David Weber

David Weber was born in Chrzanow in Galicia on September 1, 1879. His parents Wolf Leib, a fishmonger, and Lea, née Feiler, had both already died and been buried in their hometown, when, early in the 20th century, David Weber came from Berlin Augsburg-Lechhausen. At the time, Galicia belonged to the Austrian empire. The majority of the Jewish population was very poor. Systematically, Jews were economically disadvantaged and exposed to antisemitic agitation. This led to a pogrom-like atmosphere among the Polish-Christian population and to an increasing pressure to emigrate.

According to the registry documents, David first lived at 2 Luitpoldstrasse. On January 17, 1910, he married Sophie Ullmann of Buchau in upper-Swabia. Sophie’s paternal grandmother was Veronika Fanny Einstein (1810-1880). It could be, that she came to Augsburg due to the relation to the Kriegshaber Einstein family. In June, they moved to an apartment at 16 Schillstrasse. By that time, David Weber had already been permanently registered in Lechhausen. Until 1913, the family lived there with, meanwhile, two children on the third floor, afterwards for 19 years at 26 Neuburger Strasse.

As profession, his registration document first says cutter, later complemented by merchant.

Meanwhile, the family had grown to six persons: Wilhelm, born October 14, 1910, Arthur, born February 13, 1912, Leni Henriette, born December 22, 1916 and Sigmund, born December 18, 1921. One son, Emil, died in 1915 with only eight months. The Webers were devout Jews. In the Israelite registry, the Bar-Mizwas of Willy (Wilhelm), 1923, and Arthur, 1925, are entered. In a touching article, Siggi (Sigmund) describes attending the service in the “Schul” (Synagogue) in Kriegshaber. The family preferred the traditional worship there, whereas the large Synagogue on Halderstrasse rather followed the “reform line”.

David Weber, who was first registered as stateless, wanted security for himself and his family. Therefore, he applied for and received naturalization for the entire family, as per the notice of the Swabia district administration (May 24, 1924).

In 1932, the Weber family moved to 8 Waterloostrasse. There, David and Sophie (Sofia) had acquired two houses. The front building accommodated two business premises and seven apartments, the building in the back six apartments and two large backyards. Whether Weber’s menswear store had already been there before, is not known. In the Lechhausen land register, there is an entry from November 6, 1941, that, due to lack of space, a new leaf with the subsequent owner was started. The mention of the two properties of the Weber merchants at 11 Wertachstrasse, mortgaged, among others, with gold, entered on February 26, 1926, was deleted. The transcription happened also in 1941.

Meanwhile, the two eldest sons Wilhelm and Arthur had finalized their merchant apprenticeships. Leni helped in her father’s business. On July 12, 1934, David Weber’s naturalization was revoked, also for his wife and children who were born in Germany. He showed civil courage, still believing in the Rule of Law, and filed a complaint. On September 13, 1935, it was rejected with charge.

Son Wilhelm had already departed for Chaumont, France in 1933 (de-registered in Lechhausen in April 1934). In 1935 he emigrated to South Africa. In Berlin still lived David’s brother Wilhelm Weber (born January 18, 1881, also in Chrzanow). In 1938, in the course of the “repatriation” of Polish Jews, he was deported to Bentschen (Zbaszyn).

David and Sofia Weber now prepared their emigration, too. From fall 1938 on, they had to pay relocation tax, property tax in several instalments, export transportation tax for their belongings and finally, in July 1939, the so-called “Reichsfluchtsteuer” (escape tax). They funded this with their accounts and securities at the Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechselbank and by selling their properties on Wertachstrasse (August 16, 1938) and on Waterloostrasse (January 26, 1939). Until their departure, at the latest till December 1939, the family was allowed to use three rooms and the kitchen. Since the vendors were Jewish, the permission of the district administration of Swabia and Neuburg was required. The destructions and abuses of the pogrom night in November 1939 must have confirmed the Weber family in their decision. Their Lechhausen shop, however, probably was not directly affected.

The report card contains a note in red: notify in case of de-registration! Virtually with the last ship, between July 15 and 20, the family succeeded in crossing the border via Hamburg to South Africa. The report card names Salisbury, South Rhodesia (today: Harare, Zimbabwe) as destination. They got there presumably only after a further escape from the so-called “Greyshirt” actions. The South African Gentile National Socialist Movement was a paramilitary network which in the thirties organized mass protests against Jewish immigration.

The Webers‘ relocation goods, shipped on the steamer Wangoni to Beira, East Africa (today: Beira, Mozambique), did not reach them anymore. Due to the war activities, the ship had to return to Hamburg as emergency port. There, the boxes were confiscated by the Gestapo. The 1941 auction yielded 6’580.85 Reichsmarks. After deduction of the expenses, approx. 4’000 Reichmarks were transferred to the Gestapo. A court decision made after the war stated, that this confiscation did not represent a persecution measure, but normal utilization of property of enemy aliens, and further, that the authorities of all states would have acted the same way in wartime.

On December 11, 1949, Sophie Weber died after prolonged suffering in a nursing home in Kapstadt and was buried in the local Jewish cemetery. David Weber lived long enough to at least initiate the fight for the financial reparation of their escape. As persecuted Jew he was entitled to restitution of asset levies and to compensation for his real estate he had been forced to sell. In August 1951, the baker P.B. agreed to severance payment for 11 Wertachstrasse. In March 1952, a settlement was reached with the Lechhausen merchant for leather and shoe articles, A.B. The dispute with the State Finance Administration in Munich and with the Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechselbank dragged on the longest. Only in 1955 was a settlement agreed on.

David Weber died in Salisbury on November 5, 1952.

David and Sophie Weber could save themselves and their children. What they lost, was their home.
Ruth Sander (translation by Michael Bernheim)