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Wilhelm Cohn * 1873

Haynstraße 10 (Hamburg-Nord, Eppendorf)

HIER WOHNTE
WILHELM COHN
JG. 1873
GEDEMÜTIGT / ENTRECHTET
FLUCHT IN DEN TOD
15.7.1942

further stumbling stones in Haynstraße 10:
Gertrud Brühl, Olga Delbanco, Hermann Falkenstein, Josefine Holländer, Fanny Kallmes, Elfriede Ruben

Wilhelm Cohn, called Korn, born 27.12.1873, humiliated/disenfranchised, escaped to his death on 15.7.1942

Haynstraße 10 (Eppendorf)

Wilhelm Cohn (called Korn) was born on Dec. 27, 1873 in Griebenau near Fulda as son of the Jewish couple Julius Cohn and Frieda Cohn, née Simon. We know nothing about his childhood. He completed an apprenticeship in retail trade as a merchant.

In 1913 Wilhelm Cohn moved to Hamburg to Harvestehuder Weg 71 and lived there until 1921 as a subtenant with James Kallmes (born Oct. 5, 1861). His landlord died on March 18, 1919.

Wilhelm Cohn and Fanny Kallmes (born Oct. 26, 1871) remained together. Wilhelm Cohn moved with her to Oberstraße 140, also in Harvestehude, in 1922. He lived there until 1928, officially subletting from Fanny Kallmes. In 1929 they both moved to Sierichstraße 90 in Winterhude to a first floor apartment, in 1933 they moved to Haynstraße 33 in Eppendorf and on April 3, 1934 they moved to Haynstraße 10 to the third floor. (This no. 10 is where the Stolpersteine were laid for both of them.) In 1935 they moved to Lenhartzstraße 13. In all of the apartments Wilhelm Cohn registered as a subtenant.

Wilhelm Cohn worked at the company Gebrüder Robinsohn "Damenmoden" in Hamburg at Neuer Wall 25-31 in the Neustadt and rose there to the position of derivation manager. (The fashion store had been founded in 1892 by Max and Leo Robinsohn and was managed by Hans Robinsohn until the "aryanization," who fled to Denmark in 1938.)

In 1936 Wilhelm Cohn lost his job there and was from then on dependent on financial help from his surroundings. For the years from 1936 to 1939, the Jewish Community noted unemployment on his tax card (Kultussteuerkartei). Presumably he lived off his savings.

On April 22, 1942, the Gestapo ordered Fanny Kallmes and Wilhelm Cohn to move into the "Judenhaus" at Agathenstraße 3. Fanny Kallmes' previously secure financial situation had also become precarious in the meantime, and relatives who had supported her had already been deported. In addition, the first large "old-age transports" to Theresienstadt were due in July 1942, and Wilhelm Cohn and Fanny Kallmes had to reckon with receiving the deportation order. In view of this, they decided to end their lives themselves.

Fanny Kallmes and Wilhelm Cohn took barbiturates on July 14, 1942. Jewish fellow residents of the house at Agathenstraße 3 informed the police station, which had both of them transported to the Jewish Hospital in Johnsallee. There they died on July 15, 1942.

Fanny Kallmes and Wilhelm Cohn were buried in the Ilandkoppel Jewish Cemetery.

Translation by Beate Meyer
Stand: February 2022
© Bärbel Klein

Quellen: StaH, 1; 2; 4; 8; 331-5_3 Akte 1188/1942 (Kallmes, Fanny); 331-5_3 Akte 1269/1942 (Cohn, Wilhelm); 351-11_34620; 351-11_55753; 741-4_K2353; 332-5_372;331-5_3 Akte_1269/1942; 522-1_390; www.wikipedea.de, Hans Robinsohn (Einsicht 19.12.2020).
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