Store/Shop

The origins of the banking business B. J. Friedheim & Co. go back to 1847. The princely court agent Baruch Jakob Friedheim, who founded a drapery business together with his brother in 1795, received the princely privilege to establish a loan house in 1799. In 1847 Baruch Jakob received permission from Duke Heinrich von Anhalt-Küthen to establish a savings bank. In 1872, Felix Friedheim, a grandson of the company founder, joined the company as a partner.

In the Berlin address book edition 1923 the following entry can be found: Japhet & Co.,Kommandit-Gesellschaft Nachf., S.,W56, Markgrafenstr.56a. T.    -  Saemy Japhet was born in Frankfurt am Main. At the age of 15 he received an apprenticeship as a banker at a German bank. After a few years in London, he founded the S. Japhet & Company banking house. Saemy Japhet was a famous banker and philanthropist. He contributed to a number of Jewish causes and took a keen interest in the development of Palestine, although he never identified with the Zionist organization.

In the Berlin Address Book 1921 - IV. Handel und Gewerbetreibende - Felle und Häute - is the following entry - Blumenfeld, Sally, C25, Kaiserstraße 3  T. - Sally Blumenfeld, born in 1844, was married to Klara Blumenfeld, née Nussbaum, born in Frankfurt a. M. on August 5, 185. The couple had 3 children - Henry Hirsch Blumenfeld, b. 17. 3.1878 in Hannover, Julius and Suse. Towards the end of the 19th century the Blumenfeld family moved to Berlin. Sally Blumenfeld founded there a commission and export business with hides and skins.

In the Frankfurt address book 1925 is the following entries: Edenfeld Mor.S., merchant, Kettenhof - Weg No. 121. (Tel. Taunus 1548)  -  Moritz Edenfeld, Tuch u. Buckskin Großhandlung, Schnurgasse 43, Tel. (Hansa 3081), Inh. Mor.S.Edenfeld und J. Marx (Wiesb.). Proc. Karl Werner.

The roots of the Netheim family go back to 1784 to Ottbergen.There lived the first known ancestor of the family.Gumpert was married and died before his wife.Daughter Gella ( Helene) Gumpert (1777-1812) was married to Seligmann Salomon Eichholz and lived in Willebadessen.Son Feibelmann Gumpert Netheim (1770-1842) married Brendel Frohsinn (1772-1853).The couple had five children.Youngest son Salomon (1812-1900) was married to Henriette (Jettchen) Goldstein (1819-1901).The couple had seven children.

After working at another Jewish bookstore in the neighborhood, Hirsch (Tzvi) Lewin opened his own at Grenadierstra;e 28 in 1930, calling it the "Hebräische Buchhandlung" although it sold a wide variety of Judaica (ritual items) in addition to Jewish books. Rare books were kept in the basement. Another one of the store's sidelines, gramophone records, became its new specialty as Lewin founded the Semer music label in 1932 and began recording Jewish singers, especially cantors and theatrical performers, in a recording studio inside the bookshop.