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Martha Nathansen (née Eisenmann) * 1879

Hudtwalckerstraße 23 (Hamburg-Nord, Winterhude)

HIER WOHNTE
MARTHA NATHANSEN
GEB. EISENMANN
JG. 1879
FLUCHT 1939
HOLLAND
INTERNIERT WESTERBORK
DEPORTIERT 1942
AUSCHWITZ
ERMORDET 24.9.1942

further stumbling stones in Hudtwalckerstraße 23:
Fritz Nathansen

Martha Nathansen, née Eisenmann, born 8.8.1879 in Hamburg, deported 21.9.1942 from camp Westerbork/NL to Auschwitz, murdered 24.9.1942

Hudtwalckerstraße 23 (Winterhude)

Martha Nathansen was born on August 8, 1879 in Hamburg at Neue ABC-Strasse 12 C III floor (Neustadt). Her parents, the merchant Meyer Eisenmann (1844-1923) and Bertha, née Behrens (born 1.11.1852 in Waren/Mecklenburg), moved with their two children to Neustadt's Fuhlentwiete 74 III. floor (later renamed Düsternstraße) in 1882.

The parents had married in 1876, the year in which the father had taken over the company J. Eisenmann, which he then ran under the name "M. Eisenmann, Eisen-, Metall- und Maschinenlager". After that the family lived in the street Rutschbahn 25 III floor (1892-1903). In the newly developed district of Harvestehude with its generously proportioned apartments in prestigious apartment buildings, the Eisenmann family lived from 1903 in the new building at Werderstraße 8 II. Floor left.

We know nothing about the childhood, youth and education of the siblings. Martha's brother Ernst Josef Eisenmann (born 13.6.1878 in Hamburg) emigrated to Hongkong in 1899; in 1920 he visited his family in Hamburg, but now already holding the US citizenship.

Martha married the "cashier" Nathalius Nathansen (born 24.8.1872 in Altona) in April 1905. The couple had two sons: Otto Erich (born 2.4.1906 in Hamburg) and Fritz Georg Joseph Nathansen (born 18.3.1909 in Hamburg). The family lived for several years at Brahmsallee 16 (1905-1911). According to the residents' register, Martha's father-in-law Joseph Nathansen (born 17.12.1815 in Horsens/Denmark) was also listed here as a subtenant from 1905 to 1908, until he died on Aug. 3, 1908.

The family then lived at Isestraße 26 (1912-1932). The Hamburg district of Harvestehude as a residential quarter points to secure economic circumstances for the Nathansen family.

Together with Bruno Adler, Nathalius Nathansen owned the company Adler & Nathansen oHG, founded in May 1921, whose product range included "metals, ores, metallurgical products, machine tools". They conducted business as an "agency u. commission" on the Hamburg Metal Exchange, among other places. From January 1933 Bruno Adler continued the company alone under the previous name, and in December 1936 it was deleted from the Commercial Register.

The broker Nathalius Nathansen died on September 17, 1932 at the age of 60 in the Bethanien Hospital on Martinistraße. He was buried in the Hamburg-Ohlsdorf Jewish Cemetery. Next to his grave, a grave site had already been reserved for Martha Nathansen.

With the beginning and establishment of the Nazi dictatorship from January 1933 onwards, the Nathansen family's life prospects deteriorated in all areas. Usually it was the young Jews who were the first in their families to leave their homeland. This was also the case with the Nathansens. Martha's younger son Fritz Nathansen (see www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de) emigrated to Amsterdam at the end of 1933, until then he had lived with her at Hudtwalckerstraße 23 I. Floor.

The older son Otto Nathansen also emigrated; he fled to Amsterdam in September 1936 because he was threatened with a new arrest for alleged "racial defilement" after an arrest in the spring of 1936. Otto Nathansen emigrated from the Netherlands to Great Britain and from there to the USA. His automobile, which he had parked very close to his apartment at Winterhuder Marktplatz 6 in the Kolzen large garage, was confiscated by the appropriate authorities of the Nazi state.

Martha Nathansen decided to give up her apartment after the emigration of her sons and the death of her mother and to move in with her unmarried aunt Julie Behrens (born 18.10.1855 in Waren/Mecklenburg), where her cousin (?) Gertrud Behrens (born 11.7.1884 Hamburg) occupied a room. Between September 1936 and 1939 their residential addresses were: Isestraße 15 with Julie and Gertrud Behrens (1936), Isestraße 19 with Max and Lina Gottlieb (1936/1937), again Isestraße 15 with Behrens (1937) and again Isestraße 19 first floor with Gottlieb (1938/1939).

