Eduard Elbogen

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Eduard Elbogen (25 January 1857 – 30 August 1931) was an Austrian talcum powder industrialist.

Family

Eduard Elbogen was born on 25 January 1857 in Prague. His parents were Jakob Samuel Elbogen (1820 in Prague – 1920 in Vienna) and Marie, née Schulhof (23 May 1833 in Prague – 1922 in Vienna). His siblings were Friedrich (1854–1909; court and court lawyer and father of Franz and Paul ), Hermine Silzer and Julius (Gyula),[1] who sold graphite.

Elbogen was married to Jenni Melanie, née Kadelburg, (23 October 1864 in Budapest – 1942). The couple had four children: Lilli Agathe Elbogen (together with Franz she had a daughter, Mariedi Anders ), Auguste Klarmann, Edgar Dagobert Elbogen (1899–) and Lothar Stefan Elbogen (19 June 1900 in Mödling – 1941 probably in Zasavica near Sabac). His wife was deported to Theresienstadt on 28 June 1942 and transported to Treblinka on 23 September.[2]

Pursue

In 1886, the Eduard Elbogen company was founded in Vienna. Initially, he limited himself to the sale of talcum (also known as Federweißer, feather white or soapstone). Elbogen himself claimed to be the founder of the use of talcum powder in paper manufacturing. His telegram address was "Edelbogen, Vienna".

The feather white mining was opened in Lessach in 1895 by the company of the feather white merchant Eduard Ellbogen [sic] and had to be closed again for economic reasons on 11 August 1900. (The 1st Salzburg Feather White Workers' Union reactivated the mine, which had since fallen into disrepair, in April 1919.)[3]

Around 1897, he quarreled with another Viennese merchant, the spice trader Ludwig König (OHG since 1874), who traded in all kinds of things (sugar and colonial goods in bulk, Schellinggasse 9, Dalmatian Asphalt) and now claimed to run a "Central Sales Office of the United Talcum Unions" (Schulerstrasse 22). He only represented a few unions, "whose products, however, were not at all suitable for paper manufacture, ... In this way, König wanted to achieve the goal of driving the talcum prices to unprecedented levels." Elbogen claimed in the Centralblatt.[4] König, who worked with Adolf Brunner's factory in Mautern and one in Anger, replied on 22 January 1897: Apparently the most outstanding Austrian talcum works, with about 89% of the total Austrian production of about 1,100 wagons, had handed over central sales to us [Ludwig König & Sohn].[5]

Own production

At the turn of the century, Elbogen switched to self-production at Rabenwald in eastern Styria:[6] first he acquired the operating Jocherl mine in Floing (2.5 km east of Oberfeistritz), shortly afterwards the Jocherl mine in Floing and the Hummelbauer mine. He acquired the old Mittermühle mill in Oberfeistritz [today Feistritz bei Anger; Imersy Talc; 35 km northeast of Graz] as a grinding plant, which he reconstructed and fitted with a turbine. The talc is transported from the Rabenwald mine to the Oberfeistritz mill using a material cable car approximately five kilometers long. The modern systems grind various talc products to different degrees of fineness. The main consumer of talc from the Oberfeistritz plant is the paper industry. Talc was loaded at Anger station until the early 1980s.[7]

In the course of the decade he acquired a talc pit and mill in Oberdorf a.d. Lamming (70 km NNW of Graz), whose production was increased twentyfold within a few years. In Mautern (80 km NW of Graz and 40 km W of Oberdorf) he bought a talc pit with a mill and electric drying plant located directly at the station. This includes the surrounding pits in Magdwiesen, Kammern and Rennach.

By 1909, Elbogen had concessions, leases and mining rights in Styria, Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as four turbine-driven mills.

