Location
Schwedter Straße 22
District
Mitte
Born
15 January 1882 in Tarnów
Deportation
to
Oranienburg
Later deported
to
Sachsenhausen
Murdered
11 February 1940 in Sachsenhausen
-
Stolperstein Ignatz Jacob Isak © OTFW Berlin
Ignatz Jacob Isak was born on 15 January 1882 in Tarnów, Poland. He moved to Berlin with his wife Netty. The couple had already been together for some time and had a daughter, Erna. Siegfried and Ruth were born in Berlin
Ignatz opened a grocery store, with money he had saved before moving to Berlin with his family. Ruth described the business as a store where, ‘in addition to imported goods, there were foreign and domestic wines and all kinds of food. It also provided bulk orders to well-known hotels and restaurants.’
Hitler issued orders for a ‘Jewish boycott’ to take place on 1 April 1933. Signs posted everywhere displayed slogans like ‘Germans, don't buy from Jews!’ SA men in front of shops, law firms, and doctors’ surgeries tried to prevent customers, clients, and patients from entering the offices and businesses. Ignatz Isak’s business survived the boycott.
In Berlin, the apartments of male Polish Jews between the ages of 15 and 90 were visited by the police in the early morning hours of 27 and 28 October 1938. The men were given a short time to get dressed and pack a few basic necessities and a maximum of ten Reichsmarks. They were arrested, held for a few hours in collection centres, and then taken to the Polish border. They were imprisoned in a makeshift camp near the town of Zbasyn. Ignatz Isak was fortunate and was not expelled from Berlin.
A week and a half after this first ‘Poland Operation’, Ignatz Isak’s business was destroyed in the pogroms of 9–10 November 1938.
In September 1939 the Gestapo arrested Ignatz Isak and took him to Oranienburg concentration camp as part of the ‘Second Polish Operation’, which had been initiated by a decree from Reinhard Heydrich. Ignatz was murdered in Sachsenhausen concentration camp on 11 February 1940.
Ignatz opened a grocery store, with money he had saved before moving to Berlin with his family. Ruth described the business as a store where, ‘in addition to imported goods, there were foreign and domestic wines and all kinds of food. It also provided bulk orders to well-known hotels and restaurants.’
Hitler issued orders for a ‘Jewish boycott’ to take place on 1 April 1933. Signs posted everywhere displayed slogans like ‘Germans, don't buy from Jews!’ SA men in front of shops, law firms, and doctors’ surgeries tried to prevent customers, clients, and patients from entering the offices and businesses. Ignatz Isak’s business survived the boycott.
In Berlin, the apartments of male Polish Jews between the ages of 15 and 90 were visited by the police in the early morning hours of 27 and 28 October 1938. The men were given a short time to get dressed and pack a few basic necessities and a maximum of ten Reichsmarks. They were arrested, held for a few hours in collection centres, and then taken to the Polish border. They were imprisoned in a makeshift camp near the town of Zbasyn. Ignatz Isak was fortunate and was not expelled from Berlin.
A week and a half after this first ‘Poland Operation’, Ignatz Isak’s business was destroyed in the pogroms of 9–10 November 1938.
In September 1939 the Gestapo arrested Ignatz Isak and took him to Oranienburg concentration camp as part of the ‘Second Polish Operation’, which had been initiated by a decree from Reinhard Heydrich. Ignatz was murdered in Sachsenhausen concentration camp on 11 February 1940.