born 13 October 1921 in Fürstenwalde
died 1 November 2001 in England
historical former address Karlstraße 9
Stumbling stone Otto-Nuschke-Straße 9
Date of stone-laying 13 July 2007
Klaus Marcuse was born into a Jewish family in Fürstenwalde on 13 October 1921. His parents Alfred Roderick and Paula Marcuse (née Sternberg) owned a department store near the market square in Fürstenwalde. After the death of her father in 1925, Paula and her son Klaus continued to live in Fürstenwalde for a few more years. The family’s plan was for Klaus to take over the business in Fürstenwalde after completing his vocational training. However, in 1935, the family lost the department store as a result of “Aryanisation”.
Later, Klaus and his mother moved to Berlin-Spandau. Paula’s family lived there, and her brother Julius was the third-generation head of the family’s well-known department store “Kaufhaus M. K. Sternberg” at Breite Straße 21. Klaus attended the Stein-Hardenberg School together with his cousin Hans Sternberg; in 1935, however, both were forced to leave the school and finish their education at a private Jewish school.
After finishing school, Klaus began an apprenticeship in Berlin-Wilmersdorf with M. Strauss & Co, a manufacturer of perfume atomisers. The “Aryanisation” of the business forced him to break off his apprenticeship. In 1938, Klaus fled to England with a “trainee permit” for an apprenticeship as a baker. In July 1948, he married Elisabeth Goldstein from Nuremberg in Hendon, Middlesex. With his son Paul and his grandson Oliver, Klaus visited Fürstenwalde in 2001. Klaus Marcuse died in England on 1 November 2001.
Family members:
Paula Marcuse née Sternberg