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Feldstr. 8

Feldstr. 8

Spandau
The house Feldstraße 8 in Spandauer Neustadt, 1913, photographer unknown. Source: Collection Ralf Schmiedecke, Berlin
This residential building was bought by the Spandau synagogue community in 1928 and housed an interdenominational home for the elderly. Jewish people lived in eight of the eleven apartments. 24 of them were deported. Located in Spandau, it shows that there were forced homes on the outskirts of Berlin as well as in the inner city.

This property was a street-facing building with three floors and an attic story. There were two apartments on each floor, and three on the second floor.

The Jewish synagogue community bought the building with funds from the Rosa and Selig Sternberg Foundation. Rosa Sternberg, mother of the renowned Spandau businessman Julius Sternberg, launched the foundation on her 75th birthday in 1928.

At Rosa Sternberg’s request, the community set up a home for the elderly here that was open to all “needy and isolated old men and women, regardless of religion”. From the outset, it housed Jewish and non-Jewish tenants. Some residents remained who had lived here before the community bought the building.

In September 1942, the property was acquired by the Reich capital Berlin. Who lived here after the deportations ended in 1943 is not known. In 2005, a plaque was mounted on the building to commemorate the deported residents.

Apartments

1st floor, left

1st
Apartment Wolfberg

The Wolfberg family moved into the apartment on the left side of the first floor in September 1942. They had previously lived at Schönwalder Straße 10 in Spandau. The family of four, which spanned three generations, lived in two rooms with a kitchen. Siegfried and Amalie Wolfberg, née Crohn, shared one room with their adult daughter Martha Wolfberg. Martha's son Alexander occupied the other room. Amalie Wolfberg did not have an income of her own. Her grandson Alexander Wolfberg performed forced labor for a market-hall and cool-storage-hall company.

Martha Wolfberg was the first member of the family to be deported, on December 14, 1942, to Auschwitz, where she was probably murdered on arrival. Her son Alexander was deported on March 4, 1943, to Auschwitz and murdered. Siegfried Wolfberg was deported on March 17, 1943, to the Theresienstadt ghetto, where he died, aged 78. His wife Amalie was deported on May 28, 1943, to the Theresienstadt ghetto. She survived and returned to Spandau in July 1945. She died there on October 9, 1949.

1st floor, right

1st
Apartment Kiewe

Husband-and-wife Ascher and Johanna Kiewe moved into the building in 1935, probably from Müllerstraße 10 in Spandau. Their first-floor apartment had one room and a pantry. Ascher Kiewe was a forced laborer for Daimler Benz. On April 2, 1942, Ascher and Johanna Kiewe were deported from the assembly camp in the Levetzowstraße synagogue to the Warsaw ghetto. What happened to Ascher and Johanna Kiewe after their arrival in Warsaw is not known. Neither of them survived. After their deportation, the state earned RM 364.50 from the sale of their furnishings.

Apartment Reinglass/Rippert

Fritz Reinglass occupied one room on the first floor, opposite the Wolfberg family. Before being forced to move in at Feldstraße 8, he had lived at Reiherallee 99 in Reinickendorf and then for a short time with his mother Rosa Reinglass at Teltowerstraße 19 in Spandau.

Fritz Reinglass left the Jewish Community in late November 1938. He and his mother were registered in the Jewish Community's files as having converted to the Protestant faith. Fritz Reinglass performed forced labor for the company Warnecke & Böhm. He was deported on October 19, 1942, to Riga and murdered.

Emma Rippert, née Weinberg, most likely moved into Fritz Reinglass' room after he had been deported. Feldstraße 8 was her last known address. Emma Rippert died, aged 77, in the Jewish hospital in Berlin-Wedding.

