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Ivan Philip * 1875
Adolphsplatz 1 (Hamburg-Mitte, Hamburg-Altstadt)
IVAN PHILIP
JG. 1875
FLUCHT 1939
ENGLAND
TOT 10.1.1944
further stumbling stones in Adolphsplatz 1:
Valentin Burchard, Leopold Cohn, Otto Friedeberg, John Hausmann, Ludwig Moritz Mainz, Heinrich Mayer, Franz Max Rappolt, Paul Salomon, Max Stein, Dr. Heinrich Wohlwill, Cäsar Wolf, Leo Wolfsohn
Ivan Philip, was born on 21.10.1875 in Hamburg. He emigrated to Great Britain, where he died on 10.1.1944 in Baildon.
Ivan Philip was born in 1875 at 16 Speersort (Altstadt). His father, the Hamburg businessman, Adolph Philip (1843–1926), and his mother, Rosalie, nee Heine (1842–1932), who came from Altona, were members of the Jewish Community. After they died they were buried in Jewish Cemetery in Ohlsdorf. Ivan Philip, according the Nuremberg Laws was a "full Jew”.
Ivan Philip could only sporadically attend the Israelitische Stiftungsschule from 1815 at 32 Zeughausmarkt because in his youth he was ill for long periods of time. Instead a private tutor educated him at his home. Between 1893 and 1895 he was an apprentice at a grain business in Mannheim. After that he worked for two years with a removalist firm in Mannheim before returning to his home town in September 1897. On his return he worked at the stock exchange for the firm S. Kaftal, which was established in 1886. Fifteen months later he was the company’s agent. In 1904 he was granted Hamburg citizenship.
During a visit to a spa in Westerland on the island of Sylt he met Hedwig Schultze (1888– 1969). She was the daughter of a businessman and a qualified librarian. They married in March 1910 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf at the residence of the bride and her parents. In their marriage certificate they both stated that they were Evangelical. In Berlin Ivan Philip maintained contact with the lawyer and member of the liberal German Democratic Party (DDP) and later Reichs Minister of Justice from 1919 to 1921, Eugen Schiffer (1860–1954).
After his marriage Ivan Philip moved out of his parents’ home at 14 Hegestieg (Eppendorf) and rented for his wife and he an apartment at 6 Eppendorfer Baum, only one cross street away from his parents. The house had a telephone connection; their two daughters were born here in 1911 and 1913. Both were baptised as Evangelical. One of the eldest daughter’s god-fathers was Herbert Kaftal.
A document from the Hamburg business S. (= Seweryn) Kaftal (14 Gröningerstraße), which traded in salt peter, coffee, sugar, cotton and metals, to another business dated 31 December 1912, documents the progression of Ivan Philip: "I now take this opportunity to advise you that my colleague of many years, Mr. I. Philip has become an owner of the firm”. In light of the positive economic benefits that were now in front of him he sought a larger, more fitting apartment for his family. Finally, on 3 March 1913, he was able to conclude a lease of a spacious, modern furnished apartment with all mod-cons on the second floor of a new apartment block at 88 Sierichstraße. For a monthly rent of 375 marks he had central heating, electric lights, gas connections, a central vacuum cleaner facility with electrical application as well as an electric lift (suppliers were not permitted to use it).
Two years after the war broke out Ivan Philip was called up on 1 August 1916 as an untrained infantry soldier for guard duty at the Hamburg Postüberwachungsstelle (Post Control Office). At the Hamburg post office No. 1 at the Central Railway Station the mail being sent to northern countries was controlled by officers and businessmen. He served here until 30 November 1918. It is likely that his health influenced his decision to serve in this way and his desk work was probably also due to health reasons.
In November 1917 Ivan Philip was registered in Hamburg as a broker and agent operating a commission business. The firm operated on the Hamburg Metal Exchange trading in term contracts i.e. it bought and sold large quantities of metal on account of clients which were settled at the commodity exchange. To do this he needed the commodity exchange’s permission. The firm was initially based close to the free port at 27-31 Brandstwiete (1917–1918), but later moved to the banking building close to the Hamburg stock market: 2 Paulstraße (1919–1929), 10 Kleine Johannisstraße (1930–1935) and 10 Neuer Wall (1937–1938). From 1920 the firm had two representatives, including Julius Albert Carl Willy Schultze, who was probably related to Ivan Philip’s wife.
