Kicked out of the family business
The end of a family business after three generations
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“Pucki has ceased working in the factory. I am following him in the next few days. My private life is likely to be quite taken up by cooking and ironing at home.”
NEUSTADT, UPPER SILESIA/BRÜNN
Hans Joseph Pinkus’s great-grandfather had married into the Fränkel family in Neustadt, Upper Silesia, in the 19th century. The two families joined forces in running the “S. Fränkel” Company, a successful textile factory that became one of the world’s largest manufacturers of linen. Under normal circumstances, Hans Joseph might have followed three generations of Pinkuses in running the affairs of the company, but he was only 16 years old and in boarding school when it was “Aryanized.” On October 20th, 1938, his stepmother, Lili, wrote him a letter to let him know that his father was about to quit and that she would follow him. She didn’t let on as to whether “cooking and ironing at home” was an attractive alternative to her and kept her feelings to herself.
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SOURCE
Institution:
Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin
Collection:
John Peters Pinkus Family Papers, AR 25520
Original:
