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Lina Seelig (née Hesse) * 1890

Grindelhof 2 (Eimsbüttel, Rotherbaum)

1941 Minsk
ermordet

further stumbling stones in Grindelhof 2:
Friederike (Frieda) Cohn, Bruno Seelig, Gerd Seelig, Horst Seelig, Manfred Seelig

Bruno Seelig, born on 19 Sept. 1888 in Stettin (today Szczecin in Poland), deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk, murdered
Lina Seelig, née Hesse, born on 20 Oct. 1890 in Quedlinburg, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk, murdered
Manfred Seelig, born on 10 Dec. 1921 in Stettin, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk, murdered
Gerd Seelig, born on 24 May 1927 in Stettin, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk, murdered
Horst Seelig, born on 25 Sept. 1929 in Stettin, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk, murdered

Grindelhof 2

Since 1912, Bruno Seelig operated a "footwear agency and commission business” in Stettin. He descended from the Stettin-based family Samuel and Bertha Seelig, née Wagner. Lina Seelig came from the Robert and Louise Hesse family, residents of Quedlinburg. Both had three sons, Manfred (born in 1921), Gerd (born in 1927), and Horst (born in 1929). In 1932/33, the Stettin Chamber of Industry and Commerce tried to have Bruno Seelig’s business deleted from the company register because it allegedly no longer existed. However, on 12 Jan. 1934, it withdrew the application for cancellation. On 20 Oct. 1936, it again filed an application for cancellation, to which Bruno Seelig responded by applying for re-registration of the company to Hamburg. On 16 Nov. 1936, the company was relocated from Vogelstangenberg 1 in Stettin to Schrammsweg 4 in Hamburg-Eppendorf. Four weeks later, on 15 Dec. 1936, the Hamburg District Court (Amtsgericht) confirmed the transfer under company register number 40360 Abt. A. By this time, Bruno Seelig’s business was a retail and wholesale trade in office and stationary supplies (for example, "Ideal” tax file folders, for which he was the sole distributor).

About a year later, on 7 Jan. 1939, however, an application for approval of the purchase contract dating from 28 Nov. 1938 was granted – concluded between the Generalvertrieb Steuer-Ordner "Ideal” Bruno Seelig Company on the one hand and Paul Anders, Hamburg-Harburg, on the other, according to Sec. 1, Par 2 of the "Decree on the Elimination of the Jews from German Economic Life” ("Verordnung zur Ausschaltung der Juden aus dem deutschen Wirtschaftsleben”) dated 23 Nov. 1938, RGBl [Reich Law Gazette] I, p.1642.” Thus, the Nazi regime had "Aryanized” Bruno Seelig’s business and robbed the family of its livelihood.

The family lived on the "substance” for several months, but these resources were used up by the summer of 1939. After Bruno’s sister, who paid the rent for him and his family for some time, had emigrated to England, he had to pay the 85 RM (reichsmark) in rent for the five-room apartment at Grindelhof 2 himself. The oldest son Manfred contributed 40 RM toward maintaining the family. In addition, a distant relative, 19-year-old Heinz Goldschmidt, who lived in the apartment, paid RM 60 for room and board.

According to the family’s welfare file, Lina Seelig turned to the social welfare authority in the summer of 1939, during a three-month illness of her husband, in order to receive a health insurance voucher as well as subsidies for boots, glasses, and a pair of insoles for her son Gerd. However, she was initially denied permanent support on the grounds that she should try to sublet another room.

In Sept. 1939, Lina Seelig decided not to ask the authorities for permanent support because she had rented out a room for 30 RM and had two additional apprentices in foster care for whom she received 120 RM from the Jewish Community. On 9 Jan. 1940, Bruno Seelig applied for unemployment benefits and starting in Mar. 1940, he received payments amounting 103.34 RM per month.

There is a slender file from the senior education authority (Oberschulbehörde) about the oldest son Manfred, who had been trained as a machine fitter and car mechanic in the training workshops of the Jewish Religious Organization (Jüdischer Religionsverband). It shows that in Nov. 1939, he had applied for "holding specialist courses in welding” that were offered exclusively to "Jewish shifters” (emigrants). The courses were meant to help them improve their qualifications for working abroad. In this way, Manfred wanted to provide his family and himself with an income instead of performing compulsory labor as an "excavator” at the Blöcker Company in Hamburg-Altona. In Dec. 1939, the application was rejected as the courses were not maintained by the Reich Association of Jews in Germany (Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland).

On 8 Nov. 1941, Lina, Manfred, Gerd, and Horst Seelig were deported to the Minsk Ghetto and murdered.

Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

© Dieter Wolf

Quellen: 1; StaH 351-14 Amt für Wiedergutmachung 1812; StaH 361-2 VI Oberschulbehörde VI 4881; StaH 231-7 Amtsgericht Hamburg - Handels- und Genossenschaftsregister B 1986–47 Bd. 1 u.2; digitales Archiv ITS Bad Arolsen: Teilband 1.2.1.1, Doc. ID 11197728.
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