Henry and Grete Ruben - Berggartenstraße 20

Henry Ruben (born 1873) was the son of the Hamburg merchant Philipp Jacob (later Ruben) and his wife Friedchen Adler. In 1890, Ruben began an apprenticeship at the Celle banking house David Daniel, a company founded and run by the Jewish Daniel family. In 1901, Henry Ruben married Grete Hammerschlag, the daughter of the fur trader Moses Hammerschlag, in Minden. In the same year, the bank was taken over by Hannoversche Bank as a Celle branch under the name "Hannoversche Bank vormals David Daniel". In 1908, Ruben became a member of the bank's board of directors and director of this branch.

Henry Ruben was an active member of the Jewish community in Celle: he was the third head and accounting manager. In 1910, he had a detached house built at Berggartenstrasse 20 by the well-known Celle architect Otto Haesler.

Ruben was one of the few Jews in Celle who were able to play a certain role in local politics. His involvement began in 1907 with a speech at a meeting of the Reichstreuen Wähler. Two years later, he ran for the office of mayor, but withdrew because it had become clear that his candidacy had no chance of success. During the First World War, he supported the German war effort through donations and public appeals for collections and war bonds. After the war, Ruben became involved with the liberal German Democratic Party and various associations, such as the "Gemeinnütziger Verein".

However, Ruben was also the target of some of the first documented anti-Semitic graffiti in Celle; in 1924, for example, his garden fence was repeatedly smeared with swastikas and inflammatory slogans.

In 1927, Henry Ruben left the bank and the couple moved to Lübeck, the birthplace of Grete Ruben. Both were deported to Theresienstadt, as far as is known on July 19, 1942. She died there on December 23, 1942, he on March 27, 1943.

From: Stolpersteine Guide (stolpersteine-guide.de)