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Rudolph Michael Laser * 1920

Vogelhüttendeich 40 (Harburg, Wilhelmsburg)

1942 Auschwitz

further stumbling stones in Vogelhüttendeich 40:
Clara Cohn, Adolf Laser

Adolf Leo Laser, born 21 Aug. 1918, deported 6 Dec. 1941 to Riga, sometime after 9 Mar. 1945 to the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, died there
Rudolf Michel Laser, born 12 June 1920, deported 11 July 1942 to Auschwitz

Vogelhüttendeich 40

Adolf and Rudolf Laser’s father Hermann Laser (*21 Dec. 1875) and several of his siblings came to Hamburg and Harburg before the First World War. He was born in Wongrowitz in Posen (present-day Wagrowiec, Poland). Like his brothers and brothers-in-law, he was in the textile goods business.

Hermann Laser and his wife Regina (née Zielinski, *19 Sep. 1879 in Posen, present-day Poznán, Poland) settled in Wilhelmsburg on Vogelhüttendiech on 29 June 1907. One day later, on 30 June 1907, he opened a clothing store named Vulkan, where he sold shoes, men’s and boys’ clothing, and work uniforms. The couple had four children: Margot, (*19 Dec. 1910), Ernst (*16 Apr. 1912), Adolf Leo and Rudolf Michel. All of the children were born in Wilhelmsburg. Regina Laser died on 22 July 1922, probably of a lung condition, in Nordrach in the Black Forest. This was the location of the Rothschild Sanatorium, which was founded by Baroness Adelheid de Rothschild in 1905 for the treatment of Jewish women suffering from tuberculosis. The clinic was strictly orthodox.

Two years after the death of his first wife, Hermann Laser married Frieda Simon (*25 Oct. 1887 in Usch, present-day Ujscie, Poland). Until shortly before they married, she ran her own dress-making shop in Berlin. Afterwards she worked in her husband’s store in Wilhelmsburg.

The family lived above the store in a 6-room apartment in the building at Vogelhüttendeich 65 on the corner of Annastraße (present-day Vogelhüttendeich, corner of Ilenbuller). The store employed two sales-ladies, one salesman, a window dresser and an apprentice. After the boycott measures in 1933, the employees had to be let go, one after another. In late 1934 Hermann Laser had to give up the store, and the family moved across the street into the house at No. 62 (present-day No. 40), where he continued to run his business on a small scale until it was finally "Aryanized” in 1938. After the November Pogrom in 1938, Hermann Laser was sent to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. He was held there from 11 November until 1 December 1938.

The property at Vogelhüttendeich 62 was sold in January 1939. The dissolution of the Vulkan company was entered into the trade register with the Harburg municipal court on 30 June 1939.

One month later, Hermann Laser and his family moved from Wilhelmsburg to Hamburg. Hermann and Frieda Laser no longer had any income. They lived from what was left of their savings, and the support of their children Margot, who had married Kurt Finkels, and Rudolf. Hermann Laser immediately began preparing for himself, his wife, and his two sons to leave the country. Frieda and Hermann were finally able to emigrate to Argentina on 22 January 1941. Their son Ernst had been in South America since 4 November 1938. "He [Hermann Laser] spent his last ten years here [in Buenos Aires], in unbelievably difficult conditions. He lost in daughter and two of his sons in concentration camps.” Hermann Laser died, aged 76, on 25 March 1951 in Buenos Aires. Frieda Laser died there on 23 November 1958.

Adolf Leo was Regina and Hermann Laser’s third child. After attending the Talmud Tora school in the Grindel Quarter, he attended the secondary school on Lessingstraße (present-day Rotenhäuser Damm) in Wilhelmsburg from Easter 1931 to Easter 1933. He left school at age 14, on 9 March 1933, to begin a commercial apprenticeship in the men’s clothing store run by his uncle, Joseph Juda, at Süderstraße 162 in Hamburg-Hamm. Joseph Juda was married to Rosa, Hermann Laser’s sister.

Besides Joseph Juda and Adolf Laser, Juda’s son-in-law, Oskar Salomon, also worked in the clothing store.