In 1910, Elbogen took over the magnesite and talc works founded by Jozef Karol Demuth in Hnúšťa-Mútnik, Slovakia, in the so-called "Lower Magnesite" (today's district of Hnúšťa). Elbogen mined magnesite at the site, which he then processed in his factories in Austria. The Elbogen company operated the mining until 1922, when the exposed veins of high-quality magnesite had been mined - and due to currency difficulties following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.[8][9][10]

In 1914, the talcum union De Giorgis & Elleon in Pinerolo[11] (38 km southwest of Turin) in Italy converted into a limited partnership. The Viennese talcum miner Eduard Elbogen joined the company as a limited partner. The new company's extensive mine holdings have so far produced a result of around 400 wagons per year. The company has transferred the exclusive sale of its production, which is to be significantly increased through new investments, to Eduard Elbogen.[12]

During the war, production came to a standstill. In November 1917, the operation was placed under the War Performance Act (Kriegsleistungsgesetz). This order refers to the talcum mines in Floing, Baiersdorf, Stubenberg, Obertal and Kammern in Styria, as well as to the mine in Mühlbach in the crown land of Salzburg, and also to the talcum mills in Oberfeistritz, Oberdorf and Mautern.[13]

In 1928 he now operates talc mines in Styria with the following managers in:[14]

  • St. Jakob near Hartberg: Johann Grobbauer
  • Stubenberg near Harberg: Leo Schretthauser
  • Baierdorf near Weiz: Alois Krenn
  • Floing near Weiz: Leo Schretthauser

Further production range

  • Asbestos
  • Graphite and graphite tablets from his Čučice-Ketkowitz graphite works
  • Earth colours in all shades
  • Kaolin (china clay)
  • Alabaster (gypsum)

Aryanization under Lothar

After Elbogen's death in 1931, Lothar headed the talc mining and wholesale company Edward Elbogen Nachf., which had the exclusive sales rights for Italian talc in the USA.

In 1937, Lothar entrusted the works manager Jozef Heinz with mining and management of the works in the factory in Hnúšťa, Slovakia, whose mining rights had meanwhile been transferred to the Munich-based company Talkum Bergbau Gesellschaft mbH (Alfred Schnellhorn). A mill was built near the deposit. The mill contained two molecularizers for grinding the flour, which was shipped to Germany as an Austrian product. In 1939, a plant for grinding and sorting flakes was built.

In 1937, the Salzburg governor Franz Rehrl reported: "Jewish self-interest recently caused the closure of a factory with 32 workers in the Lungau. The Federweiß mine in Lessach was bought by Dr. Ellbogen, who is called the Austrian Federweiß King - but not to continue running it, but to shut it down, as the removal of the machines clearly shows. The purpose was to eliminate an inconvenient competitor in order to be able to dictate the prices alone."[15]

After the Anschluss of Austria (March 1938), by the end of June 1938, in addition to Lothar Elbogen, the wealthy Jewish families Moriz (1854–1939 in Zurich) and Stephan (1894–1976) Kuffner (Ottakringer Brewery), Emil Reitler (1886–1949), Isidor (1866–1946) and Karl Zuckermann (1902–1960), Richard Stein (head of the Franz Waldmann paper wholesaler, among others), Guido Fischel, and Fritz Spitzer (or Paul Fürth and Otto Krasny) had joined Aktion Gildemeester, an emigration assistance office (after Haavara Agreement).

For resisting state authority (possibly provoked), Lothar was sentenced to three months in prison from September 1 - immediately followed by pre-trial detention for currency offenses. (Due to the conviction, the university revoked Lothar's doctorate in law in December - but it was re-recognized posthumously in 1955).

On 8 September 1938, the Duke's confidant, Ing. Herbert Uebersberger (* 1908; son of Hans Uebersberger ), submitted the official request of Duke Ernst August of Brunswick-Lüneburg (who himself mined for talcum powder and asbestos in Austria) to the Viennese authorities to acquire the Eduard Elbogen company (stating his total assets at 2–3 million, of which he wanted to invest 1.5 million in Austria).

