Moses Simson and family

When Jews were granted the right to freely choose their place of residence and unrestricted commercial activity in Prussia with the introduction of the General Trade Regulations of 1845 and the law "concerning the circumstances of Jews" of 1847, the brothers Moses and Löb Simson were already among the well-known businessmen in Suhl. In the third generation they continued the business of their grandfather and father and in the 1840s began to buy shares in insolvent companies as well as real estate. First, in 1848, they acquired house No. 116 (now No. 8), which was in a prime location on Suhl's market. While his older brother Löb remained in Schwarza as Parnas, Moses moved with his family into the acquired house. Two years later, the premises of the residential house were also used for the trading business Gebr. Simson, in which Moses and Löb sold mainly fabrics. Today, in Suhl's market square, there is little to remind us of the brothers' former and first store. Although the house has received a new facade and the large windows from the time of the Simsons no longer adorn the basement, the row of windows and their frame on the second floor are still clearly recognizable. While there are apartments on the two upper floors, a snack bar is currently run on the first floor, which was also the site of the cut-meal shop.

The origin of the Simson family in Suhl can actually be traced back to the village of Mühlfeld near Mellrichstadt. Here lived and worked around the middle of the 18th century the Schutzjude Simson Liebmann, father of Liebmann Simson born in 1750. Liebmann Simson himself found employment as a drover and farmhand with Moses Meyer, a well-off cattle dealer in Heinrichs. In his seven years of service, he managed to gain trading experience and generate equity of 1000 talers. Finally, in 1772, Liebmann, now twenty-two years old, thought about getting married; there was already a marriageable daughter in his employer's house. In order to fulfill his wish to marry, Liebmann Simson needed a letter of protection, which he applied for from the Suhl bailiff in exchange for a payment of 25 talers. After the bailiff rejected the request because the permissible number of protection letters in Suhl had already been issued, Liebmann Simson turned to the Imperial Count Heinrich Ernst zu Stolberg. The latter allowed him to settle in neighboring Schwarza as a Schutzjude and to operate a grocery store. The coveted letter of protection was handed over to Liebmann Simson on March 1, 1773, and the marriage took place one year later. After Liebmann had also succeeded in 1778 in acquiring a free trade pass from the Henneberg superintendence in Schleusingen, and his brother Moses was in possession of a trade concession, the brothers decided to operate a trading company. The Simsons traded mainly in cows, but also in beds, pants and skirts, among other goods. His first marriage produced two children. After his wife died, Liebmann Simson married again in 1795. His second wife Debora, called Vora, bore him six more children. Meanwhile, Liebmann had become the head of the Schwarza Jewish community. Finally, he died in 1818; his wife Vora remained in Schwarza with their children and ran not only a cattle and goods trade, but also a money lending business.

Moses Simson's father Simson Lippmann, who was born around 1785, was able to continue the already existing trade relations. He emerged from the first marriage of his father Liebmann Simson. In 1806 he married Mindel, the daughter of Meyer Löb from Heinrichs, although the fathers of the married couple had previously been trading rivals. After founding his own household, Simson Lippmann carried on his own trading business; like his father before him, he concentrated on the trading area in the Henneberg region of Electoral Saxony. However, Simson Lippmann died before his father in 1812, leaving behind five minor children in addition to his widow; in addition to three daughters, the sons Moses and Löb Simson, who are considered the founders of the Simson-Werke. The estate left behind, which amounted to 11,939 Reichstaler and also included the house property in Schwarza, was administered by a guardian until the children came of age.

