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Erna Brociner (née Hauptmann) * 1883

Grindelhof 83 (Eimsbüttel, Rotherbaum)

1941 Minsk
ermordet

further stumbling stones in Grindelhof 83:
Leopold Bielefeld, Valentina Brociner, Kurt Ehrenberg, Heinrich Kempler, Rosa Kempler, Herbert Lesheim, Bert(h)a Lesheim, Ruth Lesheim, Marion Lesheim, Tana Lesheim, Mary Liebreich, Hugo Moses, Bertha Nürenberg

Erna Brociner, née Hauptmann, born 22 Mar. 1883 in Dresden, deported 18 Nov. 1941 to Minsk, died there
Valentina Brociner, born 24 Apr. 1909 in Dresden, deported 18 Nov. 1941 to Minsk, died there

Grindelhof 83

Erna Brociner, a milliner, was married to a hat maker. She made headwear for women, he for men. David Brociner, her husband, was from the Romanian town of Tulcea. The couple had three children, two sons and a daughter. They first lived in Bucharest, where their eldest son, Emanuel Mendel, was born on 30 Sept. 1906. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Dresden. Edward (originally Adolf) was born there on 15 Oct. 1907, followed by Valentina, the youngest, on 24 Apr. 1909.

In 1919, the family moved to Hamburg, where David Brociner worked as a hatter at the Trautwein company. When he lost his job on 26 Nov. 1921, he became self-employed and took hats on commission for repair or refurbishing. He may have lost his job because of an eye ailment. His own business did not go well, and a year later he had to apply for welfare subsidies. An application for a pension in 1929 was rejected because he had acquired no retirement entitlements. According to Emanuel, who survived the Shoah, the family lived in a 5-room apartment at Mattentwiete 6 until 1934. Erna Brociner’s earnings were probably the largest part of the family’s finances.

In 1934 Erna and David Brociner divorced. The 1937 Hamburg address book had two entries for the name Brociner – Emanuel, at Tonndorfer Straße 10, and Erna at Hopfenmarkt 34. In 1939 she took over the apartment on Tonndorfer Straße. Emanuel had left the country at the end of November 1936.

Valentina Brociner attended the Israelitic Girls’ School in Hamburg, then did a commercial apprenticeship. She moved to Westerstraße 36, probably in rented rooms, then moved in with her mother at Hopfenmarkt 34. Valentina was registered with the Jewish Community since at least 1935, but paid no religious tax from 1935 to 1938. Although her tax records indicate that she was unemployed, it is possible that she was not in Hamburg during those years, but rather in Stadthagen, in what is now Lower Saxony. She later worked again in Hamburg, as an usher in the UFA cinema, before she was conscripted to forced labor in a jute and a munitions factory. At that time she was living with her mother at Grindelhof 83. From October 1939 onwards she paid religious taxes regularly. She worked as forced labor until 1941.

In March 1935 David Brociner had to give up his apartment or rented rooms for financial reasons. For a short time he moved in with his daughter, then to the Daniel Wormser Home. As of 19 Sept. 1941, he, like all Jews, had to wear the "yellow star." He died on 24 Mar. 1943. The medical examiner’s report stated that he "died of deprivation."

Erna and Valentina Brociner also had to wear the "yellow star.” In 1941, Leopold Bielefeld (see Grindelhof 83) and the Ehrenberg family (see Grindelhof 64) were forcibly quartered in the Brociners’ apartment at Grindelhof 83.

On 8 Nov. 1941, Leopold Bielefeld and Kurt Ehrenberg were deported to Minsk and murdered there. Ten days later, on 18 Nov. 1941, Erna and Valentina Brociner, Gertrud Ehrenberg and her young daughters Inge and Lotte were also deported to Minsk. None of them survived.

Emanuel Brociner reached Holland in late 1936, where he lived from refugee aid. He traveled via Marseille to Colombia, where he arrived in January 1939. His travel arrangements were organized and paid for by the Amsterdam Committee for Jewish Refugees. In Colombia he married Almira Sanodval (*20 July 1932). They had three children. He had previously been married to a non-Jewish woman in Hamburg, but they had divorced. The couple were strongly advised to divorce for "racial" reasons. Emanuel died on 7 Feb. 1976. After leaving Germany he had no contact with his parents and siblings.

Adolf Brociner also emigrated in 1936 and settled in New York, where he changed his name to Edward and worked as a taxi driver. He died in 1962.

Translator: Amy Lee
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

© Charlotte Wilken

Quellen: 1; 4; 8; 9; StaH 351-11 Amt für Wiedergutmachung 34938.
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