Alegra Benezra
* 1893

Alegra Benezra, born on 15 Sept. 1893, detained in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp in 1940, deported on 6 Dec. 1941 to Riga

Alegra Benezra’s father, David Benezra, was from Turkey and thus an “Ottoman national.” The carpet merchant lived in Hamburg since 1888 and, upon his withdrawal from Turkish citizenship, was admitted as a citizen to the Hamburg federation in 1901. He married Johanna, born in Hamburg in 1871.

The family belonged to Hamburg’s Portuguese-Jewish Community, where David Benezra served as a member of the executive council for a time. The exceptionally successful merchant, highly respected because of his philanthropy, died at the age of 60 on 1 Apr. 1926, leaving behind his wife and daughter Alegra (Simha) well provided for.

Alegra Benezra, who in 1933 belonged to the electoral committee of the Portuguese-Jewish Community, worked as a certified piano teacher. In 1935, she offered in the community newsletter of the Hamburg German-Israelitic Community lessons in voice, piano, and cello, which she gave in her home at Rothenbaumchaussee 83.

The unmarried woman lived – as the note by an official from the Chief Financial Administration (Oberfinanzdirektion) dated 28 Oct. 1940 pointed out – together in one household with her mother Johanna, by then widowed. At this time, mother and daughter no longer owned any assets, although shares in properties on Rothenbaumchaussee and Schlüterstraße had been part of their inheritance. They were supported financially by Alegra Benezra’s aunt, who lived in the Netherlands, with 120 RM (reichsmark) a month, enabling them to cover their basic living costs.

Alegra Benezra was in “protective custody” (“Schutzhaft”) from 21 until 31 Mar. 1940, with the reason not emerging clearly from the surviving records of the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp. Alegra Benezra was deported from the house at Rothenbaumchaussee 83, which had once belonged to the family. Because of her advanced age, her mother, born in 1871, was deported from her last residential address in Frickestraße to Theresienstadt on 15 July 1942.

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