Clara Lehmann
* 1874

Anna Lehmann, born 8 Sep. 1878 in Linden near Hannover, death by suicide 6 Jan 1942 in Hamburg
Cläre (Clara) Lehmann, born 22 Sep. 1874 in Linden near Hannover, death by suicide 6 Jan. 1942 in Hamburg

Heilwigstraße 46

Cläre Lehmann’s preschool on Heilwigstraße was an institution in Hamburg. The bulletin for Jewish genealogy Maajan – Die Quelle, published an article, written by Ursula Randt, about it in 2005. The article is reprinted here, slightly abridged, with the permission of the chief editor Daniel Teichman.

A few additional notes:
Cläre and Anna’s parents, the horse trader Gotschalk Lehmann and his wife Käthe, née Davis, had not only the three daughters mentioned in the text, but also a son, Richard (18 September 1867 in Linden). In his tax records with the Jewish Community his profession is listed as “agent,” which means he ran a commercial agency. He probably ran it together with Grete (1877), as her profession is likewise listed as “agent.” It is not known what the siblings sold. All four Lehmann children remained unmarried, and lived together on Heilwigstraße. Richard died in March 1940.

Three congregations had formed within the Hamburg Jewish Community: an orthodox, a reform, and a neo-liberal congregation. Cläre Lehmann was a member of the third, and was active in their community work, as can be seen in the minutes of a members’ meeting on 14 December 1937. In May 1939 Anna Lehmann, aged 61, was interrogated by the customs office on suspicion of a currency offense. The report reads: “Based on information from the Hamburg Gestapo, according to which diamonds had allegedly been sold on the black market at the Lehmann Jewish private school at Heilwigstr. 46, the entire premises were searched. No proof of the accusation was found. The search yielded only 110 Czechoslovak koruna, which Fräulein Lehmann claims to have brought back from her last trip to visit a friend in Czechoslovakia in 1936 or 1937. Fräulein Lehmann stated that she had completely forgotten about them. She was questioned on the subject and is prepared to pay a fine, to be determined by the Foreign Currency Office, for failing to report them.”

“Because of her advanced age and the minimal value,” Anna Lehmann was given a warning and charged a fine of 11 Reichsmarks (the value of the Czechoslovak koruna).

Denunciation, police search, interrogation, penalty – the memory of these disturbing events likely contributed to the sisters’ decision, when Anna Lehmann was ordered to appear before the Gestapo in January 1942, to avoid further humiliation and to take their lives.

Many of the individuals included in this and other “Stolperstein books” were connected to Anna and Cläre Lehmann: Annemarie Deutschländer and the Leser sons were their pupils, Paul and Anna Mendel spent the last months before they were deported as lodgers in their house.

The life of their colleague Thekla Bernau, who is also mentioned in Ursula Randt’s article, is described in “Stolpersteine in Hamburg-Winterhude,” as is that of their lodger Anna Levy. Antonie Schär, the wife of the resistance fighter Alfred Schär, taught in Cläre Lehmann’s school from 1930 to 1934. In 1934, she and her husband sheltered Jewish children from the preschool in their home. For this and other reasons the couple was accused of “unpatriotic behavior.” The fate of the Schär family can be read in “Stolpersteine in Hamburg-Wandsbek mit den Walddörfern.” It also contains a diary entry from Theodor Tuch about the Mendels’ move to the Lehmanns’ boarding house.

Ursula Randt mentions the preschool in “Die Talmud Tora Schule in Hamburg” (The Talmud Tora School in Hamburg), and Werner Skrentny wrote about the boarding house at Heilwigstraße 46 in “Das Eppendorf-Buch” (The Eppendorf Book).

Many puzzle pieces about the Lehmann sisters thus came together to give testimony to their lives and keep their memories alive.

Translator: Amy Lee
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.