Köhlbrand shipyard

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The Köhlbrandwerft was a shipyard on Korbmachersand in Hamburg-Altenwerder that existed from 1921 to 1957 , founded by the shipbuilder Paul Theodor Berendsohn (1878-1959). It was particularly known as a scrapping yard . The company was " Aryanized " in 1938 by the city of Hamburg .

history

The shipbuilder Paul T. Berendsohn, born on May 4, 1878 in Hamburg, who had worked for a long time at a shipyard in Burg in Dithmarschen and then from 1919 was involved in the Peterswerft in Wewelsfleth , leased the area at Korbmachersand in 1921 from the city of Hamburg North of Altenwerder, at the former confluence of the Köhlfleet in the Köhlbrand , according to the contract for 60 years. In the same year he founded a shipyard there for the construction of small and medium-sized ships. Coastal ships and lighters were built for the Africa and South America voyage, as well as a paddle steamer for China, which was shipped in parts to its destination and assembled there. In particular, the company developed into one of the most famous scrapping yards in Germany by the 1930s. Sailing ships, such as the four-masted barque Parma of the Flying P-Liner , and other vehicles of over 10,000 tons , such as the Graf Waldersee of HAPAG and the liner SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II of the Imperial Navy , could lie alongside the shipyard and be dismantled using cutting torches . In 1938 the shipyard area covered over three hectares and three helges, on which ships of up to 1,000 tons were built. Around 120 shipyard workers were employed.

Paul Theodor Berendsohn, who was of Jewish origin, was expropriated in 1938. Although his shipyard had a nominal value of 1.9 million Reichsmarks at that time , he was credited with only 167,000 RM after deducting the so-called " Jewish taxes " and the Reich flight tax . Of this amount, he was then only allowed to exchange 10,000 RM for foreign currency. The 60-year-old Berendsohn and his family left Hamburg in July 1938 with a visa for Honduras and arrived in Puerto Barrios ( Guatemala ) by ship . After initially being refused entry there, the family managed to travel on to Tegucigalpa (Honduras) by plane . In August 1940, they received permission to immigrate to the United States and arrived in New York City by cargo ship . Since there was no prospect of becoming self-employed in the shipbuilding sector or finding employment, Paul Berendsohn briefly ran a farm in the US state of New York and then worked in the carpentry of a German immigrant and as a factory worker. He received US citizenship on February 26, 1946 at the age of 67.

After the expropriation, the city of Hamburg initially used the shipyard as a warehouse, and in 1943 handed the company over to the boat builders Hans Hamann and Max Spiess, who had previously operated facilities on the Alster at Mühlenkamp, ​​but which had been destroyed by bombs. The company operated under the name of Hamburger Werft Hamann & Spiess until after the war, when there was a change in ownership and capital. As Hamburger Werft KG Usinger & Co , it was owned by Max Spiess, the captain Heinrich Usinger and the engineer Alfred Seeberger until 1951. In 1951, Max Spiess became the sole owner.

In 1949 Paul Berendsohn returned to Hamburg and applied for the return of his property as well as damages under the reparation law . Because the return was delayed, the following year he rented a piece of land on the site of his former company and again offered demolition work there under the name of Köhlbrandwerft. In the course of several years of legal dispute against the city of Hamburg, Paul Berendsohn was given back parts of his former property by 1953, including the family's former home in February 1952. In 1955 he was awarded compensation. He continued operations at the Köhlbrand shipyard until 1957 and then sold the systems to the Hamburg-based demolition company Eisen & Metall .

Paul Berendsohn died on March 13, 1959 at the age of 81 in Hamburg. The family grave, in which his wife and two of his children were later buried, is located in the Nienstedten cemetery .

The house of the Berendsohn family on the shipyard site was the last house in 2000 that was demolished when Altenwerder was cleared in order to implement the port expansion plans. Today the site is the north bend of the Altenwerder container terminal (CTA).

See also

Web links

literature

  • Herbert Diercks : The Port of Hamburg under National Socialism. Economy, Forced Labor, and Resistance . Neuengamme Memorial (Ed.), Hamburg 2008

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt, Passionsweg eines Schiffbauers, January 10, 1950 , accessed on September 15, 2019
  2. ↑ Popular Mechanics: My Father Escaped the Nazis And Then Taught Me Everything I Know , accessed September 16, 2019
  3. ^ OMNIA, National Archives at New York, Proof of Naturalization Paul Theodor Berendsohn , accessed on September 15, 2019
  4. ^ Wilhelm Chr. K. Stammer: Hamburgs Werften , Hamburg 1992, p. 31 f.
  5. ↑ Altenwerder: The first bollards are up . ( Memento from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: Hamburger Abendblatt , November 29, 1999

Coordinates: 53 ° 30'51 "  N , 9 ° 56'8.4"  E