Search for Names, Places and Biographies

Albert Bloch * 1870

Caffamacherreihe 4 rechts von Polizeiwache (Hamburg-Mitte, Neustadt)

HIER WOHNTE
ALBERT BLOCH
JG. 1870
DEPORTIERT 1942
THERESIENSTADT
1942 TREBLINKA
ERMORDET

Albert Bloch, b. 6.17.1870 in Hamburg, deported to Theresienstadt on 7.15.1942, deported again on 9.21.1942 to Treblinka

Caffamacherreihe 4, to the right of the police station (Caffamacherreihe 18)

Albert Bloch was born in Hamburg, the son of the Jewish couple, Ludwig/Lazar Bloch and Friederike/Fridche, née Jacob. He had five siblings: the older Rosalie was born on 11 October 1862, followed by Henriette on 17 July 1864, brother Leopold in 1866, Bertha on 14 May 1869, and the youngest, Helene, on 22 August 1872. After his schooling, Albert Bloch received commercial training and remained, like Henriette, Leopold, Bertha, and Helene, unmarried. Their father, Ludwig Bloch, was a furrier and earned his living as a dealer in pelts and manufacturer of caps at Gerhofstrasse 32. After his death on 14 December 1888, his widow Friederike carried on the business alone. In 1890, she moved with her children from the third floor at Gerhofstrasse to Bornstrasse 7. A further move followed, to Neue ABC-Strasse 12b. On 29 October of that year, Albert’s only brother, Leopold, died at age 30. Friederike Bloch died on 4 January 1901. Their graves are in the Ilandkoppel Jewish Cemetery in Ohlsdorf.

Albert Bloch initially made himself independent by the acquisition of a lottery concession. He soon gave up his activity as a "collector” and became a "traveling salesman” (Vertreter). For 35 years he carved out a livelihood by the sale of "advertising and promotional articles.” At 61 years of age, he dealt in pocket mirrors and date books. Because what he earned did not suffice and because he did not have any claims on a pension, he, from 1931, drew support from public funds. Albert Bloch gave up his apartment on Caffamacherreihe Strasse and became a sub-lessee with a Mrs. Petersen at Colonnaden 40; he received inexpensive meals through the auspices of the Aid Society of German Jews.

In June 1935, Albert Bloch had to be treated in the Eppendorf Hospital because of an old hernia he had suffered as a soldier during the First World War. Following his release, the meanwhile 65-year old, waited for a vacancy at the Israelite Old People’s Home at Schäferkampsallee 29. Still in need of care, he could not return to his old lodgings and was at first placed by the Jewish Congregation in the home of the Blumenthal family at Karolinenstrasse 22. In 1936, he found accommodations with the married couple, Minna and Willy Mathias at Grindelberg 3a (see the biographical sketches for David and Theresia Elias).

His three unmarried sisters moved in 1902 from Dammtorstrasse 35 to Schlüterstrasse 84. For forty years, first at Gänsemarkt 61, then at Gerhofstrasse 8 in the Adlerhof Hotel, they ran an umbrella store until, in 1930, it was no longer profitable. Bertha died on 26 January 1930. After her death, Henriette and Helene manufactured umbrellas at home; otherwise they lived from the interest on their investments. They found lodgings at the Julius and Betty Rée Foundation at Schederstrasse 39, in Hamburg-Eppendorf.

In 1939, each of the Bloch siblings inherited $2000 from a cousin. Louis Bloch, who had apparently emigrated to America, left a foundation to provide "free residences.” Albert Bloch hoped to be accepted into the foundation, along with his two sisters, but first made preparations for a possible emigration. However, the plan came to nothing. For, in addition to the inheritance tax, the Special Office B of the Social Welfare Administration demanded repayment of the RM 3369.10 it had given to Albert Bloch in the last eight years.

Because he refused to sign a declaration of resignation from the Social Welfare Administration, his funds, which had been deposited in an account with the Warburg & Co. Banking House, were impounded on 29 July 1939 and transferred to an account of the Main Office of the Reichsbank, Financial Administration Main Cash Desk I. In this way the attempt to leave Germany foundered on finances. In any case, it remains unclear whether the siblings, because of their age, would have qualified for an entrance visa under the USA’s quota system.

Three years later, Albert Bloch received his deportation order at the "Jew house” in the former Samuel Lewisohn Foundation, located at Schäferkamp 32. Henriette and Helene Boch received their orders in the former Martin Brunn Foundation at Frickestrasse 24. The sisters had surrendered their assists to the Reich Association of Jews in Germany and signed a "Home Purchase Contract,” in order to have lodgings and care in the Theresienstadt "Old People’s Ghetto.” On 15 July 1942, they were deported together. On 21 September 1942, they were already in a transport from Theresienstadt to the Treblinka extermination camp, where, presumably, they were murdered in the gas chamber immediately upon arrival.

The oldest sister, Rosalie Meyer, on 29 January 1891, had married the auctioneer Johann Meyer (b. 10.31.1857, d. 5.26.1938). The couple initially lived at Neustädter Fuhlentwiete 15 and in the 1920s at Schäferkampsalle 37, later at Kleiner Schäferkamp 35c. Their son, the expediter Ludwig Johann Meyer (b. 8.19.1892) was married to Ida Elisabeth Meyer (b. 7.5.1891, d. 10.12.1990). Ludwig and Ida Meyer were able to get their son, Rolf Bernd (b. 7.26.1921), to safety in Switzerland in 1935. Then, in 1937, Ida Meyer did not return to Hamburg from a family visit in the USA. Ludwig Meyer did not want to leave his mother, widowed in 1938, alone in Hamburg. On 25 October 1941, he was deported from Gosslerstrasse 65 (today, Eppendorferweg) to the Lodz (Litzmannstadt) ghetto where he died of malnutrition.

At the end, Rosalie Meyer lived in the Nordheim Foundation Jewish Old People’s home at Schlachterstrasse 40-41 and at Beneckestrasse 6. On 9 June 1943, she was deported to Theresienstadt. Just a month later, on 4 July 1943, she died at 81 years of age.

Translator: Richard Levy
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: April 2020
© Susanne Rosendahl

Quellen: 1; 3; 4; 8; StaH 351-14 Arbeits- und Sozialfürsorge 989 (Bloch, Albert); StaH 314-15 OFP_1939/ 2939; StaH 351-11 AfW 44767 (Meyer, Rolf); StaH 351-11 AfW 14532 (Meyer, Ludwig); StaH 351-11 AfW 12953 (Meyer, Ida); StaH 332-5 Standesämter 2279 u 2254/1892; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 2776 u 73/1891; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 398 u 1869/1896; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 8742 u 571/1920; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 8102 u 55/1930; StaH 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinde Nr. 992 e 2 Band 1; StaH 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinde Nr. 992 e 2 Band 4; StaH 322 Jüdische Gemeinde Abl. 1993 Ordner 10 Heimeinkaufsverträge Theresienstadt; Lodz Hospital, Der Hamburger Gesellschaft für Genealogie zur Verfügung gestellt von Peter W. Landé, 2009, USHMM, Washington, bearbeitet von Margot Löhr; diverse Hamburger Adressbücher.
Zur Nummerierung häufig genutzter Quellen siehe Link "Recherche und Quellen".