Irma Goldstein née Moses

Martin Goldstein was born in Berlin on 16 April 1896, the son of salesman Max Goldstein and Martha Goldstein (née Rieker), who lived at Birkenstrasse 46.

Irma Moses was born on 16 February 1899, also in Berlin, the daughter of the travelling salesman Jacob Moses and Helene Moses (née Bieber) of Strassburger Strasse 10.

Irma and Martin, also a salesman by profession, married in 1919 in the Berlin district of Schöneberg – Martin lived in Yorckstrasse, Irma in Fritz-Reuter-Strasse.

Their son Gerhard was born in Schöneberg on 16 October 1920 and started school in 1927 at the Offenbacher Strasse elementary school in Friedenau (today called the Ruppin-Grundschule). He was enrolled in an elementary school in Sybelstrasse, Charlottenburg, in the early 1930s, but on 8 January 1934 he was taken out of that school – probably because of the increasing degree of bullying and hostility, though the official ban on joint schooling of Jewish and “Aryan” children did not come into force until 1938. On 31 May 1934, aged thirteen, Gerhard started a new school, which seems to have been outside Charlottenburg.

From 1934, the Goldsteins are registered as resident at Steifensandstrasse 6, where they lived for around eight years, in the front building, ground floor. From 1941, Martin Goldstein’s listing in the register of addresses is no longer “Goldstein, M., Kfm.” (“Kfm.” meaning Kaufmann, salesman), but “Goldstein, M. Israel, Kfm.” In one of the many hundreds of anti-Jewish laws, all Jewish men were now made to carry the additional name “Israel”. From 1942, the family is no longer to be found at this address in the register. It seems that they had to leave their apartment; on 30 April 1939, the “Law on Renting to Jews” had ruled that Jews must only live with other Jews. In other words, “mixed” residential buildings were prohibited. The Goldsteins moved to Fritz-Reuter-Strasse 7 (Schöneberg), where they lodged with the Moses family, probably relatives of Irma’s.

On 1 March 1943, Irma, Martin and Gerhard – along with 1733 other people – were deported from Schöneberg as part of the “Fabrikaktion” that rounded up the last Jews from Berlin. They were sent to Auschwitz on “Osttransport 31”. According to the deportation list, Martin and Irma were locked into the packed trains as prisoners number 714 and 715. They were deported to Auschwitz under calamitous, inhumane conditions and murdered there.


Research and text: Kate Sturge, Sources: Adressbücher, ancestry.com, Arolsen Archives