Stolperstein Sunday – Dr. Carl Blumenthal, Margarete Blumenthal & Werner Blumenthal

Curt Blumenthal was admitted to the bar in Berlin on 10 July 1911. During the First World War, he worked in the military justice administration of the army as an auxiliary military judge. After the war, he resumed his work as a lawyer and was also appointed notary on 23 July 1919. The President of the Berlin Regional Court had previously approved his appointment as a notary and stated that Dr Blumenthal was ‘regarded by the trial judges as a highly competent, conscientious and diligent lawyer’.

After the National Socialists seized power in 1933, Curt Blumenthal was temporarily banned from practising as a lawyer. On 24 June 1933, he was stripped of his notary’s office. However, he was initially able to continue working as a lawyer as a so-called ‘old lawyer’ because he had been admitted before August 1914. From 30 November 1938, Curt Blumenthal, like all other Jewish lawyers still admitted to the bar in Germany at the time, was banned from practising. His application to continue working as a legal adviser for Jewish people, as a so-called ‘consultant’, was not considered a priority by the Berlin District Court. Curt Blumenthal was obliged to perform forced labour. His declaration of assets shows that he had to work as a labourer at ‘Fritz Weber und Co. Metallwaren- und Laternenfabrik’ in what was then Graetzstraße 68 (now Karl-Kunger-Straße) in Berlin Treptow.

Margarethe Blumenthal was a nursery school teacher. She married Curt Blumenthal on 30 June 1928 in Görlitz. After the wedding, she moved in with him at Schloßstraße 107/108. Margarethe Blumenthal was also conscripted into forced labour. She had to work as a labourer at the Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabrik in Berlin-Borsigwalde

Werner Louis Blumenthal was born in Berlin on 18 October 1929. He lived with his parents in the flat at Schloßstraße 107/108. Werner Blumenthal was also affected by the considerable discrimination against Jewish pupils during the National Socialist era. After the November pogroms of 1938, Jewish pupils were banned from attending public schools.

In June 1939, the Blumenthal family had to move out of their flat in Schloßstraße and move to Mommsenstraße 22 in Charlottenburg, according to their declaration of assets. They lived here in a so-called forced flat. At least 32 people moved into this address after 1939. The background to this was the ‘Law on Tenancies with Jews’ of 30 April 1939, according to which Jewish people could no longer freely choose their place of residence.

Am 17. Januar 1943 mussten Curt Blumenthal sowie seine Frau und ihr 13-jähriger Sohn Werner ihre Vermögenserklärungen abgeben. Hier mussten sie ihre Vermögenswerte, aber etwa auch das Wohnungsinventar und Kleidungsstücke oder noch vorhandene Vorräte auflisten. Die ausgefüllten Vermögenserklärungen mussten zusammen mit den Personaldokumenten, den Lebensmittelkarten sowie den Haustürschlüsseln in die Sammellager mitgebracht werden, in denen die Menschen vor ihrer Deportation in die Konzentrations- und Vernichtungslager zusammengepfercht waren. Die Familie Blumenthal kam in das Sammellager in der Großen Hamburger Straße 26, wo vorher ein jüdisches Altersheim und die jüdische MosesMendelsohn-Schule unterbracht waren. In dem Sammellager wurden Curt Blumenthal sowie seiner Ehefrau und seinem Sohn die Verfügungen zum Einzug ihres jeweiligen Vermögens am 27. Januar 1943 übergeben. Zwei Tage später, am 29. Januar 1943, wurden Curt, Margarethe und Werner Blumenthal vom Güterbahnhof Berlin-Moabit aus mit dem 27. „Osttransport“ in das Konzentrations- und Vernichtungslager Ausschwitz deportiert und dort umgebracht.

The photos above show the Stolpersteine in front of Schloßstr. 107/108 in Berlin Steglitz as well as the foyer of the house. The former grandeur is still visible and shows what an esteemed member of society he was before his prosecution by the Nazis.

For their complete story (in German) visit this page: Familie Blumenthal

More information on the Güterbahnhof Moabit can be found here: