Search for Names, Places and Biographies

Peter Rolf Silberberg * 1921

Weidenallee 23 (Eimsbüttel, Eimsbüttel)

HIER WOHNTE
PETER ROLF
SILBERBERG
JG. 1921
FLUCHT 1933 FRANKREICH
INTERNIERT DRANCY
DEPORTIERT 1942
ERMORDET IN
AUSCHWITZ

further stumbling stones in Weidenallee 23:
Julius Frensdorff, Rebecca Frensdorff, Siegfried Frensdorff, Hedel Silberberg, Karl-Heinz Silberberg

Hedwig "Hedel” Silberberg, née Cohn, born on 24 Dec. 1893 in Samter/ Province of Posen, fled to France in 1933, survived with help, died in Paris in 1946
Karl-Heinz Silberberg, born on 15 May 1915 in Oldenburg, fled to France, interned in Drancy, deported to Auschwitz on 4 Nov. 1942, murdered on 2 Dec. 1942
Peter Rolf Silberberg, born on 8 Feb. 1921 in Hamburg, escaped in 1933 to France, interned in Drancy, deported to Auschwitz on 2 Sept. 1942 and murdered there

Weidenallee 23

At first, it looked as if the fate of Hedel Silberberg, the daughter-in-law of Henny Silberberg (see corresponding entry), in France would remain unresolved. Then, after an extended search, a trace was found to her oldest brother Arthur. From a file in his words, we learned that "following the persecution, a sister died out of grief in Paris at the age of 54 years in 1946.” However, let us first look back on the life of Hedel Silberberg and her family.

Hedel Hedwig Cohn was born on 24 Dec. 1893 in Samter/ Province of Posen, today Szamotuly in present-day Poland. Her brothers Arthur (1888–1971 in Bad Harzburg) and Georg Gabriel (1889–1951 in Sydney/ Australia) were also born there. Another brother died at the age of 15. The parents of the three siblings were Israel Ignatz Cohn, who died in 1925, and Betty, née Treuenfels (1858 Weilburg/ Hessen–1940 in Glusk/ Poland).

At an unknown time, Hedel Cohn married the Oldenburg merchant Richard Silberberg (1884–1930 in Hamburg). Their first son Karl-Heinz was born on 15 May 1915 in Oldenburg. Possibly due to the encouragement of Richard’s older brother Theodor, who had lived with his wife and children in Harvestehude since the 1910s, the small family moved to Hamburg. They found a suitable apartment at Weidenallee 23/ Eimsbüttel, which became the new home of their youngest son Peter Rolf starting on 8 Feb. 1921.

A glance at the 1921 Hamburg directory shows that Richard Silberberg was first mentioned as co-owner of an import and export company together with his brother Theodor. This remained so until 1930, the year in which Richard Silberberg died. He found his last resting place at the Jewish Cemetery on Ilandkoppel. Initially, his widow Hedwig and the two sons continued to live on Weidenallee, later for a short time at Hallerplatz 1.

A few months after the National Socialists came to power in Jan. 1933, Hedwig decided to flee to France with her youngest son Peter Rolf. Whether political foresight was the deciding factor is not known. Karl-Heinz remained in Hamburg for the time being and lived in the family of his uncle Theodor on Isestrasse until Mar. 1935. Then he deregistered in Hamburg and moved to Frankfurt, according to the information on his Jewish religious tax (Kultussteuer) file card. However, he only stayed in Frankfurt for a short time and fled further to France. His uncle Theodor and his family emigrated to São Paulo, Brazil around 1936/1937.

We do not know whether Karl-Heinz reunited with his mother and younger brother in France, nor do we know under what conditions they lived there.

In the spring of 1940, the German Wehrmacht invaded and occupied the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as part of France. At the beginning of June 1940, the armistice followed, dividing France into the occupied and free zones. In the latter, the French government set up its capital in Vichy until the occupation in late 1942.

The first traces of Hedel and Peter Rolf Silberberg in France were found on a list of residents, but without any further details. The next "sign of life” came with the arrest of Peter Rolf Silberberg in early Aug. 1942, when he was first taken to the Rivesaltes internment camp, then to the Nexon camp. Both camps were located in the (free) zone, which was unoccupied until Nov. 1942. From there, he was sent to the Drancy transit camp northeast of Paris. On the transport on 2 Sept. 1942, Peter Rolf Silberberg was deported to Auschwitz and murdered.

Almost simultaneously, Karl Heinz Silberberg was arrested in Coursac, also located in the "free zone,” and transported to Drancy. From there, he was deported to the Auschwitz extermination camp on 4 Nov. 1942, where he was murdered on 2 Dec. 1942.

Where and how Hedel Silberberg survived and how she came to Paris after the liberation, where she died in 1946, we do not know.

What traces were found of Hedel Silberberg’s relatives?
The mother of Hedel and her brothers, Betty Treuenfels, came from Weilburg, in what is today Hessen. At a time unknown to us, she married Israel Ignatz Cohn. After the birth of the children, the family lived in Stettin/ Pomerania (today Szczecin/ Poland). Betty Cohn was deported from her last address to the Glusk camp near Lublin, Poland, in early Feb. 1940, where she perished on 24 Feb. 1940.

The oldest brother, Arthur Cohn, lived as a successful merchant in Berlin. Until 1938, he owned the Max Rawitz Nachfolger [Succrs.] pants factory in Berlin-Mitte, which supplied well-known department stores, including those in Dresden and Berlin. In 1923, he married Valeska Gillis (1896–1955 in Berlin), who came from Beuthen/Silesia (today Bytom/Poland). Their daughter Ilse was born in Berlin in 1924. Presumably, the Cohns led a relatively normal life in Berlin until the Nazis assumed power in Jan. 1933. At this time, new laws and ordinances were passed with the aim of forcing the Jews out of public life. Thus, Arthur Cohn lost his business in 1938, which was "Aryanized” or, respectively, liquidated. In connection with the pogroms across the German Reich in Nov. 1938, he was taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, from which he was released in early Dec. 1938. The "quick” release was conditioned on the demand to leave the country soon. At the beginning of Aug. 1939, the Cohn couple fled to Shanghai. Their daughter Ilse had probably been transported to Britain on a "children transport” ("Kindertransport”). In any case, she lived in Britain as a married woman in the 1950s. The Cohns remained in Shanghai until the beginning of 1949. Both of them fell seriously ill several times due to the poor living conditions in Shanghai, and many Northern Europeans could not cope with the climate there. From 1949 to 1954, the Cohns lived in Israel. However, even there they could not handle the climatic conditions. As a result, they returned to Berlin in 1954, where Valeska Cohn died of cancer in 1955. She found her final resting place in the Weissensee Jewish Cemetery. Arthur Cohn, also suffering from serious health problems, moved to Bad Harzburg in 1960. He died there in early July 1971.

The dentist Georg Gabriel Cohn married Frieda Kuttner (1884 Posen–1959 Sydney/ Australia) in Dec. 1919. The couple lived in Berlin, where their daughter Lore was born in 1921. Georg Cohn opened his practice (Oranienstrasse) in Berlin-Kreuzberg in 1922, which he ran until 1938. Then the Association of German Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Deutschlands – KVD) excluded him and he was allowed to treat Jews only. To avoid further harassment, the Cohns also fled to Shanghai. We do not know whether the two brothers and their wives fled to Shanghai together. Georg and Frieda Cohn and daughter Lore lived in Sydney/Australia after 1945. The couple died there in the 1950s.

Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: September 2020
© Sonja Zoder

Quellen: 1; 5; 8; Hamburger Standesamt 3a beglaubigte Abschrift der Geburtsurkunde Nr. 279 für Peter Rolf Silberberg vom 5.12.2017; Landesverwaltung Berlin, Abt. III Entschädigungsbehörde, Register-Nr. 50682; Landesamt für Bürger- und Ordnungsangelegenheiten Berlin, Abt. I Entschädigungsbehörde, Register-Nr. 57436 jeweils am 28.11.2019; URL: https://www.tracingthepast.org/minority-census; http://digital.lb-oldenburg.de/ihd.content/search/162339?query=silberberg, http://erinnerungsbuch-oldenburg.de, http://geni.com jeweils am 17.1.2019; http://www.memorialdelashoah.org/ am 10.12.2017; https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bytom am 15.3.2020; https://www.stolpersteine-berlin.de/biografie.
Zur Nummerierung häufig genutzter Quellen siehe Link "Recherche und Quellen".