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Louise Freundlich * 1904

Glashüttenstraße 110/112 (Hamburg-Mitte, St. Pauli)

HIER WOHNTE
LOUISE FREUNDLICH
JG. 1904
DEPORTIERT 1941
ERMORDET IN
MINSK

further stumbling stones in Glashüttenstraße 110/112:
Johanna Freundlich, Fanny Freundlich

Johanna Freundlich, née Baumgarten, born 4 Apr. 1874 in Hamburg, deported 18 Nov. 1941 to Minsk, date of death unknown
Fanny Freundlich, born 3 Feb. 1898 in Hamburg, deported 25 Oct. 1941 to Lodz, date of death unknown
Louise Freundlich, born 24 Dec. 1904 in Hamburg, deported 18 Nov. 1941 to Minsk, date of death unknown

Glashüttenstraße, between numbers 110 and 112 (Glashüttenstraße 111a)

When Johanna Baumgarten, who was from Hamburg and Jewish, married the businessman Samuel (Schmul) Freundlich in 1894, she suddenly found herself the mother of six children from her husband’s first marriage. The children were born between 1886 and 1891, so the oldest was only 12 years younger than the young woman. In the following years the family grew considerably. In March 1895 20-year-old Johanna had her first child, a son named Max. Three more boys and three girls followed in the next nine years. The youngest child, Louise, was born in 1904. What exactly Samuel Freundlich’s field of business was, or how he earned enough money to support his large family isn’t indicated in his church tax records with the Jewish Community. In 1916 they contain the notation "cease assessing tax.” In the Hamburg Address Book of 1920, Samuel Freundlich is listed as a "traveling salesman.”

The Freundlich family left Eppendorf in 1913, where they had lived at several addresses, and moved to Glashüttenstraße 111a in the rear building. When Samuel Freundlich died in 1922, aged 58, even his youngest children were nearly grown and probably already working, so they could support their mother. The widow Johanna Freundlich had no income of her own, and she probably lived with her unmarried son Carl, first at Feldstraße 51, then later at Laufgraben 41. These are the addresses in her church tax records.

In light of the increasing deterioration of living and working conditions for Jews in Hamburg, some members of the Freundlich family prepared to emigrate. The sons Julius and Georg emigrated with their families to the US in late 1938. Carl left for Shanghai in May 1940. The daughter Helene was also able to flee to the US. Johanna and her two unmarried daughters Louise and Fanny remained in Hamburg. Julius, who had run a car rental company on Boßdorferstraße in Hoheluft, vividly remembers his last weeks in Hamburg: "On 12 December 1938 the order to hand over our drivers’ licenses came, and that ended everything. I just remember endless confusion and ‘every man for himself’. We were so much more fortunate than my mother, God rest her soul, and my two sisters, since we were able to leave Hamburg on 23 December 1938. We intended to get other family members out later, which, unfortunately was only partially successful. My mother and two of my sisters died in Poland…”

His unmarried sister Fanny, born on 3 February 1898, was a kindergarten teacher, but had been unemployed since 1935. She lived as a boarder at various addresses in Eimsbüttel and Eppendorf, and was deported to Lodz on 25 October 1941, along with 1033 other Jews, on the first transport from Hamburg. Her address there was listed as Neustadt, 31 Apartment 5, and her job was listed as kindergarten teacher. Next to her name in the ghetto’s list of residents is the notation "ausg. 3.5.42,” which meants that Fanny Freundlich was selected for a transport to an extermination camp. From 4 to 15 May 1942, nearly 11,000 people were sent from the ghetto to the Kulmhof Extermination Camp, where they were murdered immediately upon arrival.

The younger sister Louise, called Lieschen, and mother Johanna Freundlich received their notices of deportation only a few weeks after Fanny. According to Julius, they were not sent to Poland, however, but were "evacuated” to Minsk on 18 November 1941, along with about 1000 other Jews from Hamburg. Their dates of death can no longer be determined.
Louise had worked for many years as an office clerk at the Hambg. Verkaufsstätte Zentrum on Schulterblatt, until she was forced to give up her job in 1935. She was unmarried and lived with her brother Carl and her mother at Laufgraben 41 after she moved out of the Carolinen Quarter. From the end of 1935 until their deportation, Louise and Johanna lived at Neuen Steinweg 78 in the rear house and received subsidies, at least at times, from the Jewish Relief Association. Immediately after their deportation, Johanna and Louise Freundlich’s household furnishings were auctioned off for 236.90 Reichsmarks – a sum that, in the opinion of the Restitution Board, was too small to warrant compensation to the heirs.

Nothing is known about the fate of Johanna Freundlich’s eldest son. He is not mentioned in the siblings’ restitution file. Of the children from Johanna Freundlich’s husband’s first marriage, the Yad Vashem database has entries for the eldest daughter Dorothea and the son Berthold. She was also deported to Minsk, and he died on 19 October 1942 in the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. Nothing is known about the other siblings.

Translator: Amy Lee

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

© Gunhild Ohl-Hinz

Quellen: 1; 4; 5; 8; StaH 314-15 OFP, Abl. 1998/ F 470; StaH 351-11 AfW, Abl. 2008/1, 261200 Freundlich, Julius; StaH 351-11 AfW, Abl. 2008/1 040474 Freundlich, Johanna; ITS/ARCH/Ghetto Litzmannstadt, Ordner 6, Seite 328; AB 1913 – 1938.
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