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Louis Glaser * 1872

Hoheluftchaussee 123 a (Eimsbüttel, Hoheluft-West)

1942 Theresienstadt
1942 Treblinka
ermordet

Louis Glaser, born on 5 Aug. 1872 in Hamburg, deported on 19 July 1942 to Theresienstadt and on 21 Sept. 1942 to the Treblinka extermination camp

Hoheluftchaussee 123a

Louis Glaser was the son of Moritz and Therese Glaser, née Falk. In Mar. 1905, he and Toni Levy (born on 2 July 1879) were married. Toni died in Jan. 1928 at the age of only 48, which meant she did not experience the time of persecution. The couple had two children: Lotte (later Lotty) (born on 23 Apr. 1906) and Fritz (born on 28 Oct. 1909).

Louis Glaser was employed as an insurance agent. He carried out this job since 1904, interrupted by his time as a soldier in the First World War. For years, he worked for the general agency of Felix E. M. Landsberger, which was entered in the company register in 1912. He was granted power of attorney there in 1929. As of Feb. 1935, he started a business of his own, managing the enterprise together with his son Fritz, who became a partner in Jan. 1936. Father and son also employed an accountant. However, after the November Pogrom of 1938, they were forced to dissolve the company. Fritz Glaser had been taken into "protective custody” ("Schutzhaft”) and he left as a partner in Dec. 1938. Louis Glaser was not allowed to continue running the company on his own. He was told that the Reich Governor (Reichsstatthalter) would have to give his consent. As a result, he withdrew his application, and the company ceased to exist.

Louis Glaser had been successful in business. His company, for instance, represented as a general agency the Württembergische Feuerversicherung AG, a fire insurance company based in Stuttgart. His business addresses were Adolphsplatz 6 and Kattrepelsbrücke 1. In 1913, he lived at Gärtnerstrasse 100. At the end of the 1920s, he lived at Hoheluftchaussee 123a and in the 1930s at Hansastrasse 82 on the third floor. In the restitution proceedings, his daughter indicated that even before the emigration of the children, the father had lived in a spacious apartment there, comprised of a hall, a dining room, a smoking room for men, and two bedrooms, furnished with expensive furniture. The daughter also reported that her father was fond of buying furniture and that interior decoration had been his hobby. He had furniture dealers as his customers and got the opportunity to pick out new pieces of furniture at their stores. He was forced to dissolve the apartment on Hansastrasse, moving from there to Beim Andreasbrunnen 3 in 1941, where he occupied only one room. His last address in Altona was at Sonninstrasse 16 on the third floor.

His Jewish religious tax (Kultussteuer) file card lists as other addresses Gärtnerstrasse 100 (in 1913) and Haynstrasse 10 (subtenant with Marcus) (in 1941).

On 23 Aug. 1938, the daughter, Lotte Glaser, married the commercial agent Alfons Levy, emigrating with him to Shanghai in Feb. 1938. In mid-1939, the couple’s twins, who had probably been born there, died in Shanghai. In Dec., the Levys were able to continue their journey to the USA. Their daughter Marion was born there in 1942.

In Sept. 1937, son Fritz married Franziska Salomon in Hamburg. Their first son Jona was born in Oct. 1938, still in Hamburg. In Nov. 1938, Fritz Glaser was detained in Sachsenhausen and subsequently released in Dec. on condition of leaving the country as soon as possible. In Mar. 1939, the family emigrated to the USA via Southampton. Fritz was fortunate to be in the possession of a visa. In St. Louis, their second son Frank was born in Sept. 1942.

After Louis Glaser’s children had reached safety, he remained behind alone and was deported – at the age of 70 – to Theresienstadt on 19 July 1942 and to the Treblinka extermination camp two months later.

Translator: Erwin Fink

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

© Susanne Lohmeyer

Quellen: 1; 2 (FVg 5569); 4; 7; StaH 351-11 AfW, 1922 und 35315; StaH 231-7, A 1 Bd. 69 HRA 16383; HAB II 1913, 1920, 1928 und 1937.
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