2nd floor, left

2nd
Apartment Rosenbaum

Adelheid Rosenbaum moved into a room on the second floor in April 1933. As a resident of the home for the elderly, she paid a monthly rent of RM 19. Before the property at Feldstraße was used as compulsory accommodation, Adelheid Rosenbaum had worked as a maid in the home for the elderly, for which she received a monthly wage of RM 30. On July 1, 1943, she was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto. In preparation for the Red Cross's inspection of the "model ghetto", she was deported further, on May 15, 1944, to Auschwitz. She did not survive.

2nd floor, center

Apartment Frey

Husband-and-wife Josef and Regina Frey moved into one room on the second foor in 1939. They had previously lived at Moritzstraße 14 in Spandau. Before 1933, Josef Frey had worked as a tailor. He and his wife had three children. Two of them, Elfriede Feld and Hertha Weiss, also lived at Feldstraße 8. Their son Siegbert Frey managed to flee to Bolivia. On March 17, 1943, Josef and Regina Frey were deported with the "4th major transport of the elderly" from the assembly camp at Große Hamburger Straße 26 to the Theresienstadt ghetto. They had lived in Spandau for over 40 years. Regina Frey died in Theresienstadt, aged 63. Josef Frey managed to survive the ghetto and returned to Spandau in August 1945. He died four months later in the municipal hospital in Berlin-Hohengatow of conditions caused by concentration camp imprisonment.

3rd floor, right

3rd
Apartment Blumenthal

Hermann and Katharina Blumenthal, née Lollo, lived with their daughter Dagmar (born in 1930) in a 3-room apartment. The Blumenthals had married on December 4, 1928. Before they moved to Feldstraße 8, in 1939, they lived at Breite Straße 21, in a property owned by Julius Sternberg, the former leader of the Spandau synagogue community. Hermann Blumenthal was a self-employed trader who apparently also worked for the Spandau synagogue community and, from 1941 on, for the Berlin Jewish Community. He is also on record as having been the manager of the property at Feldstraße 8. There is no evidence that Hermann Blumenthal, his wife or his daughter were deported – probably because the Blumenthals' was a "mixed marriage": Katharina Blumenthal was not Jewish. They apparently lived in the building until at least January 1963.

Hermann Blumenthal, ID card of the employment office, 1931. Source: LABO Berlin, BEG-Akte Reg.-No. 4432

On March 6, 1940, the family took in Hermann Blumenthal's father Bernhard Blumenthal. He had owned a glazier's and bookbinder's workshop in Bärwalde (Barwice) in Pomerania until his expropriation in 1939. Hermann Blumenthal collected his father from the Jewish hospital and home for the elderly in Schneidemühl (Piła), in what is now western Poland, and brought him to Spandau. On May 10, 1943, the SS came for Bernhard Blumenthal in Feldstraße and sent him to the Auguststraße assembly camp. He died before he was due to be deported on May 25, 1943, aged 82, in the assembly camp.

4th floor, left

4th
Apartment Plonski

Jacob Plonski lived on the fourth floor. He had previously lived at Wasserstraße 1-2 in Spandau, probably until 1941. His room on Feldstraße cost RM 16.66 per month. In March 1943, Jacob Plonski was forced to hand over his keys to property manager Hermann Blumenthal and was sent to the assembly camp at Große Hamburger Straße 26. From there, he was deported on March 17, 1943, aged 69, to the Theresienstadt ghetto. On May 18, 1944, he was deported further to Auschwitz. Jacob Plonski was probably murdered shortly after his arrival in Auschwitz.

Johanna Lewin, née Bender, seems to have moved into the home for the elderly in 1932. In her declaration of assets of 1942, she stated that she occupied one-and-a-half rooms in Jakob Plonski's apartment. She was a divorcée who had a brother in Berlin. There are indications that she had a child who lived abroad. Johanna Lewin was deported on July 16, 1942, to the Theresienstadt ghetto where she died, aged 70.

Karl Samter was another occupant of Jakob Plonski's apartment. He was registered as resident at Feldstraße 8 at the time of the national census in 1939. He was deported from here, on September 14, 1942, to the Theresienstadt ghetto. Karl Samter died in the ghetto, aged 67.

