Harry Goldstein

Harry (Heimann) Goldstein (born July 20, 1880 in Wałbrzych , † June 10, 1977 in Hamburg ) was a German businessman and chairman of the Jewish community in Hamburg .

Live and act

Harry Goldstein's family came from Poznan and were considered strictly Jewish. Goldstein attended the city high school and a business school. After completing his commercial training, he worked in his father's men's clothing store. In 1907 the family went to Hamburg, where Goldstein worked as a sales representative. During the First World War he did military service in the infantry regiment "Hamburg" from 1914 . For his achievements he received the Hamburg Hanseatic Cross and the Iron Cross 2nd class . After the end of the war he returned to Hamburg in 1919, where he again worked as a sales representative. In the same year he married Clara Rohweder. His wife came from Hamburg and had converted to Judaism shortly before they married.

Goldstein was involved in the Reich Association of Jewish Front Soldiers , which wanted to counter anti-Semitic attacks in particular. Goldstein co-founded the Hamburg local group in 1919 and headed it until it was dissolved. After his employer had fired him in the summer of 1934, Goldstein devoted himself to the administration of Jewish organizations. He mainly dealt with the so-called sports group "Schild". This organization, co-founded by Goldstein in 1933, wanted to strengthen young members physically and shape their characters so that they could become “strong, conscious German Jews”. The group developed positively under Goldstein's leadership and offered numerous activities. In 1939 both the Reichsbund and the sports group were dissolved. Harry Goldstein then continued to offer sporting activities, but became more and more involved in the general welfare work of the Jewish Religious Association in Hamburg , which was banned by the Gestapo in 1943 .

Harry Goldstein was one of the few Jews in Hamburg who had not yet been deported at this point in time. The reason for this was often that they lived in so-called mixed marriages . The couple's only son, Heinz Goldstein, had emigrated to Sweden in 1939. Harry Goldstein looked after the remaining parishioners. As she hoped to avert an impending deportation, Goldstein's wife resigned from the Jewish community.

After the end of National Socialism , Goldstein took on the leading role in rebuilding the community. The impressions of the injustice suffered had steadily strengthened his Jewish faith, but did not lead to his wanting to break away from Germany. He wanted to ensure that Adolf Hitler's intention to "destroy Judaism in Europe" does not materialize, so Goldstein. On September 18, 1945, he was one of the founding members of the Jewish community, which in his opinion should be open to all Hamburgers who professed to be Jewish. Goldstein took over the chairmanship of an initially temporary board and held this post for ten years. In this position he organized the care of the physically weak and destitute parishioners. Goldstein campaigned for the rededication of the former monastery synagogue, which was located in the former Oppenheimer monastery. He took care of the reopening of the Ohlsdorf Jewish Cemetery and tried to protect existing burial sites. He also got involved in new old people's and nursing homes. In close cooperation with the emergency community of those affected by the Nuremberg Laws , he tried to solve problems with questions about reparations and compensation.

Goldstein maintained contacts with Jewish aid organizations from the Anglo-American region, which opened branches in Hamburg. He tried to convey to international Jewish aid organizations why German Jews continued to stay in the “land of murderers”. Together with the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the British Zone , headed by Josef Rosensaft , which claimed to represent the interests of Jewish people alone, Goldstein confidently stood up for the interests of the newly founded Jewish communities. From May 1946 he also participated in the emerging supra-regional groups of Jewish communities in the British zone of occupation .

In 1946 Goldstein was appointed to the Hamburg citizenship . Since the construction of the Israelite Hospital in 1959/60 he was a member of the board of trustees in a leading position. When the new synagogue was inaugurated in 1960, the Jewish community made him its honorary chairman. Goldstein resigned from his post as a member of the board of directors and managing chairman at the end of 1955 for reasons of age. When the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation was founded in Hamburg , he was one of the founding members and was deputy chairman until May 1975. The society then made him an honorary member. Goldstein worked to ensure that the memory of the Jewish victims of National Socialism did not fade in public. This included, for example, a monument inaugurated in 1951 at the Ohlsdorf Jewish cemetery. He researched the names of Jewish victims of the Holocaust in Hamburg and pursued them until they were over 80 years old. The corresponding memorial book was published by the Hamburg Senate .

Harry Goldstein, who had always felt connected to Hamburg despite his life story, died on June 10, 1977.

Honors

In 1955 the city of Hamburg awarded him the Silver Medal for loyal services to the people. Since 1956 he has been awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class .

literature

• Uwe Loham: Goldstein, Harry . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 2 . Christians, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-7672-1366-4 , pp. 148-150 .
• "After all, it is my home ..." Harry Goldstein and the Jewish community in Hamburg in personal documents and photos . Edited by Uwe Lohalm, (= publication by the Research Center for Contemporary History in Hamburg), Results Verlag, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-87916-064-3 .