Emil Fechheimer

Escaped, with wife Frieda, from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, to Switzerland (Lugano), circa 1939.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen and its Jewish Citizens - 1933-1945

Emil and Frieda Fechheimer

The businessman Emil Fechheimer was born on October 15th, 1866 in Nuremberg. He came to Garmisch on July 1, 1934. He acquired the property at Höllentalstr. 56 (Pl.No. 1822a, b and Pl.No. 1824). He was married to Frieda Fechheimer (born March 15, 1876 in Gunzenhausen, née Hesselberger).

He described his curriculum vitae in the affidavit dated October 3rd, 1948 in the court proceedings against the former NS district leader Hans Hausböck:

"In 1886/87 I served as a volunteer in the 1st Chev Reg. In Nuremberg, became a reserve officer and volunteered for army service in 1914. I also held the honorary position of a royal commercial judge in Nuremberg. In 1917 I became a Bavarian War Ministry assigned as an economic employee and later awarded the title "Privy Councilor" for my services to the fat industry. "I was born on October 15, 1866 in Nuremberg, attended the humanistic grammar school there and then came into my father's business - company Hoch, Lang & Söhne, margarine factory in Nuremberg - where I worked for 50 years until 1935, only to retire to Garmisch for my private life. "

On May 18, 1935, the 2nd Mayor of Garmisch, Josef Thomma, wrote in a letter to the NS district administration Garmisch-Partenkirchen:

"This morning around 11 o'clock the Jew Emil Fechheimer, who has owned the property at Höllentalstrasse 56 for many years, spoke to the undersigned mayor and complained that a telegraph pole was set on his property on Höllentalstrasse with his permission is, a plaque was put up, "Jews are not wanted here." I don't know who put up the relevant plaque. Fechheimer also mentioned that he and his ancestors had done it in Nuremberg and asked where he was I would like to inform you of this fact. Heil Hitler! Thomma, 2nd Bgm. " Josef Thomma lived only a few houses away from Emil Fechheimer at Höllentalstraße 21.

In the affidavit of October 3, 1948, Fechheimer described the anti-Jewish events on November 10, 1938 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen:

"On the day mentioned above, my wife and I were awakened from sleep at 7 o'clock in the morning with the cry" Jews out, vengeance for Paris "and a number of SA men we saw in our garden commanded us to come down immediately We were pushed to such an extent that we could only poorly dress. - Breakfast was of course excluded - and then we were brought to the party house, where we had to wait until the non-Aryans of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district had been gathered. After about 20 people were together, each couple was shown to the district leader. As it drew in this room, while I feared a cold, partly from excitement and partly from inadequate clothing, I asked Hausbock to be allowed to close the open window on the grounds that I was very susceptible as a result of a pulmonary emphysema which I contracted during the war To which Hausbock replied abruptly that it was just right and forbade closing the window. Then Hausböck declared with his revolver held up that we would have to leave the house and yard within a few hours, that is, with the next train, and should never come back, otherwise we would be "beaten to death". We should have crossed the border by the next day.

H. also put a form in front of us stating that we agreed to our property in Garmisch, Höllentalstr. 56, to be transferred into Aryan possession. In this regard, he remarked that there was no consideration for us, but had to be signed immediately, otherwise we would be taken away from the square to the Dachau concentration camp for 3 years. In this predicament we obeyed the order. Then we were photographed individually and brought back to our apartment accompanied by 2 SA men. The two SA men had to assure the district leader by handshakes that they would not leave us earlier until we had boarded the train with a ticket to go abroad.

When leaving the party house, one had to pass a trellis formed by the Hitler Youth and the BdM in order to be spat at. A warning from a benevolent person allowed us to bypass the espalier. A section of people was set up at the train station and they scorned the departing Jews in the most hurtful scorn. Around noon we drove via Munich to Bregenz, where we and all non-Aryans were taken from the train like a herd of cattle and taken to prison and had to stay for 12 hours with Swiss help until we were liberated.

How we were able to save ourselves to Switzerland with the support of relatives in Zurich and finally ended up in Lugano, where we have been living our lives since then, should no longer be of relevance for the Hausböck case. Most of our furnishings were auctioned on the grounds that we emigrated illegally, while in reality we were illegally evicted .... " Lugano, October 3, 1948, signed Emil Fechheimer Lugano, Via S.Calloni 7, Switzerland

On March 14, 1939, the Garmisch-Partenkirchen District Office reported to the Munich Gestapo that "the Fechheimers emigrated to Switzerland on November 10, 38 on the occasion of the Jewish campaign". "The current address is Locarno, Via Massagna No. 5."

As early as February 15, 1939, District Administrator Dr. There were no objections to "temporarily" handing over the keys to the property of the Jew Fechheimer, formerly Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Höllentalstrasse, "to the government forestry councilor Schneller from the Garmisch forestry office. The EPHart department store's application to purchase the Fechheimer property as a vacation home for "the 120-member followers" was probably not pursued any further because the Bavarian Forest Administration was interested in the house. On March 23, 1939, the NSDAP Gauleitung Oberbayern issued an "exceptional permit to manage the property of the emigrated couple Emil Israel Fechenheimer and his wife, née Hesselberger, ... in view of the fact that both of them have already emigrated."A few days later, the district administrator gave the forest administration the keys “for the Judenhaus Fechheimer, Höllentalstr. 56, ". The" Directory of the properties of Jewish owners in Garmisch-Partenkirchen ", which the mayor of the market had made on August 17, 1939, contains the following entry:" Fechheimer, Emil and Frieda, residential building on Höllentalstr. No. 56 - The property was bought by the state forest administration. acquired."56 - The property was bought by the state forest administration. acquired."56 - The property was bought by the state forest administration. acquired."

On October 23, 1939 the government of Upper Bavaria announced that the sale of the property Pl.Nr. 1822 "to the state of Bavaria - forest management" was notarized by the Garmisch notary Daimer. The purchase contract of May 25, 1939 "according to § 8 of the regulation on the use of Jewish assets of December 3, 1938" contained the clause that the payments on The Fechheimer couple had to set up a special account "which may only be accessed with the consent of the OFPres Nürnberg and the Garmisch-P tax office".

Mayor Scheck acquired the second piece of land, which was owned by the Fechheimer family until 1938, construction site No. 1824, on March 27, 1940 for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen market at a price of RM 20,000 for 3,170 square meters. On April 12, 1940, Scheck turned to the District Office with the request to issue "the permit required under Jewish legislation" for this purchase.

State Archives Munich - LRA Garmisch-Partenkirchen 63049, 63212, 61668, 61665, 61664

© Alois Schwarzmüller 2006