Pauline Bollack

Pauline Bollack was born in Steppach on January 30, 1863.¹ She was the second of the nine children of Julius and Jette Bollack. Her parents had married in Augsburg on October 24, 1860.² Besides Pauline, they had eight more children: Irma (October 2, 1861), Albert (February 11, 1864), Lotti (May 10, 1865), Moritz (August 20, 1866), Rosa (January 6, 1869), Josefine (December 18, 1869), Benno (April 2, 1871) and Frida (May 5, 1873).³

From 1869 on, Julius Bollack ran a kosher restaurant at C31⁴ Karolinenstrasse. Therefore, it is likely, that the family had moved to Augsburg in the same year.⁵ After his death in 1880, his wife Jette took the restaurant over. She managed it till 1910, and then handed it over to her three daughters Pauline, Josefine and Rosa.⁶ Already one year later, Jette Bollack died.⁷

In 1927, the restaurant moved to the fourth floor of the Königsbau (“King’s Building”) at B233 (now 11)⁸ Königsplatz. The building was owned by the Landauer brothers who, next door, ran the Landauer department store.⁹ Today, it houses a K&L Ruppert store. In the restaurant, the meetings of the Israelite Women’s Club and of the local branch of the Association (“Reichsbund”) of Jewish Frontline Soldiers took place.¹⁰

In 1933, already a few weeks after the National Socialists assumed power, the NSDAP called for a boycott of Jewish shops, physicians and lawyers. The Bollack sisters’ café in Königsbau was among the addresses listed.¹¹ In the night of the pogrom, November 9 to 10, 1938, numerous Augsburg Jews became victims of the nation-wide violence.¹²

According to a letter to the Augsburg head of administration of January 12, 1939, at that time, no Jewish businesses were approved any longer, with the exception of the Bollack restaurant.¹³ In January, 1939, the mayor, as well the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, granted the continued operation, with the precondition, that in the Café in Königsbau, only Jewish guests would be served.¹⁴

In April that year, the law for the cancellation of the tenant protection for the Jewish population came into force. Already one month later, the new owner of the “Königsbau”, Albert Golisch, informed the city administration, that he intended to terminate the rental contract with Pauline Bollack, owner of the restaurant.¹⁵ Therefore, in June 1939, she sent a request to the trade office to be allowed to continue the operation of the café Königsbau at least until the end of the rental contract. A letter of the Israelite Community confirmed that an ongoing service in the restaurant was in the interest of the Augsburg Jewish population.¹⁶ In July 1939, the request was granted, albeit under the condition, that the city administration could close the restaurant any time.¹⁷

On October 15, 1939, Pauline Bollack had to close the café, presumably since the owner, meanwhile, had sent her the cancellation. As the three sisters also had their apartment in the “Königsbau” and had to abandon it in November 1939 due to the cancellation, they were forcibly accommodated in a so-called “Jews house” at 14 Hallstrasse.¹⁸

On August 5, 1942, 42 Jewish men and women were deported from Augsburg to Theresienstadt.¹⁹ Among them were the sisters Josephine and Pauline Bollack. They were taken to Munich-Milbertshofen, where more Jewish men and women had to get on board. The train leaving Milbertshofen on August 6 had the transport number II/22.²⁰

On August 17, 1942, Pauline Bollack died at the age of 78.²¹ One and a half years later, on December 29, 1943, also Josephine Bollack perished in the Theresienstadt ghetto, aged 74.²² Rosa Bollack had already died in Augsburg on August 17, 1941.²³

This is an excerpt from the biography which was written by Nathalie Gallersdörfer, senior student 2013/2015 at the Gersthofen Paul Klee High School. The project was part of the “W” history seminar “Jewish Victims of National Socialism in the Augsburg Region”. (Translation by Michael Bernheim)