Feldmann, Fritz

On September 1, 1896, Fritz was born in Berlin as the sixth child in the family of the factory owner Simon and Sophie Feldmann (née Wagner). At that time, the family still lived at Stralauer Strasse 41. Like his siblings, Fritz took up a practical profession. After the death of his father Simon in 1925, Fritz took over the management of the tannery together with his mother. Fritz continued to run the business as it had been built up by his parents. The factory had around 100 workers and employees. According to Willi Neumann Wagner's memories, this factory was very well known and respected in the textile industry. Fritz married Berta Lindheimer in Nassau (Lahn) in 1934 and lived with her at Tabbertstra<e 14. The marriage remained childless. 

In the wake of the anti-Jewish laws, Fritz took his own life on 29.11.1938. He was only 42 years old. The accounts of his death are contradictory. One source says that he shot himself. The other source, the memoirs of Willi Neumann Wagner, states that he died of heart failure suffering from angina pectoris. Willi Neumann describes that he discussed a detail of the capital levy with Fritz Feldmann in his apartment in Güntzelstraße on November 27, 1938. On November 28, 1938, Fritz Feldmann went to the tax office to obtain a suspension of the payment. However, this attempt was unsuccessful. He had to lie down in the afternoon and by breakfast the next morning he had passed away. The staff, some of whom had worked in the factory for more than three decades, were not allowed to attend the funeral. His wife Berta, 15 years his junior, fled to Belgium and remarried. However, she did not escape persecution and was deported to Auschwitz and murdered in August 1942.