Heinrich Haas

Birth record: https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000141157484348

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According to Uncle Rudy as translated by Helen Medak:

My father Heinrich Haas, was born Sept. 19 1846 in Wesseličko. He went to high school in Olmütz and afterwards to the Business College in Vienna. He started working as a clerk in the well-known coal firm Gebrüder Gutman and started his own business in Vienna in 1873 with 20.000 Gulden (Florin) which his father had given him.

In 1880 he established the firm of Heilpern & Haas together with Eugen Heilpern (a cousin of my mother's twice removed) where he worked as partner until his death on 14. Oct. 1925.

The firm of Heilpern & Haas (into which I entered in 1901) was mostly a wholesaler of synthetic fertilizer, well known and highly acclaimed at home as well as abroad.

Both owners earned quite a handsome fortune, which they lost (except for their tangible properties) during the inflation after World War I.

In 1900 Heilpern & Haas established a factory for roofing material, tar-distillery and laquer and it was this part of the business that made it possible for the owners to continue in business after the collapse following the War.

The firm got into big dealings with the USSR during 1928 until 1934 and suffered great losses. After winning a lawsuit with complete compensation, Hitler marched into Austria. The firm was taken over by a German concern, was declared to be "ARYAN" after dismissal of all Jews and liquidated.

The proceeds of the liquidation provided the livelihood for the three persons appointed to liquidate the firm but this liquidation was still not completed in 1945. The money was nearly gone and the factory lay in ruins.

Nevertheless I got the firm back (being the rightful owner) and sold it to the Bankhouse Schoeller & Co., which changed the name from Heilpern & Haas to Gebrüder Schoeller, under which name it still exists to this day.

My father married my mother Marie Mannheimer on the 21 Jan. 1877.