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Paula Rosner (née Arnstein) * 1903

Holstenwall 13 (Hamburg-Mitte, Neustadt)

HIER WOHNTE
PAULA ROSNER
GEB. ARNSTEIN
JG. 1903
"POLENAKTION" 1938
BENTSCHEN / ZBASZYN
ERMORDET IM
BESETZTEN POLEN

further stumbling stones in Holstenwall 13:
Tewel Israel Rosner

Paula Rosner, née Arnstein, born 7 Apr. 1903 in Jasliska, expelled 28 Oct. 1938 to Zbaszyn, Poland where she died 22 Apr. 1939
Tewel Israel Rosner, born 10 Apr. 1896 in Rogi, expelled 28 Oct. 1938 to Zbaszyn, Poland imprisoned 1940 at Sachsenhausen concentration camp, perished 27 Mar. 1941 at Dachau concentration camp

Holstenwall 13

The parents of Paula Rosner, née Arnstein, both came from Galicia, land of the Austrian Crown (today Ukraine) and ran a uniform and work clothes shop at Pinnasberg 30 in the neighborhood St. Pauli, starting in 1915. Her mother Helene Terze Pessel Arnstein, née Leiser, born on 10 Apr. 1877, had undergone commercial training in her home town Jasliska (Jaśliska) in her father Chaim Jakob Leiser’s hardware store. In 1902 she married Marcus/Max Arnstein, born on 17 Jan. 1877, who came from the southwest part of Poland, Zmigrod (Żmigród/Trachtenberg) where his father Nathan Arnstein ran an inn. Paula was born in Jasliska on 7 Apr. 1903. When she was a year old, her parents moved with her to Hanover where her brother Hermann was born on 21 Aug. 1905. Her sister Rosa/Resi was born in Rostock on 5 Feb. 1911. Shortly after the birth of their youngest daughter, the Arnstein Family moved to Altona, to Erichstraße 30. Since Helene and Marcus Arnstein had "only” had a wedding in the Jewish tradition back home, they had a civil wedding on 5 June 1913.

Paula attended the higher daughters’ school and afterwards business school for two years. After that she worked for various companies as a commercial clerk. On 10 Aug. 1926 she married the merchant Tewel Israel Rosner who was born on 10 Apr. 1896 in Rogi in southwest Poland and held Polish citizenship.

Shortly before their wedding, Tewel Rosner opened a store for work clothing and linens at Wexstraße 24 on 26 Feb. 1926. The couple then lived on the first floor of the building. In 1932 or 1933 they moved to Holstenwall 13. The store was moved a couple of doors down to Wexstraße 2. Paula worked in her own business as a saleswoman, she also took over the accounting and managed the store branch registered at Hammerbrookstraße 87 in 1933, a store that was not listed in the Hamburg address book until 1937. The couple employed two staff members.

Paula’s brother Hermann, in the meantime, had joined their parents’ business. After the war he reported his parents had quickly felt the effects of the boycott of Jewish businesses after 1933. In the fishing villages of Finkenwärder (today Finkenwerder), Altenwärder (today Altenwerder), Moorburg, Kranz and in Buxtehude, where he mainly travelled as a salesman for his father, he no longer had any sales. In 1934 he decided to leave Germany and immigrated to Palestine, where they evidently had relatives. According to his parents’ entry in the wedding registry, his grandfather Nathan Arnstein lived in Palestine until his death.

On 28 Oct. 1938 Paula and Tewel Rosner were picked up by the police as part of the "Poland Operation” carried out across the Reich, because they were Polish citizens. That evening they were put on a transport with about 1000 other Jewish men and women from Hamburg and deported to the German-Polish border region near Zbaszyn/Bentschen. Among them was also Tewel’s brother Hermann Rosner (born 10 Nov. 1897 in Dulka), his wife Sara Chaja, née Weinbach (born 24 Aug. 1907 in Lancut), and their children Sami (born 2 July 1932) and Bernhard (born 29 Mar. 1937). Hermann Rosner worked in the same line of business as his brother. He ran a work clothing store in Harburg’s Mühlenstraße 9 (today Schlossmühlendamm 32) and lived with his family at Altonaerstraße 2 (today Altonaer Straße).

Marcus Arnstein, Tewel’s father-in-law, initially took over wrapping up and dissolving the stores while the Arnstein couple undertook measures for their emigration. His goal was to head for the USA where their youngest daughter Rosa had immigrated with her husband Manfred Augenstern (born 14 May 1901, died 18 Jan. 1953) in Sept. 1938. Manfred Augenstern’s daughter Karin (born 18 Apr. 1931) followed them in Aug. 1939. Their mutual daughter Peggy Sue was born on 10 Feb. 1940, after they had immigrated (see Hedwig Augenstern, Stolperstein at Isestraße 23).

On 23 May 1939, however, Paula’s parents received an order for expulsion as instructed by the police president. They had to leave the German Reich by 15 June 1939. Helene Arnstein managed to escape to England on the last ship. Marcus Arnstein did not receive permission to enter England in time, so he fled to Poland on 15 June. He hoped that from there he would be able to journey on to England, but the outbreak of war foiled his plans.

The brothers Tewel and Hermann Rosner were given permission to return to Hamburg to sort out their financial affairs themselves. Hermann’s wife Sara Chaja stayed behind with their two children at a camp temporarily set up at the border. According to a bulletin from the aid organization for exiles dated 10 May 1939, Paula Rosner was said to have died in Zbaszyn on 22 Apr. 1939. Her last message reached her family in Feb. 1939.

Tewel Rosner arrived back in Hamburg on 21 July 1939 with permission to stay that was limited to three weeks. The Hamburg tax office informed him in writing that under no circumstances would this period be extended. At the same time, the two brothers tried to arrange for their emigration, taking the necessary steps, but the assets they still had were under a "security order”, their accounts were frozen, they were prohibited from freely accessing their money. After their permits to stay expired, the brothers remained in Hamburg illegally.

After the outbreak of war, Tewel and Hermann Rosner were arrested as "Polish” Jews in Sept. 1939. On 24 Feb. 1940, they were transferred from Fuhlsbüttel Police Prison to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and from there to Dachau concentration camp on 6 Sept. 1940 where they received the prisoner numbers 18432 and 18433. Tewel Rosner was allowed to send a letter to the tax office in Hamburg. He requested the monthly transfer of 50 Reich Marks (RM) from his frozen account at the Hamburger Sparkasse to Dachau. Permission was granted for him and his brother to each receive 10 RM on a quarterly basis. It is questionable whether any of the transfers ever went through.

The Rosner brothers perished in Dachau, Hermann on 1 Feb., Tewel on 27 Mar. 1941. Urns with their ashes were interred at Ilandkoppel Jewish Cemetery in Ohlsdorf. A Stumbling Stone has been laid for Hermann Rosner at Schlossmühlendamm 32 in Harburg (see www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de).

Paula’s father Marcus Arnstein never managed to leave Poland. After the start of World War II, he was initially able to maintain contact with his family and received news of the birth of his granddaughter Peggy Sue. His last message reached his daughter Rosa on 26 Sept. 1940 from Zmigrod: He intended to return to Jasliska, the place of his birth, in Oct. His new address would be "M. Arnstein c/o Kreisswirth in Jasliska near Rymanow, German Post East”. From there he hoped to be able to travel onward. Marcus Arnstein was considered lost after the war, meaning the place and date of his death were not known. He was declared dead at the end of 1945.

It was not until 1946 that Helene Arnstein was able to travel from London to the USA. She died on 10 Jan. 1964.

Translator: Suzanne von Engelhardt
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: May 2020
© Susanne Rosendahl

Quellen: StaH 351-11 AfW 30286 (Arnstein, Hermann); StaH 351-11 AfW 24665 (Starr, Frederic); StaH 351-11 AfW 3243 (Arnstein, Marcus); StaH 351-11 AfW 27027 (Rosner, Paula); StaH 351-11 AfW 3338 (Arnstein, Helene Terze Pessel); StaH 351-11 AfW 36422 (Kadish, Rachel); StaH 314-15 R 1939/2877; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 3220 u 367/1913; Archiv der KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau, Stiftung Bayerische Gedenkstätten, Auskunft von Albert Knoll, E-Mail vom 4.3.2016; www.ancestry.de (Helene Terze Pessel Arnstein: Bewerbung um Einbürgerung in die USA, Zugriff 23.4.2017).