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Henry Koppel * 1876

Steinwegpassage 28 (Hamburg-Mitte, Neustadt)

HIER WOHNTE
HENRY KOPPEL
JG. 1876
DEPORTIERT 1942
THERESIENSTADT
1942 TREBLINKA
ERMORDET

further stumbling stones in Steinwegpassage 28:
Therese Lewin, William Salomon, Alfred Samenfeld

Henry Koppel, born on 19 Sept. 1876 in Hamburg, deported on 19 July 1942 to Theresienstadt, deported further on 21 Sept. 1942 to the Treblinka extermination camp
William Salomon, born on 26 May 1899 in Hamburg, deported on 8 Nov. 1941 to Minsk

Steinwegpassage 28

The parents of Henry Koppel, the Jewish married couple Hirsch Koppel (born on 12 Dec. 1831) and Esther, née Hertz, called Jacob (born on 20 Mar. 1833), had at least four older children when their son Henry was born on 19 Sept. 1876 at Neuer Steinweg 85. The father Hirsch Koppel was a self-employed merchant at 2nd Elbstrasse 1 (today Neanderstrasse), according to the Hamburg directory of the year 1876, and he operated a "junk shop.”

Henry Koppel, like three of his siblings, became active as a self-employed trader in the textiles and fashion industry. After a commercial apprenticeship, his brother Leo (born on 8 Aug. 1870), six years his senior, first worked in the business of his father, then with his oldest brother Max Hirsch Koppel (born on 12 Feb. 1863, died on 10 Jan. 1938), who was married to the seamstress Amalie Heilbut (born on 5 Apr. 1871, died on 12 Aug. 1959) and ran a job lot and fashion store at Thielbeck 10. Leo Koppel started his own business in 1927 as a representative in the textile industry. Since 1913, he lived with his wife Betty, née Rendsburger (born on 27 Aug. 1874), and their children Margot (born on 16 July 1914) and Max (born on 8 July 1917) at Grindelberg 39. Betty Koppel died at the age of 55, on 8 May 1930.

Meanwhile, Henry Koppel was trading in textile goods on Elbstrasse (today Neanderstrasse). According to his own information, he had taken over a cart stand from his father. After the death of his wife Esther on 2 Aug. 1916, Hirsch Koppel had moved from Brüderstrasse 24/26 to stay with his oldest son Max at Grindelhof 62.

Henry Koppel participated in the First World War as a volunteer, and since he did not start his own family even after the end of the war, he had accommodation as a subtenant during the following years. When he reported the death of his father to the responsible records office on 29 June 1919, he provided Papendamm 25 as his address. Since 1932, he lived in a room described as well furnished at Steinwegpassage 28, as a subtenant of Therese Lewin (see corresponding entry).

At the beginning of June 1938, Henry Koppel lost the basis of his professional livelihood. Because of his Jewish descent, he had to hand in his trade license as a street trader. For some time, he was still able to acquire "old things” through the bailiff’s office, which he then sold to long-standing customers until the industrial inspection authority prohibited him from engaging in this activity as well. At the end of 1938, his savings were used up and Henry Koppel moved in with his widowed sister Friederike Salomon, née Koppel (born on 5 June 1864).

Friederike Salomon had been running a women’s hat shop for 33 years at Alter Steinweg 48. She lived with her son William in a two-room apartment located behind the shop. There Henry Koppel slept on the chaise longue. Already before her marriage on 9 Nov. 1893, Henry’s sister had been active as a "fashion dealer.” Her late husband Michael Salomon (born on 16 July 1857, died on 13 Mar. 1924) was a merchant. Friederike had managed the hat business independently, but employed a milliner because she had not learned the trade.

The Salomon couple had adopted their son William in 1914. When William was born on 26 May 1899, his biological mother Golda Koppel (born on 13 Oct. 1874, died on 27 Feb. 1954) was unmarried and worked as a sales assistant.

William Salomon received commercial training in the footwear trade and ran, with his fiancée "Miss Thiel,” a cookie shop next to his mother’s store at the end of 1933/beginning of 1934. The business was not profitable and had to be abandoned after a short time. For unknown reasons, he did not marry his fiancée. William then managed the hat business of his mother, who was seriously ill with gout. The company had not been doing well since the world economic crisis.

