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Lucian Luca * 1899

Sierichstraße 153 (Hamburg-Nord, Winterhude)

HIER WOHNTE
LUCIAN LUCA
JG. 1899
1938 KZ FUHLSBÜTTEL
DEPORTIERT 1941
LODZ
???

further stumbling stones in Sierichstraße 153:
Hugo Friedmann, Emma Guttmann, Grete Lewin, Rudolf Luca, Else Luca, Emil Mirabeau, Edith Schneeroff, Leo Schneeroff

Lucian Luca, born on 30 June 1889 in Bucharest, deported on 25 Oct. 1941 from Hamburg to Lodz, murdered on 10 June 1943 in Chelmno
Else Luca, née Dreyer, born on 23 Apr. 1894 in Bielefeld, deported on 25 Oct. 1941 from Hamburg to Lodz, date of death unknown
Rudolf Luca, born on 27 May 1919 in Bielefeld, deported on 25 Oct. 1941 from Hamburg to Lodz, date of death unknown

The parents of Lucian Luca were Adolf Luca and his wife Luise, née Mandler. We do not know when Lucian Luca came from Romania to Germany. He probably spent the first years after this marriage with Else Dreyer in her native city of Bielefeld, for this is where the first son was born, Rudolf. A second son, Hans-Günther, was born on 19 July 1921. From 1933 until 1939, the family lived in Hamburg-Eppendorf, at Rehhagen 7 (today: Gustav-Leo-Strasse).

Together with his wife, Lucian Luca operated S. Dreyer sen. Internationale Spedition und Autofernverkehr, a shipping company located at Oberwärderdamm 16/18. In the early 1930s, the business must still have generated substantial revenues, for the parents were able to send both sons to Switzerland for further training.

Lucian Luca probably oriented himself toward the Jewish Community only from 1936 onward. That year, he paid relatively high communal taxes amounting to 1,715 RM (reichsmark). In the following years, the contributions remained at the upper three-digit level; in 1939/40, the amount was only 262 RM, and in 1941, nothing at all was paid anymore.

In May 1938, probably under the impression of continuous obstacles to business, Lucian Luca sold the company to another shipping company, the Bremer Warenverteilungs-Gesellschaft mbH. (To this day, S. Dreyer sen. is listed as the Hamburg branch of this company.) In 1950, the buyers explained in a letter to the Hamburg Restitution Office (Wiedergutmachungsamt) that the largest part of the purchasing price of 48,500 RM was paid out in cash, securing free disposal of the funds for Luca. The NSDAP’s Hamburg Gau Economic Advisor (Gauwirtschaftsberater) also had to consent to this sale, which took place before the official decree for "Aryanization” of "Jewish” enterprises. In this context, he refused to recognize the goodwill share of 6,600 RM contained in the purchasing price. (In the letter mentioned above, the Bremer Warenverteilungs-Gesellschaft explained that as a result, this sum was "hidden” in other accounting items.)

The sales negotiations were overshadowed by an audit, arranged by the foreign currency office of the Chief Finance Administrator (Oberfinanzpräsident) because of a denunciation. The denunciation was composed in handwriting on a sheet of paper featuring a stamp of the foreign currency office: "Luca, together with his family, is fully Jewish. His children have been in Switzerland for educational purposes for some time now. L. himself went on trips there several times last year, as did his private secretary. The atmosphere after the return from one such trip was supposedly very secretive. Since the suspicion of emigration exists, I request an immediate … audit …”

However, the auditor failed to detect any irregularities, moreover writing in his report dated 16 May 1938, "There is no private secretary employed by Luca, but certainly a Miss Elli Malchow ... as an accountant. This woman is about 60 years old and she did not participate in any journeys to Switzerland. No violations of foreign currency regulations could be determined.” On the following day, the sale to the Bremen shipping company came into legal effect.

The assets of the Lucas were placed under "security order” ("Sicherungsanordnung”) and became subject to the special charges in effect for well-to-to Jews (e.g., the "levy on Jewish assets” ["Judenvermögensabgabe”]). The family was able to dispose only of a small part of these funds. Following the November Pogrom of 9 Nov. 1938, Lucian Luca was detained in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp for one day.

Soon after the sale of the company, the two sons of the Lucas must have returned home to Hamburg. By then, the family seriously considered emigrating. In December of that year, 17-year-old son Hans-Günther managed to reach Britain on one of the first "children transports” (Kindertransporte). His brother Rudolf, two years his senior, stayed with his parents in Hamburg and started training as a cabinetmaker. Until 1933, he had attended the Heinrich-Hertz Realgymnasium [a high school focused on science, math, and modern languages].

From June 1939 onward, the address of the Lucas was Sierichstrasse 153, with Friedmann (see corresponding entry). In this house, a small villa, numerous other Jewish persons lived as well after the loss of their original homes (see also Schneeroff, Guttmann, and Mirabeau).

On 25 Oct. 1941, the three Lucas remaining in Hamburg were deported to Lodz on the first deportation train leaving Hamburg. Lucian Luca was murdered using gas in nearby Chelmno on 10 June 1943. It is not known when or under what circumstances his wife and his son perished.


Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: March 2017
© Ulrike Sparr

Quellen: 1; 4; 8; StaHH 314-15, Oberfinanzpräsident F 1570; StaHH 522-1 Jüd. Gemeinden, 992e2 Bd. 1; Archiv WgA LGHH, Z 1124; http:// data.jewishgen. org/wconnect/ wc.dll?jg~jgsearch~model2~[LODZGHETTO]LODZGHETTO~&mPageStart=201 (einges. 3.1.2008); Wilhelm Mosel, Wegweiser zu ehemaligen jüdischen Stätten in Hamburg, Heft 2, Hamburg 1985, S. 70.
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