The Jewish merchant family Philippson ran a textile store [2] in Feldberg, the Kaufhaus Philippson on Weidendamm [1]. Ferdinand Philippson had to sell the business in 1937 under pressure from the National Socialist mayor [3], and according to the Nordkurier the Jewish owners were expropriated by the National Socialists in that year [1]. In 1942 Ferdinand and Rosy Philippson were deported, whereby Rosy Philippson died in Theresienstadt, while Ferdinand Philippson survived and returned to Feldberg [1].
The family and the business
Only a few Jewish families lived in Feldberg, and according to Hofmann the merchant family Philippson shaped the development of the community, which belonged to the community of Mirow [4]. According to the Nordkurier the Philippsons were "basically the only Jews in Feldberg", and the Kaufhaus Philippson is said to have been opened as early as 1834 [1], although this founding year is not documented. The directory of 1846, the earliest with Philippson firms in Feldberg, lists in Feldberg, at the Damm, a trade in cloth, other drapery, haberdashery and produce run by Baruch Philippson and a drapery business Philippson, whereas the directory of 1862 lists a cloth and drapery business Baruch Philippson, which also held the agency of the Oldenburg fire insurance, and a drapery, haberdashery and produce business Bendix Philippson [5]. Whether and how these firms are connected with the business of Ferdinand Philippson cannot be said with certainty. The family laid out the Jewish cemetery of Feldberg [1][2][4], which the literature dates differently to 1850 or 1870 [2][4], and Abraham Philippson of Feldberg worked as cantor and religion teacher [2][4].
1937: forced sale
According to Kasten, Ferdinand Philippson had to sell his textile business in 1937 under pressure from the National Socialist mayor [3]. The Nordkurier, by contrast, writes that the Jewish owners of the store were expropriated in 1937 [1]. Buyer, price and the name of the mayor are not known, and a file on the sale has not been established so far. The Claims Conference lists a claim in the names of Ferdinand and Rosetta Alberta, called "Rosy", Philippson in Feldberg, however without an address [6].
Persecution and fate
After the November pogrom Ferdinand Philippson was taken into "protective custody" on 11 November 1938 and brought to the prison at Alt-Strelitz; after his release his sons fled Germany, while he and his wife stayed in Feldberg. Ferdinand and Rosy Philippson were deported by way of Berlin to Theresienstadt on 11 November 1942, whereas the Nordkurier gives only the year 1942 and their ages as 72 and 68 [1]. According to the Federal Archives' Gedenkbuch, however, the detention of Mecklenburg Jews in Alt-Strelitz already began on 10 November 1938 (case of Wolfson), and no Gedenkbuch entry for the Philippsons was found, which could presumably be settled only through the Arolsen Archives, the Theresienstadt database and the Federal Archives. Rosy Alberta Philippson died in Theresienstadt, according to the Nordkurier of starvation, but Ferdinand Philippson survived, returned to Feldberg and lived in the flat above the store until his death in 1959 [1]. He never got his expropriated house back. In 1959 he was the last person buried in the Jewish cemetery of Feldberg [1][4]. After the war part of the house was converted into flats, the store remained a shop in the GDR period, and the building has since been replaced by a new one [1].
Remembrance
On the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz a memorial plaque for Rosy Alberta and Ferdinand Philippson was unveiled opposite the former site of the store on Weidendamm [1].