The Kaufhaus Kychenthal on Schwerin's market square, Am Markt 4/5 and Schusterstraße 1, was opened on 1 July 1894 by the merchant Louis Kychenthal and later run jointly with his sons Ludwig and Willy as an open trading partnership [1]. From 1933 it was boycotted, in autumn 1938 it was pushed towards a sale at the instigation of NSDAP offices, wrecked in the pogrom night and sold to the merchant Bernhard Knop of Neukloster, whereby the stock was taken over well below its value according to Baerens; the State Ministry approved the contracts on 10 June 1939 [1]. The NSDAP regional economic adviser (Gauwirtschaftsberater) Hennecke von Plessen was kept informed about the negotiations [1][8]. Ludwig and Willy Kychenthal fled to Chile with their families in 1939, while Louis Kychenthal stayed in Schwerin, was deported to Theresienstadt in 1942 and died there on 6 June 1943, so at least Baerens and the Stolperstein, whereas the Wikipedia texts give 7 June [1][10]. The heirs received the building back in 1996 and sold it [1][3].
Foundation and expansion
According to Baerens, Louis Kychenthal was born on 30 June 1863 in Goldberg, the son of a Jewish master tailor, and his mother gave birth to his twin brother Hermann two hours later [1]. After a commercial apprenticeship in Kröpelin, which he completed from Easter 1878, he worked for about a year as a clerk for the firm Martin Löwenthal in Sternberg, moved to Crivitz at Easter 1883 and then worked in Parchim and Tessin [1]. On 28 August 1894 he married Anna Marcus of Parchim, a jeweller's daughter, in Schwerin, and the couple had four children: Julie, born in 1895, Ludwig, born in 1897, Gertrud, born in 1899, and Willy, born in 1907 [1]. With about 7,500 marks of his own capital and his wife's dowry of 15,000 marks he took over the business of F. W. R. Schultz on Schwerin's market square, which opened on 1 July 1894 under the name "F.W.R. Schultz Nachf., Inh. Louis Kychenthal" [1]. The shop sold linen, trousseau goods, bedding feathers and clothing [2] and was regarded as one of the first shops in the city where customers could serve themselves [4].
The business grew by purchases. According to Baerens, who relies on a handwritten list of investment costs of 10 June 1938, the plot Am Markt 5 was added in 1896 for 42,000 marks, the house Schusterstraße 1 followed in 1908 for 24,600 marks, an office annexe with a roofed courtyard in 1924/25, and five years later the neighbouring plot Am Markt 4 was bought for 65,000 marks; the three plots were rebuilt for 75,000 marks and given a common roof. By 1937 Louis Kychenthal had invested 244,796 marks in the properties according to this list [1]. The Schwerin Live house portrait, by contrast, gives some different years, namely shortly after 1894 for house 5, 1906 for Schusterstraße 1 and 1932 for the conversion of the three houses [2]. From the 1920s the shop was called "Kaufhaus Kychenthal", and in 1937 the facade was renewed [2]. The building Am Markt 4 was probably built after 1840 to plans by Georg Adolf Demmler [2][7].
After the First World War Ludwig and Willy Kychenthal worked in the business, and Louis Kychenthal made them co-owners of the open trading partnership [1]. A turnover statistic exists for 1924 to 1938, according to which annual turnover fell in 1933 to 209,954 RM, until then the lowest value since 1924, was still lower in 1935 at 208,066 RM and rose to 224,355 RM in 1936 and 267,000 RM in 1937 [1]. In 1937 the family paid 21,812.08 RM in taxes in total according to Baerens [1].
The family's relationship with the Jewish community in Schwerin was changeable: on 19 December 1924 Louis Kychenthal left the Israelitische Gemeinde together with 33 other members, and the group founded the Israelitische Gemeinschaft e. V. on 30 December 1924, but in May 1938 the family rejoined the community [1].
