The brush and brush-wood factory B. I. Bernhard was a Jewish family business that began in Dargun and from May 1890 operated in Rostock at Schnickmannstraße 9 and Warnowufer 6 [1]. It was last run by the brothers Arnold and Otto Bernhard, with Arnold Bernhard also serving as chairman of the Jewish community of Rostock [1]. After the November pogrom of 1938 the factory was "Aryanized", although neither the exact date nor the acquirer is known [1]. Arnold Bernhard was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944 [1].
Dargun: the beginnings
The beginnings of the business lie in Dargun. The Mercantilisches Addreßbuch of the Grand Duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and -Strelitz of 1846 lists the firms "B. L. Bernhard" and "B. I. Bernhard" there, the second being named, among other things, with a brush factory [4]. The trade directory of 1862 records a "Bürsten- u. Cigarrenfabrik B. J. Bernhard" (brush and cigar factory) in Dargun [5]. The family had been building up the business since 1838. The foundation in 1838, the timing of the move from Dargun to Rostock and the spelling "B. I." versus "B. J." are, moreover, documented only by the sources named. Siegmund Bernhard, manufacturer and merchant, ran the small brush and brush-wood factory B. I. Bernhard in Dargun [1].
Rostock from 1890
In May 1890 the family moved to Rostock, where Siegmund Bernhard built a new factory at Schnickmannstraße 9 and on the Warnow bank at no. 6 [1]. His sons Arnold, who was born on 20 October 1886 in Dargun, and Otto (1884-1931) joined the business during their father's lifetime [1], and Arnold Bernhard should have taken over the management around 1926 according to the article on Arnold Bernhard. The factory supplied brush-wood to, among others, Max Samuel's EMSA-Werke in Rostock [1]. Siegmund Bernhard is also listed as head of the community in the research. Arnold Bernhard sat on the board of the Israelitische Gemeinde zu Rostock from 1924 and became its chairman in 1938, when Max Samuel went to England [1].
1938/39: "Aryanization"
For businesses owned by Jews in Rostock the measures of 1938, that is higher tax demands and deletion from the commercial register, meant being forced to give up, and the displacement of businesses owned by Jews was completed by mid-1939 [2]. A Rostock press report on the pogrom night describes that all Jewish entrepreneurs had to sell their property under duress and that the proceeds went to blocked accounts [3]. On the Bernhard family the sources say that during the November pogrom of 1938 Arnold Bernhard's apartment was devastated and the firm "Aryanized" [1]. The "Aryanization", however, took place after the pogrom at a date not known in detail, and the acquirer of the factory is likewise unknown.
Arnold Bernhard was taken into "protective custody" and held in the Neustrelitz-Strelitz state institution, but was released later [1]. Alt-Strelitz is, however, also named as the place where Arnold Bernhard was held, and around 65 Jewish men were taken into "protective custody" in Rostock. As chairman of the community, Arnold Bernhard had to sell the synagogue plot in Augustenstraße to the city [3], and he used the proceeds to support emigration [2].
The fate of the owner
On 28 October 1938 Arnold Bernhard accompanied Jews of Polish nationality expelled from Rostock to the border station of Neu Bentschen [1], and on 10 July 1942 he accompanied the first deportation train of Mecklenburg Jews as far as Ludwigslust [1]. On 23 June 1943 he was deported to Theresienstadt with his wife, his mother and the foster daughter Hanna Levy [1], where his mother died of malnutrition [1]. On 9 October 1944 he was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and murdered [1]. A memorial stone (Denkstein) at Schnickmannstraße 9 commemorates him [1].