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James De Beer * 1937

Eiffestraße 606 (Hamburg-Mitte, Hamm)

HIER WOHNTE
JAMES DE BEER
JG. 1937
FLUCHT 1938 HOLLAND
INTERNIERT WESTERBORK
DEPORTIERT 1942
AUSCHWITZ
ERMORDET 23.7.1942

further stumbling stones in Eiffestraße 606:
Pauline De Beer, Simon De Beer, Sientje Jetty De Beer, Bruno Gortatowski, Vera Adelheid Marcus

Simon de Beer, born on 12 Apr. 1906 in Sappemeer/Groningen, interned in the Westerbork camp, deported to Auschwitz, died on 30 Sept. 1942

Pauline de Beer-Auerbach, née Auerbach, born on 14 June 1908 in Hamburg, interned in the Westerbork camp, deported to Auschwitz, died on 23 July 1942

James de Beer, born on 20 Apr. 1937 Hamburg, interned in the Westerbork camp, deported to Auschwitz, died on 30 Sept. 1942

Sientje Jetty, born on 30 Sept. 1939 in Amsterdam, interned in the Westerbork camp, deported to Auschwitz, died on 23 July 1942

Eiffestrasse 606

Simon de Beer was the only child of Isaac and his wife Sientje de Beer, née Salomon, who came from a large Jewish merchant family (see corresponding entry). Born on 12 Apr. 1906 in Sappemeer near Groningen/Netherlands, he later became a merchant like his father.

At the end of the 1920s, Isaak de Beer had moved with his family to Hamburg. Their previous place of residence could not be determined. They found their first apartment as subtenants in Averhoffstrasse 40 on the third floor. On 1 Jan. 1929, Sientje de Beer took over the Küsel couple’s inn at Valentinskamp 61 in Hamburg-Neustadt, which included residential quarters.

In 1930, Simon de Beer joined the Hamburg Jewish Community at the same time as his parents. Unlike his father, he was never assessed to pay community dues. Little is known about his professional activities. In the mid-1930s, he worked as a traveler (sales representative). Until his marriage, he lived with his parents at Mittelstrasse 15 in Hamburg-Hamm (today: Carl-Petersen-Strasse).

On 12 Apr. 1936, Simon de Beer married Pauline Auerbach, born in Hamburg on 14 June 1908, not in 1906, as is erroneously stated in several references, including on the Stolperstein. Her parents came from what was then the Austrian province of Galicia. Her father, Jacob Auerbach, was born there in Husiatyn (today in Ukraine) on 10 Oct. 1877; her mother Jette, née Stern, was born in Buczacz on 20 Dec. 1884.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Jacob and Jette Auerbach started a family in Hamburg. The son and heir Isidor was born on 4 July 1906. Pauline’s birth in 1908 was followed by the siblings Berthold (in 1909), Erna (in 1910), and Friedrich (in 1915). Jacob Auerbach worked his way up from a small egg dealer at Fesslerstrasse 16 in Barmbek-Süd to an importer and wholesaler at Finkenau 27. Despite all adversities, he continued his business after the Nazis took over the government until 1937. Then, for him, being Jewish, the import of eggs from Denmark and the Netherlands was made impossible.

Jette Auerbach had already died on 11 Jan. 1936 at the age of only 51 years.
On 23 Oct. 1938, Jacob Auerbach emigrated to the USA, where he died in Rhode Island on 25 Dec. 1940.

After their wedding, Simon and Pauline de Beer moved to Eiffestrasse 606. He operated a grocery store that generated so little income that he did not have to pay Jewish religious taxes (Kultussteuer) to the Jewish Community.

Son James was born on 20 Apr. 1937. The grandparents, Isaak and Sientje de Beer, returned to the Netherlands in Dec. 1937. Simon de Beer’s mother died a few weeks later in hospital in Groningen.

Half a year after his mother’s death, on 15 June 1938, Simon de Beer moved to Amsterdam to build up a new life. He gained a foothold, and on 30 Sept. 1939, the second child was born, Sientje Jetty, named after the two grandmothers. Only afterward, on 7 Nov. 1939, did he deregister with the authorities in Hamburg.

After the occupation of the Netherlands by the German Wehrmacht in May 1940, little initially changed for the family. They lived at Tweede Oosterparkstraat 44 on the third floor in Amsterdam. Then, however, when deportations began on a large scale in 1942, Pauline de Beer-Auerbach and her children, presumably including Simon de Beer, were briefly interned in the Westerbork transit camp on 19 July 1942 and transported to Auschwitz two days later.

For Pauline de Beer-Auerbach, the children James and Sientje Jetty, the date of death set under Dutch law is 23 July 1942, and for Simon de Beer 30 Sept. 1942. It could not be clarified whether Simon was deported only later or lived in Auschwitz for an extended period.

In the course of the so-called "furniture operation,” the apartment furnishings were confiscated by the task force of Reich Leader Alfred Rosenberg and transported to Germany.

Pauline de Beer-Auerbach’s siblings survived in exile.

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

Stand: September 2020
© Hildegard Thevs

Quellen: 1; 4; 5; 8; StaHH 351-11, Wiedergutmachung, 3435, 33235; 332-5, Personalregister; 376_2, Spz VIII C 1, Gewerbeanmeldungen.
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