Apartment Friedländer

Husband-and-wife Leib and Johanna Friedländer, née Graumann, moved into one room on the fourth floor in 1934. They had married on February 16, 1892, when they were 24. Leib Friedländer was a horse dealer by profession. He and his wife had a son and four daughters, one of whom, Dorothea Baum, also lived in the building. It is not known what happened to the other four children. Johanna Friedländer died on February 23, 1943, in Spandau. Leib Friedländer was deported on May 28, 1943, to the Theresienstadt ghetto. He died in the ghetto, aged 75.

Apartment Marcuse

Margarete Marcuse occupied another room at Feldstraße 8. She probably moved in around 1940 and is on record as having lived here until March 31, 1943. Who lived here after that date is not clear. There is evidence to suggest she went into hiding in the building as well as in other, unknown, places. She was deported on October 12, 1944, to Auschwitz, on a transport carrying mostly people who had gone underground and been caught. In her declaration of assets of September 23, 1944, she stated that she was a trader by profession but had last worked as a forced laborer. She did not survive.

Attic floor, right

AF
Apartment Baum

Herbert and Dorothea Baum moved into one room with a kitchen on the attic floor in 1939. Dorothea Baum, née Friedländer, was the daughter of Johanna and Leib Friedländer, who also lived in the building. Herbert Baum was a qualified bookkeeper. During the war, they both performed forced labor at the Siemens-Schuckert-Halske-Werner plant in Charlottenburg. Herbert and Dorothea Baum were not able to realize their plans to flee to Shanghai. They were deported on February 19, 1943, to Auschwitz. Neither survived.

Attic floor, left

Apartment Weiss

The Weiss family – Erwin and Hertha Weiss, née Frey, and their son Horst – moved into a 1.5-room apartment with a kitchen at Feldstraße 8 in late 1940. They had previously lived at Bismarckstraße 61. Erwin Weiss was a gardener by profession. Hertha Weiss performed forced labor during the war in the Siemens-Schuckert works on Gartenfelder Straße.

Elfriede Feld, Hertha Weiss's sister, was also instructed to move into the apartment at Feldstraße 8, where she had to pay a rent of RM 10 per month. She had previously lived at Kuno-Fischer-Straße 14 in Charlottenburg. Elfriede Feld was a winder by profession and last worked as a forced laborer in the Siemens-Schuckert works. She was deported on March 1, 1943, to Auschwitz, where she was murdered.

Erwin, Hertha, and Horst Weiss were deported on March 12, 1943, to Auschwitz. Hertha and Horst Weiss were probably murdered on arrival. Erwin Weiss was sent on January 26, 1945, on a death march from Auschwitz to the Halberstadt subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp. He was registered there as a "political Jew" with the prisoner number 120375. This subcamp, codename "Malachyt", was effectively a major underground construction site. Erwin Weiss perished in the inhuman conditions there shortly before the war ended, on April 5, 1945.

Unknown location

Ernestine Hirsch

Ernestine Hirsch moved into the home for the elderly at Feldstraße 8 in 1933, aged 67. She was deported on September 14, 1942, to the Theresienstadt ghetto. She died, aged 76, just two weeks after arriving in the ghetto.

Gretchen and Helene Cohen

Gretchen Wilhelma Cohen lived with her mother Helene Cohen at Feldstraße 8. In August 1934, Gretchen Cohen had been jailed for 22 days in Moringen women's concentration camp. On January 13, 1942, two weeks before her 42nd birthday, she was deported from the Levetzowstraße assembly camp to the Riga ghetto. The average age of the deportees on this transport was 59. Only 15 of them survived. Gretchen Cohen was not one of them. Her mother Helene Cohen was deported on September 14, 1942, from the assembly camp at Artilleriestraße 31 to the Theresienstadt ghetto. She survived only about four months. She was 76 when she died.

Selma Freund

According to the information in her declaration of assets of September 3, 1942, Selma Freund was an "old people's home resident" at Feldstraße 8. She was deported on September 14, 1942, nine days after her 85th birthday, from the assembly camp at Große Artilleriestraße 31 to the Theresienstadt ghetto. Selma Freund survived just three months in Theresienstadt.

Hermann and Agnes Pieck

Hermann Pieck, a trader, moved into the building with his wife Agnes Pieck, née Vorpahl, in 1933. In 1893, Hermann Pieck had been a member of the Spandau synagogue community council. He was likely saved from deportation by his non-Jewish wife. He died on January 2, 1943; his wife Agnes on June 18, 1943. The address on both their death certificates was Auguststraße 14-16.

Rosalie Freund

Rosalie Freund, née Block, died on September 8, 1939, in Berlin. She was registered as resident at Feldstraße 8 at the time. She was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Weißensee.

Salomon Simonsohn

Salomon Simonsohn moved in at Feldstraße 8 in 1934. He died on January 10, 1940, in his sister Sophie's apartment at Obermeierweg 16 in Spandau, and was buried on January 17, 1940, in the Jewish cemetery in Weißensee.

Charlotte Simonsohn

Charlotte Simonsohn, née Levy, moved into the building in 1939. She died on February 24, 1942, pobably in Wittenau sanitarium.

Joachim Joseph

It is not qute clear whether Joachim Joseph lived in the building or not. In the national census of 1939, he was documented as resident at Feldstraße 8 and in Charlottenburg. There are no further indications that he lived at Feldstraße 8. He was arrested on October 25, 1939, sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and murdered the same day.

Neighborhood

Non-Jewish people lived in the building at Feldstraße 8 before its sale to the Spandau synagogue community, and more moved in from the early 1930s on. Since the home for the elderly was expressly interdemoninational, it is unclear under which circumstances the non-Jewish residents moved in.

Author

Uwe Hofschläger (Spandau youth history workshop)

In remembrance of the Jewish residents of Feldstraße 8

Dorothea Baum, née Friedländer

Born 31, 1903 in Bromberg (Bydgoszcz)
Deported February 19, 1943, to Auschwitz, murdered

Herbert Baum

Born May 13, 1897, in Berlin
Deported February 19, 1943, to Auschwitz, murdered

Bernhard Blumenthal

Born October 5, 1861, in Bärwalde (Barwice)
Died May 25, 1943, at the Auguststraße assembly camp

Dagmar Blumenthal

Born March 14, 1930, in Berlin
Survived

Hermann Blumenthal

Born June 15, 1901, in Bärwalde (Barwice)
Survived

Gretchen Wilhelma Cohen

Born January 27, 1893, in Hamburg
Deported January 13, 1942, to the Riga ghetto, murdered

Helene Cohen, née Susanne

Born July 11, 1866, in Hamburg
Deported September 14, 1942, to the Theresienstadt ghetto, died January 17, 1943

Elfriede Feld, née Frey

Born April 5, 1903, in Berlin
Deported March 1, 1943, to Auschwitz, murdered

Rosalie Freund, née Block

Born February 8, 1866, in Ratibor (Raciborski)
Died September 8, 1939, in Berlin

Selma Freund

Born August 31, 1857, or September 5, 1857, in Gross-Peterwitz (Pietrowice Wielkie)
Deported September 14, 1942, to the Theresienstadt ghetto, died December 6, 1942

Joseph Frey

Born September 4, 1874, in Beuthen (Bytom)
Deported March 17, 1943, to the Theresienstadt ghetto
Survived, died December 29, 1945, in Spandau

Regina Frey, née Jacobsohn

Born April 16, 1880, in Rehden
Deported March 7, 1943, to the Theresienstadt ghetto, died November 21, 1943

