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Stolpersteine in der Oderfelder Straße
© Johann-Hinrich Möller / Ruth Seidel

Maurice Nathan * 1866

Oderfelder Straße 11 (Eimsbüttel, Harvestehude)

1942 Theresienstadt
1942 Treblinka
ermordet

further stumbling stones in Oderfelder Straße 11:
Jenny Nathan

Jenny Nathan, née Mindus, born on June 4, 1876, in Hamburg, deported on July 15, 1942, to Theresienstadt, then deported on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka and murdered

Maurice Nathan, born on August 7, 1866, in Wandsbek, deported on July 15, 1942, to Theresienstadt, then deported on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka and murdered

Oderfelderstraße 11 (Eimsbüttel, Harvestehude)

The apartment on the ground floor of the building at Oderfelderstraße 11 was home to Jenny and Maurice Nathan and their children Erich and Edith for many years. Jenny, née Mindus, was born on June 4, 1876, in Hamburg, while Maurice Nathan was born on August 7, 1866, in Wandsbek, which at that time did not yet belong to Hamburg. Both came from Jewish families.

Jenny was the only child of Sophie, née Baruch, born on March 22, 1856, in Hamburg, and the hosiery merchant Marcus Joel Mindus, born on February 7, 1846, in Jemgum, Lower Saxony. Her father had moved to Hamburg, and her parents were married there on June 7, 1874, by Chief Rabbi Stern, who looked after the Orthodox members of the German-Israelite Synagogue Association within the German-Israelite community in Hamburg. In addition to Joel Marcus Mindus, who was the youngest of seven siblings, his brother Valk Joel Mindus (born in 1836 in Jemgum) and his wife Adele, née Italiener (born in 1849 in Jemgum), and his sister Schöntje, née Mindus (born in 1840), with her husband Jacob Abrahamssohn (born 1840 in Esens) had also settled in Hamburg.

Marcus Joel Mindus was accepted into the Hamburg State Association on May 31, 1892, as had his cousins from Jemgum, Wolff Ruben, born in 1856, and Marcus Mindus, born in 1841, seven and two years earlier.

Jenny Nathan's maternal grandparents, Friederike Baruch, née Simon (born in 1834), and Anton Meyer Baruch (born in 1812), had been married in Hamburg in 1853. When her grandfather died on March 4, 1887, at Fuhlentwiete 78, Jenny was almost 11 years old. Her grandmother died 13 years later, on January 24, 1900, at Rothenbaumchaussee 1. Both were laid to rest in the Jewish Cemetery in Langenfelde, graves B4 and B3.

The ancestors of the Nathan family
The oldest ancestors, the great-great-great-great-great-grandparents of Maurice Nathan, can be found in the Jewish cemetery on Königstraße. Nathan Yehuda Moses Kleve, born around 1590 in the Netherlands, died on January 10, 1675, in Altona (Königstraße Cemetery FO), had come to Hamburg and married Hadassah Hedes Moses/Cleve (Hildesheim) in his first marriage. After her death in 1656 in Altona (Königstraße Cemetery FP), he married Jente Juda, née Kallmann (Jente bat Kalonymos), who died on January 18, 1683 (Königstraße Cemetery GO). Their son Mosche Awraham Aberle London ben Natan, who was a Torah scholar and presumably Rabbi Aberle London, amassed great wealth in London. After his death on February 11, 1745 (Königstraße Cemetery, grave location FE), his epitaph describes him as a great benefactor. His son Liepmann Elieser Joseph London (died February 9, 1776, in Altona, Königstraße CM Cemetery) is the father of Nathan Isaac London.
Nathan Isaac London, known as Leffmann Nathan, born in 1687, married Hanna Chana London, née Joel, in 1766. They are the parents of Joel (Pach) Nathan. Leffmann Nathan died on October 27, 1775, in Altona (Königstraße Cemetery EK).

Engraving business "Gebr. Nathan” in Hamburg since 1792
Maurice Nathan was the owner of the engraving business "Gebr. Nathan.” In the 1791 Hamburg address book, his ancestors, the Nathansen brothers, were listed for the first time as "engravers” at Gr. Neumarkt 115 M.7. In 1792, this business, "Gebr. Nathan,” was founded by his great-great-grandfather Joel Nathan, born on April 23, 1787, at 3 Elbstraße.
Two of his sons, whom he had with his wife Mine, née Goldschmidt, born in Hamburg in 1768, Nathan Joel Nathan, born on January 17, 1803, and Isaac Joel Nathan, born on February 26, 1809, took over the family business in 1826 and continued to run it in the new town at 1. Marienstraße 158, and with workshops in the old town at Bohnenstraße 154.
Nathan Joel Nathan was married on February 2, 1830, to Ritschel, née Peine, born in 1811, according to Jewish rites by Rabbi Isaac Bernays. He introduced German-language sermons in the synagogue in Hamburg.

Ritschel and Nathan Joel Nathan had ten children together in Hamburg. Eight children died at a young age: Minna, born on November 13, 1930, died at the age of 16 on July 6, 1847; Sara, born on May 5, 1832, died on June 23, 1833, at the age of 1 year and 4 months; Johanna, born on March 25, 1833, died in 1835 at the age of 2; Renette, born on October 4, 1834, date of death unknown; Pincus, born on November 7, 1839, died on April 3, 1841, aged 1 year and 6 months; Nathan Lipmann, born on June 24, 1841, died on July 29, 1842, aged 1 year and 1 month; Rosalie, born on October 10, 1846, died on August 2, 1848, aged 1 year and 9 months; and Moses Levy, born in 1849, died on February 11, 1852, aged 2 years and 6 months. Except for Sara, who was buried in the Altona cemetery, all of them found their final resting place in the Grindel cemetery one day after their death.
Their two sons, Isaac, born on December 13, 1837, and Heymann Hirsch, born on May 7, 1843, grew up with their parents and into the business.

