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Jonni Buhr * 1869

Seilerstraße 57 (Hamburg-Mitte, St. Pauli)

HIER WOHNTE
JONNI BUHR
JG. 1869
VERHAFTET 1939
"HOCHVERRAT"
KZ FUHLSBÜTTEL
TOT 21.8.1939

Jonni Carl (Johannes, Joumi) Buhr, born 4 Dec. 1896 in Hamburg, imprisoned 17 Aug. 1939 in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp, died there 21 Aug. 1939

Seilerstraße 57

Jonni Buhr was the son of the manual laborer Johann Buhr and his wife Wiebke, née Lohse. Both parents were natives of Hamburg. Jonni married Wilhelmine Doris Caroline Schroeder, also from Hamburg, on 3 April 1873. Their first son Theodor Bernhard Johannes was born in 1895. He trained as a printer, but was better known as an actor and comedian under the name Tetje Reingold-Buhr. Martha Johanna Wilhelmine was born in 1900, followed by a second daughter Ella Wilhelmine in 1905. The youngest son Fritz was born in 1907. He was declared dead in December 1945. The two youngest daughters Herta and Gertrud were born in 1910 and 1915. Jonni Buhr’s obituary notes that one of the children was illegitimate. The family lived at Seilerstraße 57.

The records of the Restitution Agency contain the following statement from an interview with Theodor Buhr in April 1960, with respect to his indemnification claim: "He explained that his father was a staunch Social Democrat. He couldn’t say whether his father was a member of the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) before 1933. During the Nazi regime he often railed against Hitler at their home on Seilerstraße 57, and as his voice was very loud, it can be assumed that the neighbors heard him and that one of them denounced him. In any case, the father was unexpectedly summoned to Gestapo headquarters in August 1939. He complied with the summons, but never returned home. About five days later, the family received notification of his death.”

Proceedings against Jonni Buhr and others on the charge of "conspiracy to commit high treason” were initiated in July 1939, but were discontinued due to his death. Family members stated in their indemnification claim that before his arrest, Jonni Buhr was "a robust man and in excellent health.” His son therefore doubted that his father died a natural death: "We don’t know what happened in the prison, we can only imagine!” The Gestapo death certificate, dated 23 August 1939, gives the cause of death as "suicide by hanging” in his cell at Fuhlsbüttel. If that were the case, it is unclear why the family was not allowed to see the body and for what reasons a cremation was ordered.

Translator: Amy Lee
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

© Christiane Jungblut

Quellen: AB 1936, T. 1, 1939; StaH 351-11 AfW, 1376; StaH 213-8 Staatsanwaltschaft Oberlandesgericht Verwaltung, Abl. 2, 451 a E 1, 1 d; StaH 213-9 Staatsanwaltschaft Oberlandesgericht Strafsachen, Js 148/39; Diercks, Gedenkbuch, 1987.