Dr. Gerson

On 28th November 1941 Irene went to new foster parents: the Proskauers, Rappstr. 3. The Krause foster parents no longer wanted to keep her:

Hermann Israel Gerson  Hamburg 1, 12th December 1941  Landgerichtsrat (Retd. )  Rathausstrasse 27 III  I. D. Hamburg B 00220 Jew  Office of Dr. Möller  Tel. 336743 To: Amtsgericht Dept. 112 Hamburg 36 Drehbahn 36 Ref. : Guardianship Eckler 112 VII E 83 Should the documents enclosed with my correspondence of 6th November no longer be needed, I would be most grateful for their return. I would also like to inform the Court that the ward Irene Sara Eckler has been placed with new foster parents as of 28th November 1941 at Mr. & Mrs. Proskauer, Hamburg 13, Rappstrasse 3 III. The child could not remain in her previous foster home as the foster parents were no longer willing to keep her. Guardian: Dr. Hermann Israel Gerson Landgerichtsrat (Retd. )

When Irene saw the file for the first time in 1994 she was very surprised - she had never heard the name Gerson before. The man was a complete stranger to her. But then she remembered the "House Concerts" at "Herrn Doctor's" (At the time, she thought he was a doctor of medicine). Herr Proskauer had played the violin, one musician violoncello, two other gentlemen also string instruments, Herr Dr. Gerson played the piano. 
Irene was the sole audience.

Irene wondered about her foster father's behaviour on the way to "Herrn Doctor's". He walked unusually quickly and often looked around. Today she knows that it was forbidden for Jews to be on the streets after 8 p.m. 

• "Decree from the Reich Security Headquarters, 4th May 1940: From 1st April until 30th September, Jews are forbidden to leave their apartments between the hours of 9 pm and 5 am, and from 1st October until 31st March between the hours of 8 pm and 6 am." 

As of December 1941 Dr. Gerson wrote his letters in the office of a colleague, Dr. Möller. What had happened ? 

"As I am to leave Hamburg, I ask to be discharged as guardian", he wrote in a letter of 16th July 1942. 

Robbed of his apartment, herded into a "Judenhaus", and knowing the date of his deportation, he tried to the very end to save the child. 

Dr. Möller was proposed as the guardian. In the notice, the word "mother" was crossed out. 

The information from Ravensbrück of 4th May 1942, the notification of Irma Eckler's death, had reached the Amtsgericht. 

"Dr. Gerson (evacuated)" was the harmless euphemism used for his deportation. 

Landgerichtsrat Dr. Hermann Gerson (Retd.) was deported to Theresienstadt on 19th July 1942. He did not return. 

It saddened Irene greatly that this man, who had tried to help so many endangered Jews in Hamburg, and who had behaved so courageously on her behalf, had to end this way.