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Dr. Otto Philippson * 1897

Ernst-Merck-Straße 6 (Hamburg-Mitte, St. Georg)

1941 Lodz
ermordet 14.3.1942

Dr. Otto Philippson, b. 10.10.1897 in Hamburg, deported to Lodz on 10.25.1941, killed there on 3.14.1942

last address: Ernst-Merck-Strasse 6

Otto Philippson was the son of Alexander Philippson, a physician specializing in skin and sexually transmitted diseases, and his wife, Rebecca Betty, née Gieldzinski; Otto had four siblings. His schooling in Hamburg was interrupted by the First World War, for which he presumably volunteered and participated in for four years; only with the end of the war did he get his graduation certificate. Afterwards, he initially began to train in the export business but ultimately took up chemistry studies at the Technical University of Braunschweig. He concluded his studies there, taking the examination as a "state-certified food chemist." There followed in 1924 a degree in engineering and, in 1925, he obtained his doctorate in engineering. After his graduation, Otto Philippson began post-doctoral work in pharmaceuticals, intending to practice in the pharmacy profession. He completed the first state examination but did not continue his training because contact with chemical pharmaceuticals resulted in eczema on his hands.

With the onset of the worldwide economic crisis, he could no longer find work as a food chemist. In the 1930s, he worked for a time in a commercial firm, by then having run through his entire savings. He lived at Ernst-Merck-Strasse with his parents, who were able to emigrate to the USA in February 1939. His four siblings also escaped the Holocaust by emigrating.

After the November pogrom of 1938, Otto Philippson was arrested and held in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. On 25 October 1941, he was on the first great mass-transport to the Lodz ghetto, where he was killed on 14 March 1942.

A commemorative stone for Otto Philippson was laid at his last home address on Ernst-Merck-Strasse.

Translator: Richard Levy
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: February 2018
© Benedikt Behrens

Quellen: 1; AfW, Entschädigungsakte; StaH, 522-1, Jüd. Gemeinden, 992 e 2 (Deportationslisten); Villiez, Anna von, Die Verdrängung der jüdischen Ärzte Hamburgs aus dem Berufsleben 1933–1945, M.A. Examensarbeit, Universität Hamburg, 2002, S. 185.
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