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Ellie Tichauer (née Rosenthal) * 1887

Alte Holstenstraße 61 (Bergedorf, Bergedorf)

1941 Minsk

further stumbling stones in Alte Holstenstraße 61:
Dr. Ernst Tichauer

Dr. Ernst Tichauer, born 8 Oct. 1888 in Thorn, deported 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Ellie Tichauer, née Rosenthal, born 6 Nov. 1887 in Berlin, deported 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk

Alte Holstenstraße 61 (Holstenstraße 4a)

Ernst Siegfried Tichauer was born in Thorn in the Province of West Prussia in 1888. His parents Max Tichauer and Henriette, née Soberski, must have been financially well off because they could afford to send their son to high school and pay for him to study dentistry. The Tichauer Family moved from Thorn to Berlin. While studying at Berlin University, Ernst Tichauer met Ellie Rosenthal, the daughter of a "good house". Her father was the Kommerzienrath (counsellor of commerce) Max Rosenthal; his title suggests a prominent position in the economic sector. After finishing his degree, Ernst Tichauer opened a dental practice at Kottbusser Damm 20/21 in Berlin in 1912. On 5 Jan. 1917 he moved to Hamburg where he settled and married Ellie Rosenthal on 10 Feb. 1917.

By that time his wife will have already been working as a dentist in his practice. In the beginning they sublet an apartment in a prime Hamburg location: a ground floor apartment along the river at An der Alster 60, tenants of L’ Arronge, near the Alster baths. Eight months later Ernst Tichauer was drafted into the war. During that period Ellie Tichauer lived in Berlin-Neukölln. After the end of World War I, the couple rented rooms at Oderfelder Straße 15 (Harvestehude) in Jan. 1919, but a mere half year later they moved to Bergedorf where they also transferred their dental practice. Their daughter Helga was born in 1921. In 1922 Ernst Tichauer wrote a dental paper on the subject "A Mechanical-Static Evaluation of the Filling". Their son Klaus was born in Bergedorf in 1923. Following elementary school in Bergedorf, their daughter attended Luisen School there, which she was forced to leave at Easter in 1938 without a diploma. Their son was only able to attend Hansa Oberreal School in Bergedorf until Mar. 1936, then he was forced to transfer to the Talmud Torah School (Rotherbaum).

The then Holstenstraße was the center of their family life for many years: First they lived at Holstenstraße 11 (1929–1932), later at Holstenstraße 4a (1932–1938). In May 1931 the couple purchased a property with house and land in Bergedorf at Sichterstraße 6 (formerly Boelckestraße and Hauptmannstraße) for 20,000 RM, which they sold again of necessity in 1938 for 15,000 RM. Ernst Tichauer’s dental practice on Holstenstraße was one of 12 practices in Bergedorf in 1932, a town with a population of 19,000 at the time. As of Jan. 1933 the NSDAP tried to intimidate and keep away clients and patients of Jewish business people, doctors and lawyers. A sign was hung on Tichauer’s dental practice reading "Whoever goes to a Jew…” Additionally, the sign was guarded and along with it the entrance to the Bergedorf veterinary practice and meat inspector Carl Best (Reinbeker Weg 36) who had been a member of the NSDAP since May 1933 and in Jan. 1934 became a member of the Mounted SA (Reiter-SA). His daughter was Helga Tichauer’s best friend at school.

Across the street from the practice, two SA men were intermittently posted causing many patients to no longer dare visit his practice – some only went after it was dark so as not to be recognized. The drop in patients achieved by that activity was further exacerbated by the NS regime on 27 July 1933 through a "Decree on the Licensing of Dentists and Dental Assistants to Work for Health Insurance Providers”. Ernst Tichauer initially received an exemption because he had served in World War I, and he was able to continue to run his practice. However the harassment did not let up.

The Tichauers joined the Jewish Community in Sept. 1935. On 31 Jan. 1939, Ernst Tichauer’s license to practice medicine was revoked, and he was struck from the member list of the Dentists’ Association. From that time onward he was only allowed to treat Jewish patients. From then on, his stationary and practice stamp had to show the Star of David and carry the addendum "Licensed to treat Jewish dental patients”.

On 27 Feb. 1939 Ernst and Ellie Tichauer moved to an apartment in Hamburg-Harvestehude at Isestraße 55, first floor on the right. Moritz Weinberg, his wife and son had lived in the five-and-a-half-room apartment since June 1937. The Weinbergs were allowed to use three rooms along with the kitchen and bathroom but were obliged to take in Jewish tenants. In June 1940 the Jewish couple Erich and Johanna Meyer moved in with their newborn daughter for a few days before moving to Castrop. In Jan. 1941, the Weinberg Family emigrated. In Mar. 1941, the three older Pein Sisters moved in and in Dec. 1941 they moved to other housing.

Since their new accommodation was smaller than in Bergedorf, the Tichauers had to sell the valuable furnishings of the parent’s bedroom. Their life insurance, which had been taken out with Provincial Versicherung in 1927, was cancelled on 1 Jan 1939. The payout of the so-called surrender value before reaching maturity meant they suffered a financial penalty from cancellation fees.