On the night of 9 to 10 Nov. 1938, William Salomon was one of the many Jewish men who ended up in "protective custody” ("Schutzhaft”) during the November Pogrom. After his release from the Fuhlsbüttel police prison on 30 Nov. 1938, he prepared for his emigration. This meant that he "applied” to the American Consulate for a visa to enter the USA. On 1 Dec. 1938, Friederike Salomon was forced to give up her store. The closure of the business also entailed vacating the apartment. Friederike Salomon applied for admission to one of the retirement homes run by the Jewish Community. When she found shelter in the Nordheim-Stift at Schlachterstrasse 40/42, her brother Henry Koppel moved back to Steinwegpassage 28, where his nephew William Salomon also found accommodation as a subtenant.

Friederike Salomon died on 20 Aug. 1939 in the Israelite Hospital, and she was buried next to her husband in the Jewish Cemetery on Ilandkoppel in Ohlsdorf.

William Salomon, who was described as a tall, powerfully built man, found work in the timber store of Friedrich Eddelbüttel, Kleiner Grasbrook, at Brandenburger Strasse 17. Meanwhile his uncle Henry Koppel had to perform "compulsory work” five days a week in Tiefstaak (today Tiefstack) and on Moorredder in Volksdorf. Subsequently, he was transferred to Flensburg, where he worked at the M. Thaysen civil engineering company from May to Oct. 1939. Probably through facilitation of his nephew, he was then employed as a warehouse worker in the timber store of Friedrich Eddelbüttel, until he was dismissed there in Jan. 1941 because of general physical weakness.

William Salomon was unable to leave Germany. What caused his emigration to fail is unknown, presumably due to lack of financial means.

He was last registered as residing on the fourth floor of Neuer Steinweg 92, with Paula Lewald (see corresponding entry), née Salomon, and her daughter Ursula Salomon. Whether they were related to each other could not be determined. The names of William and Ursula Salomon were placed on the deportation list for transport to Minsk on 8 Nov. 1941. Paula Lewald’s name was on the supplementary list. None of them survived.

Henry Koppel and his widowed brother Leo Koppel were deported together from the "Altenheim Nordheim-Stift,” the retirement home at Schlachterstrasse 40/42, to Theresienstadt on 19 July 1942 (Leo’s children, Margot and Max, had already left Germany).

Henry Koppel was taken to Treblinka on 21 Sept. 1942; his brother Leo was on another transport departing on 26 Sept. 1942 that went to this extermination camp. Their sister, William Salomon’s mother, emigrated to Shanghai in Feb. 1940.

For their nieces Gertrud Gumpel, née Koppel (born on 8 Nov. 1898), and Edith Stoppelmann, née Koppel (born on 28 Apr. 1904), as well as for their nephew Erich Koppel (born on 12 June 1914), the children of their deceased brother Max Koppel, Stolpersteine are located at Loehrsweg 2 in Hamburg-Eppendorf and at Blumenstrasse 46 in Hamburg-Winterhude as well as at Krohnskamp 72. Like their sister Mathilde Wulf, née Koppel (born on 18 Aug. 1894), they were murdered with their families in Auschwitz (see Stolpersteine im Stadtteil Hamburg-Eppendorf and Stolpersteine im Stadtteil Hamburg-Winterhude).

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

Stand: May 2020
© Susanne Rosendahl

Quellen: 1; 5; StaH 351-14 Arbeits- und Sozialfürsorge 1789 (Koppel, Henry); StaH 351-14 Arbeits- und Sozialfürsorge 1787 (Salomon, Friederike); StaH 351-14 Arbeits- und Sozialfürsorge 1788 (Salomon, William); StaH 351-11 AfW 1591 (Koppel, Leo); StaH 351-11 AfW 41831 (Koppel, Max); StaH 351-11 AfW 1677 (Koppel, Amalie); StaH 332-5 Standesämter 1887 u 4595/1876; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 2816 u 1277/1893; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 2815 u 1022/1893; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 2345 u 2996/1894; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 2462 u 3596/1898; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 8662 u 30/1909; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 746 u 750/1916; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 809 u 456/1919; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 8728 u 204/1919; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 882 u 154/1924; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 1104 u 513/1939; StaH 332-8 Meldewesen K 6415; StaH 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinde Nr. 992 e 2 Band 2; StaH 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinde Nr. 992 e 2 Band 5; diverse Hamburger Adressbücher.
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