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Philip Meyer * 1863

Redderplatz 16 (Hamburg-Nord, Ohlsdorf)

1942 Theresienstadt
ermordet 05.11.1942

Philip Meyer, born on 21.2.1863 in Hamburg, deported on 19.7.1942 to Theresienstadt, perished there on 5.11.1942

Redderplatz 16

Philip Meyer was born on February 21, 1863 as the third son of Friederike Reichel, née Salomon (born Febr. 8., 1826 in Hamburg), and David Levin Meyer in Hamburg in Peterstraße. His father came from Altona and worked as a cigar maker. The family belonged to the Jewish Community, as did his paternal grandparents, Jette, née Schild, and Levin Meyer, and his maternal grandparents, Fanny, née Israel, and Hirsch Salomon from Poolstraße.

Philip grew up with his four brothers, Albert (born Febr. 20, 1858), Solm, the elder (born Oct 15, 1859), Solm, the younger (born January 10, 1861) and Daniel (born Febr 17,1865), who were also born in Hamburg, in Hamburg's Neustadt, the Jewish commercial district. Like all his brothers, he learned a trade, which was still rather unusual for Jewish men at the time, as the guilds had long prevented this.

His eldest brother, the typesetter and later proofreader (accountant) Albert Meyer, married the Christian Anna, née Thielhorn, at the beginning of April 1880. Her father Friedrich Thielhorn was already deceased, her mother Johanna, née Rippens, lived in Hamburg. The marriage of Albert and Anna Meyer produced their first daughter Caroline Anna Fanny Meyer. She was born in June 1880 in their apartment at Neuer Steinweg Hof 39, No. 6.

Philip Meyer had served and was in possession of a Hamburg military pass dated June 20, 1885. He probably had a skilled and steady hand, as he chose the profession of book printer and liner, which was highly valued at the time. His brother Solm was a "book printer's assistant” at N. Feigenbaum, Große Bleichen 55a.

On June 2, 1888, Philip Meyer married Ernestine Schröder (born Oct 25, 1866 in Westergellersen near Leineberg) in Hamburg. She was a Lutheran and descended from Ernestine Cathawrina Dorothea, née Behn, and the baker Heinrich Wilhelm Schröder. Philip Meyer's father had died three years before the wedding on February 10, 1885 at the age of 66. His grave can be found in the Ilandkoppel Jewish Cemetery, grave location A 11, no. 403.

Philip's mother continued to live in Peterstraße with her unmarried son, Philip's older brother Solm.

Philip Meyer had five children with Ernestine. All were born in Hamburg and baptized Protestant. Henriette, the first-born daughter, was born on May 7, 1889 at Steintwiete 10, as was her second child, her son Caesar, on June 16, 1890, and two years later, on August 5, 1892, her son Wilhelm was born. The family lived in the Rotherbaum district, Grindelhof 34a, house 4, when Wilhelmine Ernestine was born on December 3, 1893 and their youngest son Philip on March 28, 1898.

Philip Meyer's youngest brother Daniel was a locksmith by trade. At the beginning of January 1890, he too had married a non-Jewish wife. Auguste, née Zandt, was the daughter of Catharina, née Nagel, and the farmhand Johann Zandt. The six children from this marriage were born around the same time as Philip's children in Hamburg: Elisabeth (born 1890), Richard (born 1892), Agnes (born 1895), Anna (born 1897), Olga (born 1901) and Henry (born 1906).
Philip's older brother, Solm Meyer, the older book printer, married four months after his brother Daniel in May 1890. His wife Auguste Caroline Johanna Femerling was also a Lutheran and the daughter of Marie Elisabeth, née Benther, and the "wage servant” August David Theodor Fermerling. Her mother had already died. Solm Meyer and his wife Johanna had six children in Hamburg: Max Louis (born May 6,1893), Mary (born Dec 25, 1894), Joseph Alwin (born July 7, 1896), Albert (born Febr 12,1898), Walther (born Oct 27, 1901) and Hertha (born May 27, 1904).

