Paul Heinrich Salomon Isenstein

Paul Heinrich Salomon Isenstein was born on August 18, 1881, in Hannover, as one of four sons of Jewish carpet wholesaler Gustav Isenstein and his wife Franziska. The AG Stolpersteine has researched his life story.

Isenstein spent his childhood and school days in Hannover. After studying business administration, he worked for Commerz- und Privatbank, first in Braunschweig and then in Berlin.

After serving in World War I, he settled in Leipzig. Here he found a position as head of a Commerzbank branch office. On June 11, 1929, he married Johanna Elsa Maria Schildbach at the Reudnitz town hall. The following year, their son Rolf Franz Gustav was born on May 28, 1930. The family lived at 9 Inselstraße in Leipzig.

When Paul Isenstein lost his job in 1935 as a result of the increased discrimination brought about by the “Nuremberg Laws,” the family was forced to vacate their apartment for financial reasons and move to 4 Göschenstraße.

Shortly after the November pogroms of 1938, Paul Isenstein was arrested on November 11, 1938, by the Gestapo (Secret State Police). The next day, he was brought to the Buchenwald concentration camp. He was released on December 10, 1938, subject to various restrictions.

Paul Isenstein was in the habit of exercising daily. Before he was stripped of his civil rights, he would drive to the Schreberbad every day before work and swim there in both summer and winter; he would then drive to Commerzbank, return to Inselstraße for lunch, go back to work, and finally head home at the end of the workday. On weekends, he regularly rented a boat from the Leipzig Rowing Boat Rental. These activities were prohibited for him under the antisemitic laws, just as were visits to the movies or the theater. In addition, he was forced to perform hard labor cleaning the streets.

In the face of these constant humiliations, Paul Isenstein took his own life on March 24, 1943, at the age of 61.