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Anna Messias (née Hesse) * 1867

Jungfrauenthal 8 (Eimsbüttel, Harvestehude)

1942 Theresienstadt
weiterdeportiert am 21.9.1942 nach Treblinka, dort ermordet

further stumbling stones in Jungfrauenthal 8:
Iwan Hesse, Martha Meyer, Ruth Meyer, Lothar Meyer, Pauline Wolff

Anna Messias, née Hesse, born 5/31/1867 in Grevesmühlen, Mecklenburg, deported to Theresienstadt on 7/15/1942, deported on to Treblinka on 9/29/1942 and murdered there

Jungfrauenthal 8 (Harvestehude)

Anna Hesse, later married Messias, came from the town of Grevesmühlen in western Mecklenburg, about 10 kilometers east of Lübeck. According to the census of the grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin of December 3rd, 1867, her parents, Siegesmund Hesse (1838–1878) and Bertha Hesse, née Heimann (1840–1923) then lived in Grevesmühlen at Vogelsang 218 with their daughter and a wet nurse. Siegesmund Hesse’s profession was given as "Pensioner”, his nationality as "America”, indicating that he had lived in the USA for some time and could live from his self-earned or inherited assets.

Between 1868 and 1871, the family moved to Hamburg, where Anna’s brother Iwan was born. In 1871 or 1872, Siegesmund Hesse, aged 34, born in Gadebusch, Mecklenburg (approx. 20 km southeast of Grevesmühlen), of Jewish faith, joined Siegmund Brüssel to found the "Fondsgeschäft Brüssel & Hesse”, a fund business, with offices at Börsenbrücke 2. His first name is listed in the address book as "Siegmund.” Presumably in 1876, he opened a business all of his own. A year later, his entry in the address book reads "Fondsgeschäft”, its address Glockengiesserwall 17. In 1878, he was listed as "Merchant” at the same address. In Germany, the short economic boom after the founding of the Reich in 1871 was followed by a severe recession affecting banks, industry and agriculture – its impact, however, does not seem to have threatened Siegmund Hesse’s existence. In the morning of January 26th, 1878, the police found his body in the water of the Aussenalster at Pantelmann’s Steg, abeam of Alstertwiete (the narrow street on the backside of today’s Hotel Atlantic).

The daily newspaper Hamburgischer Correspondent reported on Hesse’s death in detail in its Sunday issue of January 27th, 1878: "The fund dealer Sigmund Hesse, residing at Glockengiesserwall 17, was found dead this morning in the Alster near Pantelmann’s Steg. H., who was very well situated (he is said to leave 130,000 thalers), was at the stock exchange hall until almost 8:00 p.m. on Friday, when he left in the company of a friend, to whom he bade good bye near his home, saying he still had to go on a business errand. When he was long overdue at home, his family finally checked his study and found his watch and chain, wallet and pocketbook packed together, leading to the conclusion that Siegmund Hesse had not intended to return home when he left in the morning. It is therefore most unlikely that his death was an accident. The hat and the overcoat of the deceased, who was suffering from severe melancholia in recent days, were discovered in the immediate vicinity of the pier.”

After her husband’s death, Bertha lived with her two children at Dammthorstrasse 40 (Neustadt) from 1879 to 1886. Besides the stately homes, the Staatstheater (Municipal Theater – today the State Opera) characterized that street. At the age of not quite eleven, Anna Hesse had become a half-orphan. Her grandparents, aunts and uncles lived too far away in Mecklenburg to give her the feeling of being part of a large family. In February 1886, not even 19 years of age, she married the Hamburg tailor Philipp David Messias (1858–1917), who was a member of German-Israelitic Community. The groom’s father, master tailor Joel David Messias (1831–1903), residing at Bergstrasse 23 (Altstadt), and the merchant and Hamburg burgher Siegmund Friedheim (1836–1917), originally from Grevesmühlen in Mecklenburg. The father of the groom came from Hohensalza in Western Prussia (now Inowraclaw in Poland) und had acquired the citizenship of Hamburg in 1857; only after establishing his own household was Philipp Messias also listed in the Hamburg address book. In 1889, he too acquired Hamburg citizenship, an indication of good economic standing already then. The Hamburg address book gives the residential addresses of Philipp and Anna Messias as Grosse Bleichen 9 (1887), Hermannstrasse 15/17 (1889–1890), Neuer Jungfernstieg 6 (1891–1897) and Grindelallee 19 (1897–1900), with the amendment "in above mentioned company”, indicating his partnership in his father’s company "J. D. Messias & Sohn, Schneidermeister, Garderobenmagazin” at Alsterdamm 42 (now Ballindamm) (1885–1890) and at Neuer Jungfernstieg 6 (1891–1899).