On 9 July 1938, Juda (aged 53), Oskar Salomon (aged 28), and Adolf Leo (aged 21) were reported to the police by a warehouse worker for having committed the crime of "racial defilement.” He first claimed to have seen that "Juda’ son” [probably Adolf Laser] had waited for the "Aryan sales-girl” and then kissed her. In the course of the investigation he then said: "I never saw them kissing. A woman who was there when I reported them to the police said that. I also can’t say for sure that he is Juda’s son, I just assumed he was. I don’t know the girl’s name, just what she looks like. I’d recognize her if I saw her again. In my opinion she is certainly not a Jew … I can’t give any more relevant information.”

The men were arrested on 13 July 1938 based on this highly questionable testimony. They were held in pre-trial detention until November, on the charge of "racial defilement with an Aryan employee.” The trial ended on 4 November 1938. Joseph Juda was found not guilty, Oskar Salomon and Adolf Laser were each sentenced to 3½ years in prison. After the trial, the clothing store on Süderstraße was "Aryanized.” Adolf Laser was sent to the Bremen-Oslebshausen penitentiary on the day after his sentencing.

While Adolf Laser was waiting for the trial, his brother Ernst was preparing for his emigration to South America. Shortly before he left, Ernst attempted to visit his brother in prison, but his request was denied by the State’s Attorney.

Beginning in March 1939, Adolf Laser’s father Hermann began a correspondence with the State’s Attorney’s office, requesting that his son be released from prison. He assured the State’s Attorney that he was in the process of planning his family’s emigration. The family could have left for Paraguay in March 1939. In May 1939, Hermann Laser was questioned by the police. He explained that "everything would be ready within 10 to 12 days. I have been assured by the Chinese Consulate that I can travel there. My papers for emigrating to Paraguay are also complete, and the Consul has assured me that I would be granted the visas as soon as we want to leave. So I have two possible destinations, and I must make a binding commitment. For this reason I have made this request. There is a very real probability that I will not have these opportunities at a later date, and we therefore want to take them now and emigrate as quickly as possible. I can guarantee that my son [Adolf Laser] will leave Germany within three weeks of his release from prison. This is a high estimate, I can ensure that it will take less time if necessary. I would like to emphasize that we may never have this opportunity again, and for this reason I once more request that my son Adolf be released.” In the police report from the questioning in May 1939, however the questioning officer wrote: "A release cannot be granted. Laser is to be repatriated, he is expected to be sent to a concentration camp after his release from prison.”

Hermann Laser nevertheless continued his efforts to have his son released, so that the family could emigrate together. But to no avail. All pleas were denied. In October 1940 the administration of the Bremen-Oslebshausen prison denied a plea with the explanation: "The end of the sentence is set at 11 Jan. 1942. Laser’s behavior and work effort left much to be desired earlier, but have been unobjectionable for some time. Laser is a first-time offender and committed the crime at a very young age. Considering the type and severity of his crime, a pardon would be premature. The plea is not endorsed.”

On 13 November 1941, the Hamburg State’s Attorney’s office ordered that "the Jew Adolf Leo Laser, at present serving a prison sentence” be returned to Hamburg for deportation. He was transferred form the Bremen-Oslebshausen penitentiary to the Fuhlsbüttel prison in Hamburg on 17 November 1941. He was in "protective custody” in the Fuhlsbüttel Concentration Camp from 18-29 November 1941.

On 6 December 1941, 22-year-old Adolf Leo Laser and 967 other Jews were deported from Hamburg to Riga. There they were interned in the Jungfernhof Concentration Camp, "in extremely difficult conditions.” Only a few Jews who were considered able to work were sent to the Riga Concentration Camp on 22 November 1943 – Adolf Laser (prisoner number 13075) was among them.

With the advance of the Soviet Army, the SS began to transfer concentration camp prisoners. They were herded westwards in death marches. Alfred Laser arrived at the Stutthof Concentration Camp, probably on foot, on 6 August 1944 (prisoner number 60204), the Buchenwald Concentration Camp on 16 August 1944 (prisoner number 82506), the Buchenwald satellite camp Rehmsdorf on 8 or 9 September 1944, and finally the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp on 27 February or 9 March 1945. Adolf Laser, by then 27, did not survive to see the end of the war. His date of death was declared as 8 May 1945.

