Ernst Kaufmann law office 621-1/84 Ernst Kaufmann

Copyright Holder: Staatsarchiv Hamburg (Germany) Records of the law office of Dr. Ernest Kaufman, a German Jewish lawyer in Hamburg. Contains only client files. Dr. Ernst Kaufmann, a Jewish lawyer, was born on March 16, 1880 in Hamburg. In the 1920s he founded a law office with his law partners Dr. Edgar Haas und Dr. Walter Klaas at the address Dammtorstraße 27. Due to anti-Jewish regulations, Dr. Haas and Dr. Kaufmann were forced to leave the law practice. Dr. Walter Klaas, who was of "Aryan" descent, was allowed to continue practicing law. After loosing their law credentials in November 1938, Dr. Edgar Haas und Dr. Ernst Kaufmann applied for permission to work as so-called legal advisers ("Rechtskonsulenten"). While Dr. Haas was allowed to temporarily work as a legal adviser, Dr. Kaufmann's application was rejected. In April 1939, Dr. Kaufmann applied for emigration to Belgium with the Oberfinanzpräsident Hamburg/Devisenstelle. A lengthy investigation by the Customs Office ("Zollfahndungsstelle") for alleged violation of foreign currency law ("Devisengesetz") ruined Dr. Kaufmann's chances for emigration. Without any emigration prospects, Dr. Kaufmann successfully reapplied for permission to work as a legal adviser and joined the law office of Dr. Manfred Zadik. After Dr. Zadik's emigration to Guatemala, Dr. Kaufmann took over the law office. Dr. Kaufmann was subsequently deported and murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp around 1943/1944.