The two children Siegfried (born 11/26/1886 in Hamburg) and Dalbert (born 6/2/1892 in Hamburg) surely grew up in secure economic circumstances. From 1900 to 1906 and from 1909 to 1917, the family lived in Klein Flottbek (Friedrichstrasse 5), then still a village in Prussia outside of the city of Altona. The opening of the suburban Altona-Blankenese railroad in 1867 led to an increased influx of well-situated citizens of Hamburg to this attractive residential area. In April 1900 Philipp David Messias and his family, and his widowed father Joel David Messias had left Hamburg for Klein Flottbek that had been incorporated into the Prussian city of Altona in 1890). Already after the death of wife Sarah née Halle (1834–1897) in their apartment at Fröbelstrasse 12 in Rotherbaum, Joel David Messias had lived with his son’s family on the ground floor of Grindelallee 19 in Rotherbaum. Sarah and Joel David Messias are both buried at the Jewish cemetery in Ohlsdorf.

In 1908, five years after his father’s death, Philipp Messias bought three newly erected tenement buildings in Schanzenstrasse 81, 83 and 85 from E. W. A. Schröder from Harburg; it may be assumed that these had been erected by the Harburg construction company Emil Schröder (Meritstrasse 24) and then sold at a profit. The purchase of the houses with 38 apartments and 8 shops changed the activities and the source of income of Philipp Messias, then 50 years old; he had "Property administrator” entered as his new profession in the Hamburg address book. From 1906, his last address in Hamburg was Schäferkampsallee 39 in Eimsbüttel. In 1909, he permanently moved to Klein Flottbek, Friedrichstrasse 5. His father’s company by then had probably already been sold or liquidated.

After the death of her 59-year-old husband of a gall disorder at the private hospital of Dr. Stender at Eidelstedter Weg in Klein Flottbek in 1917, his Widow Anna, aged 50, moved back to Hamburg, Rothenbaumchaussee 71 in Rotherbaum, and again registered with the Hamburg Jewish community. The Address books of the 1920s have separate entries for Anna Messias ("Wwe Ph.”) and for "Dr. jur. D. Messias”, both at Rothenbaumchaussee 71, indicating that mother and son each had their own apartment on the 2nd floor of the 5-storey building that housed 16 parties. Nothing of this changed until 1930. In 1931, Loogestieg 3 in Eppendorf, a six-storey tenement building, was listed for Dalbert Messias, now married, whereas Anna remained at Rothenbaumchaussee. In 1932, Anna Messias’ residential address was given as Jungfrauenthal 8 in Harvestehude, a four-storey tenement building with ten parties; Anna’s brother Iwan Hesse also lived there, as did her younger son Dalbert following his divorce in 1936.

Dalbert Messias, born 1894, attended the high schools of the Christianeum in Altona from 1906-1906 and the Wilhelm-Gymnasium in Hamburg-Rotherbaum from 1906 to 1913, graduating with the Abitur. He began his law studies in Freiburg, Breisgau (1913–14) and Munich (1914). At the beginning of the war, he joined the army and served on different fronts for four years, including at Verdun. Part of that time, he belonged to the 162nd infantry regiment. Dalbert Messias received the II. Class of the Iron Cross, the Wounded Medal and the Cross of Honor for front fighters. Rheumatic ailments and sciatica were the enduring physical damage he suffered; in addition, he suffered from a slight loss of memory due to being buried in a trench at Verdun.

