Wandlitzstr. 13
Wandlitzstr. 13
Karlshorst grew in the early 19th century into a popular suburb of Berlin. The two-storey terraced house at what was then Prinz-Heinrich-Straße 6 overlooked the railway line between Berlin and Frankfurt (Oder). In the 1930s and early 1940s, the house was owned by Valeska Levy, who lived here with her husband Max Levy. Six Jewish people were already housed here before 1939. After 1939, a further nine Jewish people moved in – probably under coercion. Ten Jewish residents were deported from here. Only one of them survived.
Apartments
Street-facing building, 2nd floor
Apartment Levy
Valeska and Max Levy lived in a six-room apartment. After 1939, they took in several subtenants. In October 1940 Nanny and Max Wiener moved into two of the furnished rooms. On June 1, 1942, Margot and Rudolf Nothenberg moved in with their young son Gerd to two other rooms in the apartment. It is likely that Margot Nothenberg (née Levy) was related to Max Levy.
Margarete Goldstein lived in another room in the apartment. She and Nanny Wiener were the last remaining Jewish tenants. On March 1, 1943, they were both deported to Auschwitz. About a month later, bombing damaged the apartment’s windows. As Margarete Goldstein’s room had been sealed off, the new owner of the building, Alfred Mätzner, wrote to the authorities asking for permission to enter it to assess the damage.
“The room last occupied by subtenant Goldstein is locked. Due to bomb damage the window has opened and a pane of glass been smashed. I have the key in a sealed envelope. The room has not been cleared. (Neither has the Wiener room). May I enter it?”
Apartment Riegner/Charytan
This apartment was probably owned by Irmgard Riegner. She emigrated to the United Kingdom in early 1940. The apartment was the kind known as a Kochstube – a single room containing a small kitchen. Husband-and-wife Leib and Rahel Charytan moved in here in March 1940. The previous year they were registered as resident in Wilhelmshaven (Eastern Friesland), 500 kilometers away. Leib Charytan was arrested, probably during the November pogroms of 1938, and imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. A month later he was released. Rahel Charytan was taken to Auschwitz on March 2, 1943 and murdered. Ten days later her husband was also deported to Auschwitz and murdered there on May 19, 1943.
Neighborhood
The district of Lichtenberg, to which Karlshorst belonged, had comparatively few Jewish residents. In 1933, barely one percent of the population of Lichtenberg were Jewish. They counted 2208 people. By May 1939, the number of Jewish residents had fallen further to 563. By 1941, when the Nazis’ deportations started, only 340 Jewish people still lived in Lichtenberg.
Author
Johanna A. Kühne
Leib Charytan
Born June 1,1889, in Zaleskawola
Deported March 12, 1943, to Auschwitz, murdered May 19, 1943
Rahel Charytan, née Stelze
Born December 28, 1889, in Antoniki
Deported March 2, 1943, to Auschwitz, murdered
Charlotte Freudenberg, née Lichtenstein
Born September 8, 1897, in Berlin
Deported November 29, 1942, to Auschwitz, murdered
Margarete Goldstein
Born February 28, 1902, in Naples
Deported March 1, 1943, to Auschwitz, murdered
Max Levy
Born March 21, 1874, in Friedebergschbruch (Zółwin)
Deported October 3, 1942, to the Theresienstadt ghetto, died January 24, 1943
Valeska Levy, née Lefebre
Born February 17, 1876, in Falkenburg, Pomerania (Złocieniec)
Deported October 3, 1942, to the Theresienstadt ghetto
Survived
Gerd Nothenberg
Born December 21, 1935, in Berlin
Deported October 19, 1942, to the Riga ghetto, murdered October 22, 1942
Margot Nothenberg, née Levy
Born July 11, 1911, in Berlin
Deported October 19, 1942, to the Riga ghetto, murdered October 22, 1942
Rudolf Nothenberg
Born April 10, 1903, in Berlin
Deported October 19, 1942, to the Riga ghetto, murdered October 22, 1942
Irmgard Riegner
Born March 13, 1918, in Berlin
Escaped to the United Kingdom 1940
Survived
Max Wiener
Born June 21, 1882, in Ratibor
Deported June 28, 1943, to Auschwitz, murdered
Nanny Wiener, née Michalowski
Born April 11, 1894, in Johannisburg
Deported March 1, 1943, to Auschwitz, murdered