Robert Alexander was born on 29.03.1864 in Lidzbark (Lautenburg) in Westpreußen (in today’s Poland), to merchant Louis Alexander and his wife Berta (née Glück). Little is known about his earlier years, but at some point the family moved to Berlin, where Robert completed commercial training and began to work in the leather trade.
On 23.12.1901, Robert married Martha Becker in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, where they made their first home at Meierottostrasse 4. 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. The family moved several times during this period, first to Pfalzburger Strasse 58 and then to Uhlandstrasse 114. From 1912 the family had settled in the Steglitz district, where Robert ran a business selling shoes. The Alexander family’s next places of residence included Feuerbachstrasse 12 and Sedanstrasse 17. From 1919 they lived in a larger first-floor apartment at Grunewaldstrasse 18, a notable step up from their previous homes in back-courtyard buildings—indication that Robert‘s business was going well.
In 1928, Robert Alexander—now listed in the address directory as a “privatier”— moved to a newly built property at Vionvillestr. 20, a small, prestigious housing estate 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). Anti-Jewish boycotts made the family’s financial situation increasingly precarious. Both Hansi and Lola lost their jobs and by April 1941, they had been ordered into forced labor.
Robert died on 24.06.1941 in the hospital run by the Adass Jisroel Jewish Congregation on Elsässer Straße (today: Torstraße) in Berlin-Mitte. The cause of death is listed as “insufficient circulation.” Just a few months later, in September 1941, the hospital was closed after Adass Jisroel was liquidated upon order of the Nazis.
Robert’s wife Martha and their twin daughters were forced from their home on Gritznerstr. and into a shared “Judenwohnung” apartment in Gutzkowstrasse in Schöneberg. It was here that Martha took her life in July 1942, having received a deportation order. Daughter Hansi was arrested during the “Fabrikaktion” of March 1943 and deported to Auschwitz, where she was likely murdered upon arrival. Her twin sister Lola was warned in advance by her factory supervisor and survived in hiding in Berlin with his help.
Robert Alexander's sons Bernhard, René and Klaus all worked in the transport business after completing their merchant apprenticeships: Bernhard and René as cab drivers, while Klaus founded a haulage company that operated several trucks. All three had their assets seized and were made to do forced labor: Bernhard and René as coal carriers, and Klaus in waste disposal.
Eldest son Bernhard was deported to Estonia (Raasiku) in September 1942 and murdered. René and Klaus had non-Jewish woman wives, and these "privileged mixed marriages" were what saved them. The two brothers lived in West Berlin into their seventies, both working as taxi drivers.