Search for Names, Places and Biographies

Alphons Abel * 1866

Georg-Thielen-Gasse 9 (Hamburg-Nord, Winterhude)

HIER WOHNTE
ALPHONS ABEL
JG. 1866
DEPORTIERT 1942
THERESIENSTADT
TOT 2.11.1943

further stumbling stones in Georg-Thielen-Gasse 9:
Martha Abel

Alphons Abel, born 16 Nov. 1866 in Hamburg, deported on 15 July 1942 to Theresienstadt, died there on 2 Nov 1943
Martha Abel, neé Kupferbach, born 28 Mar. 1879 in Hamburg, deported on 15 July 1942 to Theresienstadt, deported from there to Auschwitz on 15 May 1944 and killed there.

Georg-Thielen-Gasse 9 (Thielengasse)

Alphons Abel was the son of Hirsch Abel and his wife Anna, neé Rathenau. He had three brothers: Leon (born 7 Sep. 1880), Theodor (born 8 Mar. 1883), and John (born 7 Oct. 1886). On 14 Jan. 1909 Alphons Abel married Pauline Heinemann and on 23 Dec. 1909 their son Hermann was born. The marriage was divorced later, and Pauline Abel died in 1921. On 28 June 1938 Alphons Abel married his housemaid Martha Kupferbach who was Jewish like Alphons Abel himself. They lived at Thielengasse 9 in the area of Jarrestadt.

Until 1928 Alphons Abel owned the company "H. Abel, Gold, Silber, Uhren, Export und Import" (H. Abel, gold, silver, watches, export and import) together with his younger brothers Leon and Theodor. He seems to have been wealthy at that time, because he lived with his family at Jungfrauenthal 14, a relatively "noble” address. After having left the company he received a monthly pension from the family business. In the 1930s he moved to the newly built Jarrestadt, a rather lower middle class, proletarian neighbourhood. The company H. Abel had to be erased from the commercial register since its owners were Jewish. By this Alphons Abel lost his pension. It seems he tried to sell watches and jewellery as a private salesman, but he was not very successful since he was only allowed to sell his goods to Jewish customers. Because of his Jewish origin the family had to leave the apartment in 1939. First they moved into a residential home at Schlachterstraße 47 (Großneumarkt), and later they were housed into a "Jews‘ house" (Judenhaus) at Bogenstraße 27.

On 15 July 1942 Alphons Abel was deported to Theresienstadt together with his wife. He died there on 2 Nov. 1943.

His son Hermann had moved to Jarrestadt together with his father. For a short period he seems to have lived together with him in the flat, but later he lived "just around the corner” at Hausnerweg 6 as a lodger of the brothers Max and Alfred Kupferbach (see there) and their mother. He had already been living with them at Blücherstraße 17 at Hoheluft at earlier times.

Already in 1934 Hermann Abel emigrated to Palestine together with his wife Margot, neé Laser. They owned a greengrocer’s shop there. In 1957 they returned to Hamburg.

Alphon’s brother Theodor emigrated to Shanghai in 1939 and survived persecution. John Abel was incarcerated at Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp in 1938/1939. Later he went to exile to the Netherlands from where he was deported to Auschwitz where he was killed. Leon Abel was arrested in 1939 and firstly detained at Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp. In 1941 he was taken to Neuengamme where he died on 13 Feb. 1942.

Martha Abel was the oldest child of Nathan Kupferbach and his wife Bertha, neé Herzberg. She was one of six children; two of her brothers were Alphons and Max Kupferbach (see there). Martha Kupferbach worked as a housemaid at her later husband’s: She lived at Junfrauenthal 14 and also – still before the marriage – at Thielengasse 9 in the same apartment, respectively in the same house as Alphons. On 28 June 1938 she married him and became his second wife. Her mother and her brothers Alfred and Max lived in close vicinity at Hauersweg 6.

Martha Abel suffered the same fate as her husband beginning forced resettlement in Hamburg until their deportation to Theresienstadt. After Alphons Abel had died Martha was deported to Auschwitz on 15 May 1944 from where she never returned.

Translator: Paula Antonella Oppermann
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

© Ulrike Sparr

Quellen: 1; 4; 7; AfW 161166; AfW 231209; Amtliches Branchen-Fernsprechbuch Hamburg, Hamburg 1925 (Reprint); Personenstandsbuch Standesamt Hamburg-Mitte.