Der Raub

Even before World War I, Neuer Wall was a preferred shopping and business street in downtown Hamburg. In the 1930s, there were over 40 shops, company headquarters, and banks with Jewish owners. They remained hopeful even after the Nazis came to power, believing that the new government would moderate after the harsh anti-Semitism of the first months and the "Jewish boycott" of April 1, 1933. However, the businesses that had been established on Neuer Wall for decades, such as the women's fashion store Gebr. Hirschfeld, the hat shop Hammerschlag, the optician Campbell & Co., the photographer Max Halberstadt, and the bank Philipson & Wolff, ultimately could not withstand the pressure and disenfranchisement imposed by the Nazi regime. Some businesses were "Aryanized" even before the pogrom of November 9/10, 1938; their owners were forced to sell at far below market value to beneficiaries of the regime, their accounts were frozen, and their livelihoods destroyed. Those who could, emigrated but had to leave their possessions behind or auction them off. Not everyone managed to escape; some were deported to extermination camps or died under the pressure of persecution. Those who survived the war and exile could apply for compensation. In many cases, this led to a protracted, petty struggle with the Office for Compensation that lasted for years. The book is part of a multimedia cultural remembrance project by the Evangelical Academy of the North Church on the topic of "Aryanization" on Neuer Wall.