Isaac Joel Nathan married Rahel, née Nathan, on October 24, 1831, also by Rabbi Josef Bernays. Their daughter Minka was born on November 1, 1832, and their son Nathan Isaac on August 25, 1839.

When Nathan Joel Nathan moved with his family to Peterstraße 4 in 1843, his son Isaac was 6 years old. It was a time when Johannes Brahms, four years his senior, lived next door with his musician father and family.

In 1846, the business was relocated to Adolphsplatz 1, on the corner of Große Johannisstraße, near the new stock exchange and close to Hamburg City Hall. It remained there for over 60 years.

After his son Isaac Nathan was married to Eva, née Schreiber, born in 1841, on May 12, 1861, according to Jewish rites by Rabbi Abraham Stern, his father appointed him as a partner in the company. The business had gradually expanded, and for several years they had also been operating a retail business selling paper and similar items. The couple had nine children: Julius (born in 1862), Albert Isaac (born in 1863), Minka (born in 1864), Maurice Morris (born August 7, 1866, in Wandsbek), a stillborn boy in 1868, twins Siegfried (born 1869) and John (1869-1871), Bernhard (born June 28, 1872), Jettchen (born Dec 24, 1873) and Nathan (1877). Except for Maurice, all were born in Hamburg.

Isaac's brother Heymann Hirsch became a partner for 10 years later, after which he founded his own business. Heymann Hirsch married Helene, née Israel, born on May 16, 1860, in Hamburg, on August 3, 1877. They had seven children, three of whom died as infants. His wife Helene died at the age of thirty on December 1, 1890.

Nathan Joel Nathan died on January 2, 1875, at the age of 72, in his apartment at 1 Elbstraße 29, the site of the old Hamburg "Judenbörse” (a daily open-air market near the Jewish quarters that were permitted at the time). In 1886, his brother Isaac Joel Nathan retired from the business and left the management to his son Isaac Nathan. A general partnership was founded on December 17, 1894, with his sons Maurice Nathan and Bernhard Nathan as partners.
Isaac Joel Nathan died at the age of 86 on September 10, 1895, at Ellernthorsbrücke 5, 2nd floor.

Jenny, née Mindus, and Maurice Nathan
After the year of mourning, on September 4, 1896, Maurice Nathan and Jenny Mindus were married in Hamburg. The witnesses were Sophie's father and Maurice’s brother-in-law, the merchant Adolf Ballin. Jettchen Nathan had married the Hamburg merchant Adolf Ballin on January 9, 1896.

Branches of "Gebr. Nathan” were established on July 3, 1900, in Berlin and Frankfurt.
In Berlin, at Unter den Linden 5/6, the branch office was taken over by Maurice's younger brother Bernhard Nathan. His wedding took place on May 22, 1902, in Hamburg with Marianne Anna, née Benjamin, born on May 16, 1876. She came from Linden/Hanover and had previously lived with her parents, Helene, née Wolff, and the merchant David Benjamin, in Alsterdorferstraße.
Anna and Bernhard Nathan lived in Berlin-Schöneberg, where their daughter Eva was born a year later on June 1, 1903, at Geisbergerstraße 31, followed by their son Hans Gerhardt on December 18, 1904. Paul Günther followed on May 8, 1906, at Landsbergerstraße 34, 1st floor.

The branch in Frankfurt had been closed again in 1903. The business in Hamburg was moved to the new Jungfernstieg 1, and in 1911 to Gänsemarkt 2 (later renamed Jungfernstieg 41).

As a trained seal engraver (a seal engraver made signet rings for seal impressions and cut stamps), Maurice understood the business of exquisite paper, leather, and fashion accessories. Many of his gold-edged writing pads may have found their way onto the desks of Hamburg merchants. The company letterhead read "Royal Purveyors to the Court.” Located in a prime business location at Jungfernstieg 41, the business was well established and provided a secure livelihood and a carefree, middle-class life for the family.

Their son Erich Nathan, born on March 30, 1901, and daughter Edith, born on June 17, 1906, were born in the apartment at Mittelweg 40.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Jenny and Maurice Nathan lived in the ground floor apartment at Oderfelderstraße 11.
Jenny's parents lived not far away at Hartungstraße 8.
After Marcus Joel Mindus died on April 26, 1920, Jenny's mother Sophie Mindus, née Baruch, lived with them for a short time as a widow.
Their daughter Edith, born on June 17, 1906, attended the 10th grade at Dr. Jakob Löwenberg's girls' school at Johnsallee 33 from Easter 1913 onwards. On May 21, 1926, she married the merchant Sally Traubermann. The wedding ball was celebrated in style at the Hotel Atlantik. The young couple continued to live with the bride's parents. Their little daughter Ruth, born on May 24, 1929, was born there. It was a good time, and the family could look forward to the future with hope.

In June 1930, their son Erich founded his own import and export business with three employees at Königstraße 51 in Wandsbek.

In 1932, the Nathan family lived in a five-room apartment on the first floor of Marie-Louisen-Straße 110. Sophie Mindus lived at Löwenstraße 52.

