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Adolph Israel * 1892

Werderstraße 49 (Eimsbüttel, Harvestehude)

HIER WOHNTE
ADOLPH ISRAEL
JG. 1892
ENTRECHTET / GEDEMÜTIGT
FLUCHT IN DEN TOD
27.01.1941

Adolph Otto Israel, born on 9 Sept. 1892 in Hamburg, flight to death on 27 Jan. 1941 in Hamburg

Werderstrasse 49/Hochallee 104

The villa under preservation order at Hochallee 104 was owned by the Israel family for many decades. In front of this house, Adolph Otto Israel put an end to his life.

What traces did we find regarding the Israel family? Max Adolf Israel (1858–1947), the father, completed a commercial apprenticeship in Manchester/Britain in the 1870s. He stayed there for several years to gain practical experience. With a partner, Max Israel founded the Stapel & Israel import and export company with headquarters in Hamburg-Altstadt.

At that time, his future wife Louise Magnus was still attending a secondary school for girls on ABC-Strasse. Before that, she took two years of home schooling. There is no record of Louise Magnus starting an apprenticeship. In Sept. 1891, Max Adolf Israel married Louise Magnus (1873–1963), a non-Jewish native of Hamburg. One year later, son Adolph Otto was born, followed in 1893 and 1898 by the sisters Erna and Emma. In 1907, the family acquired the striking villa on Hochallee and shortly afterward, the property as well.

Until the worldwide inflation in the 1920s, the family had no financial problems. The company survived the crisis and continued operating until the Nazis forced its liquidation in 1941. Until then, Max Israel had run the business from home. Within the framework of a gift, he transferred the house to a daughter.

Since 1913, Max Adolf Israel had belonged to the Jewish Community and paid his contributions regularly. At the end of 1939, it was noted on the membership card that his wife and three children did not belong to the Community.

We do not learn anything about the life of son Adolph Israel until the day of his death. Only the tragic circumstances of his suicide show us a small part of his life up to then. In the morning of 27 Jan. 1941, Erna Israel left her parents’ house and noticed a shadow in the direction of the basement. On closer inspection, she recognized her brother, sunk in himself, sitting in front of the cellar door, the pistol lying in his lap; he was beyond human help. Erna reported the death at the nearest police station, which immediately informed the doctor in charge at the public health department, who certified the head shot.

However, the assessment was not sufficient; all suicides required a thorough examination in the Harbor Hospital. The pathologist in charge there ruled out third-party responsibility beyond any doubt and additionally noted, "Victim with dark brown hair, 1.58 meters (about 5 ft 2 in) in height, 44 kilograms (97 lbs) in weight, reduced nutritional state.” The relatives – with the exception of the parents – were questioned by the police. Neither of the sisters could give any further details, except: "Our brother has never been able to get over his non-Aryan descent (crossbreed)” and "the divorce,” as Adolph Israel had just been divorced.

The police proceeded to question the divorced wife in her apartment at Hansastrasse 21. The wedding of Adolph Israel to the non-Jewish native of Bremen Agnes Wilhelmine Veronika Bartusch (1896–1964 Hamburg) had taken place in Bremen at the beginning of Mar. 1925. At that time, Veronika Bartusch lived in Eimsbüttel. It is not known what profession she practiced. The marriage certificate indicates Adolph’s job designation as that of an "authorized signatory” ("Prokurist”), though it was impossible to find out where he was employed.

However, back to the interrogation, during which she [Veronika Israel] gave the following account: "Because of my husband’s non-Aryan descent, I filed for divorce, which became legally binding on 23 Jan. 1941. One day later, my ex-husband visited me and we had a normal conversation. Adolph took his descent very much to heart and repeatedly expressed suicidal thoughts. Other reasons are out of the question. Adolph participated in the First World War, was a lieutenant, and he was awarded the Iron Cross. He volunteered several times for World War II, though unsuccessfully.”

"Crossbreeds of the first degree” ("Mischlinge 1. Grades”) had been drafted into the German Wehrmacht for a short time and some had hoped to have their civic rights reinstated. However, subsequently Hitler had revoked his decision, and those who had already been called up were dismissed with a few exceptions; the rest were not recruited.

