Emmy Vosen

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Braunschweig Stolperstein VOSEN Emmy Kohlmarkt 5 (Brunswyk 2019) .JPG
Stumbling stone in front of her Kohlmarkt 5 store
Braunschweig Stolperstein VOSEN Emmy Am Gaussberg 3 (Brunswyk 2018) .JPG
Stumbling stone in front of her apartment at Am Gaußberg 3


Elvira Vosen , called Emmy (born October 25, 1881 in Schalke ; died in 1944 in the Theresienstadt ghetto ), was a German seamstress and milliner . She is a victim of the Holocaust because she was persecuted by the National Socialists for her Jewish faith and murdered in Theresienstadt.

Life

Kohlmarkt 5 (house in the center): Emmy Vosen had her “women's clothing store” on the ground floor and first floor.

Almost nothing is known about Emmy Vosen's life before she came to Braunschweig. You should u. a. lived in Buer and Essen , where she probably trained as a seamstress. In mid-1903 she came to Braunschweig, where she initially worked as a saleswoman in the Druwe cleaning goods store at Kohlmarkt 5. In 1912 she took over the business and turned it into a “women's clothing store ”. The sales room was on the ground floor, the tailoring shop on the first floor. The business quickly developed into one of the top addresses for wealthy female Braunschweig customers.

Life under National Socialism

After the " seizure of power " by the Nazis on 31 January 1933 took in the city and country Braunschweig the reprisals against political dissent and Jews too strong. So on March 11, 1933, a “ warehouse storm ” occurred in the city , one of the highest NSDAP functionaries, including SA and SS member Friedrich Alpers and Interior Minister Dietrich Klagges, organized targeted violence against “Jewish” shops.

In the inner-city area around Kohlmarkt in particular, there were several shops run by Jews, such as the large clothing store Hamburger & Littauer , which was right next to Emmy Vosen's shop or about 200 m away the Adolf Frank department store , the largest in the state of Braunschweig. Most of the “Jewish” shops were vandalized that day, but not Emmy Vosen's.

As a reaction to this staged act of violence by the Nazi regime, foreign newspapers called for a boycott of German goods, which in turn triggered the “ Jewish boycott ” as a counter-reaction by the Nazis . On April 1, 1933, the Nazis wanted to boycott “Jewish” shops. This action was officially declared over after three days, because it did not receive the support from the population that the National Socialists had expected. The wealthy clientele - including the wives of high SA and SS functionaries as well as NSDAP members - continued to buy from Emmy Vosen, albeit secretly.

However, word of the circumvention of the prohibition of “not buying from Jews” got around, so that in 1935 the Braunschweig head of the SA auxiliary police, Otto Gattermann , stormed the shop with reinforcements and confiscated the business books in order to get to the customer names. This list of customers was then reproduced and distributed throughout the city, v. a. posted in the large companies, so that the pressure on the people listed there became so strong that they no longer bought from Emmy Vosen in order not to be hit by reprisals by the regime themselves. Some NSDAP members were expelled from the party because their wives were a customer of Vosen.

As a result of these events and in the run-up to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin , the regime decided (in front of the global public for the time being) to refrain from further harassment against Jews. So Emmy Vosen was able to continue running her business - but the “Jewish” name “Vosen” had to disappear. She therefore handed over the management to Erich Unger, whose name "Vosen" replaced. Unger was also Jewish, but married to a Christian. Emmy Vosen was able to secretly work as a tailor for a while.

On March 31, 1937, several windows of “Jewish” shops on the Kohlmarkt, including that of Emmy Vosen, were smeared with “Jude”. The perpetrator was the NSDAP member Josef Zoul. However, since he had acted without “party orders” and therefore without authority, he was sentenced to one month in prison for damage to property . In the pogrom night 9./10. In November 1938 , the Kohlmarkt 5 store was also devastated, Erich Unger was injured so badly that he died of the consequences on December 12th.

Emmy Vosen lived from 1919 to 1930 in the house at Am Gaußberg 2 , which belonged to the well-known Braunschweig industrialist family Schmalbach, owners of the largest German packaging company Schmalbach-Lubeca . There she was quartered by the housing authorities because of the housing shortage after the end of the First World War . She was single and childless. With the family, v. a. She had a very close relationship with her son Hans-Werner († 1998), born in 1919, which lasted until her deportation in 1943. After the Second World War, Hans-Werner Rössing-Schmalbach was a partner in the largest West German packaging group Schmalbach-Lubeca in Braunschweig. In his "Memories", written in 1990, he referred to Emmy Vosen as "[m] a second mother". In 1930 , two rooms had become vacant in the neighboring house, Am Gaußberg 3 , which belonged to the von Rhamm family, who were also well-known in the city , into which Emmy Vosen moved, but continued to maintain very close contact with the Schmalbach family.

Last years: “Judenhaus”, deportation and death

Ferdinandstraße 9: Former “ Jewish house ”, in which Emmy Vosen and other Jews had to live until their deportation on March 16, 1943 (photo from 2012).

The name change decree forced from 17 August 1938, all Jewish women, in addition to their name the name Sara to accept, if not already contributed a first name, as "typical Jewish name " was considered. Men were forced to use the first name "Israel". So Emmy Vosen had to take the name "Sara".

