Husband-and-wife Georg and Lucie Schlabowsky lived in the first-floor apartment with their children Alfons, Edith, Ruth, and Eli. The family of six evidently shared one room and the kitchen. They were deported on October 19, 1942, to the Riga ghetto, where they were murdered a few days later. The youngest of the children, Eli, was just five months old; the older children were five, six and eight.     

Charlotte Behrendt, née Cohn, was deported on October 29, 1943, to Auschwitz, where she was murdered at an unknown point in time. Theodor Behrendt was deported on September 5, 1944, to the Theresienstadt ghetto; his date of death is not known. According to information given by Theodor Behrendt and his mother-in-law Emma Cohn, née Bieber, the former lived with his wife Charlotte in Emma Cohn’s apartment (see Side building, raised 1st floor, right, Cohn). However, as the former residents gave partly conflicting information, it remains unclear who let and who occupied the apartment.

Bertha and Doris Walther, who were likely mother and daughter, lived here with the Jewish subtenants Lutka Wallach and (probably) Lucie Grün, née Walther, and Siegfried Grün/Gruen. Lucie Grün and Siegfried Grün/Gruen were most likely married. Lutka Wallach was deported on April 2, 1942, to the Warsaw ghetto and murdered. Bertha Walther, Doris Walther, Lucie Grün and Siegfried Grün/Gruen were deported on August 15, 1942, to the Riga ghetto, where they were all murdered shortly after arriving.

Husband-and-wife Dr. Walther and Rosa Julie Priebatsch, née Hassel, lived with their son Gerhard Heinz in a large 4-room apartment on the second floor of the street-facing building.  Walter Priebatsch was a gynecologist. The Priebatschs sublet one room to Michael Liessberger for RM 20. Walter Priebatsch’s brother Hans (later John) also lived in the apartment for about one-and-a-half years before his escape to the United States in 1941.

An educated, upper-middle-class family, the Priebatschs had a relatively luxurious household: They owned a twelve-piece tea- and coffee-set, silverware, and valuable jewelry. After the war, Walter’s brother Hans (John) and sister-in-law Ida Priebatsch, née Braunsberger, made statements describing not only the apartment’s furnishings but also the Priebatsch family’s attempts to maintain their dignity and social standing. Around the years 1938/39, Walther and Rosa Priebatsch bought three bicycles and seem to have purposefully started acquiring traditional status symbols. They were evidently determined to resist being constrained and pushed to the social margins.

Walter and Rosa Priebatsch were deported on October 3, 1942, to the Theresienstadt ghetto. Walter Priebatsch perished in the hostile conditions of the ghetto. Rosa Priebatsch was deported further on May 16, 1944, to Auschwitz, where she was murdered. Their son Gerhard Heinz was deported on March 6, 1943, to Auschwitz, where he was murdered at an unknown point in time. It is not clear when or whether their subtenant Michael Liessberger was deported, or what happened to him.

Six months after Walter and Rosa Priebatsch were deported, their non-Jewish neighbor on the same landing, Mary Gorodiski, purchased their double bed, their son’s bedroom furnishings, and their kitchen furnishings.

Hedwig Peiser, née Prinz, seems to have lived with the subtenants Dan and Gerda Birnbach, née Peiser. Gerda was very likely Hedwig Peiser’s daughter. Hertha Silber, née Birnbach, probably Gerda Birnbach’s sister-in-law and Dan Birnbach’s aunt, seems to have lived in the apartment as well. She managed to flee to Bolivia in 1939. Hedwig Peiser was deported on October 3, 1942, to the Theresienstadt ghetto, where she died on February 17, 1943. Dan and Gerda Birnbach were deported on August 4, 1943, to Auschwitz, where they murdered at an unknown point in time.

Arthur and Ella Themal, née Lachmann (mariée Katz, from her first marriage), took over the lease on this 4-room apartment on May 1, 1940. They paid the same monthly rent as the Priebatsch family: RM 120. On September 1, 1941, Max and Else Loewenthal moved into one furnished room of the apartment as subtenants. They paid a monthly rent of RM 35. According to the information in their declaration of assets, by the time they were deported all they owned was five eiderdowns, four pillows, a mattress cover, three cooking pots, two neckties, a winter coat and a between-seasons coat, a business suit, and a few tools: a screwdriver, two pliers, and a hammer. Max and Else Loewenthal were deported on October 19, 1942, to the Riga ghetto and murdered there on October 22, 1942. Arthur and Ella Themal were deported to Auschwitz a few weeks later, where they were murdered.

