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Ilse Windesheim * 1922

Sierichstraße 127 (Hamburg-Nord, Winterhude)

1942 Durchgangslager Trawniki ermordet
1941 KZ Fuhlsbüttel

further stumbling stones in Sierichstraße 127:
Leonie Windesheim

Leonie Windesheim, née Silberberg, born on 24 Nov. 1893 in Hamburg, deported on 14 Apr. 1942 from Berlin to the Warsaw Ghetto, did not return from there
Ilse Windesheim, born on 18 June 1922 in Hamburg, deported on 14 Apr. 1942 from Berlin to the Warsaw Ghetto, did not return from there

Leonie Silberberg was the daughter of the Jewish merchant Ludwig Paul Silberberg and his wife Rosa, née Kronheimer. She grew up in Harvestehude.

On the maternal side, she had an inheritance that she shared with her siblings Kurt Silberberg, who resided in Lisbon in 1939, and Olga Placzek, who lived in Berlin from 1939 until the 1940s. Other heirs were Walter Silberberg (in Amsterdam in 1939) and Nelly Schlicher (in Cologne in 1939).

Leonie Silberberg married the Erfurt-born insurance broker Fritz Windesheim (born on 8 Aug. 1875). Until 1922, the married couple lived at Sierichstrasse 140. In 1925, the Hamburg phone directory indicated the private address as Sierichstrasse 127 and the business address as Poststrasse 3. In 1933, Fritz Windesheim’s office was located at Neuer Wall 41.

The daughter, Ilse Windesheim, was born in 1922 and later, like the daughters of the Ledermann family (see corresponding entry), she attended the private Firgau School at Sierichstrasse 53. Probably, she managed to graduate from there prior to the state-imposed closure of the school in 1938.

Fritz Windesheim died on 14 Oct. 1937.

From Sept. 1939 onward, mother and daughter Windesheim lived mainly in Berlin, first with Olga Placzek, later in a guesthouse. However, they retained Hamburg residency, and Leonie Windesheim repeatedly told Hamburg authorities that she was staying in Berlin only temporarily and in preparation for her emigration. The existing assets were placed under a security order (Sicherungsanordnung), and they were only allowed to dispose of a small amount of it each month. In 1938/39, they paid the "levy on Jewish assets” ("Judenvermögensabgabe”) in three installments. Probably at the beginning of Jan. 1941, Leonie Windesheim had her Hamburg household effects auctioned off. Of the 3,892 RM (reichsmark) raised from it, she received 892 marks in cash to cover her own costs. In order to be able to travel to Hamburg for the auction, she had had to take out loans from acquaintances, which she repaid from the proceeds.

In doing so, she was in violation of the security order: She should have obtained approval for the loan and the repayment procedure. As a result, she was fined 100 RM in March. Her authorized representative in Hamburg took care of the execution of the order of summary punishment, the amount was paid in early July 1941, and it was expressly noted in the criminal record that Leonie Windesheim was considered "unpunished.” Nevertheless, mother and daughter Windesheim were held in "protective custody” ("Schutzhaft”) in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp from 7 to 27 May 1941.

Since 6 Oct. 1941, they lived again in Berlin. They had obviously still not officially deregistered, because officials in the Jewish Community still noted on their tax cards: "25 Oct. 1941 outmigration [Abwanderung]” – which was the commonly used euphemistic term for "deportation.” However, Leonie and Ilse Windesheim were not on the list for this deportation from Hamburg, which led to Lodz and to which 1034 people fell victim; instead, they performed forced labor in Berlin. Half a year later, on 14 Apr. 1942, they were deported to the Warsaw Ghetto. Whether they died there or perished in a concentration camp only after another transport is not known. The inscription on the Stolperstein, according to which they were murdered in Trawniki is based on a state of research outdated by now.


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

Stand: May 2019
© Ulrike Sparr

Quellen: 1; 4; 5; mündliche Angaben von Frau Angelika Biesenbender, 27.09.07; Bundesarchiv Berlin, Liste der jüdischen Einwohner im Deutschen Reich 1939–1945; StaHH 311-1 II Gefängnisverwaltung II, Abl. 18.9.1984, Bd. I; StaHH 314-15 Oberfinanzpräs. R 1939/2717; StaHH 314-15 Oberfinanzpräs. Str. 745; StaHH 522-1, Jüd. Gemeinden 992e2 Bd. 1; Amtliche Fernsprechbücher Hamburg 1920, 1922, 1925, 1930, 1933; AB 1937 (Bd. 1); Gedenkbuch Berlins der jüdischen Opfer des Nationalsozialismus, Berlin 1995.
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