On May 25, 1932, the joint management of the brothers Maurice and Bernhard Nathan was dissolved. From then on, each ran his own business, Bernhard Nathan in Berlin with paper goods at Unter den Linden 5/6, and Maurice Nathan in downtown Hamburg. They operated under the name "Gebr. Nathan,” but separately and under their own responsibility.

Very soon after, National Socialism cast its shadow over Hamburg's Jewish community. Persecution began immediately after the National Socialists came to power on April 1, 1933, with the boycott of Jewish businesses. Maurice Nathan's business in the city center was probably affected.
On December 18, 1935, his wife Jenny Nathan joined the limited partnership as a limited partner with a capital contribution of 5.000 RM, and on January 30, 1936, their son Erich joined as a personally liable partner.

Since coming to power, the National Socialists had enacted more and more laws and regulations to harass Jews in their daily lives and gradually exclude them from society.
This led the Nathan family to make preparations to enable Erich and Edith and their young family to leave the country and seek safety abroad. They escaped persecution by fleeing to England, but Ruth remained in the care of her grandparents for the time being. Edith's second child, Freddy, was born in London on December 4, 1936. Little Ruth was to follow a little later. However, obtaining permission to leave the country was extremely difficult. Many laws and regulations had to be observed before Jenny Nathan was able to bring her little granddaughter Ruth to safety with her parents in England.

Ruth, who later married Seidel, still remembers the traumatic experience of this journey, which she undertook as a little girl: During customs clearance, officials tore off the head of her beloved doll to check whether anything valuable was hidden inside.

After arriving in England, Jenny Nathan did not consider staying there herself for safety.
She did not want to leave her husband Maurice alone and returned to him in Hamburg.

Shortly before the November pogroms of 1938, both were forcibly admitted to the "Judenhaus” (Jewish house) at Haynstr. 5. There they had very little space at their disposal. They had to sell their middle-class furnishings at auction for far less than their value.

By order Maurice Nathan's entire assets were frozen in a "security account.” Only a small amount of money was released to him each month for living expenses. Maurice Nathan, previously a wealthy merchant who had been able to provide well for his large family, now had to ask the finance authority for every additional sum of money from his own assets. At the same time, the passport police confiscated his passport, making it impossible for him to flee abroad.

In December 1938, Maurice Nathan had to pay the first installment of the "Jewish property tax,” another despicable measure by the Nazis to rob Jews. The tax amounted to about one-sixth of his assets.
At the beginning of 1939, Maurice Nathan sold the remaining stock of the company, which was in liquidation. He was forced to pay this last proceeds into the "security account” as well.

Maurice's once-established business, Gebr. Nathan, was now in the process of being forcibly sold off, as the "Aryanization” of his company was carried out "on the basis of § 4 of the Ordinance for the Elimination of Jews from German Economic Life of November 12, 1938....” On January 17, 1939, the limited partnership was dissolved. On the basis of § 3 of the ordinance of November 23, 1938, Assessor Berthold Köhler from the Hamburg municipal administration, Department of Trade, Shipping, and Industry, was appointed as liquidator.
On October 13, 1939, the commercial register stated: "The company has been dissolved.” The Nathan Brothers company, which had enjoyed a good reputation in Hamburg for 147 years, was "Aryanized” and sold to the Riemer company in Magdeburg. Maurice Nathan had to deposit the proceeds of the sale, amounting to 37.100 Reichsmarks, into his blocked account at Dedi Bank.

He had placed the gold, silver, and jewelry in a deposit at Vereinsbank on April 1, 1939, as he intended to have them released from delivery six months later by paying foreign currency. They were to go to his children in England. However, due to the beginning of war, his children's foreign currency could not be transferred, and he therefore requested a further postponement. The foreign exchange office replied on May 10, 1940: "I am unable to comply with your request for an extension of the redemption period for your gold and silver items deposited at the Vereinsbank in Hamburg.”

His son Erich Nathan was also affected by the persecution with his export business, which dealt in the export, transit, and wholesale of haberdashery, jewelry, and carnival items at Königstraße 51, trading with countries such as Switzerland, France, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, and also Palestine. The transit transactions to Switzerland, which were forwarded to the recipients via the shipping company Danzas & Cie Basel and through Cotillon A.G., which he had founded in Switzerland, were mainly to Swiss hotels – including Willy Leser and Peter Gruber in Davos, hotels such as the Hotel Barblan in Sils Maria, the Glockenhof and Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich, Hotel Splendide in Lugano, Metraux & Cie and Hotel Drei Könige in Basel, Park Hotel and Hotel Rätia in Arosa, Eden Sporthotel and J. Trauffer in Davos, Kurhaus Lenzerheide, Hotel les Bergues in Geneva, Grand Hotel and L. Lamm in St. Moritz, the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, hotels in Karlsbad and Marienbad, Gablonz, and Franzenbad in Czechoslovakia, hotels in Cairo and Luxor in Egypt, J.R. Cornet in Paris, France, etc.

