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Inge Bauer, geb. Neufeld
© Yad Vashem

Inge Bauer (née Neufeld) * 1915

Breitenfelder Straße 4 (Hamburg-Nord, Hoheluft-Ost)

1941 Minsk

further stumbling stones in Breitenfelder Straße 4:
Ernst Bauer, Lucia Bauer

Ernst Bauer, born on 3 Mar. 1908 in Hamburg, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Inge Bauer, née Neufeld, born on 9 Nov. 1915 in Hamburg, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk

Breitenfelderstraße 4

Inge grew up in an upper-class family at Billhorner Röhrendamm 78 E. Her father, Hermann Neufeld, born on 4 Mar. 1872, ran a cigar store there since 1905. The Neufelds lived on the third floor of the house. They had a domestic help, enabling Regina, Inge’s mother (born on 28 Feb. 1880, née Katzenstein) to work in the store as well. Inge was the youngest child. The oldest was Emmy, born in 1906, followed by Helmuth in 1909 and Margot in 1911.

Inge attended the Israelite Girls’ School on Carolinenstraße for nine years and subsequently went to business school. In Apr. 1932, her father died. The mother continued to operate the business on her own, perhaps assisted by son Helmuth.

During the boycott measures targeting Jewish shops, the store windows of the Neufelds were smeared all over as well, and the tobacco business made discernible to customers as being "Jewish.” Nazi posts stood outside the store, intimidating customers wishing to shop. The consequence was a considerable drop in sales.

In 1933, Emmy Neufeld got married and emigrated to Palestine. She recalled in 1964 that Inge "[was] so versed in commercial matters that in 1932, while still attending business school, she was able to stand in for me afternoons to do my office work for four weeks during my summer vacation. … By the time my sister passed the commercial course with distinction in 1933, it had become nearly impossible for her, being Jewish, to get a permanent job. As a result, she did work on an hourly basis for companies that were themselves unable to hire a permanent employee since they also did not know just how long they would manage to hold on to their Jewish business, whereas Christian companies were not officially allowed to employ Jews.” As of Mar. 1939, Inge no longer received any "hourly work” either, earning her livelihood as a domestic help instead.

In Nov. 1938, the tobacco store of the Neufelds was "Aryanized.” It is not known how Inge’s mother supported herself after that. Probably in Nov. 1939, Regina Neufeld moved to Heinrich-Barth-Straße 10 as a subtenant "at Levin.” Inge’s Jewish religious tax (Kultussteuer) file card indicates this address as well. Whether she stayed there with her mother or with a family for whom she worked as a domestic help is not known. Maybe this was how she met her subsequent husband, Ernst Bauer, who by that time already lived in the house at Heinrich-Barth-Straße 8 with his mother.

Inge’s brother Helmuth had been staying in Copenhagen since June 1939. His fate is not unusual for a German refugee: He had to change countries yet another time before being able to settle in the USA eventually. In Oct. 1943, he was brought from occupied Denmark to Sweden in the course of the rescue operation for Jews. In Aug. 1945, he traveled to Denmark for a week, then returned to Stockholm where he was employed with the Jewish Community until his departure to the USA in Oct. 1946.

Ernst Bauer was the son of Leopold and Luzie Bauer (see corresponding entry). No information is available about his school days, but we do know that he did an apprenticeship as a sales representative for textiles. His brother later reported that he was very eager for knowledge and read the newspapers a lot. Based on social security documents, one can trace his occupational history: From Dec. 1927 to 1931, Ernst worked for the Rosenthal Company, only short time in July and Aug., probably due to the world economic crisis. Presumably for the same reason, he was unemployed from Nov 1932 onward. In Feb. 1937, he once again got a permanent job, working for the Hugo Hartig Import and Export Company in the banking department. At that time, he was also able to provide for his mother – an entry on her Jewish religious tax (Kultussteuer) file card notes in Jan. 1938: "Is supported by son Ernst.”

In the course of the November Pogrom of 1938, Ernst Bauer was taken into "protective custody” ("Schutzhaft”) on 10 Nov. 1938 and not released until 25 Jan. 1939. In the aftermath, he was ill for a month. From Mar. until Dec. 1939, he worked for the Walter Bibow civil engineering firm as an excavator. Afterward, he continued to have insurable employment until July 1941, with the job description unknown.

Sometime in the spring of 1941, Inge Neufeld and her mother moved to the former Samuel Levy-Stift, a residential home, at Bundesstraße 35, which subsequently became a "Jews’ house” ("Judenhaus”). Ernst Bauer lived there together with his mother Luzie Bauer, probably as early as Oct. 1940. On 10 Apr. 1941, Inge and Ernst got married. The young couple apparently found accommodation in their former neighborhood, at Heinrich-Barth-Straße 8. The time they shared was brief. Together with Inge’s sister Margot, married name Wimmer, her husband Wilhelm and the one-year-old Bela Wimmer, they were deported to Minsk on the transport on 8 Nov. 1941.

Inge’s mother Regina Recha Neufeld died on 20 Aug. 1942 at Bundesstraße 35.

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

© Sabine Brunotte

Quellen: 1; 4; StaH 522-1, Jüd. Gemeinden 992e2, Band 2; AfW 091115 Bauer, Inge; AfW 280280 Neufeld, Regina; Mündliche Auskunft Dr. Edith Theux, 3.8.2007; Dansk Jodisk Museum, E-Mail vom 2.3. 2010; Riksarkivet Stockholm, E-Mail vom 18.5.2010, Ref. 42-2010/2313; Verzeichnis Hamburger Börsenfirmen von 1933.
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