Leven Auguste – Gedenkbuch

Leven, Auguste

Geburtsdatum:: 14.01.1878
Geburtsort:: Krefeld

Beruf:: Modistin, Putzmacherin

Wohnorte:: Grupellostraße 8, Gumbertstraße 91

Todesdatum:: 15.06.1942
Todesort:: Düsseldorf (Selbstmord)

Auguste Leven kam am 14. Januar 1878 in Krefeld als Tochter des Metzgers Salomon Leven und seiner Frau Sofie, geborene Bodenheimer, zur Welt. Ihr Vater war in erster Ehe mit Regine Salomon verheiratet gewesen. Aus dieser Ehe hatte Auguste zwei Halbbrüder: Emil Leven (geboren 1867) und Alexander Leven (geboren 1870). Daneben hatte Auguste Leven noch zwei ältere Schwestern Jenny (geboren 1875) und Johanna (geboren 1874) und den jüngeren Bruder Paul Leven (1879-1961).

Ihre Mutter Sofie starb im Oktober 1881 in Krefeld. Auguste Leven war beim Tod der Mutter drei Jahre alt. Auguste Leven erlernte den Beruf der Putzmacherin und Modistin. Am 25. April 1919 eröffnete sie in Düsseldorf-Eller das Hutgeschäft „Auguste Leven – Damenputz“. Sie verkaufte Hüte, die sie in ihrem Atelier selber herstellte. Passend dazu bot sie Schirme und Handschuhe an. Hinter den Verkaufsräumen des Ladenlokals bezog sie eine kleine Wohnung. Ehemalige Kunden erinnern sich an sie als eine kleine, lebhafte Dame, die etwas hinkte.

Anfang 1938 zog Auguste Leven in eine Wohnung an der Reisholzer Straße 26. In der Pogromnacht vom 10. November 1938 wurde die zu dem Zeitpunkt 60-jährige überfallen und misshandelt, ihr Laden an der Gumbertstraße 91 demoliert und geplündert. Auguste Leven musste ihr Geschäft liquidieren. Sie selbst war gezwungen, im November 1939 in das sogenannte „Judenhaus“ Grupellostraße 8 umzuziehen.

Im Juni 1942 wurde Auguste Leven dazu aufgefordert, sich zur „Evakuierung“ am 15. Juni nach Izbica bereitzuhalten. Sie entzog sich dieser Deportation durch Suizid am 13. Juni 1942.

Autorin: Hildegard Jakobs, Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Düsseldorf

Quellenangaben
Stolperstein

Karteikarte der "Reichsvereinigung der Juden" bezüglich Auguste Leven (Arolsen Archives)

Schreiben der Gestapo Düsseldorf bezüglich des Vermögens von Auguste Leven, 1942 (Arolsen Archives)

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Introduction

Presented by the City of Düsseldorf, this digital memorial book commemorates the Jews who were murdered during the Nazi. The City’s Memorial and Education Centre has been researching victims’ life stories since its foundation in 1987, collecting biographical data, documents, letters and photographs. Using databases whose origins can be traced back to the 1990s, together with the collated information to be found in the archival collection, almost 3,000 individuals have been identified who were persecuted and murdered because they were Jews, or “non-Aryan” Christians.

Biographical research into the above necessitated searches – of both national and international archives – for a variety of documents such as register office certificates, registration indexes, address books and exit papers. Perpetrator resources, too, were searched, for example Gestapo files, files relating to communal matters, and tax and administrative district files. Numerous interviews with survivors and members of victims‘ families provided insights into family life, routine and otherwise, as well as of the personality of the deceased.

The cohort of those who were murdered is heterogeneous. Old and young, men and women, the young and the elderly, people from modest backgrounds or those who had built a secure living for themselves; people who, after 1933, had fled to the European continent but who were then “reeled in” by the German occupation; people whose death or murder came about in a variety of circumstances. Some died of starvation, disease or forced labour in the ghettos and concentration camps to which they had been deported, others were murdered in extermination camps. And there were also those who, out of despair, committed suicide or were murdered before the outbreak of war whilst still at home, for example during the 1938 November Pogrom and in other violent events.

The relationship to Judaism of many of those who died was very individual. The breadth and depth of the spectrum was such that they ranged from the deeply pious and orthodox to those of a more liberal or conservative persuasion and, at the other end of the scale, to atheists. All were persecuted as “Jews” by reason of their ancestry, whether they were baptised Christians, having previously been Jews, or had become Jews only in the course of Nazi “investigations”, despite never having had a Jewish identity. Nazi ideology decreed that the decisive factor was not individual identity but “ancestry”, “blood relationship” and “racial hygiene”. Despite all their differences, what all these people had in common was that they came from Düsseldorf, had been born there or had lived there for many years.

Scientific research can access genealogical connections by availing itself of the online compilation of names, dates and biographies; but in addition, by creating connections with their own personal research, survivors and their descendants the world over can also search for their murdered families.

The work on an online memorial book is never done. The intention is to add more dates and names. Of course the Düsseldorf Memorial and Education Centre is grateful for any leads, additions and corrections which contribute to the overall picture.

Düsseldorf, May 2022

Hildegard Jakobs
Academic Project Leader
and Deputy Director

Dr. Bastian Fleermann
Director