Kurt Bielefeld
* 1913

Kurt Bielefeld, born on 6 Sept. 1913 in Hamburg, deported on 18 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Marion Bielefeld, née Siemon, born on 15 Feb. 1918 in Hamburg, deported on 18 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Hella Bielefeld, born on 9 Mar. 1938 in Hamburg, deported on 18 Nov. 1941 to Minsk
Mathel Bielefeld, born on 10 Mar. 1941 in Hamburg, deported on 18 Nov. 1941 to Minsk

Wrangelstraße 32

Kurt Bielefeld was the only child of the electrician Alfred Bielefeld and his wife Helene, née Cohn. They got married in 1911, two years before Kurt’s birth. In the mid-1930s, Kurt met Marion Siemon, who was five years his junior. She was the daughter of Leo and Sippora Siemon, née Lazarus. In the summer of 1936, Kurt and Marion got engaged, expressing their joy about the event by placing an ad in the Hamburger Familienblatt für die israelitischen Gemeinden Hamburg, Altona, Wandsbek und Harburg, a free copy of which went to all members of the religious community. At the time, both lived at Kleiner Schäferkamp 33. One year later, they got married and moved to Wrangelstraße 32.

Their daughter Hella was born on 9 Mar. 1938. Despite increasing exclusion, deprivation of rights, and persecution of Jews in Germany, Kurt Bielefeld could not imagine at that time that his family would run into danger. After all, his father had fought for the German Reich in World War I and had been decorated with the Iron Cross. However, during the night of 9 to 10 Nov. 1938, the Gestapo arrested Kurt Bielefeld, transporting him to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. After his release, he tried all he could to get himself and his family to safety. At the end of Aug. 1939, he filed an application with the foreign currency office at the Chief Finance Administrator (Oberfinanzpräsident) for taking along moving goods to emigrate to New York. He submitted extensive lists of all things the family wanted to take with them, including tools, his wife’s bridal wreath, and one “diary (child),” which had been presented to them as a gift on Hella’s birth. However, it was not possible to realize the plans. In mid-October 1939 and again in late Jan. 1940, Kurt Bielefeld informed the currency office that he could “not do anything at this time” to emigrate. By then, the family had already been forced to leave the apartment on Wrangelstraße and move to the “Jews’ house” (“Judenhaus”) at Grindelallee 23.

On 10 Mar. 1941, Kurt and Marion Bielefeld had their second daughter, Mathel. Half a year later, the family received the notification for “evacuation.” Together with Kurt Bielefeld’s parents, who had been sent to the “Jews’ house” on Bundesstraße 43, and Marion Bielefeld’s mother, Sippora Siemon, who lived at the “Jews’ house” at Rutschbahn 25a, they were deported to Minsk on 18 Nov. 1941. At that time, Hella Bielefeld was three years old, her sister Mathel just half a year. No member of the family survived.

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