The foreign exchange office was interested in ensuring that Erich Nathan's company's foreign exchange amounts were collected. His passport had been confiscated on suspicion of capital flight. After he had succeeded in collecting 90% of the outstanding amounts for 1937, he requested the return of his passport on May 8, 1938, as he needed it for an urgent business trip. This was granted and the passport was handed over to him on May 27, 1938, as he had delivered RM 24.000 within two months and his activities were generating foreign currency for Germany.
However, the checks remained in place. The inspection report showed that during his business trip to Switzerland from June 26 to November 3, 1938, Erich Nathan visited all the cities and towns where there were bazaars and hotels, and was able to obtain over 100 orders with a total value of 80.000 Swiss francs.
The "Jewish company” was again approved for the ZAV (customs export procedure), but the processing was to be carried out by an ‘Aryan’ employee and not by the Jewish employee Max Nussbaum. Until then, the customs clearance of goods shipped to Switzerland and their distribution to customers had been supervised by the "Aryan” employee Gustav Wüstenhöfer. Erich Nathan now wanted to take over this task himself and had applied to the Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the police authorities for foreign currency and the return of his passport. He wanted to start his trip at the end of November and return in mid-December. The Gestapo concluded that arresting him could jeopardize the export orders, so he was not arrested during the November pogrom.

On February 26, 1939, Erich Nathan informed Gustav Wüstenhöfer from his new address in London, 93 Woodstock Avenue, that in view of the changed circumstances in Germany, which would make it even more difficult, if not impossible, for him to continue operating his business in Hamburg, he would not be returning to Germany.
He asked that Max Nussbaum and he be given notice and that they each receive a gratuity commensurate with their length of service. He also asked that the landlord be given notice and that inquiries be made about the steps involved in liquidating the company and emigrating.
Gustav Wüstenhöfer took all necessary steps. Cotillon AG was liquidated so that Erich Nathan could be completely eliminated.

Sophie Mindus, who lived at Löwenstraße 52, died this year on August 8, 1939, at the age of 83. She was buried next to her husband Marcus Mindus in the Langenfelde Jewish cemetery, grave location N 11/N 12. Her assets were also confiscated by the German Reich.

According to a decree issued in February 1939, all Jews were forced to hand over their gold and silver holdings to the Chief Finance Administrator. The Nathan family's jewelry was removed from the Deutsche Bank's vault under supervision, appraised by jeweler J. Hilcken, and sealed. The value of his jewelry and silver items (13 kilograms of silver) was estimated by jeweler J. Hilcken at 15.694,50 marks, 1/10 of the actual value. Maurice Nathan then had to take his valuables to the state purchasing office at Bäckerbreitergang 73. This also included Jenny's valuable jewelry, 1 platinum necklace, a gold watch, bracelet, crescent brooch with diamonds, emeralds, earrings, and rings with pearls as well as smaller and larger diamonds, which were sent from there to the Municipal Pawnshop Headquarters in Berlin, Danzigerstraße 64, and settled with an estimated value of 240 RM minus a 10% administrative fee of 24 RM. Their silver items, including religious objects such as two candlesticks, which are of great importance to Jewish families for Jewish holidays, were ruthlessly taken. The silver items, including a tea and coffee service, 24 teaspoons, 12 dessert spoons, 12 ice cream spoons, 12 mocha spoons, 12 forks, and fish cutlery, weighing a total of 6,770 grams, were valued at RM 240 minus a 10% administrative fee of RM 24, also 1/10 of their actual value.

In 1940, Jenny and Maurice Nathan had to move into a poor dwelling in the Jewish retirement home at Kleiner Schäferkamp 32. This was the final preparation for their subsequent deportation.

On July 15, 1942, Jenny and Maurice Nathan, along with 925 other Jews, mostly elderly people, were deported to Theresienstadt. It is particularly cynical that they were forced to finance this deportation themselves with a lifelong so-called "home purchase contract” (Heimeinkaufsvertrag).

On August 25, 1942, the auction of their confiscated gold and silver items took place at the bailiff's office at Drehbahn 36, which had been announced in the "Hamburger Fremdenblatt” and the "Hamburger Tageblatt.” "After a number of people interested in buying had gathered, they were informed, among other things, that ‘the items being auctioned are being sold voluntarily.’ Silver cutlery went to ‘Bernadi,’ 'Wyss,‘ 'Netzold,’ and ‘Reitz,’ and a gold pocket mirror pendant went to ‘Hoffmeister.’

One month later, on September 21, 1942, Jenny and Maurice Nathan were deported from Terezin with 1,985 other people to the Treblinka extermination camp and murdered.

Siblings of Maurice Nathan
In 1909, Maurice's brother Bernhard Nathan (referred to as Berthold in the files) was subject to legal proceedings to have him declared incompetent due to "mental illness.” He was said to have been in a state of "high nervous excitement” and to have exhibited "a persistently unmotivated elevated mood and overconfidence,” leading a dissolute life at times.
Since July 13, he had been in the sanatorium for the mentally and emotionally ill in Ahrweiler, where he had admitted himself. The stay had been ordered by Prof. Dr. Aschaffenburg from Cologne and senior physician Dr. Möhrchen of the Dr. Ehrenwallschen Kuranstalt.
Bernhard Nathan had been in a dispute with his brother Maurice for years over unrecorded excessive withdrawals of money from the business.

His wife Anna Nathan moved with their three children to Hamburg in September 1909, to Jungfrauenthal 20, 2nd floor, and her husband Bernhard was to be transferred to the "Provinzial-Irrenanstalt Schleswig” (Schleswig Provincial Mental Hospital). In a letter dated November 10, 1909, she requested that her brother Waldemar Benjamin in Nortorf/Schleswig be appointed as temporary guardian, which took place on November 27, 1909, before the Nortorf District Court.
In Schleswig, and again after a stay at Dr. Arnold Lienau's private sanatorium for nervous and mental disorders, known as "Eichenhain,” in Hamburg, his condition improved noticeably, so that Dr. Saenger, Hamburg, allowed Bernhard Nathan to act independently again, and in March 1911 he returned to his Berlin business and resumed work. His family also moved back to Berlin. His illness was considered completely cured and an application was made to have his incapacitation lifted. In November 1914, his incapacitation was lifted.
His son Hans Gerhardt died on November 2, 1926, in Stettin shortly before his 22nd birthday.

