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Martin Freundlich * 1885

Eppendorfer Weg 54 (Eimsbüttel, Eimsbüttel)

1941 Minsk

further stumbling stones in Eppendorfer Weg 54:
Charlotte Freundlich

Charlotte Freundlich, née Behrendt, born 28 June 1880 in Berlin, deported 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Martin Freundlich, born 22 May 1995 in Hamburg, deported 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk

Eppendorfer Weg 54

Martin Freundlich’s parents were Dina, née Braunschild, and Bernhard Freundlich. There were six children in the family – Martin had three brothers and two sisters. Of the six children, only Wilhelm (*1893) survived the Nazi dictatorship. Siegfried (*1882) and Leopold (*1886) were deported to Lodz on 25 October 1941. Jeanette (*1873) was deported to Theresienstadt on 23 June 1943, and Martha (married name Graetz, *1878) was officially declared dead on 31 December 1945. She and her husband had emigrated to the Philippines in 1939 and died there in the bloody battles in 1945. Wilhelm Freundlich survived the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, where he was interned from 1942 to 1945.

Martin Freundlich and Charlotte Behrendt married on 22 March 1910. Charlotte already had two children out of wedlock, Louis and Rahel Behrendt. The children took Martin’s name. He was a sales respresentative for men’s clothing. After the November Pogrom in 1938, he was arrested and sent to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. He was released on 12 December 1938. He later worked as a care-giver for the Jewish Community, the author Viola Roggenkamp recalls, who learned this fact from her mother. In 1939 Martin and Charlotte made plans to emigrate, and in February 1939 they received their clearance certificate. In March they filled out the emigration questionnaire, giving their destination as Alexandretta, also known as Iskenderun, a port city in southern Turkey. They were unable to get an entry visa, however, because Turkey was no longer accepting Jewish refugees.

The family lived at Blücherstraße 5 (present-day Kottwitzstraße), then later on the third floor at Eppendorfer Weg 54. Their move may have had to do with their planned emigration, since Martin and Charlotte had declared on the emigration questionnaire that they had sold their furniture to fund their emigration. Their names were on the 25 October 1941 deportation list for Lodz, but were crossed out. Martin Freundlich was thus not deported together with his brothers Siegfried and Leopold, but rather two weeks later, on 8 November 1941 to Minsk.

On 12 March 1942, Martin Freundlich’s furnishings, clothing, and linens were sold at public auction in auction hall 38 at Drehbahn 36. The proceeds were 1,016.60 Reichsmarks, and went to the German Reich.

Translator: Amy Lee

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

© Susanne Lohmeyer

Quellen: 1; 2 (F 603);5;StaH 214-1 Gerichtsvollzieherwesen, 270; StaH 332-5 Standesämter, 2103 + 2514/1885; StaH 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden 992e2 Bd 3 Deportationsliste; HAB II 1923; Brief von Viola Roggenkamp vom 10.8.2004.