Since May, provisional administrators had been appointed to the company. Although the nomination had been requested by the Federation of Industrialists, less qualified Nazi cliques were able to prevail. From May 1938, Ernst Steinfellner[16] had brought a female assistant into the company to support him, Maria Böttner, who later became Uebersberger's wife. Soon overburdened by multiple appointments, he appointed Egon Iby[17] in September, but he barely made an appearance 10 times in eight months and was recalled at the end of March 1939. Edwin Hauser (* 1901 in Vienna[18]) followed as commercial manager until September 1939. For him, the new times were worthwhile: by moving into a "Jewish apartment" in Vienna 8, Alserstrasse 67 - in which Lothar's lawyer Otto Loeb also lived - he was able to significantly improve his living conditions. Hauser insulted Lothar Elbogen in prison by calling him a "Jew".

Elbogen was forced to sell his company. There are different figures for the agreed purchase price: 380,000 RM or 130,000 RM, although the latter also included paying off the company's debts to the bank. Debts to Lothar's brother Edgar also had to be paid off. After the war, the value was estimated at 1 million Austrian francs.

Since the Reich Flight Tax - formally 25% - was to be "according to existing practice ... 100% as a result of regular valuation disputes", he stated in a draft contract submitted to Duke Ernst August of Brunswick-Lüneburg on 27 September 1938 that he would be "literally a beggar" as soon as he left the country.[19] The Duke's asset manager was Paul Knoke.[20] Lothar had contractually been obliged to give his lawyer "certified, irrevocable powers of attorney, by which he is authorized to make all declarations and documents necessary and useful for the implementation of this contract and to sign documents on behalf of the seller without the further knowledge and consent of the seller." The head of the Austrian Control Bank, Walther Kastner, considered it appropriate to lift the "foreign exchange security custody" of Elbogen on the basis of this passage. But not the "Aryanizers", who were worried about the fulfillment of the contract. However, this matter was to be resolved within a few days. Helmut Foltinek, the responsible officer of the control bank, who was staying at the "uniquely scenic" holiday home of Hintersee near Berchtesgaden at the time, recommended consulting "Exc. Dr. Knoke", the Duke's general representative, in this matter and informing the foreign exchange office that it would receive information from the final owner of the company. The Duke or his representative Knoke, when asked about the need to extend Elbogen's detention, had his confidant Ing. Herbert Uebersberger (* 1908) inform him shortly afterwards that Lothar and Franz Elbogen's departure was undesirable until contractual security was in place.[21]

On 16 June 1939, the purchase for 300,000 RM was completed by the Kontrollbank. The following day, the Duke signed a contract with the Kontrollbank. In the same month, his mother begged the Duke to release him. After the outbreak of war in September 1939, the shareholders feared that the USA would enter the war and that the American assets would be confiscated. As they told the Reich Ministry of Economics in Berlin, this made it unavoidable to disguise the assets by transferring them. They applied for a transfer of their American assets to the de-Bary-Bank in Amsterdam. By purchase agreement of October 1939, the Duke of Lothar Elbogen directly acquired the mine in Hnúšťa-Mútnik in Slovakia.[22] On 20 November 1939, the remaining assets were declared forfeit, acording to Pawslovski.[23] In late autumn 1939, Lothar was able to flee to Yugoslavia, allegedly without a passport or money. When the Wehrmacht invaded in 1941, he was again taken prisoner and died.

His fiancée (and later heiress) Grete Klug,[24] whose parents ran the Café Herrenhof,[25] was allowed to leave the country. In November 1939, after six months of imprisonment in Dachau and with the intercession of William C. Bullitt, cousin Franz (co-major shareholder) was able to travel with his second wife Julia on board the SS Saturnia, the last of the family, from Naples to New York.[26]

In July 1941, the former Control Bank (closed in 1942) listed 96 further cases of Aryanization.[27]

In 1941, Duke Ernst August of Brunswick and Lüneburg prevailed over his competitors and became the new owner for 372 thousand RM (including 23 thousand RM from the Nantsch talcum factory). The previous ownership shares of the brothers Ludwig and Franz Hintz were transferred to Christian Hintz in 1948.[28] Uebersberger also acquired the Gebrüder Wiedenhofer company in Anger (Styria), Ranacher-Talkum-Werke, Federweiss-Werke and Greinitzer AG, combined them to form the Deutsche Talkumindustrie company and was appointed sole authorized signatory, managing director and operations manager of the plants.[29]

