Search for Names, Places and Biographies

Max Meyer * 1874

Isestraße 61 (Eimsbüttel, Harvestehude)

1941 Minsk

further stumbling stones in Isestraße 61:
Josepha Ambor, Else Baer, Hedi Baer, Ingrid Baer, Joseph Baer, Minna Benjamin, Rosalie Benjamin, Emma Dugowski, Henriette Dugowski, Hermann Dugowski, Ida Dugowski, Moritz Dugowski, Wanda Dugowski, Selly Gottlieb, Heinrich Ilse, Ella Meyer, Otto Meyer, Gregor Niessengart, Sophie Philip, Michael Pielen, Gertrud Rosenbaum, Edmund Sonn

Max Meyer, born on 3 Dec. 1874 in Altona, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Ella Meyer, née Selig, born on 2 July 1879 in Friedrichstadt, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Otto Meyer, born on 28 Sept. 1907 in Hamburg, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk

Koppel Meyer, the father of Max Meyer, had taken over the Gotthier men’s tailor’s shop in Altona in 1884. Max grew up with two brothers and one sister. The father had his sons Max, Louis, and Eduard complete commercial apprenticeships, employing them as partners in the company in 1927. The main store was in Altona at Reichenstrasse 2. Until 1937, Reichenstrasse was practically the continuation of Reeperbahn beyond the boundary to Altona in the area of today’s "Beatles-Platz.” Between the world wars, the small street featured, among other things, several photo studios. The Meyers also owned a branch at Dammtorstrasse 3.

Business went well, with the merchants manufacturing liveries and uniforms. The Meyers produced for the Hamburg police, the fire department, the streetcar company, and also for Hagenbeck’s Zoo (Tierpark Hagenbeck).

All of the siblings had married in the meantime. Max Meyer married Ella Selig, and the two had a son in 1907: Otto. Later, he also worked as a commercial clerk for Gotthier & Co. Because of the business success, the prosperity of the large family grew. The commercial basis was the orders from Hamburg authorities. In 1935, the Hamburg tax authority decided not to award any public contracts to Jews any longer. As a result, the Meyers had to sell their enterprise in 1936 to the "Aryans” Rohweder and Riedel and they found themselves compelled to draw assistance from the welfare office. Max and Ella Meyer took the subtenants Sophie Philip, Gertrud Rosenbaum, and Josepha Ambor into their home.

In Nov. 1941, Max, Ella, and Otto Meyer were deported to Minsk.

Louis Meyer, Max’ brother, died in Theresienstadt in 1942. As a single father, the other brother, Eduard Meyer, was under observation by the youth welfare office. His non-Jewish wife had passed away, and he took care of his underage son Edgar. At the same time, this responsibility protected him from deportation. However, when Edgar gave a prisoner of war a piece of bread, the youth welfare office viewed this as a grave educational failure on the part of the father. As a result, Eduard Meyer was deported to Auschwitz, and his son was committed to a labor camp, which he survived, though seriously ill. He emigrated to Israel after the war, struggling from there to obtain financial restitution from the German authorities.

The daughters of sister Franziska Meyer survived as well; they were able to hide in the Netherlands, thus escaping the Shoah.


Translator: Erwin Fink

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: October 2017
© Maike Grünwaldt

Quellen: 1; 4; 8; AfW 280730; AfW 031274; StaH, 351-11, AfW 2237.
Zur Nummerierung häufig genutzter Quellen siehe Link "Recherche und Quellen".