Lucie Charlotte Hulda Gerson

Lucie Charlotte Hulda Gerson was born on June 9th, 1895 in Berlin (Flensburger Straße 23). She is the oldest of three siblings. Her sister Edith was born in 1896 and the youngest sister Käte followed in 1905.

Her father Georg Gerson came from Frankfurt/Oder. Together with his brothers Julius and Martin, he moved to Berlin around 1900 and ran an address business there. His brother Richard and deaf sister Martha followed.

Lucie and her sisters grew up in the upper middle class with maids. The family moved often, among other things. to Geisbergstrasse and Joachimsthaler Strasse. The apartment on Schlüterstrasse even had a safe. The three girls often went to the zoo.

Her uncles Julius and Martin Gerson ran a luxury card factory on Köpenicker Straße. Lucie is also said to have worked there. Unfortunately, we hardly know anything else about her because her siblings have never talked about her. We, the children and grandchildren, did not ask - for reasons of piety, restraint and the youngest grandchildren out of ignorance. A calendar entry from sister Edith reads: “Called with Käte on Lucie’s birthday.” There are a few photos: a charming, elegant woman. Photos with friends by the water – in a swimsuit. Lucie is said to have preferred not to work so long and rather to enjoy her free time.

According to the entry in the land register, Lucie Gerson lived with her uncle Martin Gerson at Dol 21 in Berlin-Dahlem. At the family's request, her stumbling block was moved next to that of her uncle Julius in front of house number 23. It was still run there in 1937. She probably lived in a so-called Jewish house at Babelsberger Straße 52 since November 1935. This was her last address from which she was deported to Piaski, Poland, on March 28, 1942. Unfortunately, all of their documents at the state archives were burned due to the war. So many questions remain unanswered.

Her last sign of life is a card to the property manager Otto Wentzel from Piaski dated April 22, 1942, in which she asks for food.

Her sister Edith emigrated to England in 1934. The other sister Käte was picked up by the SS in March 1943 and survived thanks to the protests on Rosenstrasse - albeit under very difficult circumstances. The parents Georg Gerson and Martha Schulvater had both died before 1933 and are buried in the Jewish cemetery in Weißensee.

Lucie had appointed her friend (Julia Rothe) in Detmold as heiress, who wrote in 1951 to the “trustees for the forcibly transferred assets” and asked whether Lucie Gerson had left any other assets in addition to a share in a house.