Bruno Wallheimer

On October 4, 1899, Bruno Wallheimer was born in Oldenburg, the youngest of five children of the merchant Hermann Heinemann Wallheimer (May 3, 1861-August 23, 1917) and his wife Pauline Wallheimer, née Marxsohn (November 2, 1864-December 27, 1932). The family was one of the oldest in Oldenburg and was strongly connected by kinship with other Jewish families living in Oldenburg.

Already in 1852, the house in the Heiligengeiststraße 30 (formerly No. 29), which was first used only as a residential building, and later also as a commercial building through extensions and conversions, belonged to the Wallheimer family. In the family it was always passed on by succession, so that both Hermann and Pauline Heinemann as well as their children lived there.

Just like their father Hermann, their sons Bruno, Julius Max (December 31, 1893-1968) and Max (June 21, 1896-October 24, 1916) took up the profession of merchants. This took Julius Max first to Bonn, later he emigrated to South Africa. Bruno completed an apprenticeship as a merchant and moved to Frankfurt am Main in 1916. He then did his military service in World War I and on his return took over the Hermann Wallheimer ladies' fashion store in Oldenburg. Max moved to Hildesheim and was drafted into military service, from which he did not return. Else (born October 14, 1890) was the oldest of the five children. She married the merchant Otto David, with whom she subsequently lived in Cologne. On May 01, 1942, she was murdered in the Chełmno extermination camp. Irma (born May 23, 1892) married the merchant Gustav Brandt. Her date of death is unknown.

In the 1920s, Oldenburg could already look back on a wide-ranging sports landscape. Gymnastics and sports clubs were formed in the various districts. In accordance with the predominantly positive contact between Jews and a large part of the population in Oldenburg until the 1920s and partly the 1930s, many Jews were also among the members of the clubs. The integration of these into the sports clubs was demonstrated, among other things, by their involvement there.

So also with Bruno Wallheimer, which made a substantial contribution to the development of the tennis departments of the two associations VfB Oldenburg and OTeV. Before that, his father Hermann already took on leading roles in Oldenburg sports clubs. Bruno, like his brother Julius, was accepted into the VfB in 1919 and was active there in the successful tennis department as chairman as well as an athlete.

Already in 1922, the tennis department of the VfB was able to inaugurate its own tennis court facility on Kranbergstraße, which was made possible primarily by Bruno's generous financial support. He also supported the club through regular advertisements in the club newspaper. Bruno was highly honored for his commitment to the club by an unnamed reviewer: "... May it be granted to see him at the helm of the department for a long time to come, because I am probably not saying too much when I claim that the interests of the tennis department are in the best hands with him" (Schachtschneider 1997: 177).

In 1924, Bruno resigned from his position for unknown reasons and joined the OTeV. Because of his organizational skills, he was appointed a member of the board on May 06, 1927. In December 1935 Bruno held the office of chairman of the Oldenburg Shield Group, a Jewish sports club, which was founded due to the exclusion of Jews from sports clubs after 1933.

The social structure of the Oldenburg Jews consisted essentially of three social groups: Downtown merchants, livestock dealers and butchers, and tradesmen. In the ready-to-wear clothing industry, the Jewish merchants of the retail and wholesale trade carried two-thirds of the women's ready-to-wear clothing. In general, 40% of the clothing industry was Jewish owned. As a rule, sales were made through a business house in the city center, as was the case with Bruno Wallheimer, who operated the prestigious Hermann Wallheimer ladies' clothing store at Heiligengeiststraße 29 (today No. 30) in Oldenburg. The store was named after his father Hermann.

The anti-Semitism that existed in everyday life increased in 1929 with the onset of the economic crisis and expressed itself primarily in anti-Semitic agitation against Jewish retailers*. With Hitler's appointment as Reich Chancellor in 1933, these attacks increased further and even received a legal basis, which justified depriving the Jewish population of its material basis through state-organized boycott actions. From 1933 on, the term "Aryanization" was introduced into the language of the authorities for this purpose, which stood for the robbery of the assets of the Jewish minority and at the same time described a comprehensive process of expropriation. This process is to be understood not only as a political process, but at the same time as a process of society as a whole, in which the majority of the German population participated.

In Oldenburg, 60 businesses had to be forcibly closed or sold to "Aryan" applicants as a result of this procedure. The profiteers of the business takeovers were mostly Oldenburg businessmen who seized the opportunity to quickly enrich themselves and proudly proclaimed the "Aryanization" of the businesses. This was also the case with the 'business takeover' of Bruno Wallheimer on 09.01.1937 by Peter Schütte. This was announced in a "takeover advertisement" in the newspaper.

On September 15, 1935, the Nazi leadership promulgated the "Nuremberg Laws," which included regulations on the relationship of non-Jewish and Jewish citizens. As a result, both marriages and sexual contact between them were prohibited by law and made punishable by the charge of "racial defilement."

This charge also affected Bruno Wallheimer, for he had been in an illegitimate relationship for several years with the Christian Ottilie (born May 13, 1910 in Osternburg), also called "Otty." Because of Bruno's notoriety, his charge, which was one among several of its kind in Oldenburg, was widely noticed in society. While walking together in Oldenburg's castle gardens, Bruno Wallheimer was arrested and subsequently found himself in pre-trial detention from December 07, 1936 to July 12, 1937. During this time, he received support from the state rabbi Leo Trepp  as well as the employees* of his store.

At the main hearing, both his girlfriend Ottilie and the state rabbi were present as witnesses to Bruno Wallheimer's innocence, although the latter was advised to stay away from the proceedings, as riots were feared in the event of a possible acquittal. The Jewish Oldenburg lawyer Ernst Löwenstein took over Bruno's defense.

As a result of a lack of evidence, the trial ended with an acquittal for Bruno Wallheimer, which was very rare for the charge of "racial defilement." Among the accused Oldenburg Jews, he was the only one who received an acquittal. The feared riots also did not occur. Thus, following the trial, he was able to flee Germany with the support of friends in a car that was already waiting in front of the courthouse.

Directly after his acquittal in court, Bruno Wallheimer fled to the Netherlands. According to individual sources, he initially deported to New York on September 20, 1937, but this cannot be proven. New York is conceivable both as an actually planned destination and as a deliberate misrepresentation to conceal the new whereabouts.

There is, however, evidence that he took up residence in Amsterdam, Overtoom 402 JS, on February 25, 1938. His girlfriend Ottilie also followed him to the Netherlands shortly after his escape. During a stay in London, they married on March 19, 1938, after which Ottilie lived together with Bruno in Amsterdam from March 31, 1938. On July 03, 1939, they both moved to Overtoom 331 II, but their time together there did not last long.

With the invasion and German occupation of the Netherlands from May 10, 1940, life became increasingly difficult for the Jews living there, many of whom, like Bruno, had fled from Germany to the Netherlands. The deportations of Jews organized by the National Socialists took place more and more.

On September 24, 1941, Bruno was also captured and deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp. There he died a "suicide by exposure to high voltage" at 06:50 on March 19, 1942 (Paulsen 2001: 153). Ottilie was also imprisoned in 1941 and deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. After liberation, she returned to Oldenburg in 1945. In 1953, the house at Heiligengeiststraße 30 was transferred back to her based on a ruling by the regional court.