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Gertrud Leiter * 1893

Hudtwalckerstraße 35 (Hamburg-Nord, Winterhude)

HIER WOHNTE
GERTRUD LEITER
JG. 1893
DEPORTIERT 1942
ERMORDET IN
AUSCHWITZ

Gertrud Leiter, born 13.12.1893 in Altona, deported to Auschwitz on 11.7.1942

Hudtwalckerstraße 35 (Winterhude)

The parents of Gertrud Leiter, Moses "Max" Isser Leiter (1859-1928) and Ernestine, née Reich (1855-1921), had married in Altona in 1887. The father came from Brody (Galicia) and lived as a merchant in Altona-Ottensen (Papenstraße 3) at the time of the marriage. His father David Leiter had been a master tailor in Brody, a border town in the multi-ethnic state of Austria-Hungary. His mother Ernestine was born in the then Danish port town of Toenning in the district of Eiderstedt. Her family moved to Altona in 1867, where her parents, master furrier Benjamin Reich (born 1822 in Krotoschin/Posen, died 1885 in Altona) and Cäcilie Reich, née Kroh (born 1825 in Krotoschin/Posen, died 1904 in Altona), ran an egg business (1870-1885 at Königstraße 202). The mother's brothers, merchant Sigismund Reich (born 1854) living in Hamburg and merchant Louis Reich (1861-1932) living in Altona, were witnesses at the marriage in 1887.

Moses Isser Leiter was listed in the Altona address book from 1888 with a "men's and boys' wardrobe store" at Papenstraße 3, which from 1891 was run at Bahrenfelderstraße 75, where the family also rented an apartment on the 2nd floor. Here the children Paula (born Sept. 21, 1891), Bertha (born Dec. 23, 1892), Gertrud (born Dec. 13, 1893) and Siegfried (born April 24, 1897) were born. The brother Benno David was born in 1890 still in the apartment Papenstraße 3. When Gertrud was nine years old, the father gave up the business and from then on was on the road as a "business traveler". Shortly thereafter, the family moved to Stiftstraße 6 first floor in Altona (today Mistralstraße).

Gertrud's 3 ½ years younger brother Siegfried after preschool and Talmud-Tora-Realschule (1906-1912) had started a commercial apprenticeship at the egg wholesaler B. Reich (founded in 1867) in Holstenstraße 165 (Altona), where he also lived as a subtenant. The owner of the company was his uncle Louis Reich. "The outbreak of the World War drew him to the flags and he was fortunate to be enlisted as a volunteer in August 1914," stated the head of the company in 1917. As a member of Infantry Regiment 31 (Altona), he was promoted to sergeant and received the Iron Cross 2nd Class and the Wounded Badge. His brother Benno was also promoted to sergeant in World War I; he later worked in Berlin.

We do not know which school Gertrud attended from 1909 to 1918; her last four years of school coincided with the First World War. After the death of her mother in 1921 and the marriage of her sister Bertha in 1924, Gertrud presumably managed the household for her father. Her father died in 1928, but his name was still printed in the Altona address book until 1936. It is possible that Gertrud stayed in the apartment at Stiftstraße 6 and took in a subtenant.

Gertrud's sister Bertha (1892-1939) had married the non-Jewish merchant Louis Clauss (born March 25, 1886) in Altona in 1924. She died of cancer in the Israelite Hospital in July 1939.

Her brother Siegfried (1897-1975) married in Hamburg in 1937 and emigrated with his wife Hedwig, née Berliner (1901-1957) via Antwerp to New York in February 1939.

It was not until January 1936 that a cultural tax card was created for Gertrud Leiter at the Jewish Community; her occupation was now stated as "domestic servant," and her father's first name was given as Max. It is possible that she, like her brother Siegfried, had been a member of the Jewish Community of Altona until 1935.

For 1936 to 1939 she paid no taxes to the Jewish community, presumably because her income was so low. On the tax card, seven different subtenant addresses are noted for the following 6 ½ years. The reason was the increasing repression against Jews and, from April 1939, the abolition of the free choice of housing for Jews.

She lived at Hudtwalckerstraße 35 I. Stock bei Dr. med. Ludwig Mosheim (1898-1948) in Winterhude, Uhlenhorsterweg 49a with Mrs. Carla Samuel, Charlotte-Niese-Straße 9 in Nienstedten (registered at the Residents' registration office on Sept. 23, 1938), Uhlenhorsterweg 49a (registered January 27, 1939), Lenhartzstraße 3 in Eppendorf, Maria-Louisen-Straße 107 at Walter Hess (registered December 1939) and Blumenstraße 31a at Walter Hess (registered February 1941).

Gertrud Leiter was deported to the Auschwitz extermination camp on July 11, 1942 and murdered.

Translation by Beate Meyer
Stand: February 2022
© Björn Eggert

Quellen: Staatsarchiv Hamburg (StaH) 332-5 (Standesämter), 5183 u. 2782/1885 (Sterberegister Altona 1885, Benjamin Reich); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 5900 u. 852/1887 (Heiratsregister Altona 1887, Moses Isser Leiter u. Ernestine Reich); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 6163 u. 142/1890 (Geburtsregister Altona 1890, Benno David Leiter); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 6166 u. 934/1891 (Geburtsregister Altona-Ottensen 1891, Paula Leiter); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 6169 u. 1300/1892 (Geburtsregister Altona-Ottensen 1892, Bertha Leiter); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 6171 u. 1248/1893 (Geburtsregister Altona-Ottensen 1893, Gertrud Leiter); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 6178 u. 412/1897 (Geburtsregister Altona 1897, Siegfried Leiter); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 5344 u. 1740/1921 (Sterberegister Altona 1921, Ernestine Leiter geb. Reich); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 5373 u. 1452/1928 (Sterberegister 1928, Moses Isser Leiter); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 1103 u. 460/1939 (Sterberegister 1939, Bertha Clauss geb. Leiter); StaH 332-8 (Meldewesen), K 7364 (Alte Einwohnermeldekartei Altona 1892-1919), Cäcilie Reich geb. Kroh, Louis Reich; StaH 351-11 (Amt für Wiedergutmachung), 20030 (Siegfried Leiter); StaH 522-1 (Jüdische Gemeinden), 992b (Kultussteuerkartei der Deutsch-Israelitischen Gemeinde Hamburg), Gertrud Leiter, Siegfried Leiter; Adressbuch Hamburg (M. J. Leiter) 1888, 1890, 1891, 1893, 1900, 1901, 1903, 1905, 1910, 1914, 1920, 1928, 1930, 1934-1936; Adressbuch Altona 1913 (B. Reich, Eier-Import, Altona, Holstenstr. 165, Inhaber Berthold Reich und Louis Reich); www.geni.com (Benjamin Reich, Louis Reich); www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de (Louise Hess).