The firm A. M. Ephraimson in Alt-Strelitz and Neustrelitz is attested in directories from 1862 as a produce dealer [4]. In 1904 a leather dealer A. M. Ephraimson then appears with the owner J. Wolfson, said to have been founded in 1873 [5]. Whether these two firms are linked by succession is, however, not evident from the sources. Last, Eduard Wolfson was the owner of the business, which according to a biography was a grain business [3] and is listed by the Claims Conference as a raw-produce and fuel wholesaler [2]. After his arrest during the November pogrom of 1938 the business was "Aryanized", the file "Entjudung des Geschäftes A. M. Ephraimson, Inhaber Eduard Wolfson, Neustrelitz-Strelitz" (de-Judaisation of the business) in the State Main Archive Schwerin being dated 1939 [1][3]. Eduard Wolfson and his family were deported from Neustrelitz on 10 July 1942.
The business until 1938
The 1862 directory for Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Strelitz lists in Alt-Strelitz a wholesale produce dealer A. M. Ephraimson on Mühlenstraße, opposite Fürstenbergerstraße [4]. The 1904 directory of German leather manufacturers, tanners, leather and hide dealers, by contrast, names a leather dealer A. M. Ephraimson with the owner J. Wolfson and the founding year 1873 [5].
Under Neustrelitz the Claims Conference lists the firm "Wolfson (A. M. Ephraimson Rohprodukte/Brennstoffgroßhandel), Eduard", Neubrandenburger Straße 9, as original owner (claim no. 16632) [2]. According to a biography of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Eduard Wolfson was until November 1938 the owner of the grain business A. M. Ephraimson in Neustrelitz [3], whereas the Claims Conference, by contrast, lists the firm as a raw-produce and fuel wholesaler [2], so that the line of trade is not finally clarified at present.
1938/39: arrest and "Aryanization"
During the November pogrom of 1938 Eduard Wolfson was arrested and, according to the biography, held in the Alt-Strelitz prison for almost a month, namely until 2 December [3]. "In the following months" the business was then "Aryanized" [3]. The State Main Archive Schwerin holds, in the records of the Mecklenburg-Schwerin Ministry of the Interior (group "Sale of Jewish property"), file no. 13764/52 "Entjudung des Geschäftes A. M. Ephraimson, Inhaber Eduard Wolfson, Neustrelitz-Strelitz", dated 1939 [1], the title being recorded in the finding aid with the spelling "A.IvI." [1]. The finding aid does not describe the contents of the file [1]. No buyer is named in the sources so far, and when and to whom the business was sold or wound up is not documented.
The fate of the family
On 10 July 1942, in the state-wide deportation, Eduard, Käthe, Regina and Hans Wolfson were taken from Neustrelitz. Eduard Wolfson's date of birth is given as 20 January 1894 in the deportation list but as 19 January 1894 in the Soldin marriage register and the Federal Archives' Gedenkbuch, the Gedenkbuch supporting 19 January [6]. According to the biography the parents and the children were deported from Neustrelitz to Auschwitz and perished there, the children having previously lived in Jewish orphanages in Hamburg and Stettin [3]. The deportation went via the transit camp at Ludwigslust to Auschwitz on 11 July 1942 [3][6].