After the year of mourning, the Jewish period of mourning, his daughter Eva married Dr. Adolf Wolff, born on March 24, 1895, in Hamburg, on December 4, 1927, in Berlin. The couple then lived in Hamburg. Adolf Wolff had attended the Talmud Torah School there, studied medicine, and established himself as a specialist in internal medicine at Hochallee 119 on January 5, 1926. Their son Gerd Ludwig was born in Hamburg on August 24, 1928.

Maurice's brother Bernhard Nathan escaped with his wife Anna in January and February 1939 with visas from the Brazilian Consulate in Berlin to Rio de Janeiro. Their son Paul had also fled there with his wife Gertrud, née Esche, divorced Warcinski (born in 1911 in Treppendorf/Lübben in the Spreewald), with whom he had still been living with his parents at Rosenheimerstraße 19. Their daughter Gisela was born in Brazil in 1946.

Like all Jewish doctors, her son-in-law Adolf Wolff had lost his license on September 30, 1938. Only a few "medical practitioners” were still allowed to treat Jewish people. Since they did not yet have entry visas for the United States, Adolf Wolff initially fled to England with his wife Eva and son Gerd Ludwig in February 1939.
The family waited there for their entry visas for the United States. In the meantime, Gerd Ludwig attended Ashburton School in Croydon, Surrey. The family managed to leave for the United States just in time: On February 9, 1940, they boarded the M.S. Britannic in the port of Liverpool and sailed across the storm-tossed Atlantic. The journey took nine days without submarine protection in a convoy; the passengers were very frightened: every hard wave that hit the ship was mistaken for a torpedo from a German submarine.

After landing in New York, the family settled in Cleveland, Ohio, where they initially stayed with a friend while Adolf Wolff studied for the Ohio Medical Board exams. In 1941, he opened a later successful internal medicine practice in Chillicothe, Ohio, where their son, now named George Louis, graduated from Chillicothe High School in 1947. Adolf Wolff died on June 20, 1965, at the age of 70.
Eva Wolff lived another 30 years as a widow. She died at the age of 93 in Chillicothe on January 28, 1996.
George Louis Wolff chose to study medicine like his father and attended several universities. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree cum laude from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in zoology from the University of Chicago, Illinois, where he worked as a geneticist. In August 1953, he married Eleanor Herstein, and they had a son, David, and a daughter, Adrienne. George was most recently an associate professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in the departments of Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and Pharmacology/Toxicology. He was also a member of the Arkansas Cancer Research Center. He died on October 12, 2012, in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Maurice Nathan's brother Nathan Nathan was killed in World War I on July 20, 1918, in Sedan. Of his surviving siblings, his brother Albert married Isabel Friedmann in New York. He died in Manhattan on January 21, 1929, at the age of 65.
Brother Siegfried, the surviving twin, also moved to the USA after marrying Jeanette Benedix on April 6, 1905. He died there on February 17, 1948, at the age of 78.
Brother Julius Isaac Nathan was married three times, as his first wives died young: Bertha, née Straßburger, at the age of 34, and Anna, née Simon, at the age of 41, when her son was stillborn. Julius Isaac Nathan was a tanning agent merchant and died in Hamburg on September 8, 1933, at the age of 71. His third wife, the widow Anna Maria Nathan, née Blumenfeld, died in 1941. They were both laid to rest in the Jewish Cemetery Ilandkoppel, C 10-84/85, B9-54.

His daughter Lilly Nathan from his first marriage, born on August 12, 1892, in Hamburg, married Moritz Hirsch on September 14, 1911, in Hamburg. She escaped from Berlin via Southampton, England, on November 19, 1937, on the sailing ship Manhattan to New York, where she was met six days later by her husband, now called Morris, who had left a year earlier, at the Victoria Hotel. She gave her sister Mrs. Rosenberg's address in Hamburg, Leonardstr. 9 (correctly Lenhartzstraße), as her contact address in the ship's papers. It is unclear why she took the same route a second time the following year on October 13, 1938, from Southampton. This time, her husband had a residence at 23 W 69th Street, New York City, and her daughter, Mrs. Lisa Erikson, who was safe in Switzerland, was listed as her contact person. In 1944, the Hirsch couple received American citizenship, and in 1947 they took a trip to Brazil.
Lilly's sister Ellen Rosenberg, née Nathan, born on December 13, 1893, in Oskarström, Sweden, also escaped to New York with her family. She and her husband Emil Rosenberg (born in 1877) were able to leave Lisbon on November 1, 1941, with their 29-year-old son Kurt on the sailing ship Guine. They arrived at the port of New York on September 15, 1941, and joined their daughter Margot, born on March 25, 1914, in Hamburg, who had emigrated in 1938 and married Norbert Pollack there in 1940. After his death, she later married Albert Kaufmann.

As mentioned Maurice's sister Jettchen Nathan married Hamburg on January 9, 1896, merchant Adolf Ballin, born November 15, 1856, son of Gerson Joel Ballin and his wife Sara from Horsens, Midtjylland, Denmark. His father was the second cousin of Albert Ballin, the well-known managing director of the Hamburg shipping company Hapag.
Adolf's grandfather Gerson Joel Ballin (1800–1861) and Albert's grandfather Joseph Joel Ballin's (1786–1839) brother both came from Horsens, Midtjylland, Denmark. The Ballin family line can be traced back to Bovenden/Göttingen and Witzenhausen/Kassel.

