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Rosita (Rositta) Spiro (née Fleischhacker) * 1887

Schäferkampsallee 30 (Eimsbüttel, Eimsbüttel)

HIER WOHNTE
ROSITA SPIRO
GEB. FLEISCHHACKER
JG. 1887
DEPORTIERT 1941
ERMORDET IN
MINSK

further stumbling stones in Schäferkampsallee 30:
Felix Spiro

Felix Spiro, born on 7 May 1879 in Berlin, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Rositta Spiro, née Fleischhacker, born on 28 Mar. 1887 in Nuremberg, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk

Schäferkampsallee 30

Melanie Spiro, née Samuel, born on 18 Jan. 1887 in Hamburg, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Paul Robert Spiro, born on 3 Dec. 1877 in Hamburg, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Olga Spiro, born on 7 Dec. 1875 in Hamburg, deported on 15 July 1942 to Theresienstadt, died there on 19 Apr. 1943
Otto Spiro, born on 17 May 1923 in Hamburg, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk

Schröderstiftsweg 20 (Sedanstrasse 7), Rotherbaum

Until the summer of 2012, Stolpersteine for Felix, Melanie, and Otto Spiro were located in front of the house at Schäferkampsallee no. 28, and it seemed as though they had been a couple and their son. This was an error. As research work revealed, a mistake had occurred when the Stolpersteine were laid. Melanie Spiro and her son Otto had never resided on Schäferkampsallee and probably they were not even related to Felix Spiro. In fact, there were two Spiro families who were deported and murdered. The laying of the stumbling blocks was corrected and missing stones were supplemented.

The dentist Felix Spiro was the son of Isaac and Sarah Spiro, née Danziger. He was born in Berlin in 1879. The 1890 Berlin directory lists one Isaac Spiro, securities broker, at Köthener Strasse 32, probably his father. Felix Spiro’s wife was Rositta Spiro, née Fleischhacker, born in Nuremberg. Her parents were Jakob and Jenni Fleischhacker. Jakob Fleischhacker, a native of Lutter, Gersfeld District within the Kassel Administrative District, was "Chief Inspector of the Allgemeine Versicherungsgesellschaft Victoria in Berlin,” an insurance company. On 25 July 1887, he notified the authorities that he (and likely his family) was moving to Frankfurt/Main. Thus, Rositta grew up in Frankfurt, where Felix and Rositta Spiro probably also got married. The union produced one daughter, Margot (born on 4 Aug. 1909), who managed to emigrate with her parents.

Felix Spiro was a freemason and from 1919 until 1932, he belonged to the "Ferdinande Caroline zu den drei Sternen” Masonic lodge founded in 1776. Since 1908, he worked as a dentist in Hamburg. Initially, he practiced for many years at Grindelberg 45, later at Schäferkampsallee 28 and 30, respectively. From 1935 until 1939, the directory indicates Schäferkampsallee no. 30, whereas in fact the family and their married daughter already moved to Oderfelder Strasse 17 as early as Sept. 1938. In the spacious apartment building on Oderfelder Strasse constructed in the Gründerzeit, Felix Spiro owned an apartment appointed in upper-class style and a fully furnished doctor’s office. When the family was forced to give up this apartment, they moved to Lenhartzstrasse 3, a house belonging to Leon Guttmann, a Jewish man. At Lenhartzstrasse 3, seven of the ten apartments were rented out to Jewish main tenants in mid-1939. Then, starting in 1940, additional Jews were committed to the house, causing heavier occupancy of the large apartments. Due to the deportations, many tenants had to leave the house, while the remaining ones were relocated to "Jews’ houses” ("Judenhäuser”) in the spring of 1942. Felix and Rositta Spiro already had to board the train to Minsk on 8 Nov. 1941.

Even before November had ended, their assets were confiscated. After the deportation, their household goods were auctioned off, parallel to those belonging to Mrs. Selma Meyer, who had also lived at Lenhartzstrasse 3. The net proceeds amounting to 2,348.10 RM (reichsmark) were collected by the Nazi state.

The export merchant Paul Robert Spiro was the son of Liepmann Spiro and Sophie Mariane Spiro, née Meyer. When he was born, his parents lived at Bleichenbrücke 12. He was married to Melanie Spiro. Melanie’s parents were the merchant Moses Samuel and Fanny Samuel, née Rosenbaum. By the time of Melanie’s birth in 1887, her parents resided at Alter Steinweg 71. Paul and Melanie had one daughter (born in 1922), who died early on, however, and a son, Otto Alfred (born in 1923), who was deported and murdered along with his parents. Otto had attended the Heinrich-Hertz School and according to the Jewish religious tax (Kultussteuer) file card, in 1941 he was a carpenter’s apprentice, trained in the Jewish apprenticeship workshop on Weidenallee.

Paul Robert Spiro and his family had lived at Sedanstrasse 7 for a long time. No longer chosen of their free will was probably the apartment at Schlüterstrasse 80. Paul Robert Spiro had several siblings, e.g., sister Olga Spiro, who lived with his brother’s family at Sedanstrasse 7 for many years as well. Olga Spiro was unmarried, an authorized signatory by occupation, and a member of the Jewish Community. The name of an older brother was Albert Wilhelm Spiro (born in 1879). He already lived in China even before 1933, getting married there and passing away in July 1933. Since 1920, he had been an instructor for mechanical engineering at the German-language German Engineering and Medical School in Shanghai, founded in 1907. From 1924 onward, the school was called Tongji University.

On 8 Nov. 1941, Paul Robert, Melanie, and Otto Spiro were deported from the "Jews’ house” ("Judenhaus”) at Bogenstrasse 25 on the second floor to Minsk, where they perished. On 15 July 1942, Olga Spiro was deported from the "Jews’ house” ("Judenhaus”) at Bogenstrasse 27 to Theresienstadt and died there on 19 Apr. 1943.


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

Stand: January 2019
© Susanne Lohmeyer

Quellen: 1; 2 (R1940/951); 4; 5; StaH 332-5 Standesämter, 1014 + 5628/1877; StaH 332-5, 1958 + 4134/1879; StaH 332-5, 2148 und 365/1887; StaH 351-11 AfW, AZ 070579 Spiro, Dr. Felix; StaH 362-2/19 Signatur 86 Schülerliste Heinrich-Hertz-Schule; StaH 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden 992e2 Band 2 Deportationsliste; HAB II 1915, 1920, 1927, 1937; Hamburger Fernsprechbücher 1910–1939; Heiko Morisse, Das "jüdische Haus”; Stadtarchiv Nürnberg C27/IV Nr. 267, Eintrag Nr. 985; Stadtarchiv Nürnberg C 21/III Nr. 220; www.tongij-freunde.de.
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