Albert and Clarissa Haimann
Albert Haimann, born March 23, 1849 in Bad Buchau, was the owner of the Seidenhais J. Haimann at Maximiliansplatz 12 in Munich. His wife Clarissa Haimann, née Nordmann, came from Switzerland. She was born in Geneva October 31, 1835.
Albert and Clarissa had four sons. Two of them, Emil and Robert, emigrated to Milan and founded the „E. and R. Haimann Societe“, which was „Aryanized“ under the Mussolini regime, placed under trusteeship and liquidated in 1943. Both brothers died in Milan in 1940 and 1941 respectively.
Another brother, Julius, studied at the Royal Bavarian Technical University in Munich and became an engineer. He died on 3 June 1934 in Luxembourg as a senior engineer at the „Société Luxembourgeoise AEG pour Entreprises Electriques S.A.“.
Albert and Clarissa´s son Paul Hugo, born in Munich on November 3, 1876, was a silk goods wholesaler and a court-sworn expert for silk, velvet and plush goods. His father owned „Seidenhaus J. Haimann, a wholesale and retail business for velvet, silk and relevant articles“ located at Maximiliansplatz 12, next to the Luitpold Block. The business, established in 1870 was later taken over by Paul Haimann and employed approximately 20 workers. The family owned the building at Maximiliansplatz 12, which was transferred to Paul Haimann on January 7, 1931.
Under duress by the Nazi authorities the business was „Aryanized“, deregistered on September 30, 1938, and subsequently taken over by Theresia Schießl and the Schießl KG company. This company operated under the name „Schiessl Stoffe OHG, München“ until 1995.
Albert and Clarissa Haimann lived together with their sons Robert and Emil in an apartment above the silk shop at Maximiliansplatz 12 / 2. Paul Haimann, lived with his brother Julius at Prinzregentenstraße 11 / 2.
After the death of her husband Albert, who died November 21, 1911 in Munich, Clarissa Haimann moved to Martiusstrasse 8 / 0. She has been listed in the house records since April 3, 1913. Her son Robert is also mentioned as a resident here until 1925.
Clarissa lived in Martiusstrasse 8 until February 21, 1941. She then managed to emigrate to Switzerland, the country, where she was born.
Paul and Lina Haimann
Paul Hugo Haimann married Lina Bach in Munich on October 31, 1905.
Lina, born in Munich on January 31, 1884, was the daughter of Hermann and Mathilde Bach, née Benario. She came from the well-known Bach merchant family, who owned the Isidor Bach department store in Sendlinger Strasse. Her father, Hermann Bach, and his brother Isidor Bach co-founded a ready-to-wear clothing company in Augsburg in 1871, which relocated to Munich in 1881. Lina’s brother Carl Bach, born on August 24, 1882, in Munich, later joined the business.
Paul and Lina had two daughers, Alma, born on January 7, 1907, and Lisa, born February 17, 1912, both in Munich.
Lina and Paul initially resided at Prinzregentenstrasse 11. In 1916, they moved to Prinzregentenstrasse 14 / 2, Where they lived until late until 1935, when they were forced to vacate the apartment by Nazi authorities.This area on the south side of Prinzregentenstrasse, was slated for demoliotion to make way for a „House of German Architecture“ opposite the „House of German Art“, which was inaugurated later. Jews in this area were expelled from their homes as part of this construction project, even before nationwide legislation allowed for such eviction.
From December 30, 1935, until his death on February 13, 1940, Paul Haimann lived in his mother’s apartment at Martiusstrasse 8. His wife Lina was relocated to various other accommodations including Arcisstrasse 29 (October 10, 1937 – 1 July 1, 1939) and Leopoldstrasse 42.
In 1939, the Haimanns planned to emigrate and required a „clearance certificate“ from the Munich tax office. This certificate was a mandatory prerequisite for legal departure for Jews, issued only upon demonstrable payment of all taxes and duty arrears. This regulation ensured the Nazi state would not lose out on high special taxes imposed on Jews, such as the „Reich Flight Tax,“ and aimed to thoroughly plunder emigrants. The tax office demanded additional collateral from Paul and Lina Haimann. Despite a 150,000 RM security already registered for the Maximiliansplatz 12 property, the tax office compelled Paul Haimann to increase it by 50,000 RM. Furthermore, the foreign exchange office of the tax office demanded another „clearance certificate“ and security for the „Reich Flight Tax,“ which amounted to 25% of an emigrating Jew’s assets. Paul Haimann disputed this demand, leading to a legal dispute that involved negotiations with the Reich Ministry of Economics. These legal proceedings were ongoing when Paul Haimann died in Munich on February 13, 1940. Subsequently, Lina Haimann’s emigration was blocked by Nazi authorities.
