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Vera Adelheid Marcus * 1893
Eiffestraße 606 (Hamburg-Mitte, Hamm)
gedemütigt / entrechtet
Flucht in den Tod 11.03.1943
further stumbling stones in Eiffestraße 606:
Pauline De Beer, Simon De Beer, James De Beer, Sientje Jetty De Beer, Bruno Gortatowski
Vera Adelheid Marcus, born 5.12.1893, date of death 11.3.1941 Hamburg
Eiffestraße 606
On July 2, 1940, Vera Adelheid Marcus wrote to the Jewish Community of Hamburg:
"I do not draw any income, since I perform my duties as a housekeeper simply for the sake of simplicity and do not receive any remuneration. I am not assessed for property tax, since my savings are below the exemption limit (as notified on 13.12.1939 RM 3400,-)."
On her index card was the notation "neutral envelopes", presumably so as not to alert other house residents that a Jewess was living among them.
Vera Adelheid Marcus had been born in St. Petersburg on Dec. 5, 1893. Her father was Hugo Marcus, her mother Luise Meyer, a Protestant. She was a petite person of 149 cm in height. The circumstances of her move to Hamburg are unknown. She practiced the profession of an accountant. Between 1930 and 1935 she joined the Jewish Community and gave the address Eiffestraße 606 a III, without naming Bruno Gortatowski as her landlord.
Although she considered herself Jewish, she avoided being recognizable as such in the residential environment, if one may believe the statements of neighbors.
Vera Adelheid Marcus was called up as a replacement for the first deportation of Hamburg Jews "for reconstruction in the East" to the Lodz ghetto on October 25, 1941, but was deferred.
On February 24, 1943, she was to join the transport to Theresienstadt, presumably because she came from a mixed marriage. Again, she managed to evade deportation.
As stated in Bruno Gortatowski's biographical sketch, the police authorities questioned his parentage and summoned him on March 10, 1943. What he was told is unknown. In any case, this visit to the police authority was the trigger for Vera Adelheid Marcus and Bruno Gortatowski to hang themselves together in the kitchen on March 11, 1943.
Vera Adelheid Marcus left behind her papers and valuables, her work book, her savings book and her wristwatch. Her savings were to be used to pay for her funeral. Together with Bruno Gortatowski, she had written and signed a letter to the police, according to which they both voluntarily retired from life. The police made inquiries about Vera Adelheid Marcus from neighbors.
Mrs. K. stated on record:
"I had neighborly relations with G. and his housekeeper, whom I had earlier assumed to be G.'s wife. At the beginning of the war in 1939, the Marcus [confided] to me that she should be of Jewish descent. She claims to have been expelled from Russia during the 1st World War and to have had no connection with Jews. Since the introduction of the Jewish star, she has not left the house, because she did not want to wear the Jewish star. I ... cannot give any further details. On Wednesday, March 10, 43, at about 9 a.m., I last spoke with Marcus. She brought me a knitting pattern and said that I could keep it. She didn't need it anymore. I have not seen the Marcus since that time."
The bodies were transported to the Hafenkrankenhaus as usual and the cause of death was determined.
Where Vera Adelheid Marcus and Bruno Gortatowski were buried could not be determined.
In conclusion, the police chief decided: "The RM 7,- for the sealing and unsealing is not to be charged in this corpse case, since M. had only lived as a subtenant with Bruno G., who was hanged at the same time. The fee has been paid by G.'s relatives. Invoice for RM 3,- f. d. death certificate a/d. Nachlasspfleger Dr. Alfred Israel Islar, Am Foßberg 107."
Translation by Beate Meyer
Stand: January 2022
© Hildegard Thevs
Quellen: 1; 4; 5; StaH, 331-5 Polizeibehörde – Unnatürliche Todesfälle, 1943/923; 522-1, Jüdische Gemeinden, 992e 2Deportationslisten Bd. 1 und 5; 391 Mitgliederliste 1935; BA Bln., Volkszählung 1939.
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