• Deutsch
  • English

Mengstraße 52 - The Mecklenburg family

 

The Mecklenburg family lived for many years at Mengstraße 52 until October 1938.

The family concern, Paper Wholesaler H. Mecklenburg and Company, had its headquarters at Mengstraße 52.

 

The paper wholesaler Hermann Mecklenburg in his private office, Lübeck undated picture by Trude Stern nee Mecklenburg, published in Gerhard Paul and Bettina Goldberg’s Matrosenanzug - Davidstern, Bilder jüdischen Lebens aus der Provinz, (Sailor’s Uniform – Star of David, Pictures of Jewish Life in the Province), Neumünster, 2002, p. 95 presently available only under the German title
The paper wholesaler Hermann Mecklenburg in his private office, Lübeck undated picture by Trude Stern nee Mecklenburg, published in Gerhard Paul and Bettina Goldberg’s Matrosenanzug - Davidstern, Bilder jüdischen Lebens aus der Provinz, (Sailor’s Uniform – Star of David, Pictures of Jewish Life in the Province), Neumünster, 2002, p. 95 presently available only under the German title

Hermann Mecklenburg was married to Marjane Mecklenburg nee Adler.  They had one daughter, Gertrud and five sons:  Julius, Willi, Moritz, Friedrich and Heinrich Herbert.  Heinrich Herbert Mecklenburg was born in Lübeck on 29 August 1886.  Like his four brothers he volunteered to serve in the military in World War I.

Photos mounted as a fan. 1914/1915. The five Mecklenburg brothers as volunteers in World War I. From left to right; Julius, Willi, Moritz, Herbert and Friedrich.
Photos mounted as a fan. 1914/1915. The five Mecklenburg brothers as volunteers in World War I. From left to right; Julius, Willi, Moritz, Herbert and Friedrich.

Friedrich Mecklenburg worked in Mannheim, Moritz in Chemnitz and the other three brothers in the family business in Lübeck.

In November 1931 the recently widowed Marjane Mecklenburg attended a meeting of the Volksbund<s>s</s> Deutsche<s>r</s> Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. (the non profit People’s Alliance for the Maintenance of War Veterans’ Graves) at which Dr. Helmuth Johnsen, the senior Pastor of the Protestant Cathedral, said:

“The German people must know how to protect itself from an ungerman spirit, the Jewizing of Germany.”

This mother of five sons, who volunteered to fight in the war, was so outraged that in spite of an apology by the pastor she went to a lawyer that very evening.  She engaged Herr Jacobsohn, who was the chairperson of the Lübecker Empire Alliance of Jewish Front Soldiers (also know as the Jewish Front Soldiers), who formulated a complaint, which was dealt with at the March 1932 meeting of the Lübeck Evangelical Lutheran Synod Council.  Because an apology had already been made, the council viewed it as already addressing the complaint and rectifying the matter.  

Heinrich Herbert Mecklenburg was married to Therese Mecklenburg, who was also known as Thea.  She was born on 31 May 1893 into the long time resident Falck family of Lübeck.  Heinrich and Thea had two children: Hanna born 30 July 1922 in Lübeck and Hermann Marcus born on 20 July 1927.

A photograph exists of the Falck family.  It was taken at Margarethe Babette Falck`s, Therese Mecklenburg`s mother, 80th birthday party, which was celebrated at Mengstraße 52.

Margarethe Babette Falck’s 80th birthday celebration at Mengestraße 52. Photo by Peter Mansbacher published in Albrecht Schreiber’s Between the Star of David and the Double Eagle: An Illustrated Chronical of Jews in Moisling and Lübeck, Lübeck, 1992, p. 98
Margarethe Babette Falck’s 80th birthday celebration at Mengestraße 52. Photo by Peter Mansbacher published in Albrecht Schreiber’s Between the Star of David and the Double Eagle: An Illustrated Chronical of Jews in Moisling and Lübeck, Lübeck, 1992, p. 98

Sitting at the table are Margarethe’s four daughters:  Alice Wrescher nee Falck (second from the left), died in Riga;  Emmy Ettlinger nee Falck (third from the left) emigrated to Palestine;  Gertrud Fürst nee Falck (third from the right) survived Auschwitz, died in Hamburg in 1948 (her husband is standing behind her and did not return from Auschwitz) and Juliane Mansbacher nee Falck (second from the right), murdered in Auschwitz (her husband, first from the left, died in Lübeck in 1940 due to illness).  Juliane’s son, Peter (first from the right seated) escaped to England via a Kindertransport (children’s transport).  One of Peter’s cousins (first from the left standing) was able to emigrate to Argentina.  The gentleman standing first from the right is purported to be one Paul Jaffa, but nothing else is known about him.

At the head of the table sits Margarethe Falck.  She died in Theresienstadt (the present day Terezin, Czech Republic).

Margarethe’s daughter, Therese, is standing behind her.  Therese’s son, Hermann Marcus, is to the left of her and to the right of her is her daughter, Hanna, and her husband, Herbert Mecklenburg.  At the time this photo was taken Hanna was 13 years old and her brother 8.

Both Hanna and Hermann can also be found on the 1935 photo of the Jewish Religion School.

