Hermann and Arthur Friedmann

From 1892, Hermann and his wife Clara ran a meat store with an associated gut and fur business in Jena. 3 years later son Arthur was born, who co-managed the company from 1915. The store was located in Grietgasse, but later branches were opened in Löbderstraße and Naumburg. The business did well and was soon able to demonstrate international connections through "a mixture of business acumen, diligence and the exploitation of scope ...". Hermann Friedmann used the business success associated with his rise into the prosperous middle class to become involved in both social and religious affairs. When Jena's Jewish community, the "Israelitische Religionsgemeinschaft" (Jewish Religious Community), was founded in 1896, he had been one of the 11 founders and spokesmen for the community, and even when the community was reestablished after World War I, Hermann took the position of leader and later also of prayer leader. In WW1 both Hartmann and Arthur had served. Arthur, as a former artillery officer and front-line soldier, was still awarded the Iron Cross, but he too, as a war veteran, encountered increasing exclusions because of his Jewish faith. The founding of the Jena chapter of the Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten in 1919 by Arthur Friedmann can therefore certainly be seen as a reaction to the growing anti-Semitism. Nevertheless, the family business continued to do well within the Weimar Republic, and between 1928 and 1931 the Friedmanns acquired a larger villa at Scheidlerstrasse 3 in Jena West, where from then on the congregation's services were held regularly.

Hermann Friedmann was born on 19.03.1870 near Meiningen as the son of the cattle dealer Abraham Friedmann. Following the family tradition, he began training in the butcher's trade in Barchfeld an der Werra (marked here is only the center of Barchfeld an der Werra, the exact place of training is not known). On the ensuing trek, he passed through Bremen, Dortmund and Frankfurt am Main, among other places, before setting up his own business in 1892. At this time he was already married to his wife Clara.

When the National Socialists came to power in 1933, the systematic exclusion of Jews*Jewesses in all areas of society began. The villa and the business of Hermann Friedmann were already important social meeting places at this time and developed under the repressive measures and denunciations of the Nazi regime to probably the most important starting point of Jewish self-assertion in Jena. In particular, sports and club life was sustained by the store's resources. Arthur had founded the Schildverein Jena in 1935 as a sports division of the local RjF group, which he had also founded. Due to anti-Semitic decrees and laws ("Nuremberg Race Laws"), it was no longer possible for the Jewish population to practice sports elsewhere. At the beginning, the Jewish sports group had 30 members, and the number quickly increased. The sports offered were varied and ranged from soccer and handball to gymnastics and athletics. The central problem of the sports group was above all the provision of the necessary sports fields and halls. This was hindered primarily by the anti-Semitic decrees and actions on the part of the National Socialist system, but also by initiatives from the population. Hermann Friedmann provided the Jewish sports club with materials and rooms in his store in Grietgasse, as well as the private tennis court.

In the course of the November pogroms, Hermann Friedmann was deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp together with his son Arthur. Subsequently, negotiations began for the "Aryanization" of the Friedmann family business, which was finally transferred to the Hörchner family on December 05, 1938 for 35,500 Reichsmarks, which was only half of the estimated value, including the branch at Löbderstraße 5. Hermann and Arthur were released early to sign the contract, but Hermann died on February 15, 1940 from the long-term effects of his imprisonment. The family's villa was still used as collective housing for Jena's Jewish population during these years, but was then completely confiscated by the city in 1940. After the death of his father, Arthur Friedmann decided to flee Germany. This was made possible by the remaining money, luck and connections of the family. The necessary visa could be organized in 1941 by an uncle in Denver and so Arthur, together with his wife and children, left Germany on one of the last trains, first in the direction of Barcelona, and from there boarded a ship to America.