Johanna Friedländer, née Graumann

Born November 23, 1886, in Wissek (Wysoka)
Died February 23, 1943, in Spandau

Leib Friedländer

Born August 5, 1867, in Lobsens (Łobżenica)
Deported May 28, 1943, to the Theresienstadt ghetto, died July 9, 1943

Ernestine Hirsch, née Hecht

Born July 24, 1866, in Ratibor (Raciborski)
Deported September 14, 1942, to the Theresienstadt ghetto, died September 28, 1942

Joseph Joachim

Born April 4, 1913, in Graudenz (Grudziądz)
Imprisoned and murdered October 25, 1939, in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, not conclusively verifiable if he was resident at Feldstraße 8

Johanna Kewin, née Bender

Born January 4, 1872, in Breslau (Wrocław)
Deported July 16, 1942, to the Theresienstadt ghetto, died September 25, 1942

Ascher Kiewe

Born January 10, 1873, in Gollub, Pommern (Golub-Dobrzyń)
Deported April 2, 1942, to the Warsaw ghetto, did not survive

Johanna Kiewe, née Joseph

Born March 17, 1882, in Neumark (Nowemiasto)
Deported April 2, 1942, to the Warsaw ghetto, did not survive

Margarete Marcuse

Born March 19, 1894, in Bad Schönfließ (Trzcińsko Zdrój)
Deported October 12, 1944, to Auschwitz, murdered

Herman Pieck

Born November 30, 1856, in Damnitz (Dębica)
Died January 2, 1943, in Berlin

Jacob Plonski

Born January 9, 1874, in Wischulitz (Wichulec)
Deported March 17, 1943, to the Theresienstadt ghetto; May 18, 1944, to Auschwitz, murdered

Fritz Reinglass

Born April 16, 1901, in Berlin
Deported October 19, 1942, to the Riga ghetto, murdered

Emma Rippert, née Weinberg

Born August 6, 1866, in Lichenroht
Died October 23, 1943, in Berlin

Adelheid Rosenbaum

Born October 29, 1882, in Leipzig
Deported July 1, 1943, to the Theresienstadt ghetto; May 15, 1944, to Auschwitz, murdered

Karl Samter

Born June 8, 1875, in Lenzen
Deported September 14, 1942, to the Theresienstadt ghetto, died January 20, 1943

Charlotte Simonsohn, née Levy

Born January 10, 1877, in Berlin
Died February 24, 1942, in Wittenau sanitarium

Salomon Simonsohn

Born December 10, 1871, in Berlin
Died January 10, 1940, in Berlin

Erwin Weiss

Born November 11, 1903, in Breslau (Wrocław)
Deported March 12, 1943, to Auschwitz, death march to Malachyt subcamp (Buchenwald concentration camp), murdered May 5, 1945

Herta Weiss, née Frey

Born December 28, 1906, in Berlin
Deported March 12, 1943, to Auschwitz, murdered

Horst Weiss

Born January 15, 1933, in Berlin
Deported March 12, 1943, to Auschwitz, murdered

Alexander Wolfberg

Born April 12, 1922, in Berlin
Deported March 4, 1943, to Auschwitz, murdered

Amalie Wolfberg, née Crohn

Born May 9, 1863, in Berlin
Deported May 28, 1943, to the Theresienstadt ghetto
Survived, died October 9, 1949, in Berlin

Martha Wolfberg

Born July 12, 1893, in Berlin
Deported December 14, 1942, to Auschwitz, murdered

Siegfried Wolfberg

Born October 6, 1865, in Stolp, Pomerania (Słupsk)
Deported March 17, 1943, to the Theresienstadt ghetto, died February 21, 1944

Jewish population of Spandau

In 1933, 725 Jewish people lived in Spandau. The number fell to only 205 by 1939. See here to find out more about how the Jewish populations of the various districts of Berlin changed between 1933 and 1939:

Map "Jewish population of Berlin"