Valesca Lewin
* 1879

Valesc(k)a Lewin, née Simon, born on 22 Dec. 1879 in Hamm/Sieg, deported on 6 Dec. 1941 to Riga, murdered

Grindelallee 126

Valeska Lewin was born in Hamm at river Sieg on December 22, 1879. We know nothing about her Jewish family of origin or about her childhood and adolescence. Presumably she had completed commercial training, because when she married in April 1912, the registrar called her an authorized signatory. Her husband, Siegfried Lewin, born in Posen on November 27, 1877, was the son of the Jewish furrier Manuel Lewin and his wife Minna née Gerechter.

Siegfried Lewin was himself a merchant. Until May 9, 1938, he was the owner of the Franz Hübner company, shop window furnishings, first at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Strasse 81, then at Klosterallee 13, i.e. he moved his company to the family's private rooms.

We do not know whether Valeska Lewin worked in her husband's company. In any case, their son Gerd Herbert, born on April 27, 1913, continued his father's business as junior partner from 1931 to 1936. Then Gerd Herbert Lewin emigrated via Switzerland and France to Uruguay. However, he returned to Hamburg in 1937 to persuade his parents to emigrate. However, since the state of health of the heart-suffering father did not permit this, he emigrated alone again, and on March 12, 1938, he emigrated to Argentina.

Siegfried Lewin died four months later, on July 26, 1938, of a heart valve defect in the couple's apartment in Klosterallee. Valeska Lewin was left behind alone. On May 27, 1940, as requested, she had the obligatory first name for Jewish women, "Sara," registered at the Mannheim registry office (this was deleted again on March 14, 1949, according to an order of the U.S. military government, but Valeska Lewin did not live to see it again).

After the tightening of the Foreign Currency Act (Devisengesetz) on 12 Dec. 1938, suspicion of illegal emigration was sufficient for the foreign currency offices of the tax authorities to issue a "security order” ("Sicherungsanordnung”). In the case of Valeska Lewin, this meant that – after disclosure of her assets – she could only dispose of a monthly allowance of 330 RM (reichsmark) by order dated 2 Feb. 1940. However, the remainder of her net assets, which she put at 27,569 RM, was blocked. Shortly before the deportation, her assets were confiscated "to the benefit of the Reich.”

In the meantime, she had also had to leave her apartment in Klosterallee and lived at 126 Grindelallee as a subtenant.

Valeska Lewin, 62 years old, was deported to Riga-Jungfernhof on December 6, 1941. There she probably perished in the miserable living conditions. No date of death is known. She was declared dead on May 8, 1945.

Translator: Erwin Fink/Changes Beate Meyer
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.