His brother Solm, the younger, married Rosa, née Leo (born April 25, 1869 in Wandsbek), who came from a Jewish family, in November 1892. Her parents Rosalie, née Alexander, and Aaron Leo lived in Hamburg. Their first daughter Jenny was born on June 23, 1893 in Hamburg, their second daughter Selma Josepha (born June 14, 1895 in Hamburg) did not live to see her father. He died a month earlier at the age of 34, on May 1, 1895 in his apartment at Specksgang 22, 1st floor, in the Gängeviertel in Hamburg's Neustadt district.
Solm Meyer, the younger, was buried in the Langenfelde Jewish Cemetery, grave location D 134, no. 368.

On April 7, 1893, Philip Meyer registered his new business at Grindelhof 34, house 4, first floor, as a dealer in paper and gallantry goods (1905-1910 Buchdruckerei Grindelhof 64; 1911/12 Buchdruckerei no. 59, apartment no. 64).
Six years later, on September 22, 1899, Philip Meyer was accepted as a Hamburg citizen, as was his brother Albert, at that time a "corrector” by profession, a few months earlier, and his brother Solm a year later.

Philip's brother Solm Meyer, the elder, also died young, at the age of 47. On July 14, 1907, he succumbed to pulmonary consumption in his apartment in Winterhude, Dorotheenstraße 5. His youngest daughter Hertha was only three years old at the time. He was buried in the family grave at Ohlsdorf cemetery, grave location AF, no. 28 IV.

Philip's youngest brother Daniel Meyer, now a journeyman locksmith, also acquired Hamburg citizenship in January 1912.
Philip Meyer initially kept his book printing business in Grindel, but in 1912 moved with his family to an apartment in Fuhlsbüttel in Kleekamp 23 Philip junior stayed with his parents, even when they later moved the print shop and their home to Siemssenstraße 6. Their daughter Henriette, who had married the typesetter Berthold Bode (born February 25, 1885 in Altona) on April 6, 1912, lived there on the first floor.

The following year, Philip's mother Friederike Meyer died on September 16, 1913 in Winterhude, Geibelstraße 43, at the age of 87. She was laid to rest in the Ilandkoppel Jewish Cemetery, grave location ZX 11, no. 843.

In the same year, the young couple Henriette and Berthold Bode had to cope with the death of their seven-month-old daughter, Philip Meyer's granddaughter, Erna Maria, at Kleekamp 42. She was buried in the children's row grave at Ohlsdorf cemetery, grave location Y 16 IV, No. 407. In January 1915, their second daughter Irmgard was born.
During the First World War, on October 30, 1918, Philip's daughter Wilhelmine married Rudolph Bock (born August 18,1888 in Ernstthal, Glauchau) in Bergedorf. Their son Rudolf was born there on December 5, 1922.

A year earlier, on May 19, 1917, her cousin Selma Josepha Meyer had married her cousin Max Louis Meyer, the children of Solm Meyer, the younger, and Solm, the older. However, both died very soon, Max Louis less than two years later on January 18, 1919 and Selma followed him on July 26, 1921. They were buried in the Langenfelde Jewish Cemetery, grave location D 138 o.

Philip's brother Daniel Meyer lived with his family in Barmbek-Süd, Käthnerort 13, 1st floor. He had moved there in 1919.

In the same year, Philip Meyer's son Caesar married Karoline Lehrke (born Oct 30, 1896 in Hamburg) on December 20, 1919 in Lokstedt. On July 9, 1921, the family celebrated the birth of their daughter Friedel.

Philip Meyer's eldest brother Albert died of a stroke on April 19, 1921 at the age of 63 in his apartment in St. Pauli, Feldstraße 57, 2nd floor. He was laid to rest in the double grave at the Ohlsdorf cemetery, grave location AG, No. 41 II.
The second eldest son of the family, Wilhelm Meyer, married Botilda Paula Martha, née Mösche (born March 22, 1895 in Hamburg) the following month, on May 7, 1921. The couple later moved to Bergedorf.