After the November pogrom in 1938, Martha Nathansen also decided to emigrate. From February 1939, the merchant James Wiener (born 24.7.1873 in Altona) from Isestraße 80 arranged the correspondence and the certificates and forms to be submitted for her: Declaration of assets, applications for release of current account, statements, questionnaire for emigrants, listing of removal goods, commission for auction.

In April 1939, Martha Nathansen, in accordance with the regulations of the Nazi state, had handed in her silverware and jewelry to the "Öffentliche Ankaufstelle" at Bäckerbreitergang 73 and received 31 RM for it. Presumably, the gold wristwatch, a pair of gold earrings and a gold ring with a total of three colored stones, half pearls and roses, were gifts from her deceased husband. At the same time, all of her assets (about 18,000 RM) were blocked by the Foreign Exchange Office in Hamburg.

Through the lawyer Walther Wulff (1899-1963), she sought legal advice in May 1939, as there were difficulties with the release of her luggage. He wrote: "In your matter, I negotiated at length with the foreign exchange office yesterday. I finally succeeded in obtaining permission to take the following items with me: 1 winter coat, 4 bed sheets, 2 comforter covers, 5 pillowcases. So the taking along of the remaining articles of clothing has also been refused."

In the National Socialist surveillance state, the Foreign Exchange Office of the Hamburg Chief Finance President was responsible for examining the travel goods; depending on the time of acquisition and the state of preservation, it determined the amount to be paid for the export (Dego levy). In many cases, however, it refused to allow newly acquired objects and technical goods to be taken abroad. This was also the case with Martha Nathansen. On May 4, 1939, Secretary Wasner of the Customs Investigation Office had spoken out against taking the goods abroad, even if penalty taxes had to be paid.

The list of belongings also included two lamps, a vacuum cleaner, a sewing machine and a heating stove, as well as a new fur coat, dresses and blouses. Also included was the aforementioned winter coat, which had been purchased in 1938 for 100 RM. A letter from James Wiener in the file on the security order documents the harassment when items were refused for export: "Since my client (...) is not permitted to take with her the removal goods already purchased and not yet paid for, she was ordered to sell items and to prove the sale to an Aryan."

Through the auctioneer Richard Jäckel (Eppendorfer Weg 142), some of these items were sold (furniture, fur coat, fur collar, 2 fountain pens). She sold items of clothing to private individuals and had to have this certified by the buyers.

Martha Nathansen emigrated by plane (Lufthansa) to the Netherlands to Amsterdam on June 17, 1939. Her passport was blocked by the German authorities as of June 17, making a return trip impossible. She now lived in Amsterdam at Merwedeplein 13, very close to her son Fritz.

The Amsterdam address book of 1939/1940 and the corresponding residents' registration cards document that various German emigrants were already living in her house: Gustav Freund (born 21.3.1893 in Frankfurt/Main) and his wife Alice, née Isaak (born 5.3.1896 in Frankfurt/Main) as well as merchant Kurt Hans Salomon (born 8.4.1896 in Berlin) and his wife Gertrud (born 23.7.1901 in Reinickendorf). The tenant Hugo Löwenstein (born 4.9.1894 in Enger) and his wife Else, née Goldberg (born 11.8.1893 in Herford), who had moved into the third floor of the house in September 1934, are noted on the registration card as "Joodsche Inkwartiering".

Martha Nathansen actually intended to emigrate to the USA as early as April 1939, and she had obtained an offer from HAPAG for a ship passage of 670 RM. Presumably, however, she did not yet have a visa for the USA, so that this emigration goal could not be realized for the time being. The transfer of their remaining assets to the Netherlands was subject to very high transfer deductions by the German authorities.

With the invasion of the neutral Netherlands by the Wehrmacht in May 1940, the persecution measures of the National Socialists were now also implemented here. Fritz Nathansen was deported on July 15, 1942 from the transit camp Westerbork, which was by then under the control of the SS, to Auschwitz, where he was murdered on August 31, 1942.

On September 18, 1942, Martha Nathansen, now 63 years old, had to go the same way: She was deported from Westerbork three days after her arrival to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp and murdered immediately upon arrival.