Johanna Ascher, née Loewenstein, lived with a subtenant, David Ballhoser, in her apartment. Johanna Ascher was deported on October 3, 1942, to the Theresienstadt ghetto and on May 15, 1944, to Auschwitz. She was murdered there at an unknown point in time. It is not clear what happened to David Ballhoser.

The sisters Flora, Frieda and Selma Saenger shared an apartment with their subtenants Helmut and Margot Grabowski, née Loewenthal. The twins Flora and Frieda Saenger was deported on June 13, 1942, to Sobibor extermination camp, where she was murdered. Selma Saenger was deported on January 12, 1943, to Auschwitz and murdered there at an unknown point in time. The Grabowski couple was deported to Auschwitz on February 3, 1943. Margot Grabowski was murdered there in March 1943, Helmut Grabowski was further deported to Buchenwald concentration camp on January 26, 1945 and murdered on February 3, 1945.

Ilse Herrmann seems to have held the lease on the apartment. She moved in at some point in late 1942 or early 1943, sharing with the subtenants Lesser Hirschfeld and his wife Bertha, née Klar. The Hirschfelds were deported to Auschwitz on March 12, 1943, and murdered there at an unknown date. Two months later, on May 18, 1943, Ilse Herrmann was deported to Theresienstadt and on October 12, 1944, she was further deported to Auschwitz, where she was murdered.

Anna (Annemarie) May, née Fürster, and her husband Josef May lived in the first-floor apartment in the side building. Both were deported on July 15, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Josef May died there after three months on October 24, 1942. Anna May was further deported to Auschwitz on December 18, 1943, where she was murdered at an unknown date.

Fritz Weissenstein shared this apartment with a non-Jewish subtenant, Auguste Band. Auguste Band’s Jewish husband had died in February 1943. Fritz Weissenstein was deported on September 28, 1943, to Auschwitz and murdered there at an unknown point in time.

This 4.5-room apartment let to Emma Cohn, née Bieber, was occupied by the subtenants Theodor Behrendt and Charlotte Behrendt, née Cohn. They had two children, Denny Cohn (born 1941) and Tana Cohn (born 1940), who seem to have lived somewhere else. Toni Faller occupied another partly furnished room in the apartment. The 66-year-old was the first to be deported from the apartment to Theresienstadt on July 10, 1942. Two months later she was deported from there to Treblinka and murdered. Emma Cohn and Charlotte Behrendt were deported to Auschwitz on October 29, 1943, and both were murdered at an unknown date. Theodor Behrendt was not deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto until almost a year later, on September 5, 1944. His date of death is also unknown. The two infants Denny and Tana Cohn were already deported to Theresienstadt on May 17, 1943, and from there on October 19, 1944, to Auschwitz, where they were murdered on the day of their arrival.

Ilse Schmidt apparently lived alone in this small apartment. She was deported on February 26, 1943 to Auschwitz, where she was murdered at an unknown point in time.

Ida Gordon shared her apartment with two married couples: Josef and Alma Kaczer, née Daniel, and Alfred and Hilde Nelson, née Lenschner. Ida Gordon was deported on July 15, 1942, to the Theresienstadt ghetto, where she died on March 4, 1943. Alfred and Hilde Nelson were deported on December 9, 1942, to Auschwitz, Josef and Alma Kaczer on February 3, 1943. They were all murdered; their dates of death are not known.

Margarete and Siegfried Naumann lived in this apartment with their daughters Hannelore and Ursula. Margarete, Hannelore, and Ursula Naumann were deported on January 29, 1943, to the Theresienstadt ghetto. Their dates of death are not known. Siegfried Naumann was deported over a year-and-a-half later, on September 29, 1944, to Auschwitz, where he was murdered.

In 1955, some 15 years later, Emil Weiß stated in a letter to the Berlin regional court’s compensation tribunal that the non-Jewish tenants had noticed an alarming, moldy smell in the building. Believing it to be getting stronger, they had complained to the municipal building inspection department. Between January and October 1942, the building was extensively renovated. It is interesting to note that the non-Jewish occupants voiced their complaints just as the deportations from Berlin began.