Bertha Oppenheim
* 1867

Bertha Oppenheim, née Koppel, born on 14 May 1867 in Leer, suicide in Hamburg prior to deportation on 14 July 1942

Isestrasse 35

Bertha Koppel was born on 14 May 1867 in Leer/East Friesland as the daughter of Moses Jacob Koppel (1822–1888, parents: Joseph Koppel and Bella, née Meyer), a merchant and senator (from 1879) who had moved from nearby Norden, and Johanne “Hanchen” Koppel, née Kauffmann (1837–1895, parents: Aron Joseph Kauffmann, 1793–1878, and Pauline, née Fürst), who was born in Schwerin and grew up in Hamburg. Before her, sister Golde “Adele” (born on 21 July 1865, married name Hammerschlag starting in 1886) and after her, Pauline (on 30 Jan. 1870) had been born in Leer. Two other siblings had already died in childhood: Jacob “Max” Koppel (1863–1870) and Julius Max Koppel (1872–1873). In 1857, the father had made a “most obedient request” to the magistrate of Leer for the granting of citizenship, which was approved. In 1859, the Koppel brothers applied for “permission to trade in finished clothing.” In 1861, Moses Koppel appeared in a list of house residents as an unmarried occupant; in 1862, he married Johanne Kauffmann in the Schwerin synagogue.

Together with his brother Meyer Koppel (around 1818 to before 1878), Moses Koppel owned in Leer the “Gebr. [Bros.] Koppel” yard goods and fashion shop at Pfefferstrasse 5/34, later 5/32 (from 1894, on Rathausstrasse). Moses Koppel was also active in the Israelite Community of Leer, where he served, among other things, as one of its heads from 1872 to 1886. Passing away in 1888 of a “brain stroke,” he was buried in the Leer Jewish Cemetery. The simple tombstone, written in German by the stonemason on the front and Hebrew on the back, still stands there today. His widow continued the business on a transitional basis, as an entry in the city of Leer directory from 1890 documents.

In Sept. 1891, Bertha Koppel, about whose childhood, adolescence, and possible training we have no details, married in Leer the merchant Emanuel (Manus) Oppenheim (born on 26 Nov. 1853 in Warburg/Westphalia). The witnesses to the marriage were the merchant Isidor Hammerschlag (31 years old, resident of Leer) and the merchant Joseph Kauffmann (59 years old, resident of Hamburg). Bertha moved in with her husband at Grindelallee 107 in Hamburg. Emanuel Oppenheim had been married in his first marriage to Friederike Wolff (born on July 1863 in Dannenberg; parents Salomon and Sophie Wolff), who had died while giving birth to son Paul in 1889.

In Aug. 1892, Bertha’s 22-year-old sister Pauline Koppel and her mother also moved to Hamburg, where the mother died in 1895 at the age of 58. After that, Bertha Oppenheim seems to have taken in her sister, because in 1899 Pauline Koppel’s Hamburg address was Hallerstrasse 4 (Rotherbaum).

The merchant E. Oppenheim, Emanuel Oppenheim’s brother-in-law Albert Emanuel Wolff (1862–1913), whom she probably met in this way and whom she married in Aug. 1899, was also registered at this address. The Albert Wolff agency and commission or commercial agent (for large weaving mills), founded by Albert Wolff in Hamburg in 1893, operated its offices at Grosser Burstah 9 (Hamburg-Altstadt), very close to the Hamburg Stock Exchange. After the death of her 50-year-old husband in 1913, Pauline Wolff, née Koppel, and her son Willy moved from Parkallee 18 to an apartment at Hochallee 27 (Harvestehude). The 43-year-old widow continued the business and took in as a partner Paul Oppenheim (born on 9 Mar. 1889 in Hamburg), the son of the husband of her sister Bertha Oppenheim, née Koppel, from his first marriage. Possibly, there had been plans for her son Willy Wolff to join the company later as well; however, he died only a few years after her husband as a soldier in the First World War.