At the time of his death, Paul Haimann and his mother could no longer freely dispose of their apartment. Legal prerequisites for this had been established in April 1939 with the withdrawal of tenant protection. Jews could now be expelled from their homes or forcibly assigned Jewish subtenants. This policy aimed to exploit vacant apartments and ghettoize Munich’s Jews, confining them to limited spaces, with two people considered the minimum occupancy for a room.
Lina Haimann
Shortly after her husband’s death, Lina Haimann was forced to move from Leopoldstrasse 42 to Pension Leopold at Leopoldstrasse 16 on May 4, 1940, and then to Martiusstrasse 8 on April 1, 1941. She resided in the Haimanns‘ former family apartment, which since 1939 had also housed other Jews who had been expelled from their homes. From June 1939 until their emigration to New York on March 21, 1940, Pauline, Ruth, and Rachel Frank, née Schwarzhaupt, lived in the Haimanns‘ apartment. From September 9, 1939, to March 20, 1940, secretary Liselotte Hammel also lived there and gave birth to her daughter Judis. Many others were subsequently admitted to the apartment: Ida Silberschmidt and her adult children, Hans and Rosa, from April 16, 1940, to September 15, 1941; Max Moses Lieber from January 20, 1941, to September 17, 1941; and Flora Böhm, Elisabeth Heims, Max Steinmeier, and Simon Blum from March 21, 1941, to March 28, 1941. On October 7, 1941, everyone was forced to leave the apartment, which was then occupied by Franz Schmidbauer until 1956.
A few days before her deportation, Lina Haimann was informed by the Gestapo headquarters that her assets had been confiscated under the „Law for the Confiscation of Assets Hostile to the People and the State,“ and she was required to submit a declaration of assets. At this time, Lina was residing at the Canisius Boarding Home, Theresienstrasse 81/3, where she had been admitted on September 5, 1941. Here, she could only list a few items of clothing as material possessions. Nine days after completing the declaration of assets, Lina Haimann was deported to Kaunas on the first deportation train from Munich on November 20, 1941, along with 998 other Jews. She was murdered there in Fort IX of Kaunas Fortress on November 25, 1941, immediately upon arrival.
Plundering the Haimanns´assets
Just three days after her murder, the „liquidation“ of her assets began. The Chief Finance President-Office for Asset Exploitation informed Bankhaus Seiler in a letter that Lina Haimann’s securities and bank balance were to be forfeited to the Reich and transferred to the Oberfinanzkasse. The Oberfinanzdirektion was also responsible for settling outstanding invoices of the murdered persons. A letter from the travel agency „Carl Bierschenk Successor, Special Shipping Office and State-Licensed Acceptance Office for Emigrants“ to Lina Haimann’s legal representative, Siegfried Neuland, indicates that Lina Haimann was still attempting to emigrate to Cuba shortly before her deportation and had already purchased tickets for the ship passage. The travel agency invoiced 499.50 RM for „additional expenses and fees in connection with our efforts to obtain the entry visa for Cuba, as well as the advance booking of the ship’s passage and its subsequent cancellation“. The passage had apparently been paid for, but the visa had not yet been issued, as the travel agency cited „several urgent cables to the U.S.A., Lisbon and Basel with a paid response“. It is possible the travel agency attempted to obtain the necessary guarantees for the visa from her mother-in-law’s relatives in Switzerland, her brother Carl (who emigrated to the USA via Switzerland in 1939), or her cousins in the USA. Perhaps Lina also tried to emigrate to the USA or Switzerland. A cost calculation by Lina Haimann’s legal representative shows she had been planning a „new emigration project“ since May 1941, which involved preparing „submissions to authorities“ and conducting „consultations… with authorities and travel companies“. Siegfried Neuland sent this invoice to Lina Haimann’s bank, Seiler & Co., which informed him that „the credit balance of the named has been withdrawn from us and has to be settled by the Oberfinanzkasse in favor of the Chief Finance President of Munich, Office for Asset Management“ and that the travel agency must assert its claims with that office. Therefore, in a letter dated December 2, 1941, the travel agency requested the Oberfinanzkasse to pay the bill of Lina Haimann, who had been murdered in Kaunas a week earlier.