In 1939 she finally sold her business to the widow of the late Erich Unger. As a Jew, she was forced to deposit the money into a blocked account to which she had no access. The whereabouts of the money in the post-war period is unknown. After the sale of the business, she initially lived in the immediate vicinity of Kohlmarkt at Schuhstrasse 21. The following year she was registered as “Emmy Sara Vosen” at Rankestrasse 9 in the eastern ring area . In 1942, like all Jews in Braunschweig, she was finally forced to live in one of the Jewish houses in the city of Braunschweig , in her case at Ferdinandstrasse 9. From there she was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto on March 16, 1943 together with all the residents .

Last sign of life

In the summer of 1943, the Schmalbach family received an Emmy Vosens postcard postmarked June 28, 1943 from Waldmünchen - probably smuggled out of the Theresienstadt ghetto:

“My dear ones, today [I] have the time and opportunity to send you warm greetings. I hope you are as well as I am. My stay is similar in nature to Brenneckenbr. I have a journey behind me that will remain unforgettable. I'm still busy with the household. I would like to have a message from there but later. My thoughts are always with you. What is Hans Werner doing to say hello from me. My suitcase got lost, I have 1 shirt 1 panties, 1 skirt 1 blouse. Every Sunday is washed and freshly dressed, but it works and [I] get ready.
Merry celebrations and a thousand heartfelt greetings for everyone, always your
Elvira "

- Hans-Werner Rössing-Schmalbach: "Preserved". Memories - experienced - past. P. 186.

That was the last sign of life. The exact time of Emmy Vosens death is unknown. According to the official version, she died of typhus sometime in 1944 in the Theresienstadt ghetto .

End of December 1949 came forward Hermann Vosen, a nephew Emmy Voses from Buffalo in the State of New York in the Jewish community Braunschweig and asked for information about the whereabouts of the assets of his aunt. The community informed him that they would not provide any information about people or the whereabouts of the money without evidence.

In memory of Emmy Vosen, a stumbling stone was laid in front of her apartment at Am Gaußberg 3 and in front of her former shop Kohlmarkt 5 .

literature

  • Reinhard Bein : Narrative time. Reports and postcards from the city and state of Braunschweig 1933–1945. Döring, Braunschweig 2002, ISBN 978-3925268-22-9 , pp. 112-116.
  • Elvira Vosen. In: Reinhard Bein: Life stories of Braunschweiger Jews. döringDRUCK, Braunschweig 2016, ISBN 978-3-925268-54-0 , pp. 254-259.
  • Reinhard Bein: Contemporary witnesses made of stone. Volume 2. Braunschweig and its Jews. City tours. Braunschweig 1996, ISBN 3-925268-18-9 , pp. 31-35.
  • Hans-Werner Rössing-Schmalbach: "Preserved". Memories - experienced - past. Mecke, Duderstadt 1990.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Reinhard Bein: Narrative time. Reports and postcards from the city and state of Braunschweig 1933–1945. P. 112.
  2. ↑ Elvira Vosen. In: Reinhard Bein: Life stories of Braunschweiger Jews. P. 257.
  3. ^ Letter from Stefan Goch , Institute for City History, Gelsenkirchen, s. here
  4. ↑ Braunschweig address book for the year 1913. Joh. Heinr. Meyer, Braunschweig 1936, p. 451.
  5. ^ Dieter Lent : Alpers, Friedrich. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 24-25 .
  6. ↑ Hans-Ulrich Ludewig : Klagges, Dietrich. In. Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 318-319 .
  7. ↑ a b c Reinhard Bein: Contemporary witnesses made of stone. Volume 2. Braunschweig and its Jews. City tours. P. 35.
  8. ^ Markus Bernhardt: Gattermann, Otto. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 199 .
  9. ↑ Hans-Werner Rössing-Schmalbach: "Preserved". Memories - experienced - past. P. 187.
  10. ↑ Reinhard Bein: Narrative time. Reports and postcards from the city and state of Braunschweig 1933–1945. Pp. 113-115.
  11. ↑ a b Reinhard Bein: Narrative time. Reports and postcards from the city and state of Braunschweig 1933–1945. P. 116.
  12. ↑ Lower Saxony State Archives, Wolfenbüttel location : File 12 New 13 16059, according to a letter from Frank Ehrhardt, head of the Schillstrasse satellite camp memorial , see p. here
  13. ↑ Hans-Werner Rössing-Schmalbach: "Preserved". Memories - experienced - past. P. 184.
  14. ^ Braunschweig address book for the year 1936. Joh. Heinr. Meyer, Braunschweig 1936, p. 365.
  15. ^ Braunschweig address book for 1939. Joh. Heinr. Meyer, Braunschweig 1940, p. 394.
  16. ^ Braunschweig address book for 1940. Joh. Heinr. Meyer, Braunschweig 1940, p. 399.
  17. ^ Braunschweig address book for the year 1942. Joh. Heinr. Meyer, Braunschweig 1942, p. 397 (the city's last address book published during the war).
  18. ↑ Bert Bilzer , Richard Moderhack (ed.): BRUNSVICENSIA JUDAICA. Memorial book for the Jewish fellow citizens of the city of Braunschweig 1933–1945. In: Braunschweiger Werkstücke , Volume 35, Braunschweig 1966, p. 222.
  19. ↑ Elvira Vosen. In: Reinhard Bein: Life stories of Braunschweiger Jews. P. 258 FN 5.

Remarks

  1. ↑ This is probably Brenneckenbrück , a small place a few kilometers north of Braunschweig, where the Schmalbachs owned an estate that Emmy Vosen often visited.
personal data
SURNAME Vosen, Emmy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vosen, Elvira (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German seamstress and milliner of the Jewish faith, victim of the Holocaust
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Schalke
DATE OF DEATH 1944
Place of death Theresienstadt ghetto