Restitution (Part II)

Andrea sent me a comment on my last blog post (on Regina's restitution file):

Thanks, Fran, for this write-up. We, also, have the letters of restitution for my father. I gather he, Henry and your Dad got far less than Regina because they were the owners of businesses in America. Regina was considered an owner in Germany but suffered because she was only an employee here. - Andrea

I think Andrea is right.  As it turns out, I do have copies of the restitution checks sent to my father and Uncle Sam:

Sam's restitution check - $3,437.19

My father's restitution check - $996.44

You know the expression, bubkes?  And note that Sam's check was sent to Selma, after Sam died.

I asked my mother about this once.  Her view was that my father wanted nothing to do with the German government, and, besides, he hadn't saved any papers.  So it isn't clear what is going on here.  I don't know whether the restitution checks were need-based, and, if so, it is likely that Andrea is right -- that Sam and Henry and my father got a lot less money because they did, in fact, own their own businesses.  They all seem to have used the same lawyer, so that doesn't seem to have been the issue.

I thought you also might like to see some additional pictures we have of the business.  Here's a scan of the business card they used, which I think is incredibly cool:

And a photo of Sam and Erna. I'm assuming they were accepting a delivery..

And one of a very young Charlie (with a friend) in front of a sign of some sort...

Regina's Restitution File and the Business in Beuthen

In 1937, my father and his five siblings (and Marta and Erna's families) were all living in Beuthen, in Upper Silesia, Germany, and running the family fruit and vegetable wholesale business. 

My father and his two brothers, Sam and Henry, emigrated to the United States in August, 1938, and Regina left for Palestine in January, 1938.   Did they see the writing on the wall?  Or did something else motivate them to leave their family and community with no money for an unknown future?

The latter, it turns out.  

Beginning in the 1950's the West German government passed a series of laws providing restitution and compensation for Jews whose properties and livelihoods were confiscated in the Holocaust.

Regina's restitution file is about 2 inches thick. It consists of letters and copies of letters almost entirely in German between Regina and a lawyer named Dr. Erich Cohn, who was at different times based in New York, Zurich and Berlin.

Much of the file consists of Regina's handwritten copies of letters she sent to Dr. Cohn, which are going to be hard to decipher and translate, but one typewritten document provides insight as to what was going on, and gives us a good look at the state and nature of the family business in Beuthen and Gleiwitz, and what happened to it under the Nazis. 

The document is a statement that Regina was to have notarized and submit as part of her claim.  The following is my rough translation (thanks to Google) of most of this document:

I was born on 20 November 1915 in Chrzanowin Krakow / Poland. My father was called ChaimHirsch Hochbaum, my mother Fanny Hochbaum born Laufer.  They were both Jewish, Iam therefore a full Jew in the sense of theso-called Nuremberg Laws.

In 1930 I took over along with 5 other siblings of  our deceased parents a fruit, tropical fruits and vegetables wholesale business which dealt as a specialty with imports from Southand Eastern Europe. The headquarters of this businesswas in Bytom [Beuthen]  /Upper Silesia, company Chaim H. HochbaumBytom 0 / SRitterstrasse 7 The firm existed since 1896. I was involved to 1/6of the business. In 1934 we opened a branch in Gliwice [Gleiwitz]Silesia Mittelstrasse 12 We employed two drivers, two workers and two clerks. I worked together with the other siblings. In the years 1930 to 1935 the annual revenue estimate was  800000-1 Million RM. My own income was estimated to be 10,000 -. RM a year.Unfortunately, all of my documents, including tax returns, were destroyed. After 1935 the turnover has decreased slightly, and until 1937 it  was about 600,000 - RM year.. My earnings were about the same as before.

In December 1937, the Nazi authorities, at the initiative of the Upper Silesian Nazis forced us to sell the business to an Aryan. We sold the business in January 1938 to William Pyka for RM 6,000 -. 8000.- RM. The exact amount I cannot remember. The fee was determined by the Nazi authorities. This was for the business, associated vehicles, two trucks and a passenger car, as well as for the two business premises in Bytom and Gliwice, the business shelves, boxes and other furnishings.  A similar operation in Berlin at that time was sold for about 200,000 -. RM, bearing in mind that the import permit alone justified a high remuneration. We also paid to the tax office Bytom (Land Revenue Office Neisse) the Reich duty, the amount of which I cannot remember.  All my documents are destroyed. From Bytom I immigrated to Palestine from where I was placed in a school for girls. For my work I only got food --  no money, salary, or clothing. I was there until the end of 1941, I left school and got a job in 1942, I earned $ 120 - 1943, 150 - l944, 150 - 1945, 170 - In 1946, I emigrated to New York where my family maintained me until 1947. In the year 1948 my income was about $1400.  From 1949 to 1953 about $ 2,000 -. In 1954 and 1955, about  $2500 -.

For the above described process I call as witnesses

Johann Schaufelt

1164 Clinton Ave.
lrvington, New Jersey

and

Dawid Ulreich, 517 Fort Washington Ave.
New York, N.Y. .

I raise compensation claims because:

1)  Damage to property

As the business as mentioned had a value of approximately 200,000 RM, in the event of sale I would have been granted at least 1/6, or about 33,333 RM, but I only received 1000-1500 RM, so I suffered a loss of about 32000 RM, without even considering the goodwill of the business.

2)  Damage to ongoing livelihood

To this day, it was not possible for me to open my own business again, and therefore there has been significant damage suffered in my career advancement.

Sworn to before me this

……day of January 1957


A couple of notes:

1) The numbers in here were undoubtedly provided by my father.  Regina would have been 18 in 1933 and it was unlikely that she was involved in the dollars and cents part of the business. 

2) How much money are we talking about?  In this period, a dollar was worth approximately 2.48 Reichmarks, so annual revenue of 800,000 RM would be approximately $322,500, which sounds like a good business that was supporting not only the six siblings but Marta and Erna's families.  If they sold the business for 8000 RM (the high end) they got $3225. 

3) Regina did get her restitution payments.  Chet remembers Regina and my father arguing whether she should take the money as a single payment or as an ongoing pension.  She wound up (at my father's insistence), taking it as a pension, and it was what kept her financially solvent and independent.

4) Bytom and Gliwice are the Polish (and, therefore, current) names of Beuthen and Gleiwitz, which were part of Germany in the 1930's.