Six months later, Veronica Israel married a second time.

What traces were found concerning the family members? Regarding Louise Israel, we learned that she died in early Mar. 1963.

Erna Israel, who took the pseudonym Schumann, was a concert accompanist until 1935. Then the Reich Chamber of Music (Reichsmusikkammer) refused to admit her because, as a "crossbreed of the first degree,” she "did not possess the necessary aptitude along the lines specified by the state leadership,” which was tantamount to a ban from her profession. Afterward, she kept afloat, among other things, by copying music notes and with financial contributions from her father. After the end of the war, Erna Israel related that they had received nightly phone calls with insults; that rocks were thrown at the windows and front door; and that two members of the Hitler Youth had entered the house and punched their sister Emma.

After arduous years and various applications for radio and festivals, etc., she succeeded in accompanying singers on the piano in various performances at the end of the 1940s. The money earned was only enough for the bare necessities. A loan she applied for was granted for restarting piano lessons, in order to upgrade her qualifications, and to purchase a presentable wardrobe. Well-known artists of the time, such as a famous singing couple, praised Erna Israel as "an excellent pianist and [said it was] a joy to hear her play again.” Even the press was not sparing with praise. Erna Israel died a few months after her mother in 1963.

Emma Israel, born in 1898, wanted to become a painter, which met with rejection in the family. However, she asserted herself and began her training with well-known Hamburg artists. At the beginning of the 1930s, she went on "travels” with a man. The family did not accept this and punished her after her return with a year of farm work outside Hamburg. With the help of her Christian mother, she survived the Nazi era. She later kept "afloat” with a variety of jobs. The small fortune inherited was soon used up, and in the end, she lived on welfare. After a long life, she died in 1994.

The niece of Max Adolph Israel, Alice Bendheim (born in 1875), who was Jewish, lived on Jungfrauenthal for several years after the death of her husband in 1910. Presumably, for financial reasons, she gave up the apartment and found accommodation with her uncle on Hochallee in the mid 1930s. From there, she was deported to Theresienstadt on 19 July 1942 and two months later to Treblinka. In memory of Alice Bendheim, a Stolperstein is located in front of Hochallee 104 (www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de).

The sister of Max Adolph Israel, five years his senior and likewise Jewish, Auguste Bentheim (1853–1943 in Theresienstadt), lived for a short time with her brother at Hochallee 104 in 1941, after which she had to change her accommodation several times, as tenant protection for Jews no longer applied. At the age of 90, Auguste Bentheim was deported from the "Jews’ house” ("Judenhaus”) at Beneckestrasse 6 to Theresienstadt on 9 June 1943. She died there at the end of July 1943. To commemorate Auguste Bentheim’s fate, a Stolperstein was laid in front of her long-standing residential address at Hallerstrasse 42 (www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de).

Due to the deportation of his old and sick sister, Max Adolph Israel suffered a stroke from which he never recovered. He died in 1947.

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

Stand: July 2020
© Sonja Zoder

Quellen: 1; 2; 4; 5; StaH 331-5 Polizeibehörde Unnatürliche Sterbefälle 510/41; 332-5 (Standesamt) 8551-332/1891; 351-11 Amt für Wiedergutmachung 2266, 15354; Staatsarchiv Bremen, 4,60/5 Br.-Mitte Reg. Nr. 1359/1896 und 266/1925; div. Hamburger Adressbücher; Bajohr, "Arisierung in Hamburg", S. 372, Hamburg 1997; Bruns, Künstlerlexikon Hamburg 1933 bis 1945, Kunst in der Krise, Bd. 2, S. 216; Hamburger Börsenfirmen, Hamburg 1926, S. 991 (Stapel & Israel); URL: http://www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de; https://www.tracingthepast.org/minority-census; http://www.hamburg.de/clp/frauenbiografien-suche/clp1/hamburgde/onepage.php?BIOID=4030&qN=israel; http://www.hamburg.de/kulturbehoerde/auswahl/177504/hochallee-104/ jeweils am 10.7.2017.
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