They had sent their two under-aged children to England on a children’s transport organized by the Dutch Quakers on 2 Feb. 1939. Their 16-year-old daughter carried in her suitcase a dirndl, a raincoat, her mother’s old tennis racquet, a photo album and books in addition to a few items of clothing. The books included Das jüdische Jahr (The Jewish Year), Theodor Storm’s Von Moor und Heide (On Moors and Heath) and the Wunderbuch unserer Heimat (Book of Wonders from Our Homeland). Their 14-year-old son had packed, among other things, a hat, tie, raincoat, swimming trunks, and an Agfa Standard 6x9 plate camera from 1927.

After attending school for half a year in London, the outbreak of World War II interrupted the mail and money transfers between Germany and Great Britain. Without money from his parents, their son had to leave school and work at a shoe factory. In May 1940 the now 17-year-old was interned as an "enemy alien”, first in Great Britain and later for two years in Canada (see similar biography of Gerta and Ilse Lazarus, Stellingen, son Jan). From 1942 to 1944 he worked at a shoe factory in Canada before joining the Armed Forces Canada at the age of 21. In the spring of 1940, his sister was also interned as an "enemy alien” for nine months on the Isle of Man. In 1941 she worked as a secretary and in 1944 became a teacher in Great Britain.

The living conditions grew increasingly threatening for their parents stuck in Germany. After being banned from their profession, paying tax penalties and being completely marginalized from society, the regulation followed on 19 Sept. 1941 requiring a yellow Star of David to be worn plainly visible on clothing. The businessman Paul Godau, a friend of the Tichauers, testified to the Restitution Office about the last time he saw the Tichauers: "While we were present, Dr. Tichauer locked his home and took the key to the Gestapo at the lodge on Moorweidenstraße, where the Jews had to report.”

On 8 Nov. 1941 Ernst and Ellie Tichauer were deported to Minsk Ghetto. Their possessions in their home were collected by the authorities even before their deportation. On 30 Dec. 1941, the auctioneer Carl F. Schlüter (auction house at Alsterufer 12) auctioned off various paintings and prints, furniture, household items and clothing belonging to the Tichauer Family on behalf of the National Socialist government. Three coats from Ellie Tichauer brought in 23 RM, costume clothing and a top hat were auctioned off for 5 RM. The auction brought in a total of 1,667 RM, paid to the German Reich.

The auctioneer Arthur Landjunk (auction house at Alter Wall 64) transferred another 118.45 RM to the regional treasury on 2 Apr. 1942 for proceeds from the auction of the Tichauer’s property. In this case it is not known what items were auctioned off as the record of auction has not survived. It is not known what became of the expensive practice furnishings, including the dental chair with leather upholstery, drills, lamps, an entire instrument cabinet, medication and filling substance. We can be sure they did not take any of it with them to Minsk Ghetto.

A year and a half later, another sign of life from the Tichauers surfaced in NS files: A report from 1943 on mass shooting operations around Minsk states that Ernst Tichauer was forced to break gold teeth out of prisoners’ mouths, his wife had to assist him. "On 13 Apr. 1943, the German, former dentist, Ernst I. Tichauer and his wife Elisa Sara Tichauer née Rosenthal were taken to the court jail by the Sicherheitsdienst (Hauptscharführer Rühe). From that time onward the gold bridges, crowns and fillings of German and Russian Jews admitted to the prison were pulled or broken out. This takes place each time 1–2 hours before an operation. From 13 Apr. 1943 until present 516 German and Russian Jews have been dealt with. Signed Günther”. Since those special prisoner units also were witness to the procedures of the National-Socialist killing machinery, the SS made sure that they were killed once the operation was completed. After Apr. 1943, there is no further trace of Ernst and Ellie Tichauer. They were later declared dead as of 1945 by a district court.

Shortly before the arrival of the British troops, the Hamburg Dentists’ Association destroyed the documents pertaining to the barred Jewish dentists in early 1945.


Translator: Suzanne von Engelhardt
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: March 2019
© Björn Eggert

Quellen: 1; 2; 4; 5; StaH 213-13 (Landgericht Hamburg), 820 E 312/62; StaH 213-13 (mit Unterakte 2 Wik 561/1953); StaH 213-13 Z 5648 (Hausverkauf 1938); StaH 221-11 (Staatskommissar für die Entnazifizierung), M 2462 (Dr. Carl Best); StaH 314-15 (OFP), FVg 3788 (Helga u. Klaus Tichauer); StaH 332-8 (Alte Einwohnermeldekartei); StaH 332-8 (Hauskartei), K 2445 (Isestraße 55); StaH 351-11 (AfW), Eg 061187 (Ellie Tichauer); StaH 351-11 (AfW), 260721 (Helga Tichauer); StaH 351-11 (AfW), 050423 (Klaus Tichauer); Landesarchiv Berlin, B Rep. 058, 1 Js 9/65, Box 80, Beistück 104, Schr. Gerichtsgefängnis Minsk v. 31.5.1943 an Generalkommissar von Weißruthenien in Minsk; TB 1929-1938 (Tichauer); TB 1936 (Tierarzt Best); AB Berlin 1912, 1913 (Ernst Tichauer); Kulturbehörde der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg, Kiek mol – neue und bewährte Stadtteilrundgänge, Hamburg 1998, S. 84 (Holstenstr. 9/11); Ingo Böhle, "Juden können nicht Mitglieder der Kasse sein", Versicherungswirtschaft und die jüdischen Versicherten im Nationalsozialismus am Beispiel Hamburgs, Hamburg 2003, S. 14; online-Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek (Ernst Tichauer).
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