The two daughters attended the private girls’ high school, the Berblinger-Realschule für Mädchen (16 Tesdorpfstraße) in the suburb of Rotherbaum. Ingeborg Warburg (born 1910) and Eva Warburg (born 1912), Dr. Fritz Warburg’s daughters, also attended this school. There were close contacts with Dr. Fritz Warburg and his family. Ivan Philip’s grandchildren know of dance parties in the house at 17 Mittelweg and of visits by the Warburgs to 88 Sierichstraße.
Ivan Philip, his wife and circle of friends can be described as liberal. Politically they favoured the "Weimar Coalition” of SPD (German Socialdemocratic Party), DDP (German Democratic Party) and the Centre. The Philips subscribed to the anti-militarist magazine "Weltbühne" published by Siegfried Jacobsohn/Carl von Ossietzky. There were evenings at 88 Sierichstraße, where specially hired classical musicians played and money was collected for charities. Even though Ivan Philip was not regarded as religious he often visited his parents on Friday evenings for the Sabbath. Unlike their son they were pious members of the Jewish Community. Christmases were celebrated at Ivan Philip’s house with a fir tree and their friend the book dealer, Felix Jud (1899–1985) was Father Christmas.
In 1927 Ivan Philip was a well-regarded metal-dealer and a member of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce Metal Section (Copper and Tin). From 1911 he was a member of the board of the Chamber and from January 1926 he was a member of board of the Hamburg Stock Exchange. A photograph from 16 May 1928 of a gathering of the Verein Deutscher Metallhändler in Hamburg (probably in a conference room at the Hamburg Stock Exchange), shows Ivan Philip, Fritz Warburg and four other gentlemen sitting in dark suits on the other side of the conference table.
From May 1927 Ivan Philip was a member of the Hamburg Freemasons lodge "Absalom zu den drei Nesseln", whose lodge was at 8 Welckerstraße opposite the Stadttheater (today the Staatsoper). The business man Cäsar Wolf (investment trader and owner of the firm A. Wolf) was Master of the Chair at the lodge. Philip and Wolf knew each other at the exchange and it was Cäsar Wolf who sponsored Philip as a new brother in the lodge. Five poems by Ivan Philip, which he delivered between 1928 and 1932 at lodge celebrations, have survived. The brothers Arthur and Paul Rappolt, who were also owners of the firm, were members of the lodge for many years.
In 1930 the four members of the Philip family moved to the third floor of their apartment block, paying a monthly rent of RM 250. The apartment consisted of 7 ½ rooms: a study with seven meters of book shelves made out of solid oak holding around 1,500 books (some expensive editions), a salon with a piano, a small living room in which a picture by Max Liebermann was hanging, a dining room, two bed rooms, a dressing room, maids room, kitchen and a large entrance hall with a wardrobe. One needed to be prosperous to live in this apartment.
From 1933 National Socialist Government measure were aimed at systematically excluding Jewish businessmen from economic life. In May 1933, Cäsar Wolf (born 1874), the Master of the Chair and Grand Master of the Hamburg Lodges, committed suicide. Ivan Philip wrote a poem for his funeral in which he painted a depressing picture of the situation in which countless opponents of the regime and their loved ones were to find themselves: " (…) Es war, als ob sekundenlang / Ein tiefes Schweigen um uns lag, / Da hier ein Herz um Frieden rang / Das leise an der Welt zerbrach – / Es war, als ob ein Falter bang / Und müde an die Scheibe schwirrt, – / Es war, als ob ein Glas zersprang, / Als ob ein Glas zu Boden klirrt." ("It was, as if for a second/ A deep silence lay around us / A heart struggled for peace / Which broke silently - / It was if a frighten butterfly / Fluttered tiredly into the glass pane / It was as if a glass burst / As if a glass broke on the floor.”)
Ivan Philip was expelled from the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce in June 1933.
It is almost macabre that in October 1935 Ivan Philip was awarded "In the Name of the Führer and Reich Chancellor” the Cross of Honour for Combatants in the First World War. Hedwig Philip in 1955 described to the Office for Restitution or Amt für Wiedergutmachung the systematic persecution and economic problems of her husband: "In approximately 1936 he was excluded from the board of the Exchange and was prohibited from entering the Exchange. He could not work any more as futures contracts had to be guaranteed by the Maklerbank and no one was prepared any more to give a Jewish broker a contract. His income declined rapidly. The available cash was used up as was gradually valuable household items and jewellery which were sold at bargain prices so that they would have the basic essentials. The apartment had to be surrendered and they moved into a small apartment at 70 Sierichstraße. Rent arrears for the old apartment amounted to over 2,700 marks and were set off against a loan made to the apartment owners."
The firm no longer earned income with the result that the Philip family had to rely on financial support from friends. In particular the brother Ernst Philip who lived in England and the brother and sister Ernst Minden (born 1898, a former representative of M. M. Warburg) and Babette Minden (born 1900, a former accountant at the oil refinery Julius Schindler) who had migrated to England helped the family, which was facing financial ruin. It is likely that during the November pogrom that Ivan Philip hid for a long period of time in the apartment of his eldest daughter in Kellinghusenstraße. He feared that he would suffer the same fate as Fritz Warburg who had been taken to the Concentration Camp at Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel. The daughter lived in a "privileged mixed marriage”, as it was called by the National Socialists.
The Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, when asked to comment on the economic isolation of the Firm Ivan Philip, stated in 1955 through its legal counsel that "As we in stock exchange circles were informed that the developments effected all firms whether or not their owners were members of racially persecuted groups there can be no claim for damages on racial grounds” - a statement reminiscent of the Third Reich. It was this narrow business point of view, which blocked out all political matters and put the responsibility for the decline and ruin in the business of Ivan Philip in future contracts on the decline of the turnover on the Hamburg Metal Exchange and the introduction of quoted prices.
Ernst Philip (born 1879) a brother who had lived in England since 1922 insisted that Ivan Philip emigrate. He could not decide due to a physical disability (asthma) and the psychological damage from years of persecution. He was also a local patriot and closely bound to Hamburg, a Hanse city. He was also a true-blue German. The loss of a home in Germany would be a heavy blow after he had lost his citizenship and financial independence. His wife later described to the Office for Compensation (Amt für Wiedergutmachung) the situation as follows: "On 6.5.1939 we emigrated to England. We had nothing. At first we lived my brother-in-law (Ernest Philip) in Hull." The business of Ivan Philip was removed from the business register on 17 April 1940.
Ivan Philip suffered a severe heart attack shortly after his arrival in England. In addition to his health problems there were serious financial problems for the family. Great Britain interned all German immigrants at the beginning of the war as "enemy aliens", the 64 year old Ivan Philip (probably in 1940), as his grand-daughter recalls. Later the Hamburg authorities would describe Ivan Philip’s sad situation in exile as follows: "In exile he could no longer establish himself. He lived from the support that friends and relatives gave him."
Ivan Philip died on 10 January 1944 in Baildon/Yorkshire at the age of 68 from a heart attack. Fritz Warburg (1879–1964), who was able to emigrate to Sweden in 1939 wrote the following condolence to his widow: "In the many years in which I had worked with your husband, primarily at the Metal association, I had learnt to value him as an upright man. He had a genuine and pleasant character, did not prejudge, was independent and of clear judgement, a broad knowledge and a fine human understanding with the result that coupled with his education and character he was superior to most of his colleagues. Yet he was no arrogant. Through his kindness and reliability he profited with right from the best deals and the confidence of others. This fine man lacked the businessman’s sense of profit and the elbow mentality to push his own interests. Exile for him must have been particularly difficult as his ability to analyse himself would have kept him free of illusions and weakened his courage. His early death has perhaps saved him from much sorrow."
His daughter Irmgard Zborowski, nee Philip, died in England in the following year. His brother Ernst Philip died shortly thereafter (ca.1946/1947). After her grandson migrated from England to Canada Hedwig Philip, now an English citizen, returned to Hamburg on 10 November 1956 where her married daughter, Vera, lived. Hedwig Philip last lived in a post-war building at 18 Winterhuder Marktplatz, not far from 88 Sierichstraße, which was destroyed in a bombing raid in 1943. She died in Hamburg on 19 January 1969.
_______________________
To Caesar Wolf
It was as if a glass broke
As if a glass crashed to the ground
As of a painful cry
Wandered, lost, through the air
It was if cold darkness
Tapped you on your soul
As if the strings had broken
While they were playing
Then it was like a confused dream
Like a nightmare, hot and heavy;
A gigantic room, full of people
And only one space – an empty on
And all stared at it
As if it was an unbelievable miracle
All hoped:
The space remained empty; empty
It was as if one eye was blind
Still full of goodness
That spoke to us, like a child
That wants to console, caress
It was as if a warm hand
Tenderly caressing our brow
Was suddenly incinerated by lightning
A man was destroyed, a friend faded away
It was as if for a second
A deep silence lay around us
That a heart struggled for peace
The world breaking it
As if a fearful butterfly
Tired, fluttered into a glass pane
As if a glass burst,
As if a glass shattered on the floor
German original version:
Unserem Cäsar Wolf
Es war, als ob ein Glas zersprang,
Als ob ein Glas zu Boden klirrt, –
Es war, als ob ein weher Klang
Verloren durch die Lüfte irrt –
Es war, als ob sich Finsternis
Erkältend auf die Seele schlug,
Es war, als ob die Saite riss,
Die eben noch Accorde trug.
Dann war es wie ein wirrer Traum,
War wie ein Alpdruck, heiss und schwer:
Ein menschenvoller Riesenraum,
Und nur ein Platz, – ein Platz war leer.
Und alles hat auf ihn gestarrt,
Als ob’s unfasslich Wunder wär’ –
Und alles hat gehofft, geharrt:
Der Platz blieb leer, – der Platz blieb leer.
Es war, als würd’ ein Auge blind,
Das eben noch der Güte voll –
Das zu uns sprach, wie einem Kind,
Das trösten man und streicheln soll, –
Es war, als wär’ die warme Hand,
Die zärtlich unseren Scheitel strich,
Von jähem Blitz zu Nichts verbrannt, –
Ein Mensch verging, ein Freund verblich. –
Es war, als ob sekundenlang
Ein tiefes Schweigen um uns lag,
Da hier ein Herz um Frieden rang,
Das leise an der Welt zerbrach –
Es war, als ob ein Falter bang
Und müde an die Scheibe schwirrt, –
Es war, als ob ein Glas zersprang,
Als ob ein Glas zu Boden klirrt. ––––
Ivan Philip
_______________________
Translator: Dr. Stephen Pallavicini
© Björn Eggert
Quellen: 1; AfW 210588; StaHH 614-1/71 Vereinigte 5 Logen, Sign. 5.2 H 44 lfd.Nr.194; StaHH 741-4, Alte Einwohnermeldekartei (1892–1925); Unterlagen im Besitz der Enkelin E. M. (Hamburger Bürgerrecht 1904, Teilhaber bei S. Kaftal 1912, Gedicht 1933, Verleihungsurkunde Ehrenkreuz für Kriegsteilnehmer 1935, Beileidsschreiben Warburg 1944); Telefonate mit der Enkelin E.M. im Juli/August 2007; AB 1922, 1932; Amtliche Fernsprechbücher Hamburg 1904, 1906, 1908–1910, 1913, 1914; Hamburger Börsenfirmen 34. Aufl., Hamburg 1933, S. 432, 660; Handelskammer Hamburg, Firmenkartei. HR A 19633, HR A 10736; Mitteilungen der Handelskammer Hamburg Nr.1 vom 8.1.1927; Hamburger Schulmuseum, Lehrerverzeichnisse 1907/08, 1914/15, 1930/31, telefonische Auskunft vom 17.9.2007 zur Berblinger-Schule; Wilhelm Mosel, Wegweiser zu ehemaligen jüdischen Stätten in Hamburg, Heft 3, Hamburg, 1989, S. 11, 179.
