Moraka Farbstein
* 1898

Moraka Farbstein, born on 5 Dec. 1898 in Ostrowo (today Ostrow Wielkopolski), murdered on 23 Sept. 1940 in the Brandenburg/Havel “euthanasia killing center”

Without Stolperstein

Moraka (also Moroka or Morcka) Farbstein was born on 5 Dec. 1898 in the town of Ostrowo in Poland. Although the first name indicates a female person, Moraka Farbstein was most likely a male. He lived in the Langenhorn sanatorium and nursing home in a house of the men's ward and was listed among the men in a list in the institution's book of departures in 1940. Only the name of his father is known: Benjamin Farbstein. We know nothing about his mother. Moraka was a Polish citizen. This is noted on the Jewish religious tax (Kultussteuer) file card of the Jewish Community in Hamburg and is confirmed by the note indicating "non-member of the Reich Association of Jews in Germany [Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland]” contained therein.

The "Reich Association of Jews in Germany,” forcibly established in the summer of 1939, took over, in place the previously independent Jewish interest group, administrative tasks that were to be carried out on the instructions of the Nazi regime and later of the Reich Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt). Jewish persons along the lines of the Nazi definition, as far as they held German citizenship, were compelled to be members. This did not apply to Jewish people of another nationality, but these were also administrated.

We do not know when and for what reason Moraka arrived Hamburg. As well, no residence is noted either for him or for his parents. On the Jewish religious tax file card, the marital status was noted as "unmarried.”

It is certain though that Moraka Farbstein was a patient in the Friedrichsberg "lunatic asylum” ("Irrenanstalt Friedrichsberg”) in Oct. 1918. This is documented by his patient file card no. 43,938. The occupation indicated for him is "worker.”

The Friedrichsberg institution was the central reception facility for people with intellectual disabilities or mental illnesses in Hamburg. From there, many patients were transferred to the Langenhorn "lunatic asylum” ("Irrenanstalt Langenhorn”). Moraka Farbstein also came to Langenhorn after her stay in Friedrichsberg on 21 Oct. 1918. It is not known whether he remained in Langenhorn without interruption until 1940.

Moraka Farbstein lived in Langenhorn when, in the spring/summer of 1940, the "euthanasia” headquarters in Berlin, located at Tiergartenstrasse 4, planned a special operation aimed against Jews in public and private sanatoriums and nursing homes. The Reich Ministry of the Interior (Reichsinnenministerium) had the Jewish persons living in the institutions registered and moved together in what were officially so-called collection institutions. The Hamburg-Langenhorn institution, renamed "sanatorium and nursing home” ("Heil- und Pflegeanstalt”) was designated the North German collection institution. All institutions in Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and Mecklenburg were ordered to move the Jews living in their facilities there by 18 Sept. 1940. After all Jewish patients from the North German institutions had arrived in Langenhorn, they were taken to Brandenburg/Havel on 23 Sept. 1940, together with the Jewish patients who had lived there for some time. On the same day, they were killed with carbon monoxide in the part of the former penitentiary converted into a gas-killing facility. Only one patient, Ilse Herta Zachmann, escaped this fate at first (see corresponding entry).

We do not know whether and, if so, when relatives became aware of Moraka Farbstein’s death. In all documented death notices, it was claimed that the person concerned had died in Chelm (Polish) or Cholm (German), a town east of Lublin. Those murdered in Brandenburg, however, were never in Chelm/Cholm. The former Polish sanatorium there no longer existed after SS units had murdered almost all patients on 12 Jan. 1940. Also, there was no German records office in Chelm. Its fabrication and the use of postdated dates of death served to disguise the killing operation and at the same time enabled the authorities to claim higher care expenses for periods extended accordingly.

Since no personal address was found for Moraka Farbstein in Hamburg, no individual place can be determined where he could be commemorated with a Stolperstein.

Translator: Erwin Fink /Changings Ingo Wille
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.