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Emilie Ascher (née Blumenfeld) * 1858

Kurzer Kamp 6 (Hamburg-Nord, Fuhlsbüttel)

EMILIE ASCHER
GEB. BLUMENFELD
JG. 1858
ENTRECHTET / GEDEMÜTIGT
FLUCHT IN DEN TOD
19.7.1942

Emilie Ascher, née Blumenfeld, born on 20.8.1858 in Burgsteinfurt, died on 19.7.1942 in Hamburg

Kurzer Kamp 6 and Braamkamp 36 in Fuhlsbüttel and Winterhude

The daughter of Jeanette, née Blumenfeld, and the merchant Feiber Itzig, Emilie was born in Burgsteinfurt on August 20, 1858. She was given her mother's surname at birth. Nothing is known about her childhood and youth.

Emilie Blumenfeld married the merchant Gustav Joachim Ascher in her birthplace on September 3, 1879. Her husband (born July 3, 1847) came from Soldin; he was the son of the merchant Daniel Ascher and Louise, née Meyer. Gustav Ascher had come to Hamburg at the age of 27 and had begun to build up his own business with a trading license as a merchant at Neuer Wall 66 and a factory on Langenfelder Damm. The company Gustav J. Ascher was founded by him in September 1877 as a trading firm and, according to the Hamburg stock exchange register, had been an "agency and commission" for fodder products, saltpetre, exports in potato products and syrup since 1910, with a stock exchange stand in front of pillars 29 and 30. The office was located at Zippelhaus 18. Gustav Joachim Ascher's membership of the Patriotic Society shows his social commitment. Emilie and her husband belonged to the German-Israelitic Community.

Emilie and Gustav Ascher had three children. Alice, the only daughter, was born on August 16, 1880 at Mittelweg 30, Felix Daniel followed on March 27, 1883 and the youngest son Richard Joachim was born on October 18, 1888 at Grindelallee 97.

The children grew up in Winterhude. Felix attended the Wilhelmgymnasium and then studied architecture. From 1913 he worked as a self-employed architect. Richard passed his school-leaving examination at the Johanneum Realgymnasium and wrote the book "Abschiedkommers der Abiturienten des Johanneums zu Hamburg am Sonnabend den 2. März 1907".

It was not only the difficult economic times of the First World War that put a strain on the family, Emilie Ascher also had to cope with a heavy blow of fate. Shortly before her 59th birthday, she was widowed. Her husband had been suffering from mammary gland cancer and died on May 25, 1917, one month before his 70th birthday, in the apartment they shared at Sierichstraße 18.

Otto Blumenfeldt from Elbchaussee 97, her nephew, son of her older brother Bernhard Blumenfeld, stood by Emilie Ascher's side. Four days after Gustav's death, the cremation took place at Ohsdorf Crematorium and his ashes were buried in the family plot P 26 II/III, No. 58, at the cemetery. Emilie Ascher now took over full responsibility for her husband's company and continued to run it without Otto Wenck, who had only been appointed as an authorized signatory a year earlier. These were difficult years for the company during the collapse of the export and import trade. After the end of the war, Emilie Ascher had to give up the company on September 11, 1919; it had been in the family for 42 years. The company was taken over by the merchant Johannes Rickertsen from Blankenese, but without the liabilities and receivables that Emilie Ascher still had. It is possible that Emilie Ascher still received shares in the company, as she had income. The company was deleted from the commercial register in 1930.

In May 1921, 62-year-old Emilie Ascher had a passport issued for domestic travel. According to the description in the passport record, she was of medium height, had brown eyes and graying hair.

Emilie Ascher's youngest son Richard had completed his degree and dissertation in Berlin and worked as a chemist at Stern & Sonneborn in Hamburg. He left the German-Israelitic community on October 6, 1921 and moved away from Hamburg. In 1922, he published a book on lubricants for industry in Berlin, which was published in French in Paris in 1925.

