Ottilie Robertsohn
* 1871

Ottilie Robertsohn, born on 2 May 1871, suicide on 22 July 1942

Rappstraße 16 (Eimsbüttel, Rotherbaum)

The childless widow described herself as having “no religious creed” (“glaubenslos”) (in 1935, her deceased husband Julius had also left the Jewish Community). She had lived on Uhlenhorster Weg, before moving to Rappstrasse. When she received the deportation order, she ended her life on 18 July 1942 by injecting morphine. Her landlord Iwan Theilheimer alerted the police. The senior police sergeant (Oberwachtmeister) sent to her apartment found her still alive and had her taken to the Harbor Hospital, where she died on 22 July 1942. The orderly woman had laid out her document folder and the food ration coupons on the table. The police collected the documents, ID card, food and soap ration coupons, before sealing the apartment and ensuring that electricity, water, and gas were turned off. As a matter of routine, the police reported to the Gestapo the suicide motivated by fear of deportation.

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