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Eleonore Meyer * 1868

Stammannstraße 15 (Hamburg-Nord, Winterhude)

HIER WOHNTE
ELEONORE MEYER
JG. 1868
DEPORTIERT 1942
THERESIENSTADT
ERMORDET

further stumbling stones in Stammannstraße 15:
Mathilde Lina Meyer

Eleonore Meyer, born on 22.4.1868 in Hamburg, deported on 15.7.1942 to the Theresienstadt ghetto, murdered there

Stammannstraße 15 (Barmbek)

Eleonore Meyer was born into a Jewish family in Hamburg on April 22, 1868 as the first child of Hirsch Hermann (1838-1918) and Bella Meyer, née Engel (1841-1905).

She was followed by six siblings: Mathilde Lina Meyer (born on 22.3.1874 in Berlin), David Meyer (born on 22.1.1870), Adolph Meyer (born on 16.10.1871), Emilie Meyer (born on 10.2.1876), Sally Meyer (born on 28.3.1878) and Moritz Meyer (born on 24.8.1885), all born in Hamburg.

We know nothing about Eleonore Meyer's childhood and youth.

After training as a teacher at a seminary in Münster, Eleonore Meyer taught in Hamburg as a primary school teacher from January 1, 1889. She initially taught at the girls' school at Böhmkenstraße 15 in Neustadt. In 1906, she moved to the girls' school at Holstenwall 17, also in Neustadt.

From 1914, she taught at the girls' school at Forsmannstraße 34 in Winterhude. This school had been opened in 1910. The building housed a girls' school (entrance number 34) and a boys' school (entrance number 32). Both schools were merged in 1920 as part of the reform efforts of the Weimar Republic; the first coeducational class was created in which girls and boys were taught together. The reform was reversed after the National Socialists seized power in 1933. Eleonore Meyer remained at this school until her retirement on May 1, 1929, she received a pension until her deportation.

In addition to teaching, Eleonore Meyer was involved in the "Society of Friends of the Patriotic School and Education System" in Hamburg, a kind of a union, which aimed to improve the material provision of teachers (income, pension, widow's pension) and the further education of its members. She was also a member of the "Verein Hamburger Volksschullehrerinnen", a kind of professional lobby for female primary school teachers. Eleonore Meyer also worked there as a representative of the association from 1924.

Like all female teachers, she was subject to "teacher celibacy", meaning she remained unmarried. Initially she lived with her parents and later with her widowed father, who was a businessman and a self-employed sales representative. After his death in 1918, she moved upstairs to Neumünsterstraße 37. From 1920, her sister Mathilde Lina Meyer also lived at this address. In 1933, the sisters first moved together to Suhrenkamp 25 II. (Alsterdorf) and in 1937 to Stammannstraße 15 (Barmbek).

As part of the later restitution proceedings, their nephew Günther Meyer and a former neighbor reported that the sisters had lived very frugally, but lived in an elegantly furnished 3-room apartment in Stammannstraße with many silver and crystal items, carpets and pictures.

At the beginning of 1942, they were ordered by the Gestapo to vacate their apartment and "relocate" to the "Jews' house" at Bundestraße 35, Hs. There they lived together in a small apartment consisting of one room, a kitchen and a corridor. A witness, the stoker of the Stammannstraße block of flats, who knew the two sisters personally, stated in the restitution proceedings that the sisters did not want to get rid of their furniture when they moved. They had tried to take as many pieces of furniture as possible with them to Bundestraße. He described, that it looked like a furniture warehouse there.

The Stammannstraße apartment, together with the furniture they had left behind, was sealed and the key handed over to the Gestapo. The witness also reported that the sisters - like all Jews - had to hand over their jewelry and watches to the authorities.

A few weeks after the forced move, Eleonore and Mathilde Lina Meyer received the "deportation order". On July 15, 1942, they were taken from the Schanzenstraße school assembly point in Altonaer Straße to the Hanover train station. From there, the deportation train departed with over 900 other deportees.

Nothing is known about Eleonore Meyer's further fate. The Hamburg District Court declared her death on December 31, 1945 (Ref. 54 II 917/919/52).