At the western end of Heinrichs lies the Simson industrial area, which is still preserved and occupied by various companies. The history of the Simson family business began and ended on this site, of whose nucleus, the Old Steel Hammer, nothing can be seen at present. When the brothers Moses and Löb Simson acquired a one-third share in the Old Steel Hammer for 852 Reichstaler in 1854, the hammer, originally operated as a sawmill, could already look back on a history of more than one hundred years. As can be seen from the literature, the Simsons' hammer mill holdings were daring ventures; at this time, Suhl's economic situation was visibly deteriorating, especially in this area. Only a few years earlier, the region was hit by an enormous unemployment, which especially shook the steel and iron manufacturing industries. Moses and Löb Simson were not intimidated by the situation. In 1856, they obtained majority ownership of the Old Steel Hammer, which was to become theirs in its entirety ten years later. Therefore, historical accounts date the founding year of the Simson Works as 1856. In the following years, the Simsons invested in the reconstruction of the steel hammer. After a grinding shop with two machine shops had been built, they began manufacturing bayonets, sidearms and rifle barrels between 1860 and 1863. In addition, the registration of the company Gebr. Simson as a bayonet and ramrod factory in the Suhl trade register took place in 1862. Löb Simson was only able to enjoy this for a short time; he died in the same year at the age of 56. The economic upswing that began in 1860 meant that orders soon exceeded the capacity of the Old Steel Hammer, which is why Moses Simson acquired two more hammers in the following years, which were already idle at the time. The Simsons succeeded in entering the Suhl arms industry initially as suppliers, but soon the family business was also carrying out final production itself. To this end, Moses Simson not only had a rifle factory built in a duplex in Suhl, but even acquired workshops in Hirschbach, not far away, through the use of which the production capacity for bayonets could be increased even further. Moses also looked for a specialist in the industry and found him in weapons engineer Karl Luck, who took over the engineering management of the rifle factory after it was founded as the general partnership Simson & Luck in 1865 in the commercial register. Karl Luck remained with the company even after the death of its founder in 1868 - now managing it for six years with the widowed Louise Simson, until four of her seven sons had been sufficiently inducted into the management positions of their father's legacy. While Hugo Simson was from now on in charge of the Suhl trading business Gebr. Simson, Simson and Gerson Simson followed in their father's footsteps in the arms trade. Through Gerson's entrepreneurial skills, the family business would later grow into a large-scale operation. In 1866, the rifle factory was able to secure a share of Prussian army contracts. Ten years later, they entered into a relationship with the Saxon War Ministry. After becoming a major supplier to the Saxon Army, the family business crossed the threshold into a medium-sized enterprise with 200 employees. In 1887, the Simsons parted company with their former partner Karl Luck. All production finally moved to the Heinrichs factory, where a new factory building, a new warehouse, a mail order house and several outbuildings had been built in the meantime. When Karl Luck left the company, its name was changed to Simson & Co. Subsequently, the company not only manufactured military, hunting and luxury weapons on a grand scale, but also advanced to become one of the largest bicycle manufacturers in Germany. In 1899, the Simsons set up a branch office in Berlin, presumably to "maintain contacts with the responsible army departments for military orders" (Schmuck, Volker: Simson. Eine Weltmarke im Wandel der Geschichte, Vellmar 2008, p. 29). Five years later, there was another generational change in the management of the company. After the death of Gerson Simson, under whose leadership the number of employees had risen to 1,200, his son Leonhard followed in his father's footsteps at the Suhl location, while his brothers Max and Julius moved to Berlin and managed the business of the branch office. Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, automobile production began at Heinrichs and was to continue until 1934. Particularly well known is the Simson Supra model developed from 1924, which was hard to beat in hill climbs. The order situation during the First World War demanded a renewed expansion of the factory premises. In all, the Heinrichs site expanded by 26 additions or new buildings. In addition, the Simsons made investments in machinery and equipment during this period, so that the company had a large fleet of machines. Meanwhile, Simson & Co. provided jobs for about 3,500 people. Armaments production took up the entire plant in the period from 1915 to 1917, and the manufacture of war weapons such as the Maxim MG 08/15 light machine gun increased fourfold. As in all parts of the country, economic life in Suhl lay low after the end of the First World War. After out-of-town workers left the city again, there were numerous rallies in the streets of Suhl, Thuringia, where the Suhl workforce demanded that the Simsons pay them a share of the profits that war production had brought in. Eventually, the workers were awarded one million marks, the distribution of which was based on the length of service with the company as well as the number of children. The production of bicycles and hunting weapons as well as the further development of automobiles, which had virtually ceased during the war, could now be resumed. The first attacks by the National Socialists began as early as 1927. Fritz Sauckel, Gauleiter of the Gau of Thuringia, initially failed to provide any solid evidence of suspicious behavior on the part of the Simson family when it came to cost accounting. The ministry in Erfurt, to which Sauckel presented his accusations, rejected him. However, the year 1935 ushered in the end of the Simsons' success story in Suhl. The National Socialists finally expropriated the family's property. The expropriation agreement of November 23/28 was met with indignation across the country's borders. In Holland, Belgium, France, Austria, and even in the United States, magazines expressed their displeasure with this step taken by the National Socialist rulers. Not all members of the Simson family managed to escape abroad.

A Jewish community arose in Heinrichs after the Jews received the right of settlement in 1708. The first Jews in Heinrichs are the cattle traders Levi Koppel and his son-in-law Aaron Katz, who lived in Schwarza until that time. The Jewish cemetery in Heinrichs was opened around 1720 in a wooded area in the parcel "An der Haardt". Until 1903 the Jewish community, whose center of gravity had meanwhile shifted to Suhl, used the cemetery, which was transferred to the Jewish Community of Thuringia in 2007 and is still preserved today under monument protection. The cemetery contains the double grave of Moses Simson and his wife Luise.

Gerson Simson lived in the house at 12 Mühltorstrasse in Suhl with his wife and their joint children Arthur, Max, Leonhard, Rosalie, Julius, Ernst and Minna. His wife Jeanette, formerly Heller, who was born in Forchheim in 1847, moved into the villa at Domberg after her husband's death.

The Simson villa, which can still be found today on Suhl's Domberg, was occupied by the entrepreneurial family in 1912. Until that time, the Simsons had occupied a house in Mühltorstraße. Initially, the family aimed to build a residence in Suhl's Aue. However, this was opposed by the city. They also objected to the subsequent plans to build the new family residence on Dombergweg. Only when the Simson family announced that they would move their residence to the neighboring town of Zella - Mehlis in the event of final rejection, did the town of Suhl grant the necessary building permit. Now the villa could be built according to the plans of the Berlin architect Hermann Muthesius. From 1935, the National Socialists expropriated the family's property, including their residence. The owners of the family property at that time were the brothers Julius and Arthur Simson. After the Second World War, the villa was temporarily used as a guesthouse and hotel before the Simsons' descendants, Ewald Mayer and Dennis Baum, filed a claim for restitution of the expropriated business assets and real estate with the Federal Ministry of Justice in Bonn on October 29, 1990. Meanwhile, the building is for sale.

After the center of gravity of the Jewish community had shifted to Suhl, a new Jewish cemetery was opened in 1903 about 200 meters above the former synagogue on today's "Street of the Victims of Fascism". It is located opposite the city's main cemetery and crematorium. In addition to the approximately 50 preserved gravestones, the cemetery contains a tahara house. The gravesite of Leonhard Simson, who had a fatal accident while swimming in Lake Chiemsee in 1929, and that of his parents stand out in particular. Leonhard's grave is set in a walk-in stone temple-like enclosure. Gerson and Jeanette's tombstone consists of three elements: two flank elements, of which the left element is dedicated to Gerson and the right element to Jeanette, enclose a gate-like element lying in the center, on which "Gerson Simson" can be read once again. On the upper edges are a total of four spheres, two of which are also supported by ashlars.