After the end of the war and his discharge as a sergeant at the end of November 1918, he joined the Bahrenfelder Free Corps and later the free corps formed in July 1919 by General von Lettow-Vorbeck. In the following, he completed his law studies in Hamburg, receiving his doctor’s degree in December 1920 (dissertation theme: "The Problem of Dept in Cases of Simple Bankruptcy”). His career in civil service ran through the stations of Assessor (1922), Assistant Judge (1924), Judge at the District Court (1925) and Judge at the Court of Appeals (1927). In 1922, he joined the German-Israelitic Community of Hamburg as a full member. In 1924, he married a Lutheran Christian woman from Altona; their marriage ended in divorce in 1936. In 1933, he was forcibly retired pursuant to the "Law for the Restoration of Professional Civil Service” passed by the Nazis shortly after their rise to power in January. At the beginning of 1939, Dalbert Messias was arrested and detained for 11 days without a reason being given. He was released on the condition he would leave Germany within 14 days. This left no time for an orderly liquidation of his assets and applying for a visa. Hastily, lift vans from the moving company Spedition Brasch & Rothenstein (Inhaber Harry W. Hamacher, Rödingsmarkt 69) were packed and stored in the Hamburg Freeport for shipment to London. The goods included parts of his study and living-room furniture including bookcases, books, desk, a cigar cabinet, grandfather clock, card table with bridge cards, china set, smoker’s stand with smoking utensils, an onyx candelabra, an oil painting by Bürger and one by Zeller, as well as a water color and two etchings. A couple of antiques from the corridor and the cloakroom are also packed up, plus bed and washstand from the bedroom. Dalbert’s also packed Voigtländer Bessa 6x9 cm folding camera and his theater binoculars give a hint of his hobbies.

Messias had to pay 3,150 RM in advance for the permission to take these items along. In spite of this, the Gestapo had his cases confiscated in the Freeport and their contents auctioned. In mid-March 1939, Dalbert Messias had appointed his 67-year-old uncle Iwan Hesse as plenipotentiary, and according to the file of the Chief Finance Administrator, had given the lawyer Max Heinemann (disbarred on 11/3/1938, later executor and asset administrator exclusively for Jewish clients, office at Schauenburger Strasse 49 in Altona, worked for the remaining Reich Association of Jews in Germany 1943–1945). On March 24th, 1939, Dalbert Messias emigrated to England by plane, as the set deadline for leaving Germany was too short to go by boat. The German authorities blocked his passport effective March 28th, 1939; returning to Germany after that would have required new permission and in any case became impossible after the beginning of the war.

In June 1940, due to the war situation, as a former German citizen, he was now classified as an enemy alien and shipped to an internment camp in Australia. There, he met the former Director of the Hamburg Court of Appeals Dr. jur. Franz Goldmann, born 7/29/1881 in Hamburg, who had been forcibly retired effective April 1934 and had emigrated to England with his wife in July 1939. Dalbert Messias only managed to return to England in January 1943, acquired British citizenship and from then on worked as a simple office clerk. In 1952, he was hospitalized because of serious diabetic complications; he developed massive circulatory disorders, and his eyesight deteriorated rapidly. Dalbert Messias died in England in February 1957 of a heart attack; the compensation payments came too late to reach him.

The elder son Siegfried Messias, born 1886, suffered from schizophrenia and was unable to learn a trade. The entry on his culture tax card at the German-Israelitic Community of April, 1921 reads "ill without profession or income.” He lived with his mother for quite some time and died in November 1934 at the Friedrichsberg State Mental Hospital, aged 48. Siegfried Messias was buried near his father at the Jewish cemetery in Ohlsdorf.