Boycott and pressure until October 1938
| Time | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1933 | Under the heading "Am Pranger" the "Niederdeutscher Beobachter" publishes the names of women who shop in stores owned by Jews; turnover in the boycott months of April and May 1933 falls from 42,553 RM (previous year) to 33,710 RM | [1] |
| 11 September 1935 | The paper prints for the first time a list of the Jews living in Schwerin and their shops; turnover for that month falls to about 10,000 RM (almost half of the previous year) | [1] |
| 27 October 1937 | District leader Meyn sends Gauleiter Hildebrandt a list of shops owned by Jews that includes the Kaufhaus Kychenthal | [1] |
| Early 1938 | Louis Kychenthal is fined 200 RM for giving pencils as promotional gifts to the children of customers | [1] |
| 27 June 1938 | The architect Paul Nehls, in agreement with the NSDAP, values the property at a market value of 134,966 RM | [1] |
| 16 September 1938 | District economic adviser P. Müller reports to Gauwirtschaftsberater von Plessen on a meeting with the merchant Ulrich Knop-Zellien, adoptive son of Bernhard Knop, who wants to take over the store | [1] |
| 17 October 1938 | Müller announces in a circular that the firm Kychenthal will be told that "measures from a third party" were to be expected that would reduce the circle of buyers and thus the purchase price | [1] |
| 21 October 1938 | A purchase contract is negotiated before the notary Heinrich Kassow (property 150,000 RM, inventory 15,000 RM) but not yet signed | [1] |
Despite the calls for a boycott part of the clientele stayed loyal, so that according to Baerens business still ran relatively normally until the last opening day, 8 November 1938; on that day ten non-Jewish sales staff and one Jewish employee were in the shop [1].
Pogrom night and sale
In the night before 10 November 1938 the store and the family's flat in the building were wrecked according to Baerens; Ludwig Kychenthal estimated the damage in the flat at 12,980 RM, and the glass damage in the shop came to 6,577.95 RM, which was not reimbursed by the insurers [1]. The Gestapo arrested Louis Kychenthal, then 75, and his sons Ludwig and Willy, who arrived at 17:30 on 10 November at the Neustrelitz-Strelitz prison together with all 16 Jewish men still living in Schwerin [1][5]. According to Ludwig Kychenthal's later account his father was released because of his age after signing a document agreeing to the purchase; the notary Kassow came to the prison in person for this, and Louis Kychenthal signed "for fear of further violence" [1]. Ludwig Kychenthal remained in custody until 2 December 1938 and narrowly escaped a transport to Sachsenhausen concentration camp planned for 17 November [1].
The first contract became void because the city administration under Mayor Dr. Timmermann did not accept it unconditionally. On 15 November 1938 the city building officer made his consent dependent on building requirements, among others the removal of balconies and display cases, a pitched roof and smaller shop windows, and on 22 November the building police ordered the damage of the pogrom night to be removed within two weeks at the owner's expense, since otherwise a penalty of 2,000 RM would follow [1]. On 25 November 1938 a new contract for the plots was concluded before the notary Dr. Ernst Baltzer, in which the price fell to 140,000 RM because the mayor had demanded it, and Louis Kychenthal had to meet the building police requirements at his own expense [1]; the sources give different prices for the first and the second purchase contract, and this text follows Baerens. An amending contract of 25 April 1939, concluded before the notary Dr. Axel Freiherr von Maltzahn, put the family at a further disadvantage according to Baerens, and with the consent of the Mecklenburg State Ministry, Interior department, of 10 June 1939 Louis Kychenthal lost the house for good [1]. The archive files named in this connection (Stadtarchiv Schwerin, NS 203, MB 2277, purchase contracts; Landeshauptarchiv, Ministry of the Interior 13764/67 and others) are named by Baerens [1].
The stock was taken over well below its value according to Baerens: the textile retail section of the Chamber of Commerce valued stock and fittings at 47,500 RM on 10 December 1938, this valuation was declared binding, and 49,000 RM were paid. Baerens puts the actual value at no less than 120,000 and no more than 172,000 RM, and Ludwig Kychenthal named about 160,000 RM. When the family protested, the buyer threatened them with the Gestapo together with the Chamber of Commerce [1]. The buyer was Bernhard Knop of Neukloster [1][3], who was killed in the Second World War [3][5].
The family was burdened further by levies: Louis Kychenthal had to pay 29,000 RM "Judenvermögensabgabe" (levy on Jewish assets), Ludwig Kychenthal 24,000 RM and Willy Kychenthal 4,800 RM, and in addition Ludwig Kychenthal had to pay a Reich flight tax of 17,394 RM and an emigrant levy [1]. On 15 December 1938 the compulsory first name "Israel" or "Sara" was entered for all family members [1].
The role of the party and economic offices
According to Baerens, regional and district economic advisers of the NSDAP organised the "Aryanization". The report of district economic adviser Müller of 16 September 1938 went to Gauwirtschaftsberater von Plessen, and Müller asked in it for a suggestion how the seller could be put "under pressure in some form" and proposed marking the shop windows of businesses owned by Jews [1]. Also involved were the district chairman of the German Labour Front, Dr. Borgwardt, the section head of the Chamber of Commerce, G. Jessel, and, through copies of the correspondence and his demand for improvements, Mayor Dr. Timmermann [1]. Hennecke von Plessen was Gauwirtschaftsberater of the NSDAP in Mecklenburg from 1933 to 1942 and, according to the Wikipedia account, is said to have been involved in the sale of the Kaufhaus Kychenthal forced by massive pressure after 9 November 1938 [8]. According to Baerens the sources merely show that he was informed, and which decisions he took himself remains open [1].
Flight, deportation and death
Ludwig Kychenthal and his wife Annemarie, née Hecht, received with their son an entry permit for Chile in July 1939 through a relief committee in Geneva and reached Valparaíso on 16 November 1939 [1][11]. Their removal goods, however, did not reach Chile, but stayed in the Bremen free port and were confiscated by the Gestapo in April 1941 [1]. Willy Kychenthal also went to Chile [1][10]. Ludwig Kychenthal died in Santiago de Chile on 29 May 1986 according to Baerens [1].
Louis Kychenthal declined his children's offer to arrange emigration for him too, and stayed in Schwerin [1]. He was collected in Schwerin on 11 November 1942, and according to the list of Stolpersteine he was taken via the collection point in Große Hamburger Straße in Berlin and deported to Theresienstadt on 19 November 1942 [1][10]. His assets of about 58,000 RM were seized for the "Heimeinkauf" (purchase of a place) in Theresienstadt, and he had to leave behind his household goods and art collection [1]. He died in Theresienstadt on 6 June 1943, not quite two weeks before his 80th birthday [1][10]. His daughter Julie Lippstädt, née Kychenthal, who was born in Schwerin on 20 June 1895, was deported from Berlin to Theresienstadt on 7 September 1942 and to Auschwitz on 16 May 1944 [9]; according to the Wikipedia account the daughter Gertrud died in Auschwitz in 1944 [6].
The Sternberg line of the family
The twin brother Hermann Kychenthal [1] came from Goldberg to Sternberg in September 1890 and ran a drapery business in Pastiner Straße [12][13][14]. Until his death on 23 August 1937 he was head (Vorsteher) of Sternberg's small Jewish community and was the last person buried in the town's Jewish cemetery [1][14]. After his apprenticeship Louis Kychenthal had worked for about a year for the Sternberg merchant Martin Löwenthal [1].
After 1945 and the building today
In the GDR the state-owned housing administration VEB Kommunale Wohnungsverwaltung Schwerin managed the building under state trusteeship, after 1989 its successor, until 31 December 1992, and the land register still named the Knop-Zellien family, whose heirs were reinstated in their rights in 1993 [1]. In addition the Kychenthal community of heirs in Chile applied for restitution, and according to the teaching materials a granddaughter of Bernhard Knop and the Jewish Claims Conference also applied for the return [1][3]. On 1 February 1996 the Land office for the settlement of open property questions in Schwerin decided to return the building to the Kychenthal community of heirs, which sold it a little later to a Schwerin real-estate company [1][3]. In 2002 the houses were comprehensively renovated, whereby only the facade was kept [2]. According to the 2017 house portrait the ground floor housed an optician, a coffee roastery and a home-design shop [2], while the 2017 teaching materials mention residential use and a cafe on the ground floor [3]. In front of Am Markt 4 four Stolpersteine commemorate Louis, Annemarie, Ludwig and Willy Kychenthal [10]. The film "Kychenthals Rückkehr" (NDR, 2014) by Thilo Tautz and Matthias Baerens deals with the family's history [5][11].