Paula Heyman

Paula Heyman was born on 3 June 1890 in Berlin, the daughter of banker Hugo Heyman (1856–1920) and his wife Marie Johanna, née Feist (1869–1943). Her siblings were twin sisters Frida and Käthe Heyman (both born in 1892).

Paula Heyman was born on 3 June 1890 in Berlin, the daughter of banker Hugo Heyman (1856–1920) and his wife Marie Johanna, née Feist (1869–1943). Her siblings were twin sisters Frida and Käthe Heyman (both born in 1892).

After studying philosophy in Berlin, Paula Heyman studied medicine in Berlin and Freiburg im Breisgau. She specialised in paediatrics. From 1928 onwards, Paula Heyman was a medical officer for the Berlin Student Union. In this role, she examined female students in need of assistance, issued expert opinions and applied for convalescent cures. From 1922, Paula Heyman was a school physician in Berlin-Mitte before being dismissed in 1933. She then ran a paediatric practice and also worked for the Jewish Community and the Jewish Children's Aid Society on a voluntary basis. Paula Heyman was a member of several medical associations and held various offices in the Association of German Physicians (Bund deutscher Ärzte, BdÄ).

Paula Heyman was not married and had no children. In Berlin, she lived at Alexander Ufer 5 (1926/27), then at Humboldstraße 34, and finally with her mother at Blumenstraße 100. Paula Heyman's practice was located there since 1933. She was persecuted as Jewish in Nazi Germany. On 17 May 1943, Paula Heyman was taken from Blumenstraße 100, deported on the 38th transport as a ‘transport doctor’ via Katowice to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and murdered there. The last sign of life from the camp came in July 1943 in the form of a letter.

Paula Heyman's sister Käthe, later known as Kate, worked as a social worker. She survived the Shoah and died in London in 1963.

Paula Heyman's uncle, the securities trader Bernhard Valentin Heyman (1894-1952), his wife Wilhelmine Anna Heyman, née Stern (1898-1985), and their children Lieselotte Sophie Montigue, née Heyman (1923-2012), and Hans Martin Heyman (1923-2008) emigrated to England in 1939 and survived the Shoah. Lieselotte worked as a secretary and married Hubert John Montague (formerly Hans Hubert Joachim Meyer) in 1953. Kate Heyman and Lieselotte Sophie Montigue each filled out pages of testimony for Paula Heyman at Yad Vashem.

The marks of provenance and objects connected to Paula Heyman are listed here in the co-operative provenance database Looted Cultural Assets.

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Text & research: Kristin Hoßfeld