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Hugo Rosenberg * 1868

Hammer Landstraße 80 (Hamburg-Mitte, Hamm)

HIER WOHNTE
HUGO ROSENBERG
JG. 1868
GEDEMÜTIGT / ENTRECHTET
TOT 14.11.1943

Hugo Rosenberg, born on 12 Mar. 1868 in Hamburg, death on 14 Nov 1943 in Hamburg

On 14 Nov. 1943, at the age of 75, the former Jewish printing and publishing house owner Hugo Rosenberg died in a so-called "Jews’ house” ("Judenhaus”) at Rappstrasse 15 in the Grindel quarter, cared for by his non-Jewish wife Emma. Initially, they had lived in solid middle-class circumstances in a so-called "privileged mixed marriage” ("privilegierte Mischehe”), until Hugo Rosenberg’s vitality faded due to years of deprivation of rights, debasement, and social downgrading.

Hugo Rosenberg’s father, Michaelis Rosenberg, born on 30 Aug. 1833 in the small market town of Mirow-Strelitz in Mecklenburg, arrived in Hamburg in the mid-1850s. Not seeing a basis for his livelihood there as a printer, he had left his hometown and completed training as a typesetter in Berlin. After relocating to Hamburg, he worked very successfully at the large-scale Menck and Bernstein printing houses. On the one hand, he perfected his skills and qualifications, allowing him to become self-employed; and on the other hand, he saved 10,000 marks, enabling him to apply for Hamburg citizenship. In 1862, he was awarded the certificate of Hamburg civic rights (Bürgerbrief) and confirmation of membership in the Hamburg German-Israelitic Community.

Hugo Rosenberg’s mother, Marie, née Scherer, was ten years younger than her husband. She was born in Fürth on 3 Aug. 1843. There is documentation on five of her children, born between 1865 and 1880: Hermine, called Mimi, born on 4 Sept. 1865; Martin, born on 17 Mar. 1867; Hugo, born one year later, on 12 Mar. 1868; Franziska was born on 26 July 1869 in Altona; and the youngest child born was Ernst, on 14 Mar. 1880 in Mirow, the birthplace of his father. Despite their different life journeys, all of which led through Hohenfelde, however, the siblings remained close to each other in helpful ways.

Michaelis Rosenberg operated a printing house in the St. Georg quarter where he also lived. In 1892, he was registered with the authorities as residing at Hansaplatz 12, two years later at Lange Reihe 102, and in 1909, he moved to Mühlendamm 12 in Hohenfelde. In the spring of 1914, he moved to Grindelhof 66, where he lived until his death. He passed away in the Israelite Hospital on 6 July 1916, at the age of 83.

After his death, his widow Marie moved in with her son Martin at Holunderweg 7 in Gross Borstel and in 1919, also together with him, to Hartwicusstrasse 8 "auf der Uhlenhorst.” In Oct. 1919, she notified the authorities about relocating to Pinneberg. After her return one year later, she moved in with her daughter Hermine Danziger at Rothenbaumchaussee 109. On 21 Dec. 1921, she gave notification that she was moving to Niendorf, where she resided as a subtenant with the post office agent Joachim Spehr at Boltenallee 4. She passed away there on 28 Oct. 1922.

The oldest child, Hermine Rosenberg, married the Jewish merchant and authorized signatory John Danziger from Hohenfelde. He passed away early on, in the 1920s. Their son Fritz had been killed in action during World War I; the two daughters, Lissie and Elly, married and moved to Berlin, where their aunt Franziska and her family resided already.

On 24 Aug. 1894, Franziska Rosenberg married Simon Nathan, ten years her senior. His father had been a cigar factory owner and one of the brothers was Ludwig Nathan, the director of a brewery. Born on 29 Jan. 1859 in Hamburg, Simon Nathan became an opera singer. Probably in this context, he went by the name of Siegmund Schwabe (due to the loss of the relevant files, no further details are known about the name change).

