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© Privatbesitz
Rosa Josias (née Josias) * 1888
Isestraße 65 (Eimsbüttel, Harvestehude)
HIER WOHNTE
ROSA JOSIAS
GEB. JOSIAS
JG. 1888
DEPORTIERT 1941
MINSK
ERMORDET
further stumbling stones in Isestraße 65:
Alice Goldstein, Willy Josias, Margarethe Rosenbaum, Franziska Rosenbaum
Rosa Josias, née Josias, born on 13 July 1888 in Friedrichstadt, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Willy Josias, born on 13 May 1886 in Friedrichstadt, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
We are well informed about the fate of the Josias family because a couple who was friends with them reported in detail for the restitution proceedings in 1954. Gustav and Paula Brockmann had met Rosa and Willy Josias shortly before the birth of daughter Ruth on 14 July 1921. Willy Josias and his wife had joined the Hamburg Jewish Community in 1920. His wife and he were born in Friedrichstadt. They probably came directly from Schleswig-Holstein to Hamburg, where they lived on Blücherstrasse at first. Rosa Josias was a kindergarten teacher, Willy Josias a self-employed trader in the chocolate and candy industry. Apparently, he was a sales representative well respected among producers and customers.
The friends described both apartments, the one on Blücherstrasse as well as the one at Isestrasse 65, on the ground floor to the right, where the family lived since 1936, as presentable, elegant, and tastefully furnished, and the family’s lifestyle as sound and solid.
After 1933, the revenues from the company declined noticeably, as the existing income tax calculations reveal, but they continued to suffice for a modest living standard.
After finishing school in 1937, Ruth Josias started an apprenticeship as a tailor at the Robinsohn fashion house on Neuer Wall. Her master was Gusti Zucker, who worked as a company director at the same time. Her fate, too, was sealed on Isestrasse: She went from Isestrasse 94 to the tailor’s shop of the Lodz Ghetto. In 1938, Ruth Josias received a good interim reference. However, her parents decided to send her to safety to the USA by herself, although she was only 17 years old. On 14 Dec. 1938, Ruth Josias traveled to New York aboard the US ship "SS Manhattan.” Her wish to be able to continue her training there was not fulfilled. She had to get by working as a factory worker. In Aug. 1945, she got married in the USA.
By Dec. 1940 at the latest, the parents had to vacate the apartment on Isestrasse and move into the building of the former Portuguese synagogue on Innocentiastrasse. The friends believed they remembered that this happened as early as 1939. Prior to the move, Rosa and Willy Josias were forced to sell the bulk of their household effects. This helped to cover their living expenses. In addition, customers who meant well by Mr. Josias assisted him and his wife with food during the last period in Hamburg, something they would not have accepted if they had not been in "dire straits,” the friends reported.
On 7 Nov. 1941, they visited the Josias couple for the last time. They witnessed how the two compiled the lists of their household effects for the Gestapo and made other preparations. One day later, Rosa and Willy Josias had to set out for Moorweide [the assembly point for deportees]. With the transport to Minsk, all traces of them disappear.
Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.
Stand: October 2016
© Christa Fladhammer
Quellen: 1; AfW140721.
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