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Otto Kallmes * 1872

Hallerplatz 13 (Eimsbüttel, Rotherbaum)

HIER WOHNTE
OTTO KALLMES
JG. 1872
DEPORTIERT 1941
IN RIGA
ERMORDET

further stumbling stones in Hallerplatz 13:
Dr. Gertrud (Gertie) Meier-Ahrens, Dr. Nathan Mendel Sarason, Ida Sarason

Otto Kallmes, born 4.10.1872, deported to Riga on 6.12.1941 and murdered

Hallerplatz 13, Rotherbaum

Otto Kallmes saw the light of day in Hamburg on October 4, 1872. His parents, the Jewish couple Israel Julius and Julie Kallmes, had five children: James (born Oct. 5, 1861), Iwan (born April 22, 1863), Anna (born Dec. 4, 1865), Albert (born Febr. 25, 1870) and as the youngest child Otto.

Otto Kallmes grew up in a culturally interested and musical environment: His father actively supported the Hamburg Art Association and was also a member of it. His mother was interested in literature and wrote poetry herself. The well-off Kallmes family household included, among other things, a piano.

James, Iwan and their father Israel Julius Kallmes registered their newly founded trading company with the name Kallmesius in the commercial register on January 1, 1886. The company was located at Kleiner Burstah 11/District Altstadt. Over the years, they expanded the company into a flourishing import and export business with hides and skins, especially overseas. Otto Kallmes also worked in the Kallmesius company.

By death, Israel Julius Kallmes left the company on March 28, 1911. He was buried in the Ilandkoppel Jewish Cemetery. Israel Julius Kallmes had not only founded the company, but also bought a residential building at Hallerplatz 13 in 1901, an apartment building at Grindelallee 24/District Rotherbaum and a residential property at Rossberg 41-43/District Eilbek. Since 1901 Otto Kallmes lived in the street Hallerplatz 13 in Rotherbaum, together with his parents.

After the death of Israel Julius Kallmes, the entire estate with the houses and the securities was administered as the J. Kallmes estate. The apartment building at Grindelallee 24 and the Kallmes family home each belonged in equal parts to Iwan Kallmes, Otto Kallmes and the estate of Israel Julius Kallmes. The residential property Rossberg 41-43 belonged half to Iwan Kallmes and half to Otto Kallmes.

Even after the death of his father, Otto Kallmes and his mother lived together in the street Hallerplatz 13, a house with 12 rooms.

Otto Kallmes now officially joined the Kallmesius company as a partner on January 1, 1912, and was thus registered in the Commercial Register. On July 18, 1919, Otto's brother James Kallmes left the trading company by death. (He was buried in the Jewish cemetery Ilandkoppel).

In the meantime, Julie Kallmes had become in need of care. Otto Kallmes hired the non-Jewish housekeeper Frieda Freytag (born Sept. 19, 1886) in 1921. She occupied a room in the house. Otto Kallmes also employed two other servants for everyday household chores.

Julie Kallmes died on December 7, 1921 (she was buried in the family grave next to her husband at the Jewish cemetery Ilandkoppel). Frieda Freytag remained in the house at Hallerplatz 13 until 1941.

For the years 1927 to 1929, the turnover of the Kallmesius company was RM 10 - 11 million, but dropped to RM 2.2 million in 1931 and to RM 1.6 million in 1932. Kallmesius employed a bookkeeper, a "Schreibfräulein" and two other employees.

In 1929, Otto Kallmes bought a large dog, which he stated was for his protection.

The children Albert, Anna, Iwan, Otto and the sister-in-law Fanny Kallmes established the "Julius- und-Julie-Kallmes-Stiftung" (The Julius and Julie Kallmes Foundation) in Hamburg on the occasion of the anniversary of the golden wedding anniversary of their parents on January 1, 1930 and gave the foundation money to the Jewish Community in Hamburg. The purpose of the foundation was to support "needy and worthy" persons in the broadest sense. Members of the Kallmes and Schöning families were to be given preference over other applicants until the year 2000. Iwan and Otto Kallmes were to be given the right to sit and vote on the foundation's board for the duration of their lives.

On October 29, 1935, Siegfried Kallmes (born February 10, 1869, died October 1948 in London), who was distantly related to the Kallmes family, joined the trading company.

Restrictions against Jews increased and the shareholders of the Kallmesius company could no longer conduct their export business abroad. In August 1938, non-Jewish tanners received instructions from their trade association to stop buying hides and skins from Jewish traders. Since 1938, the Golddiskontobank no longer provided Jews with the subsidies intended for export promotion. The domestic business could also no longer be operated because the non-Jewish clientele refused to buy from Jews. The Kallmesius company had lost its competitiveness on the world market. In December 1938, business came to an almost complete standstill.

