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Sophie London * 1888

Eppendorfer Landstraße 42 (Hamburg-Nord, Eppendorf)

HIER WOHNTE
SOPHIE LONDON
JG. 1888
DEPORTIERT 1942
THERESIENSTADT
1944 AUSCHWITZ
ERMORDET

further stumbling stones in Eppendorfer Landstraße 42:
Alice Ekert-Rotholz, Ella Leffmann, Louise Leffmann, Bertha Neuburger, Max Neuburger, Lisa Neuburger, Stefanie Neuburger, Dr. Leopold Rotholz

Sophie London, born 12.4.1888 Hamburg, deported 15.7.1942 Theresienstadt, 15.5.1944 Auschwitz, murdered

Eppendorfer Landstraße 42

Sophie London was the eldest of the three children of David Marcus London, born 14.12.1858 in Hamburg, and Hanna, née Heilbut, born 11.12.1860 in Hamburg. Their grandfathers, Marcus David London and Liepmann Michel Heilbut, were cigar workers. They lived at Schlachterstraße 47 in Hamburg's Neustadt district, the Lazarus-Gumpel-Stift for poor Jewish families.

Sophie was named after her grandmother Sophie London, née Rosenstein (born 17.3.1820 in Leer in East Frisia), who had married Marcus David London (M.D. London) on December 9, 1855. Their son David Marcus (D.M. London), Sophie's father, was born on 14.12.1858. No other children are known. When Sophie was born on 12.4.1888, her grandmother Sophie had already died.

Sophie London's mother, Hanna Heilbut, was the eldest child and grew up with her siblings Michel Liepman (born 18.6.1864) and her sister Goldine (born 30.8.1866). The family's roots were in Neubukow in Mecklenburg.

Hanna Heilbut married the "Commis” (commercial clerk) David Marcus London on June 1, 1887. Until the wedding, both bride and groom lived with their parents at Schlachterstraße 47, with both fathers acting as witnesses. The young couple moved to Schlachterstraße 7, where Sophie was born.

Eleven months later, on 16.3.1889, Bertha London was born, followed by their only son, Max, born 8.12.1891. Their names, like the professions of their fathers, reveal the break with tradition and the assimilation of the families. While their grandfathers earned their living as cigar workers, their sons became merchants and authorized signatories. They left Hamburg's Neustadt district and moved to middle-class neighborhoods such as Hohenfelde and Winterhude. Jewish surnames such as Johebet Jette from Hanna's mother or Liepmann from Hanna's father are not found among the grandchildren.

David Marcus London moved from Neustadt to Hoheluft-West to Wrangelstraße 20 around 1906. This address remained the family residence after his death in 1928.

Little is known about Sophie London's education and the rest of her life. It is also not possible to determine when she first took up employment as a salaried employee. She remained single and childless, while her sister Bertha married the merchant Bernhard Levy and her brother Max married Charlotte Wolff. Both marriages produced children.

Sophie initially lived in her parents' household, later with her brother Max. She did not pay religious taxes to the Jewish Community as a working person, but was subject to household taxation.

After the Nuremberg Race Laws were passed, Sophie London was assessed for municipal tax as an independent member of the Jewish Community. However, her own income was so insignificant that it was not taxed. It was noted on her tax card that she was supported by her brother Max, in whose household she continued to live.

It is not explicitly clear from the available files how close the family contacts were. At times, however, relatives lived with those who still had their own address. Sophie London, for example, moved in with her sister Bertha Levy for a short time until her brother Max found a permanent address at Eppendorfer Landstraße 42 in 1935 after moving out of his long-time home at Fuhlsbütteler Staße 227. His nephew Herbert Levy also lived there until his emigration.

Max London lost his job in December 1939 and decided to emigrate. The foreign currency office of the Chief Finance President imposed a "security order” on his assets and granted him a monthly allowance of 600 RM to cover his living expenses.

He made provisions for his sister Sophie. From the blocked account, he was able to apply for funds in excess of the allowance, such as school fees for the children and passage costs to the USA. These applications were approved on the same day. On the grounds that Sophie had been ill for a long time and had used up her savings, he applied for the release of 350 RM for travel expenses and an eight-week stay at the Jewish convalescent home in Baden-Baden. This application was also approved immediately.

