in Soldin/Neumark [New March]), who operated a practice at Klosterallee 27. Lotte and Julius Cohn had one daughter, Hilde, who was born in Apr. 1928. Anne Lise and Fritz Pagel’s daughter Marion was born in 1931. Both couples emigrated to the USA, the Pagels in 1938, and the Cohns one year later, in 1939. The last address of the Cohns was at Brahmsallee 26 with the Silbermanns. Since Salomon Heilbut died in Jan. 1939, Rosa Heilbut lost all of her relatives within a very short time: her husband, the two daughters, the sons-in-law, and the two granddaughters. She received the deportation order for 6 Dec. 1941 to Riga, where all traces of her disappear.

The Nazi rulers destroyed the professional livelihoods of all male family members because both Jewish lawyers and Jewish physicians were no longer allowed to practice. Julius Cohn was particularly affected by the persecution: From Aug. 1934 until Feb. 1935, he was in pretrial detention because of an alleged abortion. The charges proved to be entirely unfounded. In Feb. 1935, he was acquitted due to insufficient evidence. However, the accusations and the detention weighed heavily on him, and he remained an ailing man after this time. As early as Nov. 1944, he died of a stroke in Chicago.

Concerning Rosa’s brother Simon (born in 1869), we know that he died in the USA. In the Memorial Book [of the German Federal Archives], no sister and no brother of Rosa Heilbut are listed. Conceivably, none of the siblings experienced the period of persecution at all. It is also possible, however, that all or some of them succeeded in emigrating.

Translator: Erwin Fink

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: October 2016
© Susanne Lohmeyer

Quellen: 1; 4; 5; 8; StaH 351-11 AfW, 1045, 2900 und 10287; StaH 351-11 AfW, AZ 030704 Pagel Anne-Lise; Geburts- und Heiratsurkunden Stadtarchiv Friedberg; Heiko Morisse, Jüdische Rechtsanwälte, S. 134; HAB II 1937; HAB IV 1928; Anna v. Villiez, Mit aller Kraft verdrängt; K. C. Blätter, Jahrgang 21, Nachr. Heft 10, Oktober 1931; Rechercheergebnisse von Brigitte Diersch, Friedberg.