Anna Messias‘ brother Iwan Hesse (born 1/31/1872 in Hamburg) was a self-employed merchant and remained single. From 1921 to 1931, he lived at Rothenbaumchaussee 71 on the third floor, where his mother Bertha Hesse née Heimann lived with him until her death in 1923. In 1932, Iwan Hesse moved to Jungfrauenthal 8, 3rd floor. After the aged Reich President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Reich Chancellor on January 30th, 1933, anti-Semitism was quickly and systematically integrated into German daily life. Boycotts of Jewish-run companies led to the ruin of many smaller businesses as early as 1934. Increased taxes, trouble with trade licenses and limitation of freedom of movement were intended to coerce Jewish company owners to give up.

In 1938–39, the "aryanization” of lucrative large companies was systematically implemented throughout the Reich. We do not know when exactly Iwan Hesse was forced to quit his activity as a self-employed merchant. Systematic plundering of all Jewish assets by the Nazi state followed disenfranchisement: the blocking of all bank accounts, the obligation to surrender all precious metals and radios and the introduction of special taxes for Jews. On January 1st, 1939, all Jewish men were forced to adopt the additional first name "Israel”, all women "Sara”, and always include these in their signature. From September 19th, 1941, Iwan Hesse, too, was forced to wear a yellow "Jew’s star” clearly visible on the left breast of his clothing. The years of bullying and humiliation had broken his courage to face life. To escape the impending deportation, he cut his windpipe and his jugular vein with a razor in a public toilet in the Hamburg Stadtpark on October 28th, 1941, and died shortly after his admission to the Israelitic Hospital in Johnsallee 68. A senior constable from the 16th police precinct at Heidberg 64 in Winterhude called on Anna Messias the same day; he recorded her words in typical police style: "My brother was afraid he was going to be evacuated and therefore had a very timid manner lately. Outwardly, he gave the impression of having accepted his fate, even though he had not received an evacuation order. But he had already packed his belongings, as he certainly expected to be transported away. Today, he left home at ab out 9:30, saying he had to run some errands. He had never mentioned considering suicide to me, I would never have let him go out if he had. He was calm; I noticed nothing unusual about him. If my brother put an end to his life, this can only be because he was afraid of being evacuated.”

Julius Saladin (born 11/1/1883 in Hamburg) from Isestrasse 89, former owner of the company A. Saladin founded by his father (Heymann house, Neuer Wall 42) that was forcibly deleted from the company register in September, 1939, helped Anna Messias with the dealings with the authorities for her dead brother. (In the police form, Julius Saladin was already entered with his forcibly adopted middle name "Israel”. In 1942, the Hamburg Gestapo ordered him to move to Rentzelstrasse 52, from where he was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto in early 1945.

Anna Messias, the wealthy widow with rental income from two tenement buildings, was systematically plundered, as were all Jewish Germans. With the newly created instruments "levy on Jewish assets (Judenvermögensabgabe)" of 84,000 RM, cession of securities to the state-controlled Jewish Religious Association of 51,000 RM RM (84.000 RM) and the cession of gold and silver items to the government buying agencies, the Nazi regime was able to seize the major part of Anna Messias’ movables. This type of administrative robbery was very efficient and did not create public rejection, in contrast to storm troopers posted before Jewish shops or the pogrom night of November 1938, because this kind of violence was practically invisible.

The proceeds from the forced sale of Anna Messias’ two houses in December 1938 and February 1939 was credited to her bank account, which, however, was already blocked by a prohibition on disposition – the finance authorities determined the amount she was allowed to withdraw every month. Stripped of all civil rights, Anna Messias was quartered at the Jewish Community House at Heimhuderstrasse 70 (Rotherbaum) that now served as a Jewish retirement home and was used as a "Jews’ house” for the preparation of deportations. On July 15th, 1942, Anna Messias, aged 75, was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto and on September 21st, 1942 on to the Treblinka extermination camp and murdered there. Her exact date of death is unknown.

After her deportation, the Nazi government seized her remaining household and personal effects, (including carpets, paintings and Iwan Hesse’s stamp collection) that were subsequently auctioned to the benefit of the German Reich on November 3rd, 1942. The remaining money in her account at the Deutsche Bank was also confiscated by the state.

