Stolperstein Hansi Alexander © S. Davids-
Grabstein Lola Alexander und Gedenken © Familienbesitz
Hansi Alexander was born on 20.06.1907 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, together with her twin sister Tana (Lola). Hansi’s family included her parents Robert and Martha Alexander and brothers Bernhard (born 1904), René (born 1905), and Klaus (born 1908). Her father Robert was a tradesman in the leather business and the family moved homes often through Hansi’s childhood, first through Wilmersdorf and eventually settling in Steglitz. In 1919, when Hansi was 12, they moved to a larger first-floor apartment at Grunewaldstrasse 18, suggesting that the family’s financial situation had been going well.
After completing her schooling at the Lyzeum II in Steglitz, both Hansi and her twin sister began their vocational training in their father’s shoe business. In 1928, her father was listed in the address directory as a “privatier” and in a further sign of the family’s comfortable status, they moved to a newly built property at Vionvillestrasse 20, a small, prestigious housing estate at the edge of Stadtpark Steglitz. By 1933, however, the family’s fortunes had turned. Hansi and Lola moved with their parents to a smaller ground-floor apartment at Arndtstrasse 12 (today: Gritznerstrasse 41).
The source of the family’s income at this point is unclear. But from August 1937, Hansi had begun working as a salesperson in the shoe department at the Wertheim department store on Leipziger Strasse. First built between 1896 and 1906, this luxurious establishment was often described as the most beautiful department store in Germany. After its expansion between 1925-1926, it became the largest department store in all of Europe. Meanwhile, Hansi’s twin sister Lola started her own business making boys’ clothing near the family’s home, at Schadenrute 3, where their mother Martha also worked.
In March 1938, Hansi lost her job after the Wertheim company was “Aryanized,” and in November 1938, Lola’s shop was destroyed on Kristallnacht. Anti-Jewish boycotts made the family’s situation increasingly precarious. From April to October 1938 Hansi worked at a small country hotel on Röblinsee lake in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district north of Berlin, then as domestic help for a Jewish couple until April 1941.
From April 1941 she was made to do forced labor for the Siemens factory at Gartenfeld in Berlin-Spandau. In June of that same year, her father Robert died of heart failure. Around this same period, Hansi, Lola, and their mother Martha were forced to leave their home in Berlin-Steglitz and move into a shared “Judenwohnung” with other families in Gutzkowstrasse in Berlin-Schöneberg. It was there that Martha took her own life on 24.07.1942, swallowing a fatal dose of Veronal to escape deportation. She was 60 years old. Martha was buried in the Weissensee Jewish Cemetery. It was Hansi who registered the death with the local authorities.
On 27.02.1943, Hansi was at work at the Siemens factory when she was swept up in the Fabrikaktion, a coordinated arrest of Jewish forced laborers all across Germany. In Berlin alone, around 11,000 Jews were detained within just a few days. After Hansi’s arrest, she was held in a collection point for two days. To accommodate the large number of detainees, makeshift holding facilities had been set up across the city. On 01.03.1943, she was put on the first train of Fabrikaktion detainees, the so-called 31st Osttransport. When it arrived at Auschwitz the next day, most of the 1736 passengers—likely including Hansi—were murdered immediately.
Hansi’s sister Lola was warned in advance of the Fabrikaktion sweep by her factory supervisor, Wilhelm Daene, and offered a place to hide. Though he agreed to try and save Hansi as well, help came too late. Lola survived for more than two years in hiding with the help of Daene and his wife Margarete.
Hansi’s eldest brother Bernhard was deported to Estonia (Raasiku) in September 1942 and murdered there. Her two other brothers, René and Klaus, had non-Jewish wives and were protected from deportation by these “privileged mixed marriages.” They lived in West Berlin into their seventies, both working as taxi drivers.