Philip Meyer and his family lived in Siemssenstraße during the First World War - until January 1922, when they moved to Redderplatz 16 in Ohlsdorf. The family of her daughter Henriette Bode and her now seven-year-old granddaughter Irmgard had been living there, next door at Redderplatz 14, since 1917.
The apartment at Redderplatz 16, with two living rooms on the second floor, bordered the Jewish Cemetery in Ohlsdorf, where Philip's father had been laid to rest on February 10, 1885 and his mother on September 16, 1913. Their youngest son Philip lived with them for two years until he started his own family in Stellingen.

Philip junior was baptized on July 14, 1922 at the age of 24 in St. Johannis Church in Harvestehude by Pastor Bernitt. The church's baptismal register lists Philip Meyer as non-denominational and his wife as Lutheran. The baptism of Philip Jr. was presumably in connection with his wedding, which took place in August 1924; his wife Martha Behrmann was of the Christian faith.

In the years following the First World War, Germany had to make large reparation payments and the economic situation was uncertain. Philip Meyer was no longer able to pursue his profession as a book printer and was unable to maintain his business.

At the end of March 1927, he registered a trade in bakery and tobacco products, selling from door to door. With this business, which may have developed due to his relationship with his wife's relatives - his father-in-law was a baker - he wanted to secure his livelihood and that of his family; Philip Meyer was 64 years old at the time.

In the religious tax register of the Jewish Community, Philip Meyer's occupation in the 1930s is listed as "prison warden”. He may have practiced this later profession in the nearby Fuhlsbüttel prison. In the circular decree of the Reich and Prussian Minister of the Interior of December 20, 1935 (Ref. II SB 6100/901), No. 2 stipulated the "retirement of Jewish civil servants”. However, this was not necessarily associated with a pension; only those who had been civil servants before 1914 received one. The prison administration was required to compile lists of Jewish employees and to ask those concerned to provide "Aryan” proof of descent. On a list of 123 people, "List of those civil servants, employees and workers who have not yet proven their Aryan descent, as of September 26, 1936”, there is also a "Meyer”, "prison warden”. It could not be clarified whether this was Philip Meyer. In any case, he lost his job.

Philip's wife Ernestine is noted in the index card as being of "apostolic faith”. However, this did not protect the family from National Socialist persecution. Philip Meyer's resignation from the Jewish Community in 1931 did not help him either.
Philip's wife Ernestine Meyer died of a stroke in Alsterdorf Hospital two days before Christmas Eve in 1939. According to her children's later statements, she became a Nazi victim due to her "fears and stresses”. Her urn was buried in the Bode family grave of her daughter Henriette's family on April 2, 1940 in the Ohlsdorf cemetery, grave location Z 28, No. 377 II. (In November 1965, the urn of her daughter Henriette Bode, née Meyer, was also buried there. The granddaughter Irmgard Bode, whom Philip and Ernestine Meyer presumably had in their neighborhood, was buried there. In November 1965, the urn of her daughter Henriette Bode, née Meyer, was also placed in her grave.)

The granddaughter Irmgard Bode, whom Philip and Ernestine Meyer had presumably seen grow up in their neighborhood, married in June 1940.

At this time, only Daniel of Philip Meyer's brothers was still alive. His Christian wife Auguste, née Zandt, had also died on May 31, 1922. Both brothers were therefore no longer protected by a "privileged mixed marriage”. They received the deportation order for July 19, 1942 to Theresienstadt. Together they, 79-year-old Philip and 77-year-old Daniel, had to board the deportation train. Just four months later, Philip Meyer died at Nov 5,1942
as a result of the inhumane living conditions in the Theresienstadt ghetto.

The further fate of his family members
Philip's brother Daniel survived the years of humiliation and suffering. After the Second World War, he was able to return to Hamburg in June 1945. But one year after liberation, he too died of bronchial carcinoma in Elim Hospital on May 3, 1946.
According to his daughter Elisabeth Baumgartl (born 1890), he died as a result of his stay in the concentration camp.
Their son Werner Baumgartl (born Nov 19, 1914 in Hamburg) also suffered persecution. Like his relatives, he had trained as a typesetter; he had started his apprenticeship at Franz Starck, Alsterdorferstraße 9, in April 1929 and was employed there as an assistant until April 1936. He was arrested by the Gestapo on June 17, 1936 for "illegal activities” with "the Socialist Workers' Youth” and, after seven months in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp and in a remand prison, was sentenced to two years in prison by the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court for "preparation for high treason”. After his release on April 25, 1938, his former boss took him back into the company. According to his statements, Werner Baumgartl was proficient in "commercial poster form printing, linocut design, paper calculation, costing, platen, high-speed presses and other printing and auxiliary machines, as well as printing and printing presses. Printing and auxiliary machines as well as dealing with customers and commercial work to his complete satisfaction”, so that he was qualified to manage a print shop. However, Werner Baumgartl was not allowed to take the master craftsman's examination in 1940 for political reasons. From May 1944 until the end of the war, he was forced to work for the Hamburg clean-up service.

