Episode 5
1930 was a big year for the family, with the 40th anniversary of M&S Cohn’s. It was 40 years since Marianne and her sister, Selma, began their own shop in the Market Place, right opposite the town hall.
Altenburg’s town hall around 1890.
On the day of the 40th Jubilee, at the front of the Store, striped awnings were open, flags flew from flagpoles, and music poured from inside. In 1930, M&S Cohn’s was a Department Store on Sporenstrasse, with 40 departments and 160 staff.
Kaufhaus M&S Cohn’s, around 1930
At the celebration, customers listened to an anniversary concert, and received gifts of special plates and coffee cups.
Invite to the 40th Jubilee Concert of M&S Cohn’s
A few days after the Jubilee, the family put an advert in the local paper: The Altenburger Zeitung:
Many thanks to everyone. During the first few days in April, thousands and thousands went through our shop, and expressed their loyalty in an overwhelming manner, through heartfelt words, beautiful flowers and small gifts It is impossible to shake everyone’s hands and say our thanks……M&S Cohn. The House of Good Quality.
A few days later, the family threw a dinner and dance for the staff, at a local hotel. The staff were trained in Marianne’s ways, putting customer service at the heart of their work. They were encouraged to stand and chat to the shoppers.
Inside the Store during this era
In 1930, the family marked the success of 40 years in Altenburg, but economic recession was casting a shadow across the world. In addition, just a month before their anniversary, worrying signs had appeared in the same local paper ‘Altenburger Zeitung’.
In the edition of 28th February 1930, an article titled ‘Defamation’ was accompanied by a swastika. A lieutenant Heines announced a pubic meeting, to which, it stated, Jews were specifically barred.
Altenburg lay in Thuringia, which, in 1930, became one of the German states where the Nazis gained political power, and one of them, Wilhelm Frick was appointed Minister of the Interior, for the state of Thuringia. In this position, he removed anyone from the Thuringia police force, he suspected of being a republican, replacing them with men who favoured the Nazis. He also made sure that a Nazi took up any important position that arose in Thuringia.
One of Frick’s tasks was to secure German nationality for Hitler. When I was in Altenburg in 2008, a group of high school students went through the local archives, searching for information on the family. To our surprise, we discovered Hitler had owned an apartment at the back of M&S Cohn’s around 1931; presumably, to support his application for German citizenship.
Whether my father, Henner, knew this, I don’t know. It was he, who told me about Frick. If he had known, maybe he would have had difficulty saying.
When I was 8, a situation arose with a photo of Hitler, where my father was unable to speak. We were walking down a street in Seefeld, in the Alps. Henner had skied here in his Altenburg days, and wanted his family to see snow for the first time, after our emigration from Africa.
As we walked, Henner spotted a Sunday supplement, hanging outside a newsagent. It had a photo of Hitler on the front cover. He walked over to it, scraping his thumbnail across his face. He then walked into the shop, gave them some money, nodding to the ripped magazine, and we left. He didn’t say a word. And we never discussed it. I still see the clear blue sky, that day, and the tension in my father’s body.
Returning to Altenburg and 1930, Christmas approaches. The family carry out their usual routines, at home and at work.
Franze, Henner, Ruth, Lotte, Lore
Of the 100 or so Jewish families in Altenburg, the Cohn Levy family are visible due to the Store. On 6 December, the National Socialist local newspaper, the ‘Altenburger Nachrichten’ published a piece to try and stop people, from Christmas shopping at M&S Cohn’s. It concluded:
A German woman would be ashamed to do her shopping at a Jewish Department Store.
The article appeared to have no impact. The Store was as popular as ever, though people had less money to spend. Christmas rituals continued.
The staff put on their usual Christmas cabaret, for which they created their own material. In 1930, they featured a song about Henner.
News had reached them of a rather embarrassing event. One cold winter’s morning when it was still dark, Henner awoke, needing the toilet. The family had only one lavatory, situated a long walk from his bedroom. He opened the first floor window, to use the garden. Unfortunately, when he was in full flow, he heard a scream. Their house keeper, a catholic, was on her way to early mass. She had been unexpectedly anointed! The staff wrote a song to mark this event, using a graphic chorus line with relish!
The audience were delighted. Apart from Albert. As we move into 1931, Albert looses patience with his son and threatens to send him away.
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/laurelevy3O
Continued next week…….
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