On October 25, 1939, Sophie's aunt Goldine Burchard died of heart failure in the Israelite Hospital at Johnsallee 68. At the age of 42, she had married the 30-year-old dairyman Simeon Burchard, who had died in 1926 without leaving any children. Goldine was buried at his side in the Jewish cemetery in Ohlsdorf. From her estate, Sophie London and Bertha Levy and her cousin Vera Heilbut, a daughter of Michel Liepmann Heilbut, who was already living in Palestine, each received RM 1200. Goldine Burchard had lived at Hegestraße 39 with Louise Wolff, also a relative, until her death. This inheritance was considered a fortune and was not taxed, and as it amounted to less than RM 5,000, Sophie was able to dispose of it freely. She paid it into her account at the Neue Sparkasse.

Sophie London apparently left for Baden-Baden after her brother's emigration on July 26, 1940. She had lived with her brother at Eppendorfer Landstraße 42 and moved with him to Lenhartzstraße 3. In the meantime, she once again paid a contribution to the Jewish Religious Association, as the Jewish community was now called, the basic amount of one mark per month.

Finally, the Jewish Community placed Sophie London together with her sister Bertha and brother-in-law Bernhard Levy as well as Louise Dessau, née Burchard (born 19.7.1863), mother of the bandmaster Paul Dessau, in their infirmary and nursing home at Schäferkampsallee 29. Her other relatives also lived in such facilities, her uncle Michael Heilbut in the old people's home of the Jewish Religious Association at Sedanstraße 23, where Goldine's brother-in-law Carl Burchard (born 27.1.1871) and his wife Emma (born 30.6.1877) and Siegmund Simon Burchard, a bookseller by profession (born 21.12.1872), were also accommodated. Franz and Louise Wolff moved into the Samuel-Levy-Stift at Bundesstraße 35.

Sophie London and the members of the Burchard family who remained in Hamburg received notices of transportation to the Theresienstadt ghetto at their various addresses. They were all taken to the Schanzenstraße elementary school in Eimsbüttel, where they were looked after by the Jewish Community before being transported away.

Sophie London and her sister Bertha Levy still had assets in their accounts that exceeded the RM 1200 from their inheritance from their aunt Goldine Burchard. Bertha Levy's "assets” of RM 2056.42 were paid to the Reich Association of Jews in Germany (which had to forward them to an account to which the Reich Main Security Office had access) for the purchase of the home, while Sophie London's assets of RM 1278.75 were confiscated by the Oberfinanzkasse. Both were ultimately transferred to the Reichsbank.

Trucks took the men and women from the collection point to the Hamburg Hanover station, where they took a Reichsbahn passenger train to Bauschowitz station. From there, they were taken on foot or by truck to the Theresienstadt ghetto.

We do not know any details about the fate of the deportees after their departure on July 15, 1942. They were housed separately according to gender. The ghetto was overcrowded, there were not enough beds and there was a lack of food, hygiene and medical care. Infectious diseases were rampant.

Louise Dessau was the first member of the Burchard family to die seven weeks after her arrival in the Theresienstadt ghetto on September 8, 1942, four days before her 70th birthday. Five days later, Carl Burchard died at the age of 71.

To further "relieve” the ghetto, "evacuation transports” were carried out to the extermination camps. Michel Liepmann Heilbut (see www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de) was assigned to a transport to the Treblinka extermination camp on September 21, 1942, where he was murdered immediately upon arrival.

Sophie London, her sister Bertha Levy, her brother-in-law Bernhard Levy and Louise Wolff experienced a second turn of the year in the ghetto. On May 15, 1944, they were deported to Auschwitz, where they were probably murdered immediately after their arrival. None of them reached the age of 65.

In 1958, the Jewish Trust Corporation applied for the restitution of Sophie London's confiscated assets, which were still in her savings account and now "ownerless property”. It was included in the global agreement between the Israeli government and the German Federal Minister of Finance.

Translation: Beate Meyer
Stand: December 2024
© Hildegard Thevs

Quellen: 1; 2 R 1939/3118, R 1940/0021, R 1940/0816, FVg 8055; 4; 5 digital; 7; 8; 9; Hamburger Adressbücher; Arolsen Online-Archiv; StaHH 213-13, 15440 Restitution Sophie London; 332-5 Standesämter; 351-11 Wiedergutmachung, 13250 Max London; https://www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de/?&MAIN_ID=7&r_name=heilbut&r_strasse=&r_bezirk=&r_stteil=&r_sort=Nachname_AUF&recherche=recherche&submitter=suchen&BIO_ID=; https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_Gumpel; http://www.juden-in-mecklenburg.de/Orte/Neubukow.
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