In 1938, Otto Kallmes and Frieda Freytag, who was now referred to as the "house lady," had to move to the upper rooms in the house at Hallerplatz 13. The first floor and the first floor were confiscated and declared a "Judenhaus".

The inheritance share from the estate of J. Kallmes was transferred on December 12, 1938 for the house at Hallerplatz 13 and the apartment building at Grindelallee 24 to the wife of Albert Kallmes, who had been married to the non-Jewish Minna Kallmes, née Claussen.

Like all Jews with a certain amount of property, Otto Kallmes was required to pay the "atonement levy," the so-called Judenvermögensabgabe, after the November pogrom in 1938. He paid a total of RM 73,000 in five installments of RM 14,600 each starting on December 13, 1938. Otto Kallmes' assets totaled 300,000 RM.

In 1939, Hallerplatz 13 was renamed Grindelhof 101. (The street Hallerplatz was given back its original name after the war).

The Oberfinanzdirektion did not base the land and houses on the market value, but on the much lower unit value of 1935. A standard value of RM 113,500 was determined for the Rossberg 41-43 property, a standard value of RM 80,500 for the apartment building at Grindelallee 24, and a standard value of RM 13,200 for the house at Grindelhof 101. The property at Rossberg 41-43/Eilbek was sold to Jacob Hassinger for RM 105,000.

On January 25, 1938, Otto's Kallmes brother Iwan passed away. Otto Kallmes and the "consulter" Morris Samson (born Oct. 21, 1878) were appointed as executors of the will. In the will it was stipulated that the Jewish Religious Association - as the Jewish community now had to call itself - should receive a one-time payment of 1000 RM and that Fanny Kallmes and Albert Kallmes should each receive 250 RM quarterly.

In 1939 Otto Kallmes, like all Jews, had to deliver silverware and jewelry. Frieda Freytag did it for him. The proceeds amounted to 14 RM, money he shared with his siblings because the items came from their parents' estate.

From June to September 1939 Otto Kallmes was under medical treatment and received short-wave therapy. We do not know the illness. In September 1939 he invested 150 RM for an air-raid shelter. We do not know where he installed the air-raid shelter.

On September 6, 1939, Otto Kallmes was ordered by the Oberfinanzdirektion to disclose his financial circumstances, after which his accounts were blocked, and he had to apply to be allowed to meet his regular monthly expenses from them. He stated that he needed RM 2039 per month for living expenses. He regularly supported Fanny Kallmes with 167 RM and Olga Levien (born April 13, 1875) with 50 RM (Olga Levien was deported to Theresienstadt on July 15, 1942, she is commemorated by a stumbling stone at Hansastraße 4). On November 1, 1939, the Oberfinanzdirektion granted him only 800 RM from his own property.

He lodged an objection and applied for an increase of the amount by RM 300. He claimed that his dog, which was now 10 years old, caused considerable costs. He further stated that he took his meals in the city center, because a nervous condition had made walking arduous. He also needed money for the use of public transportation and for postage for his correspondence with friends and relatives at home and abroad. In fact, the authorities now granted him to consume RM 900 per month from his assets.

On September 12, 1940, he gave Frieda Freytag a birthday present worth 400 RM, which he also had to have approved. The following year he gave her a special birthday present: he had her 4 armchairs and 4 chairs reupholstered and invested an amount of RM 325 for this.

On November 29, 1940, the "Julie and Julius Callmes Foundation" was dissolved.

On February 26, 1941, a Walter Burose officially applied to the Oberfinanzdirektion for the takeover of the company J. Kallmes jr. Kleiner Burstah 11.

Even with the little means at his disposal, Otto Kallmes gave to poorer people and donated to the Salvation Army (Heilsarmee), the Jewish Winter Aid, made Christmas presents for employees and friends, paid the hospital bill for the deceased Siegmund Cohen or supported Antonie Riess (born Dec. 12, 1875, suicide March 25, 1942, a stumbling stone in Haynstraße 5 commemorates her).

In 1939, the Chief Finance Office had appointed Walter Burose as trustee for the company. On November 30, 1940, it informed the municipal administration in Hamburg that the trustee Otto Schünhoff & Co. had now been appointed. The latter always left it to Otto Kallmes to submit the settlement of business liabilities. The Oberfinanzdirektion put an end to this. On October 31, 1941, Otto Kallmes transferred the trading company to Walter Burose with the right to continue the business. The new owner Walter Burose is said to have used Otto Kallmes' furniture as firewood for his fireplace.