Photo of the Jewish Religion School
Photo of the Jewish Religion School

There is another photo of Hanna, which shows her as a member of one of the groups of the Zion Youth Alliance.

The Zion Youth Group “Brith Hanoar” Lübeck in 1935 on a trip, most likely to the Segeberger Chalk Cliffs. Photo by Lilly Oppenheimer, Israel, published in Gerhard Paul and Bettina Goldberg’s Matrosenanzug - Davidstern, Bilder jüdischen Lebens aus der Provinz, (Sailor’s Uniform – Star of David, Pictures of Jewish Live in the Province) Neumünster, 2002, p. 199 presently available only under the German title.
The Zion Youth Group “Brith Hanoar” Lübeck in 1935 on a trip, most likely to the Segeberger Chalk Cliffs. Photo by Lilly Oppenheimer, Israel, published in Gerhard Paul and Bettina Goldberg’s Matrosenanzug - Davidstern, Bilder jüdischen Lebens aus der Provinz, (Sailor’s Uniform – Star of David, Pictures of Jewish Live in the Province) Neumünster, 2002, p. 199 presently available only under the German title.

From left to right:  Esther Carlebach (born 1922, daughter of Simson Carlebach, went to Palestine 1939), Josef Winter (born 1923, son of Rabbi Winter, went to England 1938, later to Palestine), Hella Jacoby (born 1921, went to Palestine 1939) Hanna Mecklenburg, Rachel Winter (born 1922, daughter of Rabbi Winter, went to England 1938, then to Palestine 1945),  Adolf Frohmann (born 1912, murdered in KZ {concentration camp} Mauthausen, south of Linz, Austria, 1942), Hans Hermann Meyer (born 1921, went to Palestine 1937, then to Amsterdam 1945)

Herbert Mecklenburg emigrated to Belgium in September 1938.  His family followed him in December 1938 going to Wesembeek near Brussels.  But Wesembeek offered the family only a temporary respite that is up until the German occupation of Belgium.  Also having been baptized in the Roman Catholic faith did not prevent them being entered into the Registry of Jews and finally deported.

Index card for Hermann Marcus Mecklenburg in the Belgium Registry of Jews
Index card for Hermann Marcus Mecklenburg in the Belgium Registry of Jews

Heinrich Herbert Mecklenburg was taken to the Gurs Internment Camp in southern France and lost his life there.  Therese Mecklenburg and both her children were deported to Auschwitz and murdered there.  On the transport manifest for the second 11 August 1942 train from Mechelen to Auschwitz one finds Number 303:  Hermann Marcus Mecklenburg, Electrical Technician, Stateless and Number 304:  Hanna Mecklenburg, Housekeeper, Stateless.

The manifest for the 11 August 1942 transport to Auschwitz which contain the names of Hanna and Hermann Marcus Mecklenburg
The manifest for the 11 August 1942 transport to Auschwitz which contain the names of Hanna and Hermann Marcus Mecklenburg

Hanna was 20 years old and Hermann Marcus 15.

References in Addition to Standard Reference Materials:

  • Adressbücher und Meldekartei der Hansestadt Lübeck (Address and Registration Records of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck)
  • Archiv der Hansestadt Lübeck, Staatliche Polizeiverwaltung 109, 110
  • Schul- und Kultusverwaltung 375
  • Buch der Erinnerung, Die ins Baltikum deportierten deutschen, österreichischen und tschechoslowakischen Juden, bearbeitet von Wolfgang Scheffler und Diana Schulle, München 2003
  • Datenpool JSHD der Forschungsstelle "Juden in Schleswig-Holstein" an der Universität Flensburg
  • Goldberg, Bettina/ Paul, Gerhard: Matrosenanzug - Davidstern. Bilder jüdischen Lebens aus der Provinz, Neumünster 2002
  • Guttkuhn, Peter: Kleine deutsch-jüdische Geschichte in Lübeck, Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart, Lübeck 2004, S.50
  • Joods Museum van Deportatie en Verzet, Mechelen: Transportlisten
  • Klatt, Ingaburgh: "...dahin wie ein Schatten", Aspekte jüdischen Lebens in Lübeck, Lübeck 1993
  • Mansbacher, Peter: Epilogue. Das Leben eines Flüchtlings, in: Zwischen Gestern und Heute, Erinnerungen jüdischen Lebens ehemaliger Schleswig-Holsteiner, Zusammengestellt von Gerd Stolz, Heide 1991, S.97ff
  • Memorbuch zum Gedenken an die jüdischen, in der Schoa umgekommenen Schleswig-Holsteiner und Schleswig-Holsteinerinnen, hrsg. V. Miriam Gillis-Carlebach, Hamburg 1996
  • Albrecht Schreiber, Zwischen Davidstern und Doppeladler, Illustrierte Chronik der Juden in Moisling und Lübeck, Lübeck 1992
  • Yad Vashem, The Central Database of Shoah Victims Names
  • Converstations with contemporaries of the Mecklenburg family

Heidemarie Kugler-Weiemann, 2008

Translation: Glenn Sellick and Martin Harnisch, 2010

 

© 2008–2023 Initiative "Stolpersteine für Lübeck" | design and realization: identity projects – webdesign for you