German Man Whose Grandfather Took Over Store Run by Jew During Hitler Era Tracks Down Family to 'Apologise'

Berlin, November 15: Thomas Edelmann, a 49-year-old German, attempted to marginally right a wrong his family had committed eight decades ago. His grandfather had taken over the hardware shop run by a Jew man, under the anti-semitic Nuremberg law introduced in Adl Hitler's Nazi Germany. 82 years later, Thomas tracked down the family of victims and apologised to them. RSS Chief Wants 'Nationalism' Word to be Avoided, Says It Refers to 'Hitler, Nazism'.

The hardware store was located in Bad Mergentheim town of southern Germany. It was, till 1938, owned by a Jew man named as Benjamin Heidelberger. The shop was taken over by Wilhelm Edelmann, the paternal grandfather of Thomas.

Under the Nuremberg laws, the Nazi regime disqualified Germans from owning or administrating businesses in Germany. They were forced to either vacate their properties or sell them at a low rate - as fixed by the officials - German buyers.

Thomas, who had recently been studying genealogy, intended to know more about the whereabouts of the family from whom the shop was taken over by his ancestors. As fate had it, he received a marketing call from MyHeritage - website that offers to track down one's family roots.

After discussing the matter with the salesman of MyHeritage, who in turn brought the case to the notice of his seniors, the family of Heidelberger was finally tracked. It was found that he had shifted to British-administered Palestine in 1942 - as proved through the naturalisation records - and an image of his grave was also found.

The grand-daughter of Heidelberger - 83-year-old Hanna Ehrenreich - is still alive and living in Israel. Thomas, after being informed about the same through MyHeritage, decided to write a letter to her with the intent of apologising.

"I believe that if my family supported the injustice your grandparents experienced, it is our duty to take this into account and take over responsibility at least in getting in touch with you to listen and learn. As I am part of the Edelmann family I want to take the first step and listen to you," CNN reported the content of his letter as stating.

"Currently, the political climate in our country is poisoned. There is a new antisemitism upcoming. I want to make sure that at least my family will never again be responsible for injustice experienced by others, but stand up to take part for the weak," he added.

After receiving his letter, Hanna agreed to converse with him over the phone. Both of them spoke for nearly 90 minutes, in the past week and discussed in detail the past of their respective families.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 15, 2020 10:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).