Belsora Mendelsohn née Becker

Location 
Thomasiusstraße 24
District
Moabit
Stone was laid
30 March 2013
Born
24 June 1888 in Berlin
Deportation
on 14 November 1941 to Minsk
Murdered
im Ghetto Minsk
Belsora Mendelsohn, nee Becker, was born on June 24, 1888 in Berlin. She married Berlin businessman, Leo Mendelsohn. A son, Erwin, was born in 1914, followed by a daughter, Liselotte, in 1924. The family initially lived at Kirchstraße 21 in Moabit. In 1933, after graduating from the Royal Luisengymnasium in Wilsnackerstraße, Belsora’s son Erwin emigrated to Palestine. A little later Belsora, or Bella as she was known, moved with her husband and daughter, Liselotte, one street over to Thomasiusstraße 24. There the family rented a 3-bedroom 1st floor apartment in the garden house. The Mendelsohns operated a thriving leather and umbrella shop on the corner of Turmstr. 10 and Wilsnackerstraße, and thus Bella could afford a trip to Palestine to visit her son Erwin.

But the ever-increasing harassment and boycott of Jewish businesses, which had started in 1933, eventually impacted the Mendelsohns’ business too. In June 1938, they were no longer allowed to do business. Nevertheless, the Mendelsohns succeeded in getting by a few more months by selling their goods. When Leo Mendelsohn was arrested during the so-called Kristallnacht and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Belsora had to run the business alone. In December 1938, shortly after Leo Mendelsohn’s release from concentration camp, their business was permanently closed down by official decree. The family’s livelihood was completely cut off.

On November 12, 1939, after his release from the prison camp, Leo died of a heart attack at his home. He was 54. Belsora buried her husband at the Jewish Cemetery, Weissensee. By this time their daughter Liselotte, who was known as Lilo, was already doing forced labor at the Spinnstoff-Fabrik AG, a textile factory in Berlin-Zehlendorf. Her weekly wage was 14 RM.

On November 9, 1941 Belsora and Liselotte Mendelsohn were taken to the nearby synagogue building on Levetzowstraße 7, which was being used as a transit camp prior to deportation. After submitting their declaration of assets, they were informed two days later that, by official decree, all their property had been confiscated for the benefit of the Reich. The declared value of their savings and property was in excess of more than 41 000 RM. On November 14, 1941 mother and daughter were deported from Grunewald station on the 5th East transport to the Minsk ghetto. There were only a few survivors out of the approximately 950 passengers on board the train from Berlin, but Belsora and Liselotte Mendelsohn were not amongst them.