Julius Gerson, born on July 28, 1868, was a social democrat from Dahlem and the owner of a printing press, which he ran with his brother Martin. It was the “Pittius” printing shop on Köpenicker-Str. 110. There are no traces of this left. Only the (Otto) Lilienthal factory is documented at this point. The Pittius printing company is referred to as a stone printing company and a postcard printing company.
The Gersons employed Rosa Luxemburg's companion Leo Jogiches for projects. He and Eduard Fuchs regularly gave money to Mathilde Jakob to finance Rosa Luxemburg's apartment; This money largely comes from the great actress Tilla Durieux, the wife of the publisher Eugen Cassirer. Through Luise Kautsky's intervention, Gerson provided massive support to Käthe and Herrmann Duncker and their children. The Duncker family frequented Dahlem and the little sons Wolfgang and Karl probably also lived in Gerson's Dahlem villa when Käthe was ill for a long time.
Julius Gerson kept a little distance, at least from the outside: he supported wherever he could through financial donations, employment and help; there was no evidence of a print of Spartacus letters or the Prince Lichinowsky brochure. Not even when Julius Gerson was taken into custody for a few days in February 1918.
On the other hand, Julius Gerson was personally very consistent; he had been a Social Democrat since 1898 and a USPD member from 1917. He maintained regular contact with Franz Mehring, Hugo Haase, Robert Dittmann and Klara Zetkin. Even before 1914 he was involved in pacifist circles of the New Fatherland Association around Hellmut Gerlach. His house was a regular meeting place.
In the 1920s, Julius Gerson was involved in the League for Human Rights; The neighboring houses of both Gersons Im Dol (Martin No. 21, Julius No. 23) were a meeting place for left-liberal socialist Berlin.
Julius Gerson had two children. His daughter Eva (1908 - 2004) married the Romanian writer Valeriu Marcu, who, among other things, wrote a biography of Wilhelm Liebknecht and gave eulogies for Paul Levi in 1930 and in Paris for Willi Münzenberg in 1938.
In 1933 Julius Gerson had to emigrate to Nice, France, and the printing company was Aryanized.
Gerson died in the concentration camp; his driver is said to have betrayed him. His place of death is not known.
His brother Martin was deported to Theresienstadt on September 25, 1942 and murdered there on April 4, 1943. There is a stumbling block in front of the house at Hohenzollerndamm 35a.
Julius Gerson's granddaughter (*1934) lives in New York.
Eva Marcus' daughter, Julius Gerson's granddaughter, Tu Miki (*1934 in Nice) lives in Manhattan.