Jettchen and Adolf Ballin had two children in Hamburg, Lothar Friedrich Julius Erwin Ballin, born on January 18, 1898, and Wilhelma Anita Sara Gertrud, born on January 27, 1897. They last lived at Klosterallee 28 in Hamburg. Adolf Ballin died there on September 9, 1910, in Hamburg and was buried in the Jewish cemetery Ilandkoppel, grave location C 10-128.
Their daughter Anita married the Hamburg merchant Ludwig Berwin (born February 5, 1884), who ran the family business Berwin & Co at Neuer Wall 54 with his brother Herbert. Anita and Ludwig Berwin had three children in Hamburg: Ralph Ewald Adolf (born February 14, 1921, died after two days, grave A 10-362c Ilandkoppel), Margot Helga, born April 10, 1922, and Erika Käthe, born March 28, 1924. They lived with Jettchen Ballin at Brahmsallee 14 and then at Woldsenweg 7.

In April 1939, Anita and Ludwig Berwin, along with their daughters Helga (later married name Markarian) and Erika (later married name Birenberg), escaped persecution via the port of Southampton in England to New York in the USA, where they joined Ludwig's brother Alfred G. Berwin. Ludwig, now Louis Berwin, died there the following year on December 6, 1940.
Maurice's sister Jettchen Ballin fled with her son Erwin to East London, South Africa. Jettchen Ballin, née Nathan, died there on February 4, 1944. Her son Erwin Ballin emigrated to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1961.

The Mindus family
From the Mindus family, Jenny's father's cousin, Wolff Ruben Marcus, died in July 1940, and his wife, Hermine Mindus, née Sohr, died in January 1942.
Their son Richard Hermann, born on July 28, 1892, in Oskarström/Malmo, returned from World War I with war injuries and was unable to complete his second state law examination in 1933.
Initially classified by doctors as "suffering from nervous disorders,” he was forced to undergo sterilization under the Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases in Offspring (Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses), which came into force on January 1, 1934, and following a diagnosis of "schizophrenia” by doctors at the Friedrichsberg State Hospital and the Eppendorf University Hospital.
His appeal was rejected as late and inadmissible. On November 30, 1937, he was sterilized, presumably in a hospital in Koblenz.

The additional persecution measures against Jews and the confiscation of his property left him in a desperate and hopeless situation.
He threw himself from the stairwell at Oderfelderstraße 41 and died in the Jewish Hospital on March 30, 1942. A stumbling block commemorates him at his last place of residence. (For his biography, see www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de)

Jenny's uncle Valk Joel Mindus (born in 1836 in Jemgum) died in 1903, his wife Adele, née Italiener, had already died in 1893. Their daughter Frieda, born on July 22, 1870, in
Schwerin, had married Josua Weinthal from Embden, who died in Hamburg on July 1, 1936. Under pressure from Nazi persecution, Frieda Weinthal took her own life on July 19, 1942, the day of her impending deportation to Theresienstadt. Her son Max Weinthal, born on August 10, 1892, and her grandson Günther, born on July 11, 1923, both in Hamburg, were deported on January 28, 1943, and became victims of the Shoah in Auschwitz. Stumbling stones commemorate them at Schloßmühlendamm 11 in Hamburg-Harburg (www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de).

Joel Abrahamssohn, cousin of Jenny Nathan, née Mindus, and members of their family were also victims of the Shoah. Stumbling stones commemorate them at Peterstraße 33b (Hamburg-Mitte, Neustadt; for biography, see www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de).


The fate of other family members
Maurice's uncle Nathan Heymann Hirsch married his first wife Helene, née Israel, in Hamburg in August 1877. She died at the age of 30.
On November 22, 1894, he married his second wife, Minna, née Mansbach, in Kassel. Nathan Heymann Hirsch died in Hamburg in 1918. Two of his daughters, Maurice Nathan's cousins, were victims of the Shoah.
His daughter Rebekka, née Nathan, born on June 21, 1885, in Hamburg, married the cap manufacturer John Feldmann on October 3, 1907, in Hamburg. They fled to the Netherlands and were deported via Westerbork/Netherlands to Theresienstadt on January 18, 1942, then on to Auschwitz on January 16, 1944, where they were murdered on July 7, 1944. Three of their five children, Leonie Hartogsohn, née Feldmann, Jenny Moczydlower, née Feldmann, with their families, and Egon Feldmann also fell victim to the Shoah. Stolpersteine commemorate them at Grindelhof 88, Hs.7. (For biographies, see www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de)

Their daughter Rahel Nathan from their second marriage, born on August 5, 1906, in Hamburg, had been married to the cap maker Max Posin since April 22, 1930. Their daughter Naomi was born on January 4, 1932, in Prague, Czechoslovakia. From there, they were deported together to the Theresienstadt ghetto on August 10, 1942. Max was put to work in a hat factory, Rahel in a children's home.
On November 4, 1944, Rahel Posin and her 12-year-old daughter Naomi were deported to Auschwitz and murdered. Max Posin managed to escape, presumably to Colombia. It was there, in Bogota, that Michael Ben Posin was born on October 28, 1949, the son he had with Hanna Mautner, a widow from Vienna whom he had married in his second marriage. Max Posin died on August 7, 1975, in Encino, Los Angeles, California, USA, as did his wife Hanna on March 15, 2001, and his son Michael Ben on September 4, 2010.

