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Regina Mendelsohn (née Jaffe) * 1873

Goldbekufer 19 (Hamburg-Nord, Winterhude)

1942 Theresienstadt
1942 Treblinka ermordet

further stumbling stones in Goldbekufer 19:
Bernhard Bästlein

Regina Mendelsohn, née Jaffé, born 8/24/1873 in Schwersenz, deported to Theresienstadt on 7/15/1942, deported on to Treblinka on 9/21/1942, date of death unknown

Regina Mendelsohn was born in the Prussian district of Posen as the daughter of Julius Jaffé and Susanne Jacobsohn. Her future husband Salomon (called "Sally”) Mendelsohn (born 3/31/1864) came from Allenstein in Eastern Prussia. In 1915, the couple moved from Oliva near Danzig to Hamburg, where they became the first tenants of an apartment on the third floor of the newly erected building Goldbekufer 19 in Winterhude. The Hamburg address book of 1920 lists both of them: Merchant Sally Mendelsohn and Frau R. Mendelsohn, knittery. In November 1920, the childless couple joined the German-Israelitic Community. Sally Mendelsohn worked as office chief for the "Auskunftsstelle des Kartells der Auskunfteien Bürgel” (Rathausmarkt 8), a company specialized in information on credit standing. Sally Mendelsohn died in May 1924 at the Israelitic hospital.

After the death of her husband, Regina Mendelson supplemented her meagre pension of 38.70 marks per month by knitting. The Hamburg address books of 1926 and 1937 note "machine knittery” after her name. Her income, however, was so small that she had to pay no dues to the German-Israelitic Community. For 1941, the entry on her culture tax card reads: "Record no longer kept, as not relevant for taxation.” In August 1938, Regina Mendelsohn had to give up the apartment at Goldbekufer and moved to a sub-rented room at Dillstrasse 3 (Rotherbaum) with the married couple David and Deborah Ehrenzweig, both members of the Jewish Community; in April 1939, the Ehrenzweigs were evicted to Poland. Four months later, Regina Mendelsohn was forced to move to a "Jews’ house” at Bundesstrasse 43, the former John R. Warburg Foundation. The entry in the 1941 address book reads: "Mendelsohn, Wwe, Sara, Bundesstrasse 43, room 14” On July 15th, she and 106 other residents of the foundation were deported to Theresienstadt on "Transport VI/1". At Jom Kippur, the highest Jewish holiday, which fell on September 21st in 1942, she was deported on to Treblinka. At this death camp approx. 65 km northeast of Warsaw, about 8,000 Jews from the Theresienstadt Ghetto were murdered in the gas chambers in October 1942, alone. The exact date of Regina Mendelsohn’s death is not known.

Appendix:

It is likely that Regina Mendelsohn took in boarders or subtenants to supplement her pension. In 1933, Jan A. Jolles stayed with her, a son of Mathilde Wolff-Mönckeberg from her divorced marriage to art and literature historian André Jolles. Jan Jolles had turned to the Communists and lived in South America for years. In 1933, he was evicted to Germany for political reasons. In a letter regarding her son’s accommodations at Regina Mendelsohn’s, his mother wrote: "Jan is now accommodated in a nice, quiet little room at Goldbeckufer 19 with Frau Mendelsohn, with a small balcony & he seems to like it there & also likes Frau M., who has known much better days, is an erudite woman & has understanding for him without asking a lot of questions.”

Jan Jolles, whose father was a professor in Leipzig, was denounced in a letter to the Hamburg SA by the "District Führer” of district IV of the Nazi German Student Association: "A man named Jan A. Jolles is in Hamburg. He lives at Goldbeckufer 19 with Frau Mendelsohn. He came from South America some time ago to take communist activities here. His father is professor at Leipzig University and a NS party member. His father and further members of the family are willing to confirm this information and to provide further details about him. I ask the Hamburg sub-group to observe this Jan A. Jolles and to take him into protective custody if necessary […] Heil Hitler! Wolf Friedrich"

On May 23rd, NSDAP Chapter 45 confirmed: "Pursuant to the letter of the sub-group of 5/18/1933 regarding Jan A. Jolles, it was determined that mentioned individual lives with the Jewish Frau Mendelsohn at Goldbeckufer 19, 3rd floor. She has a machine knittery.” In spite of this, Jan A. Jolles remained unmolested and was able to get medical treatment at the Barmbek hospital under the auspices of his sister Jacoba Hahn, who was a doctor. A few months later, he left Hamburg to return to South America. On July 26th, 1933, NSDAP chapter 45 discovered that "Jolles has moved out [of Goldbeckufer] about two weeks ago. He is supposed to have gone to Frankfurt am Main.”
Ulrike Sparr

Translated by Peter Hubschmid

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: October 2017
© Björn Eggert

Quellen: 1; 4; 5; 7; Bezirksamt Hamburg-Nord, Bauamt/Bauprüfabteilung, Akte Goldbekufer 18–20; StaH, 741-4, Alte Einwohnermeldekartei (Salomon Mendelsohn); AB 1920, 1926, 1937, 1939, 1941 (Bd.1); Wilhelm Mosel, Wegweiser zu ehemaligen jüd. Stätten in Hamburg, Heft 2, Hamburg 1985, S. 93 (Wohnstift Bundesstraße 43); Hamburger Börsenfirmen, 34. Auflage, Hamburg Februar 1933, S. 31 (Bürgel); Generalregister der hamburgischen Standesämter, Auskunft zur Sterbeurkunde von Salomon Mendelsohn vom 13.9.2007; Amtliche Fernsprechbücher Hamburg 1916, 1925; Martin Gilbert, Endlösung – Die Vertreibung und Vernichtung der Juden, Reinbek 1982, S. 108, 124, 129.
Zur Nummerierung häufig genutzter Quellen siehe Link "Recherche und Quellen".

Quellen zum Nachtrag: B 201 StaH 614-2/5, B 201; Mathilde Wolff-Mönckeberg, Briefe, die sie nie erreichten, Hamburg 1980; Walter Thys, André Jolles (1874–1946): "gebildeter Vagant", brieven en documenten, Leipzig 2000, S. 838