Lederhandlung A. L. Levy
The Levy family lived in Bad Sülze from 1892 to 1938 [2][3][8]. Aaron Levy and Ina, née Engel, who had been born in Röbel in 1870, married in 1892 and had five children [1][3]. Aaron Levy ran a raw-produce business in the town [5]; a directory of 1904 lists a "leather trade A. L. Levy" [6][8]. From 1932 the family was exposed to hostility according to the Salzmuseum [2], until it moved to Rostock in 1938 [3]. Ina Levy was deported to Theresienstadt on 19 November 1942 and died there on 7 April 1943 [3]. According to the Salzmuseum, of the five adult children three were murdered in Auschwitz, one daughter managed to flee to South Africa, and one son survived in a "mixed marriage" in Mecklenburg [2].
The firm at a glance
| Firm | Owner | Address | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leather trade A. L. Levy (entry of 1904) | A. L. Levy | not known | [6][8] |
| Produce trade A. L. Levy | Hans Levy (as claimant) | Rostocker Straße 82 | [7] |
That the initials "A. L." match the name Aaron Levy suggests that the leather trade of 1904, the produce trade of the Claims Conference list and the raw-produce business of Aaron Levy refer to the same enterprise; this identification is, however, not proven [5][6][7].
The Levy family in Bad Sülze
Aaron Levy and Ida, who according to the memorial stone in Röbel was called Ina, Engel married in 1892 in Bad Sülze and had five children [1][3]. Ina Levy was born in Röbel on 28 September 1870 [3]. The family lived in the town from 1892 to 1938 [3]; according to the general family tree the children Paula (1893), Hans (1897) and Elsa (1902) were born in Bad Sülze [8]. According to the Salzmuseum, however, from 1932 it experienced hostility and exclusion from parts of the administration, local groups of the NSDAP, the district court and private individuals [2]. The Landeszentrale structures the family history into "1935: summer of violence", the separation of the family in the years 1939 to 1941, deportation and murder in the years 1942 to 1945 as well as a reunion in Bad Sülze in 1947 [1]. The family's former residential and commercial building was acquired by the town, and in 2020 the family handed a central part of its estate, namely documents, pictures, medals and films, to the town of Bad Sülze, more precisely to the Salzmuseum [1][2].
Aaron Levy ran a raw-produce business in Bad Sülze and died in September 1942 [5]. The mother Ina Levy was arrested on 11 November 1942 and held in the Neustrelitz prison before she was deported via the Berlin assembly point to Theresienstadt on 19 November 1942, where she died on 7 April 1943 [3]. A Stolperstein at Marktplatz 10 in Röbel, laid on 3 August 2012, commemorates her [3]. The daughter Paula, who was born in Bad Sülze in 1893, married the Schwaan merchant Willi Marcus and was deported with him and his sister on 10 July 1942 and murdered in Auschwitz [4][5][8]; the article on Schwaan reports on this family.
The leather trade and produce trade A. L. Levy
The 1904 directory of German leather manufacturers, tanners, leather dealers and hide dealers lists a leather trade A. L. Levy in Bad Sülze [6][8]. The Claims Conference list of 2012, by contrast, records under number 140109 a "produce trade A. L. Levy" of Hans Levy at Rostocker Straße 82 [7]. How the business was liquidated or taken over after 1938, and to whom it passed, is not known.
Remembrance today
According to the museum page, Dr. Susanne Meyer of the Salzmuseum Mecklenburg is responsible for the exhibition "Levy. A family from Bad Sülze" (German title: Levy. Eine Familie aus Bad Sülze) [2]. The exhibition had previously toured the country and was shown, among other places, in Prora in 2022 [1][2]. At the Salzmuseum it is to be shown from 24 July 2024 according to the museum page [2]. The town plans to set up a "House of Democracy" in the acquired building, in which the exhibition is to be shown permanently [2].