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Already layed Stumbling Stones



Alfred Wolff
© Ray Fromm

Alfred Wolff * 1880

Schlüterstraße 22 (Eimsbüttel, Rotherbaum)

Hamburg
tot 30.11.1941 durch Medikamentenentzug

further stumbling stones in Schlüterstraße 22:
Lothar Bauer, Jolanthe Fromm, Leo Lesser Jacobsohn, Wilhelm Samson, Bianca Wolff

Alfred Wolff, born on 14 Dec. 1880, "murdered by withdrawal of medication,” date of death 30 Nov. 1941
Bianca Wolff, born on 6 Dec. 1887, deported to Theresienstadt on 19 July 1942 and to Auschwitz on 29 Jan. 1943

Alfred Wolff, the son of a pharmacist, had attended the Academic School of Johanneum high school (Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums) in Hamburg. From 1899 to 1902, he studied in Berlin, Geneva, Munich and Kiel, passed his first state examination in 1903 in Kiel, received his doctorate in the same year, and passed the second state examination in Hamburg in 1906. His attempts to enter the civil service were unsuccessful for some time, which depressed him, especially since he wanted to get married in 1908. From the personnel file, it becomes clear that his belonging to the "Mosaic [Judaic] denomination” caused problems for his superiors.

But from 1910, the jurist served as a Regional Court judge (Landrichter). The couple had a daughter, Jolanthe. According to his grandson, Alfred Wolff suffered a gas attack during the First World War from which he never recovered.

After the war, he moved to the business world as a corporate legal counsel and practiced as a lawyer from 1925. When the law on admission to the bar imposed a professional ban on Jewish lawyers, he was one of the exceptions because he was considered a combatant of the First World War.

Alfred Wolff practiced from 1932 to 1935 at Moorweidenstrasse 7 and from 1936 to 1938 at Schlüterstrasse 22, with both places serving as residential and professional address. Because of his ailment, his grandson said, he had to take certain medications that were no longer prescribed to him after the war broke out. As a result, he died earlier than would have been the case had he received adequate medical care. In fact, decrees forbade doctors to prescribe "high-quality medicines” to Jews.

Alfred Wolff was buried in the Jewish Cemetery on Ilandkoppel (Ohlsdorf). The couple’s daughter, Jolanthe, had been able to leave Hamburg just in time in Mar. 1939: Relatives in England vouched for her so that she was allowed to enter and work as a maid.

Her mother, Bianca Wolff, remained behind after her departure and the death of her husband. She moved to Innocentiastrasse 37, where she received the deportation order to Theresienstadt. From there, she was deported to Auschwitz on 29 Jan. 1943, where she arrived and was murdered on 1 February.


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


Stand: May 2019
© Beate Meyer

Quellen: StaH, 522-1, Jüdische Gemeinden, 992b, Kultussteuerkartei der Deutsch-Israelitischen Gemeinde Hamburgs; ebd., 131-15, Senatskanzlei – Personalakten C 512; Heiko Morisse, Jüdische Rechtsanwälte in Hamburg. Ausgrenzung und Verfolgung im NS-Staat, Hamburg 2003, Auskunft ders. v. 18.11.2005; Hamburger jüdische Opfer des Nationalsozialismus. Gedenkbuch, Hamburg 1995; Joseph Walk (Hrsg.), Das Sonderrecht für die Juden im NS-Staat, Heidelberg/Karlsruhe 1981; Schr. R.F. an Peter Hess v. 25.11.2002, tel. Auskunft R.F. v. 17.11.2005.

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