Martha Alexander née Becker

Martha Alexander (née Becker) was born on 09.04.1882 in Metz (in today’s France). She was the eldest child of Max Becker, a merchant in the textile trade, and his wife Therese (née Wollstein). After Martha came her brother Arthur, who died fighting for Germany in World War One; brother Paul; and sister Gertrud, all born in Metz. After the family moved to Berlin, youngest sister Margot Becker was born there in 1902.

At the age of 19, Martha married Robert Alexander on 23.12.1901 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, who was nearly two decades her senior at age 37. Five children soon followed: Bernhard, born in 1904; René, born in 1906; twin sisters Hansi and Tana (Lola), born in 1907; and Klaus, born in 1908. By this time the family had settled in Berlin-Steglitz.

Robert Alexander was a tradesman in the leather business, and ran a business for many years selling shoes. Research into address records from that period indicate that the business was going well. In 1919 the family moved to a larger, first-floor apartment at Grunewaldstrasse 18, a step up from the back-courtyard buildings in which they had previously lived. In 1928 Martha and husband Robert—by now listed in the address directory as a “privatier”—moved to a newly built, prestigious housing estate at Vionvillestrasse 20, at the edge of Stadtpark Steglitz.

By 1933, however, the family’s fortunes had turned. Together with their twin daughters Hansi and Lola, on whose support they were increasingly dependent, Robert and wife Martha moved to a smaller ground-floor apartment at Arndtstrasse 12 (today: Gritznerstrasse 41), near Rathaus Steglitz. Anti-Jewish boycotts made the family’s financial situation increasingly precarious. Daughter Lola started her own business making boys’ clothing at nearby Schadenrute 3, where Martha also worked until the shop was destroyed on Kristallnacht. After that, only occasional sewing work was keeping the family afloat.

Martha’s husband Robert died on 24.06.1941. The cause of death is listed as “insufficient circulation.” By this time, daughters Hansi and Lola were being made to do forced labor. It is possible, though unconfirmed, that Martha had to do forced labor as well. Around this same period, the family was also 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, escaping deportation by swallowing a fatal dose of Veronal. She was 60 years old. Martha was buried in the Weissensee Jewish Cemetery. 

Martha’s death was registered with the authorities by her daughter Hansi, who would be caught up in the “Fabrikaktion” mass arrests eight months later and deported to Auschwitz in March 1943. Hansi’s twin sister Lola was warned in advance by her factory supervisor and survived in hiding in Berlin with his help.

Martha’s eldest son Bernhard was deported to Estonia (Raasiku) in September 1942 and did not return. Her two other sons, René and Klaus, had non-Jewish wives and were protected from deportation by their “privileged mixed marriages.” They lived in West Berlin into their seventies, both working as taxi drivers. 

Martha’s younger brother Paul Becker emigrated to Australia in 1938 with his wife and son. Her sisters Gertrud and Margot also managed to flee in 1938—in their case, to Palestine—but returned to live in Berlin in the 1950s.