Translation Beate Meyer

Stand: February 2023
© Björn Eggert

Quellen: Staatsarchiv Hamburg (StaH) 314-15 (Oberfinanzpräsident), R 1939/2242 (Sicherungsanordnung gegen Martha Nathansen); StaH 314-15 (Oberfinanzpräsident), F 1832 (Auswandererakte von Martha Nathansen); StaH332-5 (Standesämter), 1957 u. 3732/1879 (Geburtsregister 1879, Martha Eisenmann); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 8639 u. 78/1905 (Heiratsregister 1905, Nathalius Nathansen u. Martha Eisenmann); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 8073 u. 431/1923 (Sterberegister 1923, Meyer Eisenmann); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 9857 u. 571/1932 (Sterberegister 1932, Nathalius Nathansen); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 1024 u. 58/1934 (Sterberegister 1934, Bertha Eisenmann geb. Behrens); StaH 332-8 (Meldewesen), K 6038 (Alte Einwohnermeldekartei 1892-1925), Meyer Eisenmann, Ernst Eisenmann; StaH 332-8 (Meldewesen), K 6655 (Alte Einwohnermeldekartei 1892-1925), Joseph Nathansen; StaH 351-11 (Amt für Wiedergutmachung), 30442 (Otto Nathansen); StaH 351-11 (Amt für Wiedergutmachung), 7177 (Gertrud Behrens geb. 11.7.1884 in Hamburg); StaH 351-11 (Amt für Wiedergutmachung), 633 (Julie Behrens, Tochter von Adele Behrens geb. Josephy); StaH 351-11 (Amt für Wiedergutmachung), 931 (Max Gottlieb 1864-1940); StaH 522-1 (Jüdische Gemeinden), 992b (Kultussteuerkartei der Deutsch-Israelitischen Gemeinde Hamburg), Martha Nathansen, Fritz Nathansen, Otto E. Nathansen, Gertrud Behrens, Julie Behrens, Max Gottlieb, James Wiener; StaH 741-4 (Fotoarchiv), Rollfilm L 25/2, eigentlich StaH621-1/87 (Firmenarchiv von Rechtsanwalt Dr. Walther Wulff), 70 (betr. Martha Nathansen, Auswanderung 1939); Arolsen Archives, Zählkarte für Ausländerkartei (Martha Nathansen); Jüdischer Friedhof Hamburg-Ohlsdorf (Meyer Eisenmann, Grablage ZY 12-160; Bertha Eisenmann geb. Behrens, Grablage ZY 12-159); Hamburger Staatsarchiv, Hamburger jüdische Opfer des Nationalsozialismus. Gedenkbuch, Hamburg 1995, S. 306 (Fritz Nathansen, Martha Nathansen); Handelskammer Hamburg, Handelsregisterinformationen (Adler & Nathansen, HR A 25749); Hamburger Börsenfirmen, Hamburg 1910, S. 162 (M. Eisenmann, gegr. 1876, Inhaber: Meyer Eisenmann, frühere Firma: J. Eisenmann, Werderstr. 8, Eisen-, Metall- u. Maschinenlager, Börsenstand Pfeiler 47-48); Hamburger Börsenfirmen, Hamburg 1926, S. 5 (Adler & Nathansen, gegr. 1921, Inhaber: Bruno Adler u. Nathalius Nathansen, Makler in Metallen, Chemikalien usw., Ellernthorsbrücke 9, Börsenplatz Pfeiler 55 Metallverein); Michael Buddrus/ Sigrid Fritzlar, Juden in Mecklenburg 1845-1945, Band 2, Kurzbiografien, Schwerin 2019, S. 53 (Julie Behrens); Heiko Morisse, Jüdische Rechtsanwälte in Hamburg, Ausgrenzung und Verfolgung im NS-Staat, Hamburg 2003, S. 167 (Walther Wulff); Verein Deutscher Metallhändler e.V. (VDM) Magazin No. 691, Die Geschichte des VDM, Erster Teil 1908-1934, 2019, S. 35 (Abbildung der Makler an der Hamburger Metallbörse 1928/29); Hamburger Adressbuch (N. Nathansen) 1906, 1909-1912, 1932; Hamburger Adressbuch (Martha Nathansen) 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937; Hamburger Adressbuch (Adler & Nathansen) 1923; Amsterdam Adresboeken, 1939/1940 (Straßenverzeichnis: Merwedeplein 13); https://www.bundesarchiv.de/gedenkbuch/ (Martha Nathansen, James Wiener); www.joodsmonument.nl (Martha Nathansen, Amsterdam, Merwedeplein 13); www.holocaust.cz (Todesfallanzeige Theresienstadt für Julie Behrens, keine Angaben zu Angehörigen); www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de (Fritz Nathansen).