Episode 6
The Nazis gained considerable power in Thuringia in 1930, with their influence noticeable from the start. Henner said:
I went to school one day and half the class arrived in brown shirts. Cousins in Leipzig asked me how I could stay there.
I told them that they needed me to score their goals. I never had any trouble. Nothing.
A young Henner
Henner lived for his football. He was a member of Altenburg’s football club and played for their team.
He’s the smallest one in the back row
He claimed, apart from sport, he was bored at school. As well as football, he enjoyed athletics, gaining many certificates.
There were two high schools in Altenburg, and he managed to get expelled from both.
Albert was furious the first time it happened, and even more so, the second. Only Franze’s pleadings, prevented Albert from sending his son to reform school.
Instead, Henner asked if he could go to a sports academy. Albert exploded:
Are you mad? Who do you think you are? You have to earn your living,
Albert arranged an apprenticeship for his son at a Department Store in Dresden. Albert had trained many apprentices himself, and Henner knew sons of Store owners were the subject of jibes from the staff. He wasn’t happy. His mother and grandmother were also unhappy that he was going to be away.
Franze tried to get her son ready for his new role. She asked Albert’s driver, Herr Ula, to get him a couple of work suits. Franze was disinterested in clothes, and wore the same comfortable dress day in, day out.
Herr Ula took Henner to his own taylor. He suggested making two suits in a maroon material, with a sheen that was easy to clean.
Henner had a cousin in Dresden, who met him on the first morning of the job. He took Henner aside, and gave him a lecture about his dreadful suit, saying he looked like a small town hickster!
Henner had already been despairing on the first day of the job. He had helped at the family Store, but the thought of being inside all week, filled him with dread.
His first job was to sell oriental rugs, and he was placed in the Store’s foyer to catch the attention of customers, coming and going. Nothing could be this dreary, he thought. He day dreamed about football. His conversion to selling came, when he visualised a sale as a goal in the back of the net. His days there suddenly became brighter.
He, nonetheless, was delighted at the end of the week, when he returned home to his mother and sisters.
From left, Lore, Franze, Renata, Ruth, Lotte
The house was always full of music, both in their apartment, and upstairs, where Gerhard, who directed musicals, often rehearsed his musicians. Actors from the local theatre also dropped by, walking in and out of the kitchen to get fed.
When he left for work at 5am on Monday mornings, Franze and Marianne would always be up, and dressed to wave him off, and give him a weekly stash of Toblerone.
Meanwhile, Albert was under the watch of the National Socialists. The family Store was popular. It’s customers would refer to it as ‘their store’. This was a thorn in the flesh for the local Nazis, who made their views known about ‘the Jewish Store M & S Cohn’, in their newspapers.
We National Socialists….fight the Jewry, and say that the Jews are our misfortune…
In February 1931, Albert got a licence to serve light refreshments to the customers.
Die Braune Front was outraged, publishing several articles on the subject, and berated ‘Germans’ for supporting the store, and the new cafe.
The Jew Levy, known in Altenburg as a fancy man, now opens a refreshment room …..German people, only support the German, Christian shops, in particular those that are brave enough to advertise in Die Braune Front. Fight Jewry. Fight Marxism.
The cafe, despite this interference, proved popular. In addition, as the recession had pushed many families into poverty, Albert introduced free hot meals, for children from struggling families.
Albert employed musicians to play in the Store. This proved too much for the local Nazis. Now, not only did they have the Store under surveillance, but they started to harass the customers, and print their names in the newspapers.
Albert went to court to stop the harassment of his customers, and he won. Die Braune Front issued a threat:
We doubt that we are false profits, if we say that this time next year, such a verdict will be impossible in Germany.
By 1932, the Fascists were becoming more and more of a threat. Fighting took place in the streets of Dresden. Henner joined the opposing forces to challenge the Nazis, and was engaged in bloody fights.
Shortly after Hitler came to power, Henner accompanied his father to work on Saturday, the 1st April 1933. This day was the first of Hitler’s declared boycotts of Jewish businesses. What followed in Altenburg that day, might well have been a unique event for those times.
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/laurelevy3O
To be continued……
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I look forward to returning to this dramatic day in Altenburg’s history, after 2 weeks break.
The next episode will be on 2nd January.
Thank you, everyone, for joining me. Merry Christmas to those who do, and lots of light to all 💫
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