Dr. Philipp Salomon

Justizrat Dr Philipp Isidor Salomon was born on the 10th of February 1867 in Landsberg an der Warthe (Gorzów Wielkopolski), Brandenburg, to Marie Salomon née Treuherz Rosenbaum (ca. 1829-1897) from Crossen an der Oder (Krozno Odrzańskie) in Brandenburg and Nathan Salomon (1823-1910), a proprietor of a leather goods business, from Pollnow (Polanów) in Pommerania.

Philipp gained his Abitur (university-entrance certificate) from the Gymnasium in Landsberg a. d. Warthe and was the first of his family to attend university, studying law at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin (Humboldt Universität) between 1885-1888. Philipp received his doctorate in law from the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in 1889 with his doctoral thesis titled „Das Wesen des befristeten (auf einen dies a quo gestellten) Rechtsgeschaftes“.

Having passed his first legal exam in May 1888 at the Kammergericht (High Court) in Berlin, Philipp served his Referendariat (clerkship) at the Amtsgerichte (District Courts) in Crossen a. d. Oder and Driesen (Drezdenko) and the Landgericht (Regional Court) at Landsberg a. d. Warthe.

In 1893 Philipp was appointed Gerichtsassessor (probationary lawyer) and then Rechtsanwalt (lawyer) to the Kammergericht in Berlin. After nineteen years of service, Philipp was made Justizrat (Judicial Counsel) In 1912. Philipp’s practice was located at Lützowstraße 67, south of the Tiergarten from 1915 onwards.

Philipp married Toni Bertha Oberndörffer née Stadthagen (1887-1942), the daughter of Agnes Stadthagen née Jacobi (1864-1938) and the Justizrat Dr Julius Stadthagen (1855-1912), on the 18th of April 1922 in Berlin. He moved into his wife’s apartment on the ground-floor at Hölderlinstraße 10 in the Westend area of Berlin, with his wife’s son from a previous marriage Arnold Oberndörffer (1914-1937), while maintaining his legal practise at Lützowstraße. The family lived in the same neighbourhood as Toni’s sister Lilli Rehfisch née Stadthagen (1891-1941/42) and brother Paul Stadthagen (1893-1943) and their respective families. Philipp’s mother-in-law Agnes lived in the apartment above them on the first floor.

Philipp and Toni’s daughter Evamarie Salomon (1924-1942) was born on the 18th of September 1924. Evamarie proved to have learning disabilities and stayed for periods of her life at boarding homes for those with special needs. Philipp enjoyed warm relations with his wife’s family, providing legal advice and as an accomplished pianist performing at family occasions. He was also a keen chess player, in common with many of his legal colleagues, who would play chess between cases as they waited in the lawyers’ room at court. Philipp played an active role in the Gesamtarchiv der deutschen Juden (now the Centrum Judaicum) and was head of its board of trustees in 1926.

Phillip shared his legal practice at Lützowstraße with his nephew Paul Salomon (1887-1943), a lawyer at the Landgerichte (Regional Courts) in Berlin, originally from Schivelbein (Świdwin) in Pommerania. Paul had served as a company commander in the 6. Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment during the First World War, receiving the Iron Cross II. Class and Bavarian Military Merit Medal. Paul was captured leading his company on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and spent the remainder of the war a prisoner in Toulouse, France.

After Hitler came to power and antisemitic legislation was introduced in 1933, Philipp, like all lawyers of Jewish descent, had to re-apply for admission to the Bar Association. As a so called Altanwalt (pre-1914 Bar Member), he was still permitted to practise law but only with restrictions. After 1934 he was no longer permitted to act as a notary. Philipp’s stepson Arnold, unable to gain a place at university due to the fixed percentage now placed on the number of students of Jewish descent, emigrated to the Netherlands. Arnold returned to Germany after suffering from an illness and was recovering at a sanatorium in Lower Silesia, where he died in 1937.

Philipp and Toni moved with their daughter to Württembergallee 8 in 1938. Philipp was removed from the Bar in November of that year and was reduced to practising as an asset advisor after a general prohibition on lawyers of Jewish descent came into force. His sister and many of his nieces and nephews emigrated to Palestine, Brazil and the United Kingdom and Philipp planned to emigrate to Palestine with his wife and daughter. However, with their daughter’s special needs and Philipp’s increasing ill-health, they were unable to emigrate.

Philipp died of heart failure on the 27th of April 1941 at the family home and his ashes are interred at the Weißensee Cemetery in Berlin.

The following year Philipp’s wife Toni and daughter Evamarie were forced to move to a building probably designated for Jews at Maikowskistraße (Zillestraße) 107. Toni Salomon and Evamarie Salomon were deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration and Extermination Camp on the 11th of July 1942, where they were murdered. Philipp’s niece Käthe Meyersohn née Salomon (1889-1942), her husband Dr Siegbert Meyersohn (1886-1942) and their daughter Eva Meyersohn (1921-1942) were deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration and Extermination Camp on the 14th of December 1942, where they were murdered. Philipp’s nephew Paul Salomon was deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration and Extermination Camp on the 2nd of March 1943, where he was murdered. Philipp’s nephew Dr Ernst Simon (1888-1943) was deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration and Extermination Camp on the 17th of May 1943, where he was murdered.

This biography has been written by Robert Duncan, the grandson of Philipp’s niece Beata Duncan (Beate Rehfisch). London 2022. This Stolperstein has been sponsored by the descendants of Philipp’s sister-in-law.

© Robert Duncan

Sources: LAB-Landesarchiv Berlin; Barch PA-Bundesarchiv Abteilung Personenbezogenene Auskünfte Berlin-Reinickendorf; Universitätsarchiv der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; GStA PK-Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz; BLHA-Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv Potsdam; Geschäftsbericht, Mitteilungen des Gesamtarchivs der deutschen Juden 6. Jahrg. (1926); BayHStA-Bayern Hauptstaatsarchiv; Berliner Adreßbuch; Ladwig-Winters, Simone, Lawyers without Rights: The Fate of Jewish Lawyers in Berlin after 1933 (Ed. Choyke, William J) (ABA, 2018); Handbuch über den Preußischen Staat

Weblinks to be inserted:

Lilli Rehfisch née Stadthagen https://www.berlin.de/ba-charlottenburg-wilmersdorf/ueber-den-bezirk/geschichte/stolpersteine/artikel.1146516.php

Paul Stadthagen https://www.berlin.de/ba-charlottenburg-wilmersdorf/ueber-den-bezirk/geschichte/stolpersteine/artikel.179349.php

Dr Siegbert Meyersohn https://blog.pommerscher-greif.de/der-juedische-arzt-von-schivelbein/