Search for Names, Places and Biographies

William Simon * 1870

Bellevue 34 (Hamburg-Nord, Winterhude)

gedemütigt / entrechtet
Tod beim Verhör in der Zollfahndungsstelle am 03.03.1939

further stumbling stones in Bellevue 34:
Betty von der Heydt, Adolf Peine, Auguste Peine, Wally Simon

Willy (William) Simon, born on 26 Oct. 1870 in Hamburg, died on 3 Mar. 1939 in Hamburg
Wally Simon, née Peine, born on 4 Feb. 1879 in Hamburg, deported on 19 July 1942 to Theresienstadt, died there on 21 Jan.1943

In the 1860s, the married couple Siegmund Simon (1842–1911) and Dora, née Meyer (1846–1914), natives of Altona, moved to Hamburg (in 1866, their address was Herrengraben 20), where between 1868 and 1870 their three sons Cäsar, Max, and William were born. A butcher by training, in 1865 the father founded "S. Simon, Schiffs- und Schiffsproviant-Schlachter,” a slaughterhouse operation with a focus on ship provisioning located at am Baumwall 4–5 (Hamburg-Neustadt). The company specialized in salted meat and bacon, as the 1893 directory indicated. In Jan. 1877, Siegmund Simon had obtained the certificate of Hamburg civic rights (Bürgerbrief). Afterward, he purchased the property/building at am Baumwall 4–5, in the immediate vicinity of the port and the ships.

At the age of 21, Willy Simon moved out of his parents’ home in May 1892 and got an apartment of his own. On 22 May 1901, Willy Simon and Wally Peine got married. His brother Cäsar (1868–1922) married her sister Helene (1872–1940). In 1902, Stefani, the daughter of Cäsar and Helene Simon, was born.

Wally, Helene, and Alice Peine were daughters of the Hamburg cufflink plant owner Eduard Peine (1846–1910) and his wife Rosa, née Hirsch (born on 29 June 1848). Wally was born in Hamburg in 1879 and lived with her parents at Esplanade 9 prior to getting married. Her sister Alice (born on 30 Nov. 1875) married the merchant Gotthold Goldschmidt, who operated a store selling hides and fur goods near Michaeliskirche (St. Michael’s Church). Her brothers Adolf Peine (see corresponding entry) and Kurt Peine (born on 30 Nov. 1887) were entrepreneurs as well.

Willy and Wally Simon initially resided directly adjacent to the port (from 1901 to 1904, at Vorsetzen 49; from 1907 to 1911, at Johannisbollwerk 10). Corresponding to the increased wherewithal, in 1912 they relocated to a more "upscale address,” moving into the house at Alsterufer 7 (Rotherbaum). The building belonged to Willy Simon, but it served several family members as a domicile and workplace: In 1919, the ground floor was occupied by Willy and Wally Simon; located on the second and third floor were the quarters of Cäsar and Helene Simon; the merchant Kurt Peine resided on the fourth floor; and located in the basement was Eduard Peine’s cufflink plant. In the year 1928, the married couple Willy and Wally Simon acquired the very imposing "Reimer’sche Villa” at the intersection of Bellevue 34 and Scheffelstrasse, located directly on the banks of the Outer Alster, and had it converted according to their preferences. Apart from the couple, the niece, having become a US citizen by marriage, and her mother Helene Simon as well Kurt Peine moved into the villa as well.

Willy’s brothers Cäsar and Max Simon were already listed as company owners beside their father in the 1910 directory. In 1933, the large-scale S. Simon slaughterhouse had the legal form of a limited partnership (Kommanditgesellschaft – KG), and at the time, Willy Simon was the general partner.

In a list of the SS Higher Section Nordwest (SS-Oberabschnitt Nordwest) dated 12 Dec. 1938, Willy Simon was classified as "very wealthy.” Within the few years that followed, the Nazi state appropriated nearly the entire assets of the Willy and Wally Simon couple.

The entry for Willy Simon’s company in the 1938 phone book (data current as of 15 Dec. 1937) already documented the "Aryanization” of the enterprise: "S. Simon, Inh. [owner] William Danielsen u. Hans Berkes, Schiffsproviant u. Schiffsausrüstungen, Pickhuben 1."