Adolf Leo Laser’s brother Rudolf Michel, who was two years his junior, was born on 12 June 1920 in Wilhemsburg. He began school at Easter 1926, and attended the Wilhelmsburger Gymnasium from Easter 1931 until 5 April 1935. He then began an apprenticeship in the offices of the Rudolf van der Walde import-export company at Brandsende 15/17 in Hamburg. He later worked and lived at the Jewish home for the elderly at Schlachterstraße 40/42 (Nordheim Stift I). On 11 July 1942 at the age of 22 he was deported to Auschwitz and murdered there.

In the book Zerbrochene Zeit (Shattered Time), published by the Geschichtswerkstatt Wilhelmsburg & Hafen, a former schoolmate of Ernst Laser recalled the last time they met. His recollection that Ernst Laser left Germany in 1933 is mistaken – it was 1938.

A friend of the brother remembered the [Laser] family: ”We lived right next to Hermann Laser’s family. We stayed in contact with them right up until the Nazis came. In the family there was Hermann, his wife, the eldest daughter Margot, the eldest son Ernst, and then Adolph and Rudi. Laser had a clothing store on Vogelhüttendeich, on the corner of Ilenbuller. It was the biggest one around, and was called Vulkan.

He was very well-liked in the community, since the people here, who were mostly laborers and craftsmen, could shop at his store and weren’t pressured into paying immediately. He let people pay in installments without any fuss. I’m sure it didn’t always go so smoothly with the payments, and there were probably difficulties sometimes, but he always took care of it.

My father was good friends with him, and with all of the Jewish people who lived here. We all played together as children, and I went to school with Ernst all the way through high school. We were always up to something, and we were always happy when his parents went to the synagogue. I know for sure that they went to the synagogue in Harburg. Hermann Laser fought in the First World War and had an Iron Cross. He was an upright man and was, like all of the businessmen here, among the haute volée of Wilhelmsburg.

One day in April 1933, SA men were standing in front of Jewish shops in Wilhelmsburg and telling people not to buy from Jews. Many regular customers continued to go to the shops despite the boycott. After the whole "don’t buy from Jews” trouble, Laser closed down his store, but continued to sell things from his house, but on a much smaller scale. He lived there with his wife and children until he was taken away. Ernst Laser was able to flee the country in 1933. I remember exactly, since we had spoken about four weeks earlier. We met at Veringplatz – that was the last time I saw him, I’ll never forget. I said to him "Up until now you’ve had nothing to be worried about, but now you’ll have to watch out! The Nazis, they’ve been pretty small and ugly until now, and kept quiet, but they’re getting all pumped up with their crazy racial persecution and their so-called Germandom. They’ve got their eye on you, you know we’ve all got pluses and minuses next to our names. Then he showed me a little revolver and said ‘Well, if nothing else helps …’

We didn’t have any idea about what was coming. We knew that they were harassing Jews, but nobody could imagine what actually did happen. Especially here in Wilhelmsburg, where the Nazis still didn’t have much influence, even after their so-called Machtübernahme (seizure of power).”

Translator: Amy Lee
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: March 2017
© Barbara Günther

Quellen: 1; 5; 2 (FVg 8595) (R 1938/982); StaH, 213-11 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht – Strafsachen, 256/39; StaH, 331-1 II Polizeibehörde II, Abl. 18.9.1984, Bd. 1; AfW, 211275 Laser, Hermann; AfW, 251087 Laser, geb. Simon, Frieda; AfW, 210918 Laser, Adolf Leo; StaH, 430-64 Amtsgericht Harburg, VII B-643; StaH, Wilhelmsburger Adressbücher; Thevs, Stolpersteine Rothenburgsort, S. 67–72; Kändler/Hüttenmeister, Friedhof, S. 244; zur M. A. von Rothschild’schen Lungenheilanstalt in Nordrach (Bad Schwarzwald) siehe: www.alemannia-judaica.de/nordrach_synagoge.htm#Zur%20Geschichte%20der%20M.A.%20von%20Rothschild%27schen%20 Lungenheilanstalt (eingesehen am 7.12.2011); Geschichtswerkstatt Wilhelmsburg (Hrsg.), Zeit, S. 130–132.
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