Harry Rosenberg

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Harry Rosenberg around 1970

Harry Rosenberg (* 1925 ; † October 27, 2000 ) was a German seaman, curios dealer and specialist in coins and banknotes. His Harrys Hafenbasar in Hamburg-St. Pauli attracted visitors from all over the world.

Life

Harry Rosenberg, son of a coal merchant in Mecklenburg-Pomerania, initially worked as a seaman. Until the early 1950s he drove around the world collecting souvenirs: from African masks to coins and shell money from the South Seas to Malaysian shadow figures and knick-knacks . When he had to give up his job for health reasons, he opened a small stamp and coin shop in a cellar on Bernhard-Nocht-Straße in St. Pauli and decorated it with his souvenirs. He made the experience that customers were mainly interested in his African masks and other rarities from distant countries. Rosenberg acquired the legacy of the Hamburg museum pubKäpt'n Haase (which was decorated with the collection left behind by August Emil Theodor Haase , who died in 1934 ) and began to advertise to former sailor colleagues to sell him specialties from all over the world. With this foundation he opened his museum-like rarity shop in 1954. In a side street of the Reeperbahn near the landing stages , it was particularly convenient for seafarers and tourists. A supposedly real shrunken head caused a stir in the shop window .

success

With his long beard, Harry Rosenberg was soon considered an original. Its inventory grew to over 300,000 exhibits and filled more and more winding vaults of the former Niebuhr company spirits cellar. Newspapers and television reported that travel guides from many countries pointed to the curiosity museum, which could be visited at a low entrance fee.

On regional television, Rosenberg told of his goal of opening a large coin business if he had collected enough coins to be competitive. He would shave his beard off to be taken seriously as a businessman. When the goal was achieved, Harry Rosenberg (without a beard) became known as a professional. He sent self-made coin catalogs. The catalog created by him, The banknotes of the German Reich from 1871 , reached 19 editions. From the 6th edition on, his son Holger was jointly responsible. He made a name for himself as an internationally recognized specialist in old paper money and opened a specialty shop a few houses next to the harbor bazaar. The symbol Ro , which the Rosenbergs developed, is now considered the standard for cataloging old paper money. ( Hans-Ludwig Grabowski continues the catalog from the 12th edition under the old name .)

Upheaval

Former quarter in Erichstrasse

In 1996 the rooms of the port bazaar were canceled because they were supposed to serve as an extension of the erotic museum . The extensive move to a few houses further was managed with a human chain of helpful St. Paulians.

Harry Rosenberg died in October 2000, his son Holger a few months later. The successor in the harbor bazaar, daughter Karin, suffered a fatal heart attack in April 2011. Her successor, ENT specialist Gereon Boos, also died. Harry's Hamburg harbor bazaar is now housed in an old ship crane in the Hafen-City at Sandtorkai and its existence is in danger. Wulf Köpke, former director of the Hamburg Museum of Ethnology , is committed to preservation: Hamburg does not know what this rarity museum has to offer .

literature

Movies

  • Pictures from the original Harrys Hafenbasar can be seen in the semi-documentary by Jürgen Möller: Hanseatischer Frühling , which is kept in the Hamburg State Image Center.
  • Interview with Rosenberg in the documentary: St-Pauli melancholisch by Monika Schlecht and Herbert Irek (camera). First broadcast on March 30, 1972 on NDR television.
  • Pictures from the harbor bazaar on Youtube

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kulturpolitische Korrespondenz 348 of August 5, 1978; P. 18
personal data
SURNAME Rosenberg, Harry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German seaman, curio dealer and numismatist
DATE OF BIRTH 1925
DATE OF DEATH October 27, 2000