After the war

While Austria exported 95% of its talc before the war (14,087 tons in 1937), half of which went to Germany, production subsequently fell to 30%. Important mines and exporters are:

  • Austrian Talcum Industry, Vienna
  • Pyrite mining Naintsch, Graz
  • Talc and mica works Gustav Schilhan, Weisskirchen

In 1953, the entire property was owned by the Austrian Talcum Industry, Ernst August, Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg. In 1956, the shareholders were named: Prince Ernst August the Younger, Nordstemmen, Grete Rappaport, London; Dr. Edgar Elbogen, Zurich.[30] In 1959, the Naintsch - Kiwisch and Co. Talcum Works from Graz acquired the Austrian Talcum Industry company and thus also the property at Fusch. In 1978, the company's property was sold to a private individual and interest in the site was abandoned.

It is possible that the company was restituted to Elbogen's heirs in 1955 and Lothar was a victim of the Kladovo transport.[31] But it is also quite possible that he wanted to travel to China with the smuggler Josef Schleich via Yugoslavia and Italy. Lothar's cousin Paul together with Ing. Carlo Kornfeld (Via Pomerio 16) had met with Schleich in the Albergo Reale (Hotel Royal) in Fiume in February 1939 to make an agreement regarding the transport of Jewish emigrants from Graz to the East.[32][33]

The Aryanization case “Ed. Elbogen” was the subject of several criminal proceedings after 1945.[34]

Edgar Elbogen (– 8 May 1979; chemist, educator, artist), who lived in the village of Gnadenwald, Tyrol before 1934, resided in Haus Vigilia in St. Johann in Tirol in 1964. After fleeing the national regime, he returned from exile in 1945. A number of artists gathered around him. Due to the events of the war, Edgar Elbogen was even more convinced of the need to develop inner values ​​through art and in the entire education system. His wife Maria (1899–1998) inherited the local Alte Gerberei. The property was then transferred to a foundation in 1998 following a suggestion by his nephew and later adopted son Christian Ritsch (– 2002).[35] Since May 2023, Zima Unterberger has been realising the 45 million euro project "Elbogen Höfe" with 131 apartments between the Kitzbüheler Horn and the Wilder Kaiser.[36]

