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Jente Schlüter (née Windmüller) * 1888

Hallerstraße 76 (Eimsbüttel, Rotherbaum)

HIER WOHNTE
JENTE SCHLÜTER
GEB. WINDMÜLLER
JG. 1888
GEDEMÜTIGT / ENTRECHTET
FLUCHT IN DEN TOD
31.10.1944

further stumbling stones in Hallerstraße 76:
Alice Baruch, Sara Carlebach, Charlotte Carlebach, Dr. Joseph Zwi Carlebach, Noemi Carlebach, Ruth Carlebach, Margarethe Dammann, Gertrud Dammann, Charlotte Dammann, Dina Dessau, Felix Halberstadt, Josabeth Halberstadt, Elsa Meyer, Margarethe Meyer, Alice Rosenbaum, Julius Rothschild

Jenny (Jente) Schlüter, née Windmüller, widowed Goldschmidt, born 21.8.1888, humiliated/disenfranchised, fled to her death 31.10.1944

Hallerstraße 76, Rotherbaum

Jenny (Jente) Windmüller was born in Beckum/Rheda-Wiedenbrück on August 21, 1888, the first of four children of the merchant Seelig Windmüller and his wife Julia Windmüller, née Ruhstädt. The family was Jewish. We know nothing about Jenny's childhood and youth.

On July 4, 1909, she married Julius Goldschmidt (born Jan. 17, 1871 in Lippstadt) in Lippstadt/Rheda-Wiedenbrück.

He was the second of three children born to the Jewish couple Issachar Heinemann Goldschmidt and Jettchen Goldschmidt, née Steeg, in Salzkotten. Jenny and Julius Goldschmidt had two daughters, Annie (born June 16, 1910) and Elsbeth Goldschmidt (born Oct. 11, 1913), both born in Salzkotten at Herforder Straße 12.

Julius Goldschmidt had participated in WWI in Russia and returned sick in December 1918. He died on February 8, 1920, presumably as a result of the war. At that time the family lived at Westerstraße 285 in Salzkotten/Paderborn. On his gravestone there, a jug was engraved, which identifies him as a descendant of the members of the biblical tribe of Levi.

On March 30, 1921, Jenny Goldschmidt moved with her two daughters to Ölmühlenstraße 3 in Bielefeld, on August 5, 1921, to Norderney, and on September 7, 1921, back to Bielefeld and now lived at Ölmühlenstraße 15.

Jenny Goldschmidt met the non-Jewish Hermann Heinrich Schlüter in Bielefeld, whom she married there on November 4, 1927. He, too, was war-disabled, had a 30% reduction in earning capacity, and was suffering from heart disease. Nevertheless, he was very successful in his profession as an accountant. On October 11, 1932, Heinrich Schlüter adopted his wife's two daughters.

On April 2, 1936, the family moved to Hamburg to the second floor of Hallerstraße 76, renamed Ostmarkstraße by the National Socialists (now Hallerstraße again). On the same day, Jenny Schlüter joined the Jewish Community of Hamburg.

At the beginning of July 1936, the Schlüters got new neighbors: the Carlebach family (see www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de) moved into their new domicile at Hallerstraße 76. Whether there were closer contacts, we do not know.

Heinrich Schlüter found work as an accountant at the Lüer company, Holzbrücke 2 in the old town.

From August 17, 1938, a law decreed that as of January 1, 1939, Jews had to adopt an additional first name for women, "Sara", and for men, "Israel". A decree then regulated more details: those affected could also take given, permitted names instead. Jenny Schlüter chose the name "Jente” among the names compiled for discrimination and duly registered this. Thus, on November 5, 1938, the police chief of the city of Hamburg had it noted on Jenny Schlüters birth certificate that the person listed under "2. was authorized to use the first name Jente in the future instead of her previous first name (Jenny)." Both daughters also received a new first name to avoid the stigma of "Sara." Annie Schlüter was now called "Zilla” and Elsbeth "Mathel”. Like all Jews, they had to hand in their radio sets.

In Nazi terminology, the Schlüters led a "privileged" mixed marriage. This protected the Jewish spouses not from all reprisals, but it did protect them from deportation (until shortly before the end of the war). The NSDAP as well as state authorities or the police, but often also relatives and acquaintances, exerted pressure on those concerned to divorce. The Schlüter family's home was searched several times. Heinrich Schlüter was also ordered by the employment office to divorce or he would be sent to a concentration camp.

The couple could not and would not withstand this any longer. On October 28, 1944, after seventeen years of marriage, they decided to leave life together. Jente Schlüter wrote another letter to her friend Elisabeth Lerdau. (Her husband Walter Alexander Lerdau had been deported from Berlin, a stumbling stone there is planned). Heinrich Schlüter sent a last letter to his employer: "Dear Mr. Lüer, now the circumstances are stronger than we are, and my wife and I have decided to set a goal for our lives. Enclosed I am sending you the rest of my two smoking cards. It is meant as a small token of gratitude for all the good things I found with you. Farewell, please give my warmest regards to your wife, as well as to my colleagues, and best regards from your Heinrich Schlüter. "

Jente Schlüter had dissolved 10 sleeping pills each in peppermint tea, which they drank and went to bed.
Lüer, the employer, sent his two commercial employees with the letter to the police station, which then dispatched officers to the apartment. They entered the apartment through a window and found the couple. They were still alive and were admitted to Eppendorf University Hospital.

While Heinrich Schlüter survived, Jente Schlüter died on October 31, 1944.
Heinrich Schlüter died of a heart attack on January 16, 1946.

On the fate of the children of Jente and Heinrich Schlüter:
Annie (Zilla) Schlüter was able to escape, when and where we do not know.
Elsbeth (Mathel) Schlüter fled to London. She died there on a date unknown to us.

Translation by Beate Meyer
Stand: February 2022
© Bärbel Klein

Quellen: 1; 2; 4; StaH 331-5_3 Akte 1409/1944; 332-5_1469/1944; 332-5_66/1946; 741-4_K2430; https://historischer-rueckklick-bielefeld.com/2013/10/01/01102013/; Geburtsurkunde 102/1888 Jente Windmüller; Sterbeurkunde Nr. 4/1920 Julius Goldschmidt; Geburtsurkunde 27/1910 Annie Goldschmidt, Nr. 51/1913 Elsbeth Goldschmidt; www.wikipedea.de; www.geni.com; www.ancestry.de (Einsicht am 12.1.2021).
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