A Stumbling Stone at Jungfrauenthal 8 was also laid for Pauline Wolff, née Koppel (born 1/30/1870 In Leer, Ostfriesland, widow of the merchant Emanuel Albert Wolff). The authorities had quartered her at the "Jews’ house” at Bogenstrasse 27 (an old people’s home built in 1913), from where the inhabitants were deported to the ghettos and later on to the extermination camps. On July 14th, 1942, one day before her scheduled deportation, Pauline Wolff took her own life with sleeping pills. The criminal police sent a short note to the Gestapo that read: "The deceased was scheduled to be evacuated.”


Translated by Peter Hubschmid

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: October 2017
© Björn Eggert

Quellen: Staatsarchiv Hamburg (StaH) 241-2 (Justizverwaltung Personalakten), A 1207 (Dalbert Messias, 1920–1964); StaH 314-15 (Oberfinanzpräsident), F 1703 (Dr. Dalbert Messias, 1939); StaH 331-5 (Polizeibehörde – Unnatürliche Sterbefälle), 3 Akte 1941/1611 (Iwan Hesse); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 40 u. 379/1878 (Sterberegister 1878, Siegesmund Hesse); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 2695 u. 166/1886 (Heiratsregister 1886, Philipp Messias u. Anna Hesse); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 7906 u. 34/1897 (Sterberegister 1897, Sara Messias geb. von Halle); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 4811 u. 23/1903 (Sterberegister Flottbek 1903, Joel David Messias); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 8073 u. 85/1923 (Sterberegister 1923, Bertha Hesse geb. Heimann); StaH 332-5 (Standesämter), 7157 u. 1118/1934 (Sterberegister 1934, Siegfried Mesias); StaH 332-7 (Staatsangehörigkeitsaufsicht), A I e 40 Bd. 7 (Bürger-Register 1845–1875, L-R, Joel David Messias, Schneidermeister); StaH 332-7 (Staatsangehörigkeitsaufsicht), A I e 40 Bd. 10 (Bürger-Register 1876–1896, L-Z, Phil. Dav. Messias, Schneider); StaH 332-8 (Alte Einwohnermeldekartei 1892–1925) Philipp David Messias, Bertha Hesse geb. Heimann, Siegmund Friedheim; StaH 351-11 (Amt für Wiedergutmachung), 1246 (Anna Messias, 1955–1973); StaH 351-11 (Amt für Wiedergutmachung), 16173 (Dalbert Messias, 1955–1972); StaH 351-11 (AfW), 5645 (Dr. Franz Goldmann); StaH 351-11 (AfW), 6467 (Julius Saladin); StaH 522-1 (Jüdische Gemeinden), 992b (Kultussteuerkartei der Deutsch-Israelitischen Gemeinde Hamburg, ab 1913) Anna Messias (1917–1941), Dalbert Messias (1922–1937), Siegfried Messias (1917–1923); StaH 741-4, S 12683 (Hamburgischer Correspondent, Sonntag, 27.1.1878, Seite 13); Hamburger Adressbuch (Messias) 1885–1892, 1895, 1898–1899, 1902, 1908, 1909, 1925, 1927, 1929–1932; Hamburger Adressbuch (Iwan Hesse) 1921, 1922, 1925, 1929, 1931–1933; Hamburger Adressbuch (Brüssel) 1873; Hamburger Adressbuch (Straßenverzeichnis, Schanzenstraße) 1910; Hamburger Adressbuch 1941 (Ämter, Polizeirevier); Adressbuch Altona (inkl. Klein Flottbek), 1910; Harburger Fernsprechbuch, 1908 (Schröder); Hamburger Börsenfirmen, Hamburg 1935, S. 729 (A. Saladin); Handelskammer Hamburg, Firmenarchiv (A. Saladin); Hamburger jüdische Opfer des Nationalsozialismus, Gedenkbuch, Hamburg 1995, S. 165 (Iwan Hesse), S. 283 (Anna Messias geb. Hesse), S. 440 (Pauline Wolff); www.ancestry.de (Volkszählung Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Haushaltsliste "No. 366, Grevismühlen", Rentier Hesse).