References

  1. ^ "Jakob Samuel Elbogen". 29 April 2022. Archived from the original on 2024-06-17.
  2. ^ "Melanie Elbogen | Opferdatenbank | Holocaust".
  3. ^ Anton Heitzmann: Leben im Lungau: alte Fotografien erzählen; p. 59
  4. ^ "Zeitschrift für Papier, Pappe, Zellulose und Holzstoff". 1897.
  5. ^ "Zeitschrift für Papier, Pappe, Zellulose und Holzstoff". 1897.
  6. ^ "2 (1927) das neue Wien : Städtewerk / HRSG. Unter offizieller Mitw. D. Gemeinde Wien. 2. 2 (1927) das neue Wien : Städtewerk / HRSG. Unter offizieller Mitw. D. Gemeinde Wien. 2". 1927.
  7. ^ Karl Schellauf, Dietmar Zehetner: 100 Jahre Feistritztalbahn; p. 49
  8. ^ "Mesto Hnúšťa".
  9. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20230219103253/https://historica.upol.cz/pdfs/hol/2022/02/07.pdf : Four years later, in 1926, magnesite mining was resumed in Hnúšťa-Mútnik in Slovakia under various operators, but they were unable to establish themselves on the Central European market dominated by Elbogen. After the construction of the Lovinobaňa plant in 1931, production in Mútnik was stopped and the plant's machinery (presses, wheel mixers and machine tools) was largely transferred to the Lovinobani plant. Only part of the talc grinding plant remained in operation until 1936. In 1937, Dr. Štefan Szakall from Číž and his partner, a German, Ing. Mayer, founded the company "Rimavskodolinský talcumovy proyelsky". The restored Dolna Magnesitka plant also included a Colegang type talc grinding plant and two Dräffer crushers. The following year, 1938, a room was built for processing flaked talc. The products were mainly exported to Budapest and to J. Elbogen in Vienna. Talc sales at this time were around 500 tons per year. The plant manager is Jozef Heinz. In the 1930s, Ing. Vojtech Rástocký (1885–1966) discovered a magnesite vein near the old Mashi near Hnúšte. In July 1934, Ing. Rástocký signed a lease agreement with the forestry company Sinco to carry out surveying work. Along with magnesite, a large amount of high-quality talc was identified at this location. Ing. Rástocký did not have sufficient financial means to extract it, so he sold all mining rights to the company Talkum-Bergbau-Gesellschaft m.b.H, based in Munich. The director of the company was Alfred Schnellhorn (and Bodo R. Gerhard; Neuhauserstr. 9 IV). After securing the necessary technical equipment and building the mining infrastructure, it was the largest and highest quality magnesite mine in the Hnúšťa district.)
  10. ^ "Domov". Archived from the original on 2024-03-01.
  11. ^ "Industrializzazione della Val Chisone da metà Ottocento agli anni Settanta del Novecento – Parte I – Pagina 3 – Portale della Val Chisone e Germanasca Pinerolese". 6 September 2021.
  12. ^ Chemiker-Zeitung, Bd. 38, 1914, p. 779
  13. ^ Farben-Zeitung, Bd. 23; p. 227
  14. ^ [A. Himmelbauer, R. Koechlin, A. Marchet, H. Michel, O. Rotky, J.E. Hibsch: Mineralogisches Taschenbuch der Wiener Mineralogischen Gesellschaft; 1928; p. 165 (Online)
  15. ^ Robert Kriechbaumer: Die Dunkelheit des politischen Horizonts. Salzburg 1933 bis 1938 in den Berichten der Sicherheitsdirektion; Band 3: Der Sturm bricht los. Vom Juli 1936 bis März 1938; S. 223 (google.de)
  16. ^ Ernst Steinfellner (* 22.3.1900 in Vienna) served in WW1 as a lance corporal in units of the Kriegsmarine, mainly in the Torpedo School II. Stamps in the pay book show that he was involved in the harbor surveillance of Frederikshavn in Denmark and was hospitalized in the summer of 1944. At the end of the war he was taken prisoner by the Allies.(https://web.archive.org/web/20240628150741/https://crainsmilitaria.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=532 Pay book, at crainsmilitaria) He became an engineer. In June 1929 he ran a "trade in hygienic and cosmetic articles" in Vienna.(Allgemeine Nachrichten No. 47. — 12 June 1929) He was an early member of the NSDAP, SA Sturmbannführer and regional training director of the NS Student Union. As acting administrator, he is soon overwhelmed by multiple appointments from companies such as Elbogen, Brüder Redlich, G. A. Wayss and Ullmann, Sobotka & Co.