The travel agency was not the only business demanding payment from the murdered Lina Haimann. On December 28, 1942, master glazier Christian Böhm from Fendstrasse 4 also contacted the Chief Finance President for an invoice of 12.20 RM for „Mrs. Haimann, Israel, residing in Martiusstrasse 8,“ after being informed by Lina Haimann’s legal representative that Lina Haimann was no longer in Munich and had „been evacuated about 14 days ago“. In a particularly brazen manner, property manager Wilhelm Erl, seemingly on behalf of the owner of the Martiusstrasse 8 house, wrote to the Chief Finance President on April 15, 1942, „requesting“ a „subsidy for the restoration of the former Jewish apartment Clarisse and Lina Haimann, Martiusstrasse 8/0r.“. Wilhelm Erl stated that for the „occupation of the apartment Martiusstrasse 8/0 on the right by Mr. Franz Schmidbauer […] the thorough repair of all completely neglected rooms was necessary“ and estimated a total expenditure of 2707 RM. He also complained that „the commissioner of the Gauleiter for Aryanization unfortunately only provided RM 500 as a subsidy from the Jewish tenants to Haimann at my request of 1.12.41,“ a subsidy Lina Haimann herself could no longer pay out as she had already been murdered and her assets confiscated. Wilhelm Erl therefore requested the release of at least 1000 RM „from the confiscated assets of the Jewess Haimann“ and, months after Lina’s murder, attempted to substantiate this request by claiming that the „great expense of repair work was demonstrably caused by the neglect of the apartment on the part of the Jewish tenants,“ knowing full well that the deceased could not defend themselves.
In addition to the securities, the property at Maximiliansplatz 12, which Lina Haimann had inherited after her husband’s death and was valued at 330,000 Reichsmark, also fell to the Reich and was to be „liquidated“. Several interested buyers lined up. Months before the expropriation, Wilhelmina Busch-Borchard from Bernried expressed interest and even had the Reich Minister of Economics as an ally, having previously transferred a significant sum of foreign currency from the USA to the German Reich. This interested party was later Wilhelmina Busch-Woods, heiress of Adolphus Busch, co-founder of the Anheuser-Busch brewery dynasty in the USA. She was known for building Höhenried Castle and founding Bernried Park, led a luxurious life on Lake Starnberg, and belonged to the jet set even after the war. A few days after Lina Haimann’s deportation, her secretariat again approached the Asset Management Department of the Regional Finance Directorate, confirming interest in the purchase and noting that the original owner had recently been „evacuated“ and the property’s administration had been transferred to the tax authorities. The sale of the property became obsolete when it was destroyed by war on January 7, 1945. In the city address book of 1953, the Federal Republic of Germany was still registered as the owner of the property as the legal successor of the Reich Finance Administration.
Other prospective buyers included the city of Munich, which sought to house the Josef Steppacher car dealer company in the building (which had lost its previous premises due to a purchase by the NSDAP), as well as the tenants‘ association of Maximiliansplatz 12, including Schießl KG, which had taken over Paul Haimann’s silk business. The tenants feared eviction after the sale and, in case they were not accepted, had their lawyer emphasize that they had all been „Aryan tenants in the property for many years“ and that the property’s trustee had „stipulated in his guidelines that Aryan livelihoods may not be destroyed under any circumstances by eliminating Judaism“. They therefore demanded a commitment from the buyer prohibiting lease termination for five years. A final prospective buyer was Christian Weber, the NSDAP faction leader in the city council, known for his unscrupulousness and brutality. He used his party contacts to enrich himself and accumulate real estate and assets. In a letter to the Chief Finance President regarding the „Jewish estate at Maximiliansplatz 12,“ he claimed that negotiations with the „Office for Aryanization, Mr. Weber,“ had „progressed quite far“ even before the „Jewess Haimann“ was „evacuated from Munich“. He then demanded that the sale of the property „to me can finally take place“.
The sale of the property became obsolete when it was destroyed by war on 7 January 1945. In the city address book of 1953, the Federal Republic of Germany was still registered as the owner of the property as the legal successor of the Reich Finance Administration.
Alma Singer, née Haimann, and Lisa Foá, née Haimann
Paul and Lina´s two daughters were Alma, born on January 7, 1907, and Lisa, born February 17, 1912, in Munich.
Alma’s first marriage was to Dr. phil Oskar Wassermann (born December 24, 1898, in Munich). She emigrated to the USA and in her second marriage lived with the Nobel Prize winner for literature, Isaac Bashevis Singer. She died in January 1996 in Dade, Florida.
Lisa lived in the apartment at Martiusstrasse 8, from July 1936 to April 6, 1937.
She moved to Naples in April 1937 and married the economist Prof. Dr. Bruno Foá. The couple emigrated in 1938, first to London and then to the USA, and had two daughters.
The property at Maximiliansplatz 12 was restituted to the Haimanns´ daughters after 1953.