Joseph Nathan

Joseph Nathan

Joseph Nathan was born in Kerpen on September 15, 1884, the son of Benjamin and Julie Nathan, née Leiser. He lived in Cuxhaven and was a cattle dealer by trade. In 1909, his first marriage was to Lina Solmitz (born 1883) from Kampsheide (Hoya).

The couple moved from Cuxhaven to Bremervörde. They moved into their first apartment there with the master butcher Gütersloh at Neue Straße 118. In 1911, Joseph Nathan brought his parents-in-law Adolf and Henriette Solmitz and his brother-in-law Max and his family into the new apartment.

After the death of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nathan moved to Neue Straße 110. After his wife Lina died in 1933, he moved from Bremervörde to Stade. There he married Selma Horwitz, née Buchholz (born in Posen in 1883) for the second time. She had a daughter Ilse (born 27.11.1920) from his first marriage. But just three years later - in March 1936 - they separated, so that Joseph Nathan was living alone again.

His wife Selma Nathan emigrated to South Africa in 1939, where their daughter Ilse was already living. The marriage was divorced in the same year. Joseph Nathan had also tried to emigrate to South Africa, but was unsuccessful.

Under pressure from the National Socialists, Joseph Nathan had to leave Stade in 1939 and moved to Bremen, first to Westerstrasse 70 and then to Westerstrasse 28. He was no longer allowed to pursue his profession.

On November 18, 1941, he was deported from Bremen to the Minsk ghetto. He was murdered there: unless he succumbed to the inhumane living conditions in the ghetto, he fell victim to one of the mass murder campaigns that began at the end of July 1942.

From: https://www.stolpersteine-bremen.de/detail.php?id=505