  17. ^ Egon Iby was a student who was detained in the Wöllersdorf detention camp from November 1933 to January 1934 together with Hans Dörfler. He fled to Germany in September 1935. From 18 February 1938, he was the staff leader of the SA Brigade 12 and a member of the Austrian Legion. (Pia Schölnberger: The Wöllersdorf Detention Camp 1933 – 1938; p. 243, 244, footnotes 228, 231) In August 1938, he was on Hitler leave in the Old Reich. (Hans Witek, Hans Safrian: And nobody was there; 1988; p. 57)
  18. ^ Edwin Hauser (* 1901 in Vienna) was a taxi driver who had to sell his share in the taxi company due to a lack of sales. For him, the new times were worthwhile.
  19. ^ https://webcitation.org/6RvYv0ohq : Lothar E. wrote to Dr. (Leopold) Schmidek in the Hans Mann law firm, Stock-im-Eisen-Platz 3. (The Viennese lawyer Hanns Mann (1896 to 1944) was a member of the NSDAP since 1932 and of the SS since 1934 (most recently with the rank of Obersturmbannführer) and before the "Anschluss" he often worked as a legal representative of Austrian National Socialists. In March 1938 he "occupied the bar association and legally set up the lawyers' association of the legal guardians' association." Bankhaus Krentschker had repeatedly explained to him (Elbogen) that a transfer of Sperrmark from Aryanization proceeds was currently impossible. Attorney Schmidek learned at the district court that if he refused the Aryanization contract, the provisional administrator would simply sign it - with the same effect. He considered the draft contract to be a Leonine contract. He asked Max Feilchenfeld's son to be involved as an expert in the industry. Krubl, the aforementioned chairman in his criminal proceedings for currency offences, was in office until the end of September 1938. (Calendar for Reich Justice Officials from 1940; p. 454, 610)
  20. ^ 12/2016: Jördis Früchtenicht: Interview mit Professorin Cornelia Rauh: „Er machte, was ihm nützte“. https://taz.de/Interview-mit-Professorin-Cornelia-Rauh/!5359255/
  21. ^ Verena Pawlowsky, Harald Wendelin: Arisierte Wirtschaft: Raub und Rückgabe : Österreich von 1938 bis heute; 2005; p. 142
  22. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20210213024211/https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/fub188/16146/vierprinzen_letzte_fassung_copia.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
  23. ^ Pawlowsky, Wendelin: Arisierte Wirtschaft; p. 148
  24. ^ "Detailseite - Archivportal-D".
  25. ^ "ANNIE PAROLINI Obituary (2018) - Berryville, VA - the Washington Post". Legacy.com.
  26. ^ "Philadelphia Area Archives". Archived from the original on 2022-05-29.
  27. ^ Hans Safarin, Hans Witek: Und keiner war dabei; https://ulis-buecherecke.ch/Neue%20Einträge%202023/wien_1938_und_keiner_war_dabei.pdf ; pp. 256–257; https://archive.ph/ieG8G
  28. ^ Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Salzburger Landeskunde, Bd. 148 (2008); p. 337 "+Brüder+Ludwig+und+Franz+Hintz" Online
  29. ^ https://collections.ushmm.org/findingaids/RG-17.003M_03_fnd_de.pdf
  30. ^ Österreichisches Montan-Handbuch, Band 30 (1956), p. 189
  31. ^ Gert Kerschbaumer: Verzeichnis nationalsozialistischer Terroropfer im Bundesland Salzburg
  32. ^ Walter Brunner: Josef Schleich: "Judenschlepper" aus Graz 1938-1941. Eine Dokumentation; p 82 [1]
  33. ^ Gerald Lamprecht: Zonen der Begrenzung; 2014, S. 254
  34. ^ Lothar's former lawyer Otto Loeb was Uebersberger's defense attorney: https://collections.ushmm.org/findingaids/RG-17.003M_03_fnd_de.pdf (https://archive.ph/av0LK) Uebersberger was sentenced to one year of hard labor and forfeiture of assets in March 1947 and Hauser was acquitted in September 1950 due to lack of evidence.
  35. ^ "Musik Kultur St. Johann ← Nachhaltig Tagen ← Tourismus ← Umweltzeiche…".
  36. ^ https://archive.ph/PBfBG vn.at : 45-Millionen-Projekt in St. Johann

Literature

Theodor Venus, Alexandra-Eileen Wenck: Die Entziehung jüdischen Vermögens im Rahmen der Aktion Gildemeester. Eine empirische Studie über Organisation, Form und Wandel von „Arisierung“ und jüdischer Auswanderung in Österreich 1938–1941. (=Nationalsozialistische Institutionen des Vermögensentzuges, Band 2) Veröffentlichungen der Österreichischen Historikerkommission, Verlag Oldenbourg, Vienna/Munich 2004, ISBN 3-7029-0496-4

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