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Anmeldung Lodz
© Archivum Panstwowe, Lodz

Helene Herschander * 1884

Von-Heß-Weg 6 (Hamburg-Mitte, Hamm)

1941 Lodz
1942 Chelmno
ermordet

further stumbling stones in Von-Heß-Weg 6:
Wolfgang Engel

Helene Herschander, born on 1 Aug. 1884, deported on 25 Oct. 1941 to Lodz

Von-Hess-Weg 6

The Herschander family came from Berlin. The parents, Joseph Herschander and Friederike, née Cohn, died there in 1915 and 1935, respectively. Helene Herschander had three siblings. Helene’s oldest brother, Hermann, and his wife Anna also passed away before Hitler assumed power. Their son Alfred remembers that his Aunt Helene often came to visit them in Berlin until 1932. He succeeded in fleeing to South America later, as did his other relatives.

Helene remained unmarried. She worked as an office employee in Hamburg. In 1924, she joined the German-Israelitic Community and lived at Grindelberg 76. In the years following, she moved twice within the Grindel quarter, subsequently living in Eilbek and Hamm. Although she was ill, she worked with only one interruption from 1921 until her dismissal in 1938 at Gebr. Robinsohn (Robinsohn Bros.) in the office. Since she was destitute afterward, she received support from the Relief Organization of Jews in Germany (Hilfsverein der Juden in Deutschland or Jüdischer Hilfsverein).

In 1939, she was declared stateless, probably due to the Polish descent of her parents. Helene Herschander intended to emigrate to Britain, and she was issued the tax clearance certificate (Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung) on 18 July 1939. At the first position of her list of moving goods, she put "30 books, gifts, estimated price 30 RM [reichsmark].” What followed was a relatively short list of used items of clothing and linens to which the customs office did not object. The emigration threatened to be thwarted even by payment of 20.60 RM to the customs office for the cost of the estimate. After she had paid, Helene Herschander was unable to keep an appointment for a summons with the foreign currency office due to illness. Whether her emigration ultimately failed because of this is not known.

As of 10 Feb. 1940, Helene Herschander was registered with the authorities as living in the Salomon Joseph and Marianne Hertz-Stiftung at Sonninstrasse 16 in Altona, a residential and nursing home. In Jan. 1941, she was granted welfare assistance.

She was forced to leave Hamburg in connection with the first deportation to the Lodz Ghetto on 25 Oct. 1941. Her last residential address in the Lodz Ghetto was T-Strasse [equals Cranachstrasse] 20/30b, where she shared a room with four other persons. On 11 May 1942, she was "expelled,” i.e., murdered in the Chelmno extermination camp.

Translator: Erwin Fink

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: October 2016
© Hildegard Thevs

Quellen: 1; 2 OFP FVg 5973; 4; 5; 8; StaH, 522-1, Jüdische Gemeinden, 391 Mitgliederliste 1935; 992 e 2 Deportationslisten Band 1; AfW 010184; Archivum Panstwowe, Lodz; Jüdische Stätten in Hamburg. Hrsg. vom Institut für die Geschichte der deutschen Juden und der Landeszentrale für politische Bildung. Hamburg 1995, Nr. 111.