Schlama Klainberg

Location 
Christinenstr. 23
District
Prenzlauer Berg
Stone was laid
14 June 2018
Born
06 November 1890 in Kłobuck (Schlesien)
Occupation
Schuhmacher
Abgeschoben
1938 in Rahmen der "Polenaktion"
Fate unknown
Schlama (Salomon) Klainberg was born on November 6th, 1890 in Klobuck, Poland to his parents Lewka Klajnberg and Pessy Zoltan. We do not know which year Schlama moved to Berlin. He was a shoemaker by trade and while it is unclear where he initially worked, he later opened a cobbler shop on Christinenstrasse 23, in the same house he lived in with his family. According to the memories of his son Siegmar, the family’s apartment was on the ground floor of the building, either as part of the shop or right above it.

Sometime in the 1920’s, Schlama Klainberg met Ettel Feldt. They were married in Berlin on September 25th, 1928. The following year on September 21st,1929, their only son Siegmar was born at the Israelitische Krankenheim, in Elsässer Stasse 85, today Torstrasse 146.
According to Siegmar’s birth certificate, the young family lived in Strassburger Strasse 20 at the time of his birth, although Schlama Klainberg was listed in the Jewish Address Book from 1931 as living in Christinenstrasse 26, and Ettel Klainberg on Strassburger Strasse 20. Why there are two addresses is not clear. It might be possible that Schlama found a space in the building on Christinenstrasse 23 to open his cobbler shop, and lived alone on Christinenstrasse 26 until an apartment opened up in Christinenstrasse 23 that the whole family could move into.

Early in the morning on October 28th, 1938, Schlama Klainberg was arrested and taken to Bentschen (pol. Zbasyn) during the “Polenaktion.” This event saw more than 16,000 primarily Jewish men with Polish citizenship arrested and taken to the Polish border where they were placed in an internment camp. People were arrested in their homes and without any notice. Refugee records from the internment camp at Bentschen show that Schlama arrived in Bentschen and that he was registered as a refugee and even had a local address. Some of interred persons were eventually allowed to move further into Poland, or they managed to secure immigration papers for a third country, and some were allowed to return to Germany to pick up their wives and children, and settle their affairs before having to return to Poland.

Whether Schlama was able to leave the Bentschen camp at some point, or was deported to another place after it was closed in August of 1939 remains unknown. To this day, Schlama Klainberg’s fate after his arrival in Bentschen remains unknown. It is possible that before his death he lived in the Lodz ghetto since there was someone listed under his name in the but there is no direct proof that it was him.