He left Hamburg, though returning via Schwedt as an unmarried opera singer in 1892. He was registered with the authorities as residing in the family home at Bleicherstrasse 27 "auf der Uhlenhorst.” That same year, he went to Königsberg (today Kaliningrad in Russia), likely for a new engagement, and returned to Hamburg on a visiting basis in 1893. In Sept. 1893, he moved to Strasbourg, apparently for work-related reasons, though coming back to Hamburg short term for the wedding. Franziska Rosenberg moved with him to Strasbourg, where the older of their two sons, Erwin, was born on 20 July 1895.

In 1896, the family took up residence in Hamburg for the next five years, "auf der Uhlenhorst” (initially, Arndtstrasse 20, then Zimmerstrasse 35). This coincided with a change of occupation to merchant and the resumption of the birth name.
On 2 Nov. 1897, son Paul Michel was born. On 23 Mar. 1901, Simon Nathan gave notification that he and his family were moving to Berlin, where he passed away before the beginning of anti-Jewish persecution.

The three sons and brothers, respectively, married non-Jewish Protestant women, with Martin being the first one to do so. Until the world economic crisis in the late 1920s, Martin Rosenberg managed a banking business at Mönckebergstrasse 15. His residential quarters were at Holunderweg 7 in Gross Borstel until 1917.

After his marriage to Ida Heitfeld, 18 years his junior, he moved to Hartwicusstrasse 8 in Uhlenhorst. The two children, Edith, born on 30 Oct. 1911, and Gert or Gerd, born on 22 June 1915, belonged to the Protestant Church, just like their mother. In 1937, Martin Rosenberg converted to Christianity as well, and the family moved to Armgartstrasse 30 in Hohenfelde. Due to the anti-Jewish measures, Martin Rosenberg had given up the banking business altogether, trying to eke out a living as a broker, though without any notable success. The change of religious denomination did not prevent him, along with his children, from being recorded as a "Jew” in connection with the German national census of 1939. Another person listed in his household was a nine-year-old boy from Stockelsdorf near Eutin. The subsequent fate of the family remains to be researched.

On 25 Aug. 1911, the youngest brother, Ernst, married Erna Maria Hundt, who was seven years his junior. Her father was a bookbinder by trade, having then changed into the commercial field. Their two children, daughter Alix, born on 9 Sept. 1912, and son Fred, born on 13 Feb. 1914, were raised in the Protestant faith. The family lived in Hohenfelde, initially at Mühlendamm 47, then at Mundsburger Damm 35, and finally at Ifflandstrasse 86. It was not possible to establish when Ernst joined the Jewish Community; he was not assessed for taxes until 1920. While he did not sustain any financial losses during the period of inflation, he never reached any significant income in the ensuing years anymore.

The family was probably bombed out and evacuated to the Harz Mountains. That Erna Rosenberg died in Bad Harzburg on 14 Nov. 1943 might have its explanation in the evacuation there. With her death, Ernst lost the protection – albeit a modest one – afforded by the "privileged mixed marriage.” Upon his return to Hamburg, he was forced to move into the "Jews’ house” at Bornstrasse 22. The deportation order to the Theresienstadt Ghetto reached him there on 30 Jan. 1945, and he arrived in the ghetto on Transport I/122 from Berlin on 3 February. Ernst Rosenberg was liberated, returned to Hamburg, and died on 13 Mai 1960, at the age of 80.

Hugo Rosenberg was the only son to follow in his father’s professional footsteps, taking over the Max Täschner Nachfolger [Succrs.] printing house on 1 June 1900. When the [heavily built-up] "Gängeviertel” was redeveloped, he relocated the enterprise from Jacobi Passage 6 to Besenbinderhof 71/72 and from there to Spaldingstrasse 64-68 in Hammerbrook. For a while, he continued to live with his parents at Lange Reihe 102 in the St. Georg quarter, before moving to Hamm, to the area located below the Geest slope, "Unten Hamm.” During the period of war and inflation, he had had extreme difficulties meeting his tax obligations. Afterward, however, his income and assets grew.

