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| German businessman Thomas Edelmann (left), 49, reached out to Hanna Ehrenreich, 83, to apologize for his grandfather Wilhelm (inset right) buying her grandfather Benjamin Heidelberger's (inset left) hardware store (right) in Bad Mergentheim, southern Germany, under Nuremburg laws in 1938. The laws allowed Germans to confiscate Jewish property. He wrote to the retired teacher in Israel asking if she wanted to speak and they talked about their families over the phone for 90 minutes. |
The grandson of a Nazi who took over a Jewish man's store tracked down his descendants in Israel to apologise.
German businessman Thomas Edelmann, 49, received a marketing call last year that allowed him to reach out and apologise for the actions of the grandfather he never met.
The father-of-two came across Nazi tax records confirming that Jewish owner Benjamin Heidelberger sold his hardware store in Bad Mergentheim, southern Germany, to Wilhelm Edelmann.
Anti-semitic Nuremburg laws, which allowed Germans to confiscate Jewish property, forced Mr Heidelberger to sell in 1938.
Mr Edelmann mentioned the tax records in a call to a MyHeritage salesperson, who was able to track down Mr Heidelberger 83-year-old granddaughter Hanna Ehrenreich, a retired teacher living in Israel.
THANKS SO MUCH, IT MEANS A LOT ESPECIALLY IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES!
The site also found Heidelberger's 1942 naturalisation record from British Mandatory Palestine and his gravestone alongside his wife Emma in northern Israel.
Unaware that Ms Ehrenreich had a black-and-white picture of the store hanging in her home, Mr Edelmann wrote to ask her if she wanted to talk to him.
He explained that he wanted to take responsibility by 'at least getting in touch' after learning that his family had supported her grandparent's injustice.
Mr Edelmann said he understood if she did not want to respond but he hoped her insight could help him teach his children about the impact of historical decisions.
She agreed and they spoke on the phone in German two weeks later for 90 minutes discussing their families' pasts.
Ms Ehrenreich told CNN: 'It was a very good conversation. Thomas wanted to hear how we had been. I said we were happy, and we have had a good life.'
She explained how her grandparents used the money from the forced sale of their shop to flee to Palestine in 1938.
They left Germany just weeks before Kristallnacht, the pogrom against Jews carried out by SA paramilitary forces and civilians that took place on November 9 and 10.
Her maternal grandparents tragically died in Germany after remaining in the country and she was born in Israel in 1937, she told him.
She said: 'He was very moved and said he was so happy to hear the story from my side. He was almost crying.'
Ms Ehrenreich was close with her grandfather and he told her that Mr Edelmann's grandfather Wilhelm 'was a decent man and not an anti-Semite' despite being a member of the Nazi party.
In his diaries, Mr Heidelberger wrote that Mr Edelmann warned him to flee Germany shortly before Kristallnacht.
MyHeritage found Heidelberger's 1942 naturalisation record from British Mandatory Palestine and his gravestone alongside his wife Emma in northern Israel (pictured)
He was forced to sell the shop and warehouse for 28,500 Reichsmark, the same price he payed for it 30 years earlier and substantially less than the 40,000 Reichsmark he would have asked for in normal circumstances.
After the phone call, Mr Edelmann and Ms Ehrenreich made plans to stay in touch and he said he would visit Israel in the future.
Despite Ms Ehrenreich's account of the sale, Mr Edelmann said he still harbours doubts about his grandfather taking advantage of the Nuremburg laws and does not believe he was a good man.
He said he hoped it would be an important lesson for his children, particularly his son Finn, 15, who started learning about Germany's Nazi past in high school last year.
THANKS SO MUCH, IT MEANS A LOT ESPECIALLY IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES!
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