After his return from the war in 1918, Paul Oppenheim became the sole owner of the Albert Wolff Company (representing large weaving mills). Around 1930, he founded a company under his own name for the production and sale of bed linen and household linen. His residential address was Bieberstrasse 9 (1926–1938). His wife took over the bookkeeping and correspondence as well as acting as a deputy during his business trips.

Paul Oppenheim joined the Hamburg German-Israelitic Community in 1921 and belonged to the liberal Temple Association (Tempelverband). Due to his Jewish descent, most weaving mills terminated their contracts with him at the end of 1938, thereby destroying the economic basis of the two companies and the Oppenheim family. In May 1939, Paul Oppenheim emigrated with his wife Bertha Oppenheim, née Heymann (born on 10 Jan. 1891 in Osnabrück) and their two children Hildegard (born on 21 May 1918) and Walter (born on 17 Apr. 1923) to La Paz in Bolivia, where he founded a small bag and cardboard factory. Paul Oppenheim died in Feb. 1947.

Bertha Oppenheim, née Koppel, and Emanuel (until 1906 Manus) Oppenheim (1853–1914) lived at Hallerstrasse 4 on the second floor for an extended period (1896–1912). Both sons served in the First World War: Paul Oppenheim (born on 9 Mar. 1889) from the first marriage and their son Walther Oppenheim (born on 23 Aug. 1896 in Hamburg). A war volunteer, he died on 1 Mar. 1915 as a member of the Replacement Battalion of the Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau Infantry Regiment (1st Magdeburg Regiment) No. 26 on the western front in the military hospital in Hénin from a serious grenade injury.

In 1932/33 (according to the directory) or in Nov. 1935 (according to the Jewish religious tax card file), Bertha Oppenheim had moved to Isestrasse 35 on the second floor. Her sister Pauline Wolff also moved in 1932/33 from Hochallee 27 to Isestrasse 15 (in Harvestehude). About six years later, the “Law on Tenancies with Jews” (“Gesetz über die Mietverhältnisse mit Juden”) dated 30 Apr. 1939 abolished their rent protection in order to vacate their apartments. At this time, Bertha Oppenheim had to move to Isestrasse 21 as a subtenant of the teacher Recha Lübke (born on 6 Mar. 1880 in Altona), who had been forced to retire. Bertha’s sister Pauline Wolff had to move to Jungfrauenthal 8 at the beginning of June 1939 as a subtenant to the formerly independent merchant Iwan Hesse (born on 31 Jan. 1872 in Hamburg).

According to police regulations, Bertha Oppenheim and Pauline Wolff were also forced from 19 Sept. 1941 to wear a clearly visible yellow “Jews’ star” on the left side of the chest area. Both were ordered to move from their subleases into a building of the “Z. H. May und Frau-Stiftung” with residential home apartments (at Bogenstrasse 27) that had been declared a “Jews’ house” (“Judenhaus”) by the Nazi regime – Pauline probably had to move at the end of Oct./beginning of Nov. 1941 and Bertha in Mar. 1942. From there, the occupants were deported to the ghettos and later to extermination camps. The Nazi regime had stopped the emigration of Jews from Germany at the end of 1941 and had started the deportations.

In July 1942, Bertha Oppenheim and Pauline Wolff received an “evacuation order,” both over 70 years old by then. This deportation transport was destined for the Theresienstadt “ghetto for the elderly” (“Altersgetto”). Probably they had already heard of various suicides and had put pills aside. On 14 July 1942, one day before the scheduled date of deportation, the sisters jointly took an overdose of sleeping pills at Bogenstrasse 27 (Eimsbüttel). Although both were admitted to the Israelite Hospital at Johnsallee 68, they died there a short time later. The hospital physician Hans Sommerfeld informed the police authority in the Stadthaus of this.

The criminal investigation department immediately informed the Hamburg Gestapo, which organized the deportations, of these deaths. On behalf of the Jewish Community, the “funeral provider” (“Beerdigungsübernehmer”) Von der Walde (at Grossneumarkt 56) took care of the burials. Both sisters were buried next to their husbands in the Hamburg-Ohlsdorf Jewish Cemetery.

A Stolperstein in front of the house at Jungfrauenthal 8 commemorates Pauline Wolff, née Koppel.

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