Willy Simon attempted, in spite of all the new regulations, to get a few valuables out of the country. In the minutes of the 41-year-old senior customs inspector Kurt Leuow, a member of the Nazi party since 1 May 1937 and posted to the Hamburg customs investigation department since 1 Jan. 1938, this matter reads as follows:

"On 2 Mar. 1939, the following was communicated confidentially: The Jew Willi Simon, residing in Hamburg, at Bellevue 34, intends to emigrate. Simon is acquainted with the captain of the British steamer ‘Switzerland’ by the name of Ormrod. According to testimony by a crew member, yesterday Simon handed over to Captain Ormrod pieces of jewelry that the captain is to take along to Britain for Simon. The steamer puts to sea on 2 Mar. 1939 in the evening, at about 8 p.m. (shed 13). The informer deemed a thorough search of the captain’s cabin, and, if required a body search, necessary.”

That same day, the captain was questioned aboard the ship and made a confession. The next day, 3 Mar. 1939, Willy Simon had to report to the office of the customs investigation department (at Poggenmühle 1). Customs inspector Schröder was in charge of the proceedings. Whether the interrogation actually unfolded as recorded in the minutes by office employee Jürgensen can no longer be established.

Willy Simon tried to pass off the pieces of jewelry, numbering about 20, as a gift to the wife of the captain, whom he had known for many years. Schröder got worked up and was quoted as saying, "How dare you offer me such an answer?” At this, Willy Simon reportedly declared that he had "a bit of a heart condition,” after which the minutes record, "The proceedings are briefly suspended at 11:10 a.m. so that Herr Simon can drink one glass of water. Since Herr Simon complained about heart trouble, the police physician Dr. Lange was called. He promised to come immediately. Shortly after his arrival, William Simon died, probably of heart failure.” On 13 Mar. 1939, a sum of 1,030 RM (reichsmark) was credited for the items confiscated from the captain.

Shortly before Willy Simon’s sudden death, his wife Wally, his sister-in-law Helene, and the niece Stefanie were interrogated. A gift deed covering all art objects and metal items as well as paintings, carpets, silverware to the niece and US citizen Stefanie Harrison dated 23 Dec. 1938 was classified as backdated and thus invalid by the criminological laboratory of the Cologne Chief Finance Administrator (Oberfinanzpräsident). In accordance with the law concerning the surrender of gold, silver, and other valuables, the Nazi state appropriated these valuables.

In June 1940, Wally Simon’s brother, Adolf Peine, and his with his wife Auguste moved in at Bellevue 34. Two years later, on 19 July 1942, the Peine couple as well as Wally Simon were deported to Theresienstadt. In the local central hospital, Wally Simon died according to the official information, on 21 Jan.1943.

The villa on Bellevue was, as the historian Frank Bajohr established, sold by the estate executor under pressure from the Gestapo to the Hamburger Elektrizitätswerke, the Hamburg electricity company, which put it at the disposal of the SS as a "guest house” free of charge.


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

Stand: January 2019
© Björn Eggert

Quellen: 1; 2; 3; 8; StaHH 741-4, Alte Einwohnermeldekartei; StaHH 221-11 (Staatskommissar für die Entnazifizierung), Signatur F 16413; Oberfinanzdirektion Hamburg, Zentrale Erfassungs- und Auskunftsstelle für Angehörige der ehemaligen Reichsfinanzverwaltung (Kurt Leuow); AB 1866, 1893, 1896, 1898, 1904, 1910, 1912, 1915, 1919, 1932, 1936, 1939, 1941, 1943; Amtliche Fernsprechbücher Hamburg 1895–1907, 1909, 1911–1919, 1925–1939; Hamburger Börsenfirmen 34. Auflage, Hamburg 1933, S. 797; Frank Bajohr, "Arisierung" in Hamburg. Die Verdrängung der jüdischen Unternehmer 1933–1945, Hamburg 1997, S. 312, 371; "Arisierung" engl. Liste der Universität Hamburg; AfW 040279; Sonderarchiv Moskau, Liste des SS-Oberabschnitts Nordwest, Liste einflussreicher und vermögender Juden vom 12.12.1938, Signatur 500-1-659, Blatt 56–58.
Zur Nummerierung häufig genutzter Quellen siehe Link "Recherche und Quellen".