Iron merchant, joint owner of the Gleiwitz iron wholesaler Hahn, Gassmann & Co.



The birth announcement names him as Michael; I believe this is a typographic error. I have not been able to find any other records of a contemporary Michael Gassmann. Kaethe Danziger (geb. Halberstaedter) lists 12 Gassmann siblings whose father is clearly Heimann; among them is Richard married to Irma. A testimony to Richard at Yad Vashem dated 1957 names his wife as Irma and his parents as Heimann and Johanna and says he was born in Gleiwitz, and a record of Richard's deportation from Amsterdam places his birth in Gleiwitz on 26.10.1864, the day after the date given in the newspaper announcement for Michael. Since both Richard and Michael have the same birth place and date (to within a day), and their fathers share the same name I conclude that they are the same person. A day's discrepancy in birth dates is acceptable as in Jewish reckoning the new day starts at dusk rather than midnight.

During the Nazi era Richard lived at Stadionweg 142, Amsterdam, around the corner from his brother Albert Gassmann.

Richard was deported with his wife to Auschwitz concentration camp where they were probably killed on arrival (both have the same date of death).