The remaining household effects at Bundestraße 35 were auctioned off at the instigation of the Gestapo on October 14, 1942. The proceeds from the auction amounted to 276.35 RM for the household effects of Eleonore Meyer and 412.65 RM for Mathilde Lina Meyer for the benefit of the German State.

Mathilde Lina Meyer was deported from Theresienstadt to the Treblinka extermination camp on September 21, 1942 and murdered there. A Stumbling Stone at Stammannstraße 15 commemorates her fate.

Her brother Adolph Meyer and his wife Martha were also deported to Theresienstadt on July 15, 1942. Adolph Meyer died there on March 16, 1944. Martha Meyer was deported to Auschwitz on May 15, 1944 and murdered there. Stumbling stones at Mozartstraße 34 commemorate the couple.

Her brother David Meyer married Adelheid Adele Levy from Merzig/Saarland. David Meyer lived with his family in Merzig until his death on February 6, 1933. They had a son: Leo (born 1890).

Her brother Sally Meyer had left Germany on the passenger steamer Blücher bound for New York, where he arrived on February 6, 1906. On May 1, 1916, he married Wilhelmina Koehler (born 1892), with whom he had three sons: Herbert Fritz (born in 1916), Charles Ernest (born in 1918) and Richard James (born in 1919). Sally Meyer died on June 10, 1927 in New York.

Her brother Moritz Meyer followed his brother to New York on August 27, 1908. He died there on February 15, 1946.

Her sister Emilie Meyer had married the Protestant merchant Fritz Mey (born on July 1, 1885 in Königsberg) on May 21, 1920. They also lived in Hamburg at Neumünsterstraße 37 from 1921 to 1924. Fritz and Emilie Mey left Germany from Hamburg on November 25, 1933 (Fritz Mey) and May 16, 1934 (Emilie Mey), both on the ship Cap Arcona, bound for Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Translation Beate Meyer

Stand: March 2024
© Birgit Geyer

Quellen: 1; 3; 4; 5; 7; 8; Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg - Hamburger Adressbücher von 1905 - 1941; StaH Entschädigungssachen: 213-13_7999 (Erwin Meyer); StaH Amt für Wiedergutmachung: 351-11_1314 (Eleonore Meyer), 351-11_2525 (Mathilde Meyer), 213-13_7999 (Erwin Meyer); Hamburgisches Lehrerverzeichnis /Gesellschaft der Freunde des Vaterländischen Schul- und Erziehungswesens (A 576 / 0001, 1901-1933), Auswanderungslisten (K_1793, K_1805, K_2002); Gedenkbuch der Opfer der Verfolgung der Juden unter der nationalsozialistischen Gewaltherrschaft in Deutschland 1933-1925 (Koblenz 2006); Yad Vashem Datenbank der Namen von Holocaust-Überlebenden und Opfern: Datensatz-Nummer 11593584, 4909457, 11594481 und 4829307 (Zugriff 27.11.2023); ITS Arolsen Archives - https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/, Doc ID 5012443 und 5063113 (Zugriff 27.11.2023); https://mappingthelives (Zugriff 19.7.2023); https://www.sternschanze1942.de/die-namen-der-deportierten-vom-15-und 19-juli-1942 (Zugriff 25.8.2023); Ancestry (Zugriff 19.7.2023, 8.3.2024 und 11.3.2024): Geburtsurkunde Emilie Meyer, Geburtsurkunde Moritz Meyer, Geburtsurkunde Sally Meyer, Geburtsurkunde Adelheid Levy, Todesurkunde Bella Meyer, Todesurkunde Hirsch (Hermann) Meyer, Heiratsurkunde Emilie Meyer, Aufgebot Sally Meyer, Declaration of Intention Sally Meyer, Petition for Naturalisation Wilhelmina Meyer, Registration Card Sally Meyer; Internetauftritt Schule Forsmannstraße http://wp.schule-forsmannstrasse.de/: Geschichte unserer Schule; Statistik und Deportation der jüdischen Bevölkerung aus dem Deutschen Reich (statistik-des-holocaust.de): Deportationsliste Bp-1061.
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