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Julius Levie * 1892

Gneisenaustraße 5 (Eimsbüttel, Hoheluft-West)

1939 Flucht Holland
deportiert 1943
Sobibor
ermordet

further stumbling stones in Gneisenaustraße 5:
Jonas (Jona) Fränkel, Jenny Fränkel, Helena Levie

Helena Levie, née Weingarten, born 11/3/1863 in Felsberg, emigrated to the Netherlands in January, 19039; Westerbork camp 9/26/1942 , deported to Auschwitz 10/1/1942 and murdered there
Julius Levie, born 8/10/1892 in Altona, emigrated to the Netherlands in February, 1939; deported from Westerbork to Sobibor on 6/1/1943, murdered there on 6/4/1943

Gneisenaustrasse 5

Helene or Helena Levie was born in Felsberg in the Eder Valley in Hesse; her parents were Salomon Levie, a horse trader, born March 10th, 1853 in Groningen, a citizen of the Netherlands, and his wife Jettchen, née König, both living in Felsberg, Untergasse 26.

On March 11th, 1890, in Felsberg, Helene Weingarten married the Hamburg merchant Abraham Levie, a Dutch citizen born October 3rd, 1853 in Groningen. Their son Julius was born on August 10th, 1892 in Altona, where the family lived at Grosse Westerstrasse 46/I.
Julius Levie became a merchant and dabbled in various trades. He became a shareholder of the company Wilhelm Pook, a wholesale tire dealer with headquarters at Deichstrasse 38; in March, 1923, he became a partner in the company Max Jaspersen & Co, together with Heinrich Christian Max Jaspersen and Heinrich Christian Schwartz, a real estate agent. Schwartz died in July, 1924, the partnership was dissolved, and from August, 1929 up to its liquidation on March 6th, 1940, Julius Levie was the sole owner of the company that traded in bath salts and had its headquarters at Zeughausmarkt 34.

But Julius Levie had further, quite diverse interests: he as president of Theosophia, Lehrverein für Geisteswissenschaft e.V. or Lehrverein für Christuswissenschaft, as the society was officially named in the register of associations. Ferdinand Guggenheim, a clerk, and Miss Louise Eprinchard were the members of its board besides Levie. The association ran a small publishing house for esoteric and occultist literature – the Theosophia Verlag Julius Levie was entered into the company register on July 10th, 1920, and forcibly deleted on December 13th, 1940. The association as well as the company had their headquarters at Gneisenaustrasse 5, where Julius Levie also lived.

In the early 20th century, ideas acknowledging the existence of extrasensory powers were even more popular than today, and many people were attracted by these schools of thought. The association was forcibly dissolved in 1934. The entry in the registry states that: "The association’s legal capacity has been annulled pursuant to Art. 73 of the Civil Code by the ruling of the registry court of June 2nd, 1934.” Today, only one book from this publishing house is to be found in library catalogs, Das zweite Gehirn: Betrachtungen über die zukünftigen Aufgaben eines wissenschaftlichen Okkultismus ("The Second Brain: Contemplations of the Future Tasks of a Scientific Occultism”) by Ferdinand Maack (1861–1930) from Hamburg. Dr. med. Ferdinand Maack, founder of a Rosicrucian Society (1923 in Hamburg) and well known esoteric writer, called himself xenologist, stereosopher, allomatic and rhodostaurologist (according to Miers). Maack’s other works were published by different companies. Julius Levie also collected books. A book plate of his from 1920 is preserved in the Jaap van Velzen collection at the Joods Historisch Museum in the Netherlands. Most likely, Levie’s collection also contained esoteric and occultist works. It is not quite clear if the collection belonged to him personally or was identical to the Theosophia Association’s library.
Julius Levie established a comprehensive index of his theosophical-occultist library, of which the third issue was published in 1929 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Theosophia Verlag. At the time, the library comprised 2,700 volumes. In his foreword to this bibliography, Julius Levie wrote: "In grateful memory of the great leaders Helena Petrowna Blavatsky and Dr. Franz Hartmann of the Theosophical Society founded in 1875 in America at the instigation of the Masters in Tibet, our completely independent association founded ten years ago in 1919 was named Theosophia.”
Following the Pogrom Night in November, 1938, Julius Levie was detained in "protective custody at the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp. In early 1939, he and his mother Helena emigrated to Amsterdam.

In the Netherlands, Julius Levie again attempted to make a living as merchant, by trading in chemicals and books. It is not known whether he succeeded in taking along his library. In September, 1939, Julius Levie became civil registry officer and "Kerkvoogd” of the Liberal Jewish Community in Tulpstraat in Amsterdam. There, he married Irma Lachotzky from Berlin (born 11/8/1909) on September 17th, 1939, who worked as a secretary for the Jewish Community of Amsterdam.

At the beginning of 1941, Julius Levie and his mother lived at Valkenburgerstraat 102 II in Amsterdam. In 1942, Helena, Julius and his wife Irma were arrested and taken to the Westerbork detention camp. Helena Levie arrived at Westerbork on September 26th, 1942 and was deported to Auschwitz on October 1st. On June 1st, 1943, Julius was transported to the Sobibor extermination camp by train.

Julius Levie had two male and one female cousin in Hamburg, all of them Dutch citizens who also emigrated to the Netherlands. They were Jon Levie (born 1878), Ivan Levie (born 1884) and Ida Levie (born 1886). The three of them were the children of the cigar manufacturer Theodor (Tanchum) Levie and his wife Hannah, née Ricardo-Rocamora. Both men were merchants, Jon a representative for raw tobacco, Iwan a wholesaler of men’s clothing. Lea was a home economics teacher. All three were murdered at Auschwitz (see. Iwan Levie).

Stumbling Stones for Jon Levie and his wife Hertha lie at Papenhuder Strasse 22. Their biography is included in the book Die "Stolpersteine in Hamburg-Barmbek und Hamburg-Uhlenhorst” The Stumbling Stone for Lea Levie lies at Jungfrauenthal 28.


Translated by Peter Hubschmid
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: March 2017
© Susanne Lohmeyer

Quellen: 1; 2 (FVg 5514; FVg 5515); 4; 5; StaH 213-8 Staatsanwaltschaft Oberlandesgericht – Verwaltung, Ablieferung 2, 451 a E 1, 1 c; StaH 231-7, A1 Band 131, HRA 29568; StaH 231-10 Vereinsregister A1 Band 20 Nr. 952; StaH 332-5 Standesämter, 6276 + 2663/1892; www.Joodsmonument.nl; Auskunft Jose Martin, Joodse Monument, v. 23.1.2012; HAB II 1918 und 1932; HAB IV 1926; Heiratsurkunde Helena Weingarten – Abraham Levie aus dem Historischen Archiv der Stadt Felsberg; Julius Levie, Theosophia; Carmen Smiatacz, Stolpersteine in Hamburg-Barmbek, S. 126ff.
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