Hans Kroch

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Hans Kroch as a facade figure at the Petershof in Leipzig

Hans Kroch (full name Hans Meyer Zwi Kroch ) (born June 3, 1887 in Leipzig , † February 7, 1970 in Jerusalem ) was a German-Jewish banker .

Life

Kroch attended the König-Albert-Gymnasium in Leipzig. In 1922 he joined the private bank Kroch jr, founded by his father Martin Samuel Kroch (* November 20, 1853, † October 25, 1926) in 1877 . KG a. A. and later became a personally liable partner . In 1923 he was a founding member and member of the supervisory board of the Leipziger Messe and exhibition company .

In 1928, Bankhaus Kroch moved into the Krochhochhaus on Augustusplatz designed by the architect German Bestelmeyer . With a height of 43 meters, it was Leipzig's first high-rise . In addition, Kroch, as the main shareholder of the AG für Haus- und Grundbesitz 1929