Oils and greases in bulk - Max Hellmann

Max Hellmann was born in Burgkunstadt on November 24, 1889. His father had a shop for oils, greases and lubricants in Altenkunstadt and Max Hellmann supplied customers (farmers) in the surrounding area by bicycle. As a soldier in the First World War, he was seriously wounded in France in 1917. In 1919 he married Katinka Erlanger from Fischach
near Augsburg. In the 1920s, the couple opened a store for oils and lubricants in Lichtenfels at Bamberger Strasse 45 1/3. After the business was destroyed during the Reichspogromnacht in 1938 and Max Hellmann was interned, the business had to be closed at the end of the year. From April 14, 1939, the Hellmanns were registered in the Judenhaus at Judengasse 14. On April 25, 1942, Max and Kathinka Hellmann were deported from Würzburg via Krasnystaw to Krasniczyn. In all likelihood, those deported via Würzburg were taken to Sobibor on June 6, 1942 and murdered there. Siegfried, the only son of Max and Kathinka Hellmann, managed a daring escape on an old Danube steamer to the Black Sea and on to Palestine in 1940.