Jenny and Maurice's children in exile in London
Erich Nathan married Olga Kokrhac, born on October 27, 1910, also in Hamburg, in exile in London in September 1941. Her parents, Franziska, née Greger, and Ignaz Kokrhac, came from Czechoslovakia. Her father ran a trading business at Dammthorstraße 9, specializing in the export of pocket watches and watches of all kinds. After her father's death in April 1925, she continued to live with her five siblings. Olga had been trained as a furrier since 1927 at the Gebr. Feldberg company (later Eichmeyer & Co.) in Mönckebergstraße. She became a purchasing assistant and in recent years worked as a saleswoman for women's clothing until she was dismissed because of her Jewish ancestry. Since October 1933, the family had lived at Bornstraße 2, 1st floor.
Her brother Willi F. Kokrhac, born on January 21, 1904, had become a steward and had already moved away from home in 1926, moving to Trieste in September 1935.
Her brother Alfred Kokrhac, born on January 5, 1903, like all his siblings born in Hamburg, had died in July 1937. He left behind his non-Jewish wife Elisabeth, née Ringler, born on January 21, 1902, in Hauerau, and their daughter Sylvia Franziska, born on October 6, 1931, in Hamburg.
On November 28, 1938, Olga informed the Chief Finance Administrator through her brother Walter in Hamburg that she intended to remain in England after visiting there two months earlier.
He had no objections to sending her emigrant goods and did not levy a Dego tax. Her sister Hilde Kokrhac, born on August 23, 1914, later with the surname Kane, was also able to escape to England on September 13, 1939.
Their mother, Franziska Kokrhac, née Greger, born on May 9, 1880, in Prague, had moved back to her homeland in Nymburg, Czechoslovakia. There, on June 13, 1942, she was deported from Kolin to Theresienstadt, then on July 14, 1942, she was deported again to Maly Trostinez and murdered.
Her brother Walter, born on March 11, 1908, continued his father's business in Oberstraße, lived in Bornstraße and then at Grindelallee 134 with Wendt and his mother, and then moved abroad with the Frankenthal family on May 17, 1939.
Her sister Helene Kokrhac, born on June 24, 1916, was still an apprentice and emigrated to South Africa on April 21, 1938, where she later lived as Mrs. Lefebre.

Erich Nathan and his sister Edith Traubermann sought compensation after the war. In addition to all the assets that had been stolen from their parents, the collection of the Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte (Museum of Hamburg History) included a silver set consisting of a coffee pot, teapot, milk jug, and sugar bowl, which had once been part of the festive furnishings in the home of Jenny and Maurice Nathan. In 1939, they were confiscated along with many other valuable silver objects for the benefit of the Chief Finance Officer and became known as the "Schellenberg Silver Treasure.” after Dr. Carl Schellenberg, an employee who had worked as a civil servant at the Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte since 1937 and acquired approximately 1.800 kg of silver (approximately 30.000 pieces) from expropriated Jewish property for the museum. The set was returned to the Nathan family and the value, estimated at 90 RM by the appraiser Hilcken, was offset against the compensation amount.

Edith and Sally Traubermann's son Frederik, who was born in London, got married in London in December 1976. Their daughter Ruth married Hardy Seidel, who was from Frankfurt, in London in June 1949. They had two daughters, Jacqueline and Karen, with whom Ruth Seidel attended the Stolperstein dedication ceremony for her grandparents Jenny and Maurice Nathan on June 23, 2009, together with her class from the Eppendorf Gymnasium. There, on the wooden staircase post at Oderfelderstraße 11, she discovered the still-preserved engraving of her brother's monogram, which he had carved there in the tradition of the historic engraving business.

