Location
Claudiusstraße 18
District
Tiergarten
Stone was laid
24 November 2018
Born
09 January 1884 in Berlin
Deportation
on 24 August 1943
to
Auschwitz
Murdered
15 September 1943 in Auschwitz
-
Stolperstein Georg Bernstein © OTFW Berlin
Georg Bernstein was born on 9 January 1884 in Berlin, the only child of Josef Bernstein and his wife Auguste, née Kessel. His parents had left the province of Posen for Berlin, then a rising industrial centre, on the wave of emigration of the 1860s-70s. Annexed by Prussia in 1793, the province of Posen imposed greater restrictions on Jews than other Prussian provinces and was the scene of a constant struggle for dominance between the Polish-Catholic and German-Protestant populations, during which Jews were alternately used and harassed by the state.
Georg’s mother Auguste was born on 23 December 1855, the fifth child of Lewin Kessel, a tailor, and the second child of his second wife Luise Hammel, in Kosten, a small town in the province of Posen. Later, Auguste joined her four siblings in Berlin, where they all ran shops selling ornamental trimmings. In Berlin she met Josef Bernstein, born on 8 January 1851 in Schroda, also in the province of Posen, who had come to Berlin to learn banking at Bredereck und Fiedler banking house in Lindenstraße, Kreuzberg.
After their marriage on 12 April 1883, Auguste and Josef Bernstein moved to an apartment around the corner on Ritterstraße, where their son Georg was born early the following year.
In 1892 Josef Bernstein decided to become self-employed, like all the members of his wife’s family, and established his own banking business, Bernstein & Co., at Friedrichstraße 73. It remained at this address until the night of pogroms (“Kristallnacht”) on 9 November 1938. In 1901, Josef’s nephew Albert David joined him as a partner – at age 17, his son Georg was still too young. Albert David later left to set up his own banking business and Josef continued alone at first, though his son Georg must have joined at some point. The business prospered and in 1911 the Bernsteins were able to move to an apartment in the elegant west of the city, at Claudiusstraße 18 in Tiergarten. In 1911, Georg’s mother Auguste died; in 1934, his father Josef passed away. Georg continued to run the banking and exchange business until 1938, when it was vandalized, looted and eventually forcibly liquidated. He stayed in his apartment on Claudiusstraße until mid-1940. Compensation documents show that Georg Bernstein was romantically involved with a seamstress named Frieda Mahler. The couple planned to marry in summer 1935 but were refused permission from the registry office because Frieda Mahler was a Protestant. According to Georg’s cousin Erich Kessel, Georg then hoped to emigrate to the United States. He applied for an exit permit in 1940 but was refused by Tiergarten tax office because he could not pay the “Reich flight tax” (“Reichsfluchtsteuer”).
Under the law of 30 April 1939 abolishing Jewish tenant protection, in August 1940 Georg was forced to move into a furnished room in the home of an E. Heymann at Klopstockstraße 24.
In 1941, he was conscripted to forced labour at Riedel chemical factory in Britz. On 17 August 1943, Georg Bernstein was arrested by the Gestapo and taken to the assembly camp at Große Hamburger Straße. From here, he was deported with the “41st transport to the east” on 24 August 1943 to Auschwitz, where he was murdered on 15 September 1943.
In 1951, Frieda Mahler had her marriage with Georg Bernstein retrospectively certified and applied for restitution. Although her application contained contradictory information, she was awarded a large sum as “compensation”.
Georg’s mother Auguste was born on 23 December 1855, the fifth child of Lewin Kessel, a tailor, and the second child of his second wife Luise Hammel, in Kosten, a small town in the province of Posen. Later, Auguste joined her four siblings in Berlin, where they all ran shops selling ornamental trimmings. In Berlin she met Josef Bernstein, born on 8 January 1851 in Schroda, also in the province of Posen, who had come to Berlin to learn banking at Bredereck und Fiedler banking house in Lindenstraße, Kreuzberg.
After their marriage on 12 April 1883, Auguste and Josef Bernstein moved to an apartment around the corner on Ritterstraße, where their son Georg was born early the following year.
In 1892 Josef Bernstein decided to become self-employed, like all the members of his wife’s family, and established his own banking business, Bernstein & Co., at Friedrichstraße 73. It remained at this address until the night of pogroms (“Kristallnacht”) on 9 November 1938. In 1901, Josef’s nephew Albert David joined him as a partner – at age 17, his son Georg was still too young. Albert David later left to set up his own banking business and Josef continued alone at first, though his son Georg must have joined at some point. The business prospered and in 1911 the Bernsteins were able to move to an apartment in the elegant west of the city, at Claudiusstraße 18 in Tiergarten. In 1911, Georg’s mother Auguste died; in 1934, his father Josef passed away. Georg continued to run the banking and exchange business until 1938, when it was vandalized, looted and eventually forcibly liquidated. He stayed in his apartment on Claudiusstraße until mid-1940. Compensation documents show that Georg Bernstein was romantically involved with a seamstress named Frieda Mahler. The couple planned to marry in summer 1935 but were refused permission from the registry office because Frieda Mahler was a Protestant. According to Georg’s cousin Erich Kessel, Georg then hoped to emigrate to the United States. He applied for an exit permit in 1940 but was refused by Tiergarten tax office because he could not pay the “Reich flight tax” (“Reichsfluchtsteuer”).
Under the law of 30 April 1939 abolishing Jewish tenant protection, in August 1940 Georg was forced to move into a furnished room in the home of an E. Heymann at Klopstockstraße 24.
In 1941, he was conscripted to forced labour at Riedel chemical factory in Britz. On 17 August 1943, Georg Bernstein was arrested by the Gestapo and taken to the assembly camp at Große Hamburger Straße. From here, he was deported with the “41st transport to the east” on 24 August 1943 to Auschwitz, where he was murdered on 15 September 1943.
In 1951, Frieda Mahler had her marriage with Georg Bernstein retrospectively certified and applied for restitution. Although her application contained contradictory information, she was awarded a large sum as “compensation”.