Jewish merchants in Solingen-Ohligs

Stop 8: The Zürndorfer and Lichtenstein Families

Düsseldorfer Str. 34-36 as of today. Photo: Daniela Tobias

Düsseldorfer Str. 34-36 – go to map – go to starting point

Bernhard Zürndorfer was born on 14 February 1876 in the Württembergian village of Rexingen in the Black Forest. He was the sixth of eight children to his parents, the textile trader Max Wolf Zürndorfer and his wife Ida. Just like his father, Bernhard Zürndorfer became a merchant. On 13 April 1907 Bernhard Zürndorfer opened his own store for haberdashery and linen goods, located in Ohligs at Düsseldorfer Straße 34 in a new building of pharmacist Retienne. It was a flourishing business, up to 8 auxiliaries at a time were employed there.

Düsseldorfer Str. 34-36 is the fourth house from the left, Source:
City Archive of Solingen, PK 3501
Birth announcement for Thea Zürndorfer in the local newspaper “Ohligser Anzeiger” of 26 October 1908. Source: City Archive of Solingen via zeitpunkt.nrw

In October 1907, Bernhard Zürndorfer got married to Rosalie Feitler who had been born on 18 March 1881 in Groß-Rohrheim in Hesse. Their daughter Thea was born in Ohligs on 24 October 1908, just one year after their wedding. The couple had a second daughter, Margot, in May 1912.

Advertisement by Zürndorfer in the local newspaper “Ohligser Anzeiger“ of 20 March 1913. Source: City Archive of Solingen via zeitpunkt.nrw

During World War I, Bernhard Zürndorfer was head of the “Schutzverein für Kleinhandel und Gewerbe der Städte Ohligs-Wald“ (literally “Association for the Protection of Retail Trade and Industry in the Cities of Ohligs-Wald“) and advocated the interests of its medium-sized member businesses. On 23 December 1920, Bernhard Zürndorfer died relatively young from having diabetes. He was laid to rest on the Jewish cemetery in Solingen.

Obituary for Bernhard Zürndorfer, commissioned by the “Schutzverein für Kleinhandel und Gewerbe“, in the local newspaper “Ohligser Anzeiger“ of 24 December 1920. Source: City Archive of Solingen via zeitpunkt.nrw

In the “Ohligser Anzeiger”, employees and members of the “Schutzverein“ expressed their sympathies upon the death of Bernhard Zürndorfer. The business was run by his wife Rosalie from now on.

Thanks to the family’s prosperity, their two daughters were among the very few girls of the time that still received secondary education in the 1920s. Thea attended the Königin-Luise-Schule in Cologne and completed her “Abitur” (school-leaving qualification comparable to A levels) there in 1928. She expressed her desire to become a dental specialist. Her sister Margot left the municipal “Lyzeum” (secondary school for girls) in Ohligs in 1929, without having started the “Oberstufe” (senior classes leading up to the “Abitur”). Thea got engaged to silversmith Ivan Shortt of Birmingham in January 1929. The couple got married by the end of the year whereupon Thea moved to England.

After the National Socialists had seized power and Jewish retailers and department stores were increasingly boycotted, the revenues of the Zürndorfer’s business declined from 1933 onwards. By 1938, the income achieved was hardly sufficient for making a living at all. Margot Zürndorfer, who was already suffering from a severe heart condition at that time, married gynaecologist Hugo Lichtenstein on 30 May 1938. Merchants Martin Goldschmidt and Walter Wertheim were the couple’s witnesses.

Hochzeit von Hugo und Margot Lichtenstein, geb. Zürndorfer mit Margot Wallach (links) und Bella Taback als Blumenmädchen, Quelle: Bella Tabak Altura
Wedding of Hugo and Margot Lichtenstein with Margot Wallach (on the left) and Bella Tabak as flower girls. Source: Bella Tabak Altura

Hugo Lichtenstein came from a Jewish merchant family of Stadtoldendorf where he had been born on 3 February 1900. He studied medicine, completed his specialist training, and started working as assistant doctor at Solingen’s municipal hospital in 1929. He then, in October 1931, set up his own medical practice for gynaecological conditions and obstetrics, located at Wilhelmstraße 21 in Ohligs. However, from 1933 onwards, his medical practice began to be less and less frequented as a consequence of the Nazi’s racial policies. As of 30 September 1938, the regime revoked the approbations of all Jewish doctors. Only one day after that, on 1 October 1938, the Zürndorfer’s business was “Aryanised” and was sold to Elisabeth Schmidt, who had been its managing director until then.

Eröffnungsanzeige von Dr. Hugo Lichtenstein im Ohligser Anzeiger vom 30.9.1931, Quelle: Stadtarchiv Solingen via zeitpunkt.nrw
Announcement on the opening of Dr. Hugo Lichtenstein’s medical practice in the local newspaper “Ohligser Anzeiger“ of 30 September 1931. Source: City Archive of Solingen via zeitpunkt.nrw

After the “Kristallnacht“ in the night of 9–10 November 1938, Hugo Lichtenstein was arrested and subsequently deported to Dachau concentration camp, together with other Jews from Solingen. He was released on 3 December 1938 under the condition that he left Germany soon. Only a couple of days later, on 16 December, his sick wife Margot died from her cardiac disease. In the funeral book of the Jewish community, it says [in translation]:

“A noble, devout human child that had pleased the eyes of God and mankind. A bad heart condition kinked a precious rose before it even bloomed. She was an adornment of our community. She rests next to her father who died young.”

Funeral book of the Jewish community (translation: M.B., 2021). Source: City Archive of Solingen
Tombstone of Bernhard Zürndorfer and his daughter Margot Lichtenstein. Photo: Daniela Tobias

Rosalie Zürndorfer managed to emigrate and join her daughter Thea Shortt on 11 March 1939. Hugo Lichtenstein had already fled to England in February. All of his assets were confiscated “for the benefit of the German Reich”, with his household goods being auctioned off in 1941. In England, he started working as a language teacher before he became a factory’s warehouse keeper in April 1940. In 1941, he was given permission to work as assistant doctor in a hospital and was practicing doctor in Swindon, Wiltshire, from July 1949 onwards. Hugo Lichtenstein lived in Swindon until his death on 11 August 1975.

His mother-in-law Rosalie Zürndorfer died in Birmingham on 23 April 1957. Her son-in-law Ivan Shortt, who had been “President of the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation” in Birmingham’s Jewish community, died in 1962 already. His wife Thea died on 15 December 1991. Over the course of our research on the Jewish merchants of Düsseldorfer Straße, we managed to establish contact with the Shortt’s grandchildren in 2021.