Stand: September 2025
© Margot Löhr

Quellen: StaH 213-13 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht, 4130, 4131, 4132, 4134, 7276, 7277, 7278, 7279 Erich Nathan; StaH 213-13 Rückerstattungssachen, 15881 Maurice Nathan; StaH 214-1 Gerichtsvollzieherei, 534 Besteckteile Lgb. D 188/2 Maurice Nathan; 231-7 A1 Band 58; StaH 232-1, D 402; StaH 232-2, E II 298 Heymann Hirsch Nathan; StaH 311-3 I_Abl. 1989 305-2-1/175 Teil 6 Nathan, Nr. 2278-3193, Nr.2568; StaH 314-15 Oberfinanzpräsident Abl. 1998-1 J6-655 u. 655a Band I Nathan, Abl. 1998-1, J6-655a u. 655a Band III (3) Silber Nathan, Abl. 1998-1, J6-655a u. 655a Band III Nathan_Museum Hamb Geschichte, F 1821 Erich Nathan, F 735 Erich Goldschmidt, F 2429 Adolf Wolff, FVg 4497 Leiser Traubermann, FVg 5175 Olga Nathan, geb. Kokrhac, FVg 7410 Sally Traubermann, FVg 8784 Sophie Mindus, R 1938/0384 Erich Nathan, R 1938/0384b Maurice Nathan; F1757 Felix Hermann Mindus, FVg7721 Nussbaum, Max; StaH 332-1 Wedde I, 29 Bd 34, 1877 Leffmann Nathan/Hanna Joel; StaH 332-1 Wedde II, Band 206, 1861 – No 449; 332-1 Wedde II, 8 Band 22;
StaH 332-3 Zivilstandsaufsicht, Geburtsregister, A 77 6042 Nr.69 1869 Siegfried Nathan, A 77 6042 Nr.70 1869 John Nathan, A 148 Nr.904 Isaac Nathan; StaH 332-3 Zivilstandsaufsicht, Heiratsregister, B 62, 1874 Nr. 1213 Marcus Joel Mindus/Sophie Baruch; StaH 332-3 Zivilstandsaufsicht, Sterberegister, C 167, 1875 Nr. 21 Joel Nathan; StaH 332-5 Standesämter, Geburtsregister 1883 u. 2678/1876 Jenny Mindus, 1908 u. 2856/1877 Nathan Nathan, 1938 u. 5505/1878 Rosa Nathan, 1975 u. 636/1880 Meyer Nathan, 2001 u. 1340/1881 Minka Nathan, 2026 u. 1105/1882 Schwarzschild, 8999 u. 2645/1885 Rebekka Nathan, 9044 u. 438/1889 Nathan Nathan, 9076 u. 1265/1892 Lilly Nathan, 14674 u. 334/1906 Edith Nathan, 14678 u. 1484/1906 Rahel Nathan, 114104 u.1143/1910 Olga Kokrhac, Sta 3a u.891/1929 Ruth Lilly Traubermann; StaH 332-5 Standesämter, Heiratsregister, 2576 u. 985/1877 Heymann Hirsch Nathan/Helene Israel, 2763 u.1340/1890 Marcus Mindus/Helena Dammann; 8578 u.409 /1896 Maurice Nathan/Jenny Mindus 8617 u. 263/1902 Bernhard Nathan/Anna Benjamin, 8639 u. 74/1905 Siegfried Nathan/Jeanette Bendix, 8654 u. 636/1907 Rebekka Nathan/John Feldmann, 8657 u. 277/1908 Julius Isaac Nathan/Anna Simon, 8657 u. 311/1908 Minka Nathan/Leopold Schwarzschild, 8676 u. 285/1911 Lilly Nathan/Moritz Hirsch, 8710 u. 9/1916 Julius Isaac Nathan/Anna Blumenfeld,
8791 u. 445/1924 Joel Nathan/Helene Litwas, 8791 u. 446/1924 Bertha Nathan/Joseph Strauss 8806 u.144/1926 Edith Nathan/Sally Traubermann, 13294 u. 413/1930 Rosa Minna Nathan/Otto Thiele, 13292 u. 553/1930 Röschen Nathan/Willy Levinsohn; StaH 332-5
Standesämter, Sterberegister, 14 u. 1357/1876 Ritschel Nathan, 380 u. 1865/1895 Isaac Joel Nathan, 7878 u. 1442/1893 Adele Mindus, 11741 u. 324/1903 Valk Joel Mindus, 790 u.174/1918 Heymann Hirsch Nathan, 954 u. 185/1929 Cilly Traubermann, 8059 u. 330/1920 Marcus Joel Mindus, 8168 u. 386/1940 Wolff Ruben Mindus, 825 u. 20/1942 Hermine Mindus, 8180 u. 164/1942 Richard Hermann Mindus, 1151 u. 506/1942 Frieda Weinthal; StaH 332-7 Staatsangehörigkeitsaufsicht, AI f 193 1901 Nr.T 771, A I f 121, AI f 127 1861 Nr. 306, A I f 145, A I f 155, A I f 193; 342-02 D II 44 Bd 3; StaH 351-11 Amt für Wiedergutmachung, 4758 Mindus, Sophie, 4759 Nathan Maurice, 4584 Franziska Kokrhac;
StaH 352-5 Gesundheitsbehörde, Todesbescheinigungen, 1933 Sta 2a Nr. 441; StaH 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden, Geburtsregister, 696 c 1830 Nr.169 Minna Nathan, 696 c /1832 Nr.74 Sara Nathan, 696 c/ 1832 Nr.160 Minka Nathan, 696 c / 1837 No. 208 Isaac Nathan, 696 c/ 1839 Nr.154 Nathan Isaac Nathan, 696 c /1839 Nr.219 Pincus Nathan, 696 d / 1841 Nr.122 Lipmann Nathan, 696 d /1843 Nr.80 Heymann Nathan, 696 f / 1862 Nr. 28 Julius Isaac Nathan, 696 f /1863 Nr.183 Albert Nathan, 696 f /1864 Nr.174 Minka Nathan, 696 g /1866 Nr.127 Maurice Nathan; StaH 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden, Heiratsregister, 702b/ 1831 Nr.43 Isaac Joel Nathan/Rahel Nathan, 702 d/1861 No 24 Isaac Nathan/Eva Schreiber; StaH 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden, Sterberegister, 725a/ 1817 Nr.107 Mine Nathan, 725 i /1859 Nr.62 Joel Pach Nathan, 725 h/ 1854 Nr.47 Betty Nathan; Landesarchiv Berlin, 21 WGA 139/61, Wertpapiere Maurice Nathan und Jenny Nathan, geb. Mindus; Datenbankprojekt des Eduard-Duckesz-Fellow und der Hamburger Gesellschaft für jüdische Genealogie, Ohlsdorf, 1929, M1 - 266; Hamburger Adressbücher 1791–1943; https://www.holocaust.cz/databaze-obeti/obet/116017-rachel-posinova/; Yad Vashem testemony; https://www.geni.com/people/Max-Posin/6000000046587513959.
Vielen Dank an Ruth Seidel und Familie für Gespräche und Familienphotos.