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Yet only last year 49-year-old businessman contacted a retired teacher in Israel to apologize for the actions of a grandfather he had never met.
Growing up, the Edelman he had heard rumors about the family business and suspected that its previous owners were Jews who had to sell it to his paternal grandfather, Wilhelm.
Years later, a father of two, Thomas began carving his family tree. So he found Nazi tax records confirming that the Jewish owner -Benjamin Heidelberger- he was forced to sell his hardware store in Bad Mergenheim, southern Germany, in 1938 under the Nuremberg anti-Semitic laws.
These laws excluded Jews from German economy legalizing the seizure of their assets.
Edelman had reported this transfer to a seller of My inheritance, a website that helps you “build” your family tree, that you called to discuss your subscription.
Impressed, the salesman told the story to the company’s research team.
Two weeks later, Edelman received a phone call by My Heritage. They had located two important files. Heidelberg Heidelberg 1942 British Mandate Palestine Naturalization Certificate, and his gravestone with his wife, Emma, in northern Israel. Furthermore, they had discovered that the Heidelberg had a living granddaughter.
THE Hannah ehrenreich, an 83-year-old retired teacher, knew all about the store that eventually became known as Willie Edelman. Much more like a black and white photograph of him, with his name still in his grandfather’s time, still adorning the walls of his home in Israel.
Digging in the past
Edelman, who lost contact with his father when his parents divorced in the early 1970s, knew little about Family history from his father and had nothing to do with the lucrative retail chain that had flourished in that smithy.
Although the store itself no longer exists, the Edelman family still owns the building and many more properties in the city. He, however, has no share to the company.
Edelmn sent a letter to Ehrenreich in English via MyHeritage, unaware that he actually grew up speaking German.
He wrote: “I believe that if my family contributed to the injustice your grandparents suffered, it is our duty to take it into account and at least take responsibility for contacting you, listening to you and learning. As a member of the Edleman family, I want to take the first step and listen to you. I understand that you may not see any personal benefit in talking to me. “But for us, understanding and being able to teach my children and possibly other family members about the impact of specific historical decisions can help them make better decisions in their lives.”
“Right now, the political climate in our country is poisoned. A new anti-Semitism is emerging. “I want to make sure that at least my family will no longer be held responsible for unjust behavior at the expense of others, but will raise their stature in favor of the weak,” the 49-year-old German wrote.
A touching phone call
Upon receiving his letter, Ehrenreich agreed to meet with him, and a few weeks later the couple spent 90 minutes talking on the phone about their families’ past in German.
“It was a very good discussion” Ehrenreich told CNNi. “Thomas wanted to know how we were doing. I told him we were happy, we had a good life.”
Ehrenreich told Edelmann that Benjamin Heidelreich and his wife, Emma, his paternal grandparents, used the money he got from the forced purchase of the store to turn to Palestine in 1938, just weeks before the horrific events of Crystal Night, the wave of violent anti-Jewish pogroms that took place on November 9 and 10.
Ehrenreich’s parents had come to Israel before and she was born there in 1937. Unfortunately, her mother’s parents remained in Germany and died under Nazi rule.
“He was very touched and said he was very happy to hear my story, he almost cried,” he recalls.
Better than I expected
Ehrenreich, who had a close relationship with his grandfather, recounted his own version of events at the store, alleviating some of Edelman’s fears and suspicions about what had happened.
He said Heidelberger often spoke from his homeland and kept a diary in his mother tongue.
In it, he wrote: “My successor in the operation, Wilhelm Edelmann, came every first of the month to pay the rent and, although he was a member of the Nazi party, he was a decent man and not anti-Semitic.
“In the fall of 1937 we sold our house to him for 10,000 marks, although my starting price was 15,000 marks.” In July 1930 we sold our shop and warehouse for the bargain price of 28,500 marks, exactly as he had bought them 30 years ago Heidelberger continued.
“In other circumstances, it could have sold it for 40,000 marks.” But then many Jewish companies sold for below its value. “
“One day Edelman came to see me and said I had to leave Germany as soon as possible,” he wrote. “There were plans of action against the Jews,” he said. obligation to warn me, be fine. “
Erchenreich, who visited the store on a family trip in the 1980s, said he met Edelmann and got the impression that he was a good man. although member of the Nazi party».
An important lesson
Edelman said he was deeply moved by the communication and that the two would stay in touch in hopes of visiting the Israel in the future.
“My conversation with Hannah was very emotional. Even though her family had a hard time, she was very kind and did not hold me responsible for anything.”
“Although he was happy with Echrenreich’s version of events, Edelmann still has doubts about his grandfather.
“I know my grandfather was a very good businessman. He joined the Nazi Party when he was a student in the 1920s, before Hitler came to power.
“That’s why I don’t think he was such a good person, I’m not 100% convinced. “I doubt that he took advantage of the situation.”
Edelmann believes that coming to terms with his past is an important lesson for his children, and especially for his 15-year-old son Finn, who began learning about Germany’s Nazi past last year in high school.
“I want him to understand what is the history, meaning. “Although it has nothing to do with history, it was our ancestor who had an impact on the life of an entire family that had a life in this country.” “I want you to know and understand that whatever selection and if you do, you have expensive in the lives of others. “
The Nazi grandfather of a German took over a Jewish shop. Tracked down his descendants to apologize, by Lianne Kolirin, CNN