As his great granddaughter said, Hugo Rosenberg was a confirmed bachelor, not marrying until age 46. The wedding took place on 19 Mar. 1914. His wife, Emma Bartels, born on 21 May 1877, was the daughter of a lighterman (Ewerführer), and she brought two sons into the marriage, Walther and Andor. At the time, both spouses lived at Pröbenweg 30 in Hamm. Whereas at the weddings of the siblings, Michaelis Rosenberg and his opposite number among the future in-laws acted as witnesses, in keeping with tradition, in the case of Hugo and Emma Rosenberg these roles were taken on by a young railway worker from the neighborhood on Pröbenweg and a master saddler residing on Hammer Deich. Both of Emma’s parents had already died, and Michaelis Rosenberg was probably too frail by then; he, too, passed away two years later.

After the wedding, the family moved to Hammer Landstrasse 71, the sunny sloped side of the street, and from there to house no. 80. As a provision for old age, Hugo Rosenberg acquired two properties in Hamm, in 1925 one at Diagonalstrasse 21/23 at the intersection to Droopweg, for a purchase price of 44,000 RM (reichsmark); three years later (in 1928), the other one at Hammer Weg 35, for 58,500 goldmarks. The family did well in material terms, even after business was declining due to the anti-Jewish measures and the company ceased to exist at the beginning of 1936. Hugo Rosenberg’s savings and the revenues from rent were still available.

The Pogrom of November 1938 entailed another escalation concerning the deprivation of rights and plundering of Jews. In response, Hugo Rosenberg transferred the properties to his wife on 26 Nov. 1938. She was by no means allowed to dispose freely of them, for the Chief Finance Administrator (Oberfinanzpräsident) subjected the married couple to a "security order” (Sicherungsanordnung) that applied to the entire assets of the two. From the gift, Emma Rosenberg covered the "levy on Jewish assets” (Judenvermögensabgabe) and "atonement payment,” as well as ten years worth of house rent tax (Hauszinssteuer) in advance, etc., etc., which meant that she was forced to encumber the properties with mortgages. The couple was granted a monthly allowance of 500 RM, which enabled them to continue employing a domestic help. In addition, they also supported sister Hermine Danziger, brother Martin Rosenberg, and son Walther Bartels. Emma Bartels refused to give into the pressure of the Gestapo and file for divorce.

Starting in Oct. 1935, Hermine Danziger lived with them for several months, before moving in with her daughters in Berlin. From there, she and her sister Franziska Nathan were deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto on 24 Aug. 1942. Franziska died there on 29 Nov. 1942 at the age of 73, Hermine three weeks later, on 20 December, at the age of 77.

Following the introduction of compulsory labeling of homes accommodating Jews as of 13 Mar. 1942, Emma and Hugo Rosenberg had to give up their apartment. They moved into two rooms at Grindelallee 153, but they were not able to stay there for long, being accommodated at Bornstrasse 22, a "Jews’ house” ("Judenhaus”). Eventually, the Jewish Community quartered them in a room at Rappstrasse 15. At this place, Hugo and Emma Rosenberg experienced the destruction of Hamburg by the air raids in July/Aug. 1943, in the course of which their rental buildings in Hamm, too, were completely destroyed by the firestorm. On 14 Sept. 1943, Hugo Rosenberg passed away in the room with which he and his wife had been left.

Epilogue

To be sure, Emma Rosenberg owned two properties at the end of the war, but as bomb sites they were worthless for a long time. She lived in destitution, passing away in Hamburg on 24 Feb. 1956.


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

Stand: October 2018
© Hildegard Thevs

Quellen: BA, Volkszählung 1939; Gedenkbuch; StaH, 332-4 Aufsicht über die Standesämter, IV B 2, Band 1; IV B 3 k 559/III 18/1894V B 3 d 1927; Meldewesen; 332-5 Standesämter, 749-603/1916; 2143-2853/1880; 2321-116/1893; 2352-1104/1894; 2736-599/1889; 2827-808/1894; 3250-130/1914; 4635-494/1960; 6364-2973/1897; 6482-386/1911; 8327-38/1922; 351-11 Amt für Wiedergutmachung, 39567; 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden, Kultussteuerkartei; 992 e 2 Bd 5; Handelsregister Abt. A 11555; div. AB; Duckesz, Eduard, Familiengeschichte des Rabbi Lase Berlin in Hamburg, Hamburg 1930; Theresienstädter Gedenkbuch.