Old Altona in the Eyes of a Jewish Child, Photo Album |
All photo albums |
Homepage |
But where is Palmaille number 17? Do you know that in first grade I told my teacher, that P was my favorite letter? Because P is the first letter of Palmaille, where the school and my home were, and of Papagoyenstrasse, where the synagogue stood. In the past my teacher looked at me with an encouraging, silent smile… I wonder whether you are smiling too? It feels as if you wanted to urge me: Go to the Palmaille, the Palmaille still exists! No bomb has ever hit and destroyed the school building during the war. But where is number 17?
Palmaille, 1932
Indeed, Palmaille 17 did survive the war, but not for much longer. It was torn down in the first postwar years, apparently the only house on the side of the Elbe that does not exist anymore. Where is my school, where is the school garden, where are the teachers, the pupils? The new high-rise building cannot be my Jewish community–school! My school spoke to me; it drew and sang with us, it taught us to write. But this building is not a school. I circled all around the asphalt path, around the modern plain block, seven times like the bride does around the bridegroom at a Jewish wedding, slowly and carefully. Nothing moves. No sound is audible, no letter visible. Nothing is written. No plaque. No memory.
The “Brown House”, Palmaille Number 57, remained undamaged and stands till today. It seems strange that once the Rabbi and his wife lived there with their nine Jewish children. Once upon a time… until a trial was held against the family, which of course they lost, and according to the verdict the family was forced to leave the apartment. How much of Altona had we experienced from there! The Bluecher-Monument, the Elbe River and the proximity to the city hall, the friendly as well as the spiteful neighbors, the events in our street, the Palmaille. In this wide, shady alley, we witnessed how “Kippel-Kappel” and other innocent children’s games turned into toughened-up parades of young boys in uniforms.
Palmaille number 57 now belongs to a shipping company. Today is Sunday. The company as well as the stores are closed.
The dove on the fish market.
Before, when all the shops were closed on Sundays, there was always the Altona fish market as a last resort. We went to buy there plaices or mackerels, which were cheap and special at the same time, since they had fins and scales and hence were kosher, as prescribed by Jewish law.
On the other hand the slippery eels were bald and not kosher, and the same applied to the lobsters, which could simultaneously squint in all directions and run away.
The fish market offered not only fish, but also flowers, vegetables, live as well as plucked poultry, and even canaries. We once bought a dove from a stall as a sign of friendship, Susi and me. The frightened dove fluttered scarily around our heads and finally escaped back to the fish market.
The fish market around 1933
 |
 |