The widow of the younger Solm Meyer, Rosa Meyer, née Leo, was a welfare recipient and died in the Israelite Hospital on February 10, 1939, shortly before reaching the age of 70. As a Jew, she was only allowed to be treated in this hospital. She had suffered from "myodegeneratiocordis” (degeneration of the heart muscle). Three days later, she was buried in the Langenfelde Jewish cemetery next to her husband, near her parents and her daughter Selma.

Her daughter Jenny worked as a packer and had remained unmarried. As a member of the Jewish Community, she had lived with her mother in the Samuel-Levy-Stift at Bundesstraße 35, House A, since 1931. Left to her own devices, she hoped to escape the persecution of the National Socialists by fleeing to Belgium on June 2, 1939, and tried to get by there as a maid. Her hopes were not fulfilled. After the invasion of the German Wehrmacht in May 1940, she was once again at the mercy of National Socialist terror. She was interned in the Mechelen/Malines transit camp. From there, she was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp on September 20, 1943 and murdered. She was 50 years old.

Philip Meyer's children as well as nieces and nephews also suffered from National Socialist persecution as so-called "first-degree Mischlinge”. Philip Meyer's daughter Henriette was married to the typesetter Berthold Bode and lived in the immediate vicinity. Before her father's deportation, she had helplessly witnessed how he had to leave everything behind in his apartment and hand in the key to his apartment to the police; she herself had been denied access to her father's apartment.

Philip Meyer's son Caesar had also learned the profession of typesetter and lived in Süd-Barmbek, Imstedt 8, from 1923 to 1943. He was bombed out during the bombing raids on Hamburg and lived in Stadthagen-Land from August 1943 until after the end of the war.
Philip Meyer's eldest son, Wilhelm, had lived near his parents at Wördemannsweg 36 in 1926. He had moved to Stellingen in the 1930s. He had worked there for the Altona gas works (Hamburger Gaswerke G.M.B.H. from April 1938) since April 1935. He was dismissed from his job as a "first-degree Mischling” and had to do forced labor in salvage and clearance work in the Wendenstraße camp from November 1944 until the end of the war. Wilhelm Meyer remained unmarried.

Philip Meyer's daughter Wilhelmine had three children with the non-Jewish Rudolph Bock. Her husband had been killed in a bombing raid in 1941. She lived with her two children, born in 1925 and 1927, in a room in Bergedorf without any furniture. The confiscated furniture from her father's apartment had also been withheld from her.
Her eldest son, Philip's grandson Rudolf, had been drafted as a soldier and was killed in the war in 1943 at the age of 20.

Philip Meyer's youngest son, Philip, who had the same name, had worked as a machine worker at the Altona gas works from April 1935, as had his brother Wilhelm. He had received his notice of termination from Hamburger Gaswerke G.M.B.H on March 11, 1939, with the "reason for termination”: "because the preconditions for employment at H.G.W. are not met”. The Hamburger Gaswerke "were not allowed” to continue employing a so-called "first-degree Mischlinge”. He was paid 28.56 RM as compensation.

Philip Meyer's five children survived the persecution and the Second World War - Henriette Bode died in October 1965, Philip, the youngest brother, in June 1970, Wilhelm in July 1971, Wilhelmine Bock in March 1974 and Caesar in March 1975 - he was buried in a single grave in the Öjendorf cemetery, grave location BT 71, no. 568.

Translation: Beate Meyer
Stand: November 2024
© Margot Löhr

Quellen: 1; 4; 5; 7; 8; StaH, 241-1 I Gefängnisverwaltung, 2666 Justizbeamte Aushilfskräfte, 2682 Jüdische Justizbeamte beurlaubt, 2688 Justizbeamte Liste Nachweis "arische" Abstammung; StaH, 332-5 Standesämter, Geburtsregister, 1979 u. 2806/1880 Caroline Meyer, 2189 u. 1430/1889 Henriette Meyer, 2218 u. 1799/1890 Caesar Meyer, 2279 u. 2191/1892 Wilhelm Meyer, 9088 u. 2078/1893 Wilhelmine Meyer, 9143 u. 677/1898 Philip Meyer; StaH, 332-5 Standesämter, Heiratsregister, 2612 u. 297/1880 Albert Meyer u. Anna Thielhorn, 2727 u. 710/1888 Philip Meyer u. Ernestine Schröder, 2752 u. 17/1890 Daniel Meyer u. Johanna, geb. Zandt, 2760 u. 557/1890 Solm Meyer u. Johanna Femerling, 8906 u. 46/1924 Philip Meyer u. Martha Behrmann; StaH, 332-5 Standesämter, Sterberegister, 179 u. 480/1885 David Levin Meyer, 9672 u. 1809/1907 Solm Meyer, 9723 u. 2403/1913 Reichel Meyer, 840 u. 217/1921 Albert Meyer, 1019 u. 481/1934 Anna Meyer, 9908 u. 659/1939 Ernestine Meyer, 8203 u. 356/1946 Daniel Meyer, 7412 u. 3528/1965 Henriette Bode, 5531 u. 356/1970 Philip Meyer, 10551 u. 577/1971 Wilhelm Meyer, 10557 u. 320/1974 Wilhelmine Bock, 750075 u. 889/1975 Caesar Meyer; StaH, 332-7 Staatsangehörigkeitsaufsicht, AIf, Bd. 145, AIf Bd. 157 Nr. 7966/1876 David Meyer, AIf Bd. 188 O 161/1899 Albert Meyer, AIf Bd. 189 Nr. P 480/1899 Philip Meyer, AIf Bd. 190 Nr. Q 321/1900 Solm Meyer; StaH, 342-2 Militär-Ersatzbehörden, D II Nr. 31 Bd. 2 Philip Meyer; StaH, 351-11 Amt für Wiedergutmachung, 973 Daniel Meyer, 13918 Richard Meyer; StaH, 352-5 Gesundheitsbehörde, Todesbescheinigungen, 1907 Sta 3 Nr. 1809 Solm Meyer, 1921 Sta 2a Nr. 217 Albert Meyer, 1934 Sta 1a Nr. 481 Anna Meyer; StaH, 376-2 Gewerbepolizei, Spz VIII C 45 Nr. 6175/1893 Philip Meyer; StaH, 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden, Geburtsregister, 696 b Nr. 105/1824 Louis Meyer, 696 e Nr. 280/1858 Albert Meyer, 696 f 41/1861 Solm Meyer, 696 f Nr. 30/1865 Daniel Meyer, 696 f Nr. 324/1863 Philip Meyer; StaH, 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden, Heiratsregister, 702 d Nr. 4/1857 David Meyer u. Reichel Salomon; StaH, 741-4 Fotoarchiv, K 2507, K 2511, K 3857, K 6597, K 6607; Hamburger Adressbücher 1863–1943; Archiv Friedhof Ohlsdorf, Beerdigungsregister, 1907 Nr. 7595 Solm Meyer, 1921 Nr. 3879 Albert Meyer, Feuerbestattungen, 1939 Nr. 5977 Ernestine Meyer, 1965 Nr. 8720 Henriette Bode, Beerdigungsregister Friedhof Öjendorf 1975 Nr. 645 Caesar Meyer, Grabbrief E 28927 Berthold Bode, Grabbrief 73679 Bode; Auskünfte Barbara Schulze, Förderkreis Ohlsdorfer Friedhof e. V., zu Meyer, Ernestine, geb. Schröder, Z 28, Nr. 377, Grabstätte Bode.
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