Frieda Freytag terminated her employment with Otto Kallmes on November 30, 1941, when Otto Kallmes' deportation was imminent.

Otto Kallmes received his "evacuation order" (deportation order) for transport on December 6, 1941. At 69 years of age, he was actually above the age limit (65 years) for an "Osttransport." According to the guidelines of the Reich Security Main Office, he should have been deferred for the "old age ghetto" Theresienstadt. But the Gestapo was allowed to ignore this and deport "up to a certain percentage" of Jews who belonged to the group of people who were to be excluded. Thus Otto Kallmes, like the other summoned persons, had to present himself at the masonic lodge at Moorweidenstraße 36 one evening before the deportation.

His deportation, along with 963 other people, took place on December 6, 1941, from the Hanover train station (now Hafencity). The deportation train reached the Riga area three days later on December 9, 1941, where the Hamburg deportees were directed to the Jungfernhof estate, which was briefly designated as a camp. We do not know when Otto Kallmes died or was shot there.

On the fate of Otto Kallmes' siblings:
James Kallmes (born Oct. 5, 1861) had married Fanny Nathan on April 10, 1894. He died on March 18, 1919 in Bad Homburg. Fanny Kallmes committed suicide with sleeping pills on July 5, 1942. Both were buried in Hamburg at the Ilandkoppel Jewish Cemetery.

Iwan Kallmes (born April 22, 1863) had married Rosa Anna Lucie Goldschmidt (born Febr. 1, 1883) on December 4, 1903. He died on January 25, 1939 and was buried in the Jewish Cemetery Ilandkoppel. Anna Kallmes was deported to Auschwitz on July 11, 1942 and murdered there.

Anna Kallmes (born Dec. 4, 1865) had married Wolf Katzenstein (born March 14, 1859) on July 17, 1891. He died on January 26, 1932, she followed on October 1, 1938. Both were buried in the Jewish Cemetery Ilandkoppel.

Albert Kallmes (born Febr. 25, 1870) had married the non-Jewish Minna Sophie Elisabeth Claussen (born Dec. 6, 1882) on April 12, 1916. He survived in this mixed marriage, died in Hamburg on June 8, 1949, and was buried in the Ilandkoppel Jewish Cemetery. Minna Kallmes died on July 17, 1955.

Translation by Beate Meyer
Stand: February 2022
© Bärbel Klein

Quellen: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 8; StaH 332-3_A 119_6437; 332-3_ A 286_237/1872; 332-5_138/1894; 332-5_262/1901; 332-5_168/1911; 332-5_822/ 1915; 332-5_664/1921; 332-5_387/1922; 332-5_71/1926; 332-5_613/1928; 332-5_377/1938; 332-5_51/1939; 332-5_373/1942; 332-5_355/1949; 332-5_1774/1955; 332-5_212/1942; 522-1_696c_75/1839;213-13_1526; 213-13_6830; 213-13_6831; 213-13_6832; 213-13_6833; 213-13_6834; 213-13_6835; 213-13_6836; 213-13_6837; 213-13_6838; 213-13_6839; 213-13_6840; 213-13_16088; 213-13_20942; 213-13_21678; 214-1_383; 331-5_3 Akte _ 1188 / 1942; 351-8_B 184; 351-11_5590; 351-11_6198; 351-11_7991; 351-11_19444; 351-11_55753; 621-1/84_49; Frankfurt am Main Heiratsurkunde Iwan Kallmes und Rosa Anna Lucie Goldschmidt 2687/1903; Frankfurt am Main Heiratsurkunde Leopold Bohrmann und Alice Goldschmidt 931/1909; Frankfurt am Main Sterbeurkunde Alfred Alexander Weiler 1201/1935; Bad Homburg 126/1919 Sterbeurkunde James Kallmes; Alfred Gottwaldt, Diana Schulle, Die Judendeportationen aus dem Deutschen Reich 1941 1945, Wiesbaden 2005, Seite 125; Datei: PPN663943566 Neueste Nachrichten aus dem Reiche der Freude, Liebe und Ehe (1860).jpg – Wikipedia; www.wikipedea.de; www.geni.com; www.ancestry.de (Zugriff 25.2.2021); Britta D. Siefken, Jüdische und paritätische Stiftungen im nationalsozialistischen Hamburg, Norderstedt 2009, S. 107f..
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