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Julius Goldschmidt * 1881

Marckmannstraße Ecke Lindleystraße (Hamburg-Mitte, Rothenburgsort)

HIER WOHNTE
JULIUS GOLDSCHMIDT
JG. 1881
VERHAFTET 1938
SACHSENHAUSEN
DEPORTIERT 1942
AUSCHWITZ
ERMORDET

further stumbling stones in Marckmannstraße Ecke Lindleystraße:
Ferdinande Goldschmidt

Ferdinande Goldschmidt, née Bernheim, born on 16 Apr. 1884 in Hamburg, deported on 11 July 1942 to Auschwitz
Julius Goldschmidt, born on 27 May 1881 in Hamburg, imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1938, deported on 11 July 1942 to Auschwitz

Intersection of Marckmannstrasse/Lindleystrasse (Marckmannstrasse 58)

Although according to Nazi classification, Ferdinande Henriette Goldschmidt was a "quarter-Jew” ("Vierteljüdin”), she was included in the destruction of European Jews because of her marriage with a "fully Jewish” ("volljüdisch”) husband. The Gestapo assigned both of them to the transport on 11 July 1942. In contrast to other transports to the east, this one departed Hamburg with destination allegedly unknown.

When Ferdinande was born, her parents, the merchant Heinrich Bernheim and his wife Gesche, née Bergmann, lived at Colonnaden 36 in Hamburg-Neustadt. From there, the family moved to Poolstrasse 13. The father was a member of the German-Israelitic Community, the mother was in the Lutheran Church. Ferdinande Bernheim apparently grew up not belonging to any religious denomination. Her future husband, Julius Goldschmidt, came from a Jewish family. When he was born, his parents, the merchant Joseph Goldschmidt and his wife Giedel, called Jettchen, née Block, also lived in Hamburg-Neustadt, at ABC-Strasse 34; later, they moved to the Grindel quarter.

Julius Goldschmidt became a commercial clerk and in this capacity, he also worked as a sales representative. The wedding with Ferdinande Bernheim took place on 30 Sept. 1905. The couple moved to Bleichenbrücke 6. Ferdinande Goldschmidt’s father, Heinrich Bernheim, was one of the witnesses to the marriage; the other was Karl Closius, apparently a friend of the husband. It was not possible to clarify why none of the relatives of Julius Goldschmidt, whose parents were still alive, acted as a witness to the marriage. Perhaps they took offense to the "mixed marriage” or perhaps to the premarital daughter H., who was born in 1903.

No further details could be determined about the life of the Goldschmidt family in the decades until 1932. In that year, the Hamburg German-Israelitic Community started a new tax file card for Julius Goldschmidt, which also contained notes entered for his wife Ferdinande and the daughter, Ferdinande with the addition of "left [the Community]” ("Austritt”). In the 1930s, Julius Goldschmidt lost his job as a commercial clerk and stayed unemployed. He gave piano lessons, though not earning a taxable income by doing so. Probably in connection with the November Pogrom of 1938, he was imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, then released on condition of emigrating as soon as possible. Julius Goldschmidt made efforts toward emigration to Britain, and he was supported in this by the Relief Organization of Jews in Germany (Hilfsverein der Juden in Deutschland or Jüdischer Hilfsverein).
On 22 Apr. 1939, the registrar entered a marginal note in Ferdinande Goldschmidt’s birth register:

"According to the notice given by Julius Goldschmidt, residing in Hamburg, Marckmannstrasse 58, his wife Ferdinande Henriette, née Bernheim, has assumed the additional first name Sara in accordance with Sec. 2 of the Second Decree regarding the Implementation of the Legislation on the Alteration of Family and Personal Names [§ 2 der II. Verordnung zur Durchführung des Gesetzes über die Änderung von Familien- und Vornamen] dated 17 Aug. 1938.” This formulation glossed over the fact that this was a general compulsory measure against Jews that also affected Julius Goldschmidt himself, who was forced to add "Israel” to his name. On 11 July 1939, he received the tax clearance certificate (Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung) for his emigration, and the Jewish Community assumed that he had emigrated to Britain in Aug. 1939. Probably the emigration failed due to the outbreak of war. What remains unclear from the records is whether Ferdinande Goldschmidt and the daughter wished to emigrate as well. Afterward, Julius Goldschmidt worked in a sawmill, likely as a forced laborer.

The Goldschmidt couple left their apartment at Marckmannstrasse 58 on 12 Feb. 1942, moving to Kielortallee 24, where the Jewish Community, by orders of the Gestapo, had established a "Jews’ house” ("Judenhaus”) in the Oppenheimer-Stift. After only four months, Ferdinande and Julius Goldschmidt were forced to leave this accommodation. The deportation transport, whose destination they were not told, went to Auschwitz, where it seems the arrivals were immediately herded into the gas chambers, by that time in an experimental phase, and murdered. Their lives ended at the ages of 58 and 61, respectively.

Translator: Erwin Fink

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

© Hildegard Thevs

Quellen: 1; 4; 5; AB div., StaH 332-5 Standesämter, 2204+2575/1881, 2077+1939/1884, 3042+636 /1905; 552-1 Jüdische Gemeinden, 391; 872 Jüd. Gemeindeblatt XIV; Sielemann, Jürgen, Zielort.
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