Emilie's son Felix Ascher became a well-known and pioneering architect. He won first prize in the architectural competition for the construction of the new synagogue, the temple in Oberstrasse. The foundation stone was laid on October 19, 1930. Together with Robert Friedmann, who had won the 2nd prize, the building was constructed for the liberal Jewish community. Felix Ascher lived with the widowed Anna Karoline Hinrichsen, née von Gizycki, and their three children in the self-built villa at Rabenhorst 12 in Wellingsbüttel.

Emilie Ascher had lived at Sierichstraße 18 for 25 years from 1906. She remained in Winterhude, but moved to Braamkamp 36 in March 1931, together with her daughter Alice and her friend Margot Doctor (born May 4, 1897 in Leobschütz, Upper Silesia) (see biographies www.stolpersteine-hamburg. de). The newly built apartments there promised a secure future for the elderly. The "Senator Erich Soltow Stiftung" housing complex at Braamkamp 34-44 was built in 1929 and was mostly occupied by single older women. Emilie Ascher occupied two rooms on the first floor on the right, her daughter Alice together with Margot Doctor the two-room apartment directly opposite; Margot Doctor is listed as a "domestic servant" in the residents' register. Alice Ascher worked as a secretary for Max Warburg at Mittelweg 17, where, in the Warburg Bank's aid facility for emigrants, she made a significant contribution to supporting these people, some of whom were desperate and seeking help. The adjoining library and the cultural evenings with music and drama performances provided many Jewish people with important support during the time of exclusion and persecution. This is why it was called the "Oasis".

Emilie Ascher's son, Felix Ascher, was admitted as a Jewish member of the Reichskulturkammer on April 12, 1935. This made it impossible for him to work and he was forced to leave his hometown. He transferred his house to his non-Jewish partner and emigrated to England in 1938. Emilie Ascher's son Richard, like his brother, also escaped Nazi persecution by emigrating to England.

From 1940, a payment of 139 RM was transferred to Emilie Ascher twice a month via the Jewish community, a donation from her daughter Alice. Payments were still being made after her daughter had already been deported. Emilie Ascher had to witness how Alice had to follow the deportation order disguised as an "evacuation". Alice Ascher was deported together with Margot Doctor to Riga-Jungfernhof on December 6, 1941 and murdered. Alice Ascher was 61 years old and Margot Doctor was 44.

Five months later, Emilie Ascher was expelled from her apartment in the Erich-Soltow-Stift, as were Ella Nauen, Gertrud and Katharina Embden, Auguste Friedburg and Hanna Hirsch from the retirement home. On April 30, 1942, Emilie Ascher, Hanna Hirsch and Ella Nauen were forced to move into the "Jews' house" at Kurzen Kamp 6, the Mendelson Israel Foundation. Their stay there was also preparation for the deportations. It can be assumed that Emilie Ascher wanted to avoid deportation to Theresienstadt and took her own life on July 19, 1942, the day of her deportation. She died in the Israelite Hospital shortly before reaching the age of 84. A file of "unnatural deaths", as was kept for other Hamburg residents who took their own lives, could not be found for Emilie Ascher. However, her name is on the Gestapo's "List of Jews who died by suicide during the evacuation" from November 1942. According to the death certificate issued by Rudolf Borgzinner, a doctor at the Israelite Hospital (for a biography, see www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de), Emilie Ascher had been under his care for a month. He certified the cause of death as "arm phlegmon, erysipelas, soft tissue abscess and senium".

She was laid to rest next to her husband in the family grave in the Ohlsdorf cemetery. The funeral service took place on August 3, 1942, one day before the cremation, at the Ohlsdorf cemetery. She was buried on August 7, grave site P 26, No. 57, at the head.

Emilie Ascher's son Felix Ascher married Anna Karoline Hinrichsen, née von Gizycki, in London in September 1946. She died just three years later in December 1949 in London-Islington at the age of 62. Felix Ascher had her ashes buried in the family grave in Ohlsdorf. In 1951, he tried to regain a foothold as an architect in Hamburg. He did not succeed. He died in December 1952 in London-Hackney at the age of 69. He was also buried in the family grave in the Ohlsdorf cemetery, next to his wife, grave site P 26, No. 59/II. At the ten grave sites once reserved for the Ascher family, today adjacent to the "Garden of Women", an erratic block now commemorates other people.

Emilie Ascher's second son Richard Joachim Ascher died in London-Ealing in September 1964 at the age of 75.

Today, the Ascherring in Bergedorf still commemorates the work of Felix Daniel Ascher - and should also do so for Emilie and Alice Ascher.

Translation: Margot Löhr

Stand: July 2024
© Margot Löhr

Quellen: 1; 4; 5; StaH, 111-1 Kriegssteuer, 23987 Emilie Ascher; StaH, 213-13 Landgericht Rückerstattung, 11735 Alice Ascher, 18176 Felix Ascher; StaH, 231-7 Handels- und Genossenschaftsregister, A1 Bd. 5 Nr.1313; StaH, 314-15 Oberfinanzpräsident, F 58 Felix Ascher; 314-15 OFP, R 1940/0061 Alice Ascher; StaH, 324-1 Baupolizei, K 10454; StaH, 331-5 Polizeibehörde, Unnatürliche Sterbefälle, 3 Akte 1942 Emilie Ascher; StaH, 332-5 Standesämter, Geburtsregister, 8949 u. 2856/1880 Alice Ascher, 8975 u. 1188/1883 Felix Ascher, 9040 u. 5438/1888 Richard Ascher; StaH, 332-5 Standesämter, Heiratsregister, 3491 u. 201/1924 Otto Blumenfeld u. Edith Tuch; StaH, 332-5 Standesämter, Sterberegister, 9754 u. 1808/1917 Gustav Ascher, 8180 u. 341/1942 Emilie Ascher; StaH, 332-7 Staatsangehörigkeitsaufsicht, B III 61109 Gustav Joachim Ascher; StaH, 332-8 Meldewesen, A 24 Bd. 246 Nr. 12420; StaH, 332-8 Reisepassprotokolle, A 24 Bd. 246 Nr. 12420/1921; StaH, 351-11 Amt für Wiedergutmachung, 6818 Felix Ascher; StaH, 352-5 Gesundheitsbehörde – Todesbescheinigungen, 1917 Sta 3a Nr. 1808 Gustav Ascher, 1942 Sta 2a Nr. 341 Emilie Ascher; StaH, 376-2 Gewerbepolizei, Spz VIII C 10, Nr. 3467; StaH, 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden, Abl. 1993, A 42; StaH, 741-4 Fotoarchiv, K 2350; StaH, Börsen Adressbuch A 909/0022 Nr. 11 1912/13, A 902/0017, 1926; StaH, 622-1/173 Plaut A5 "Das Sekretariat Warburg. Eine Oase für die Juden in Hamburg. Oktober 1938 bis Juni 1941", Erinnerungen von Robert Solmitz (Kopie) (1975); Hamburger Adressbücher 1877–1943; Auskünfte Petra Schmolinske, Förderkreis Ohlsdorfer Friedhof e. V., Familiengrab Ascher, Grablage P 26, Nr. 51–60; Archiv Friedhof Ohlsdorf, Beerdigungsregister, Feuerbestattungen, Nr. 1942/1917 Gustav Ascher, F 4370/1942 Emilie Ascher, A 221/1958 Felix Ascher; Grabbrief Nr. 92180/1917; Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg, A/340090, Abschiedkommers der Abiturienten des Johanneums zu Hamburg am Sonnabend, den 2. März 1907, Hamburg 1907; Ulrike Sparr: Stolpersteine in Hamburg-Winterhude. Biographische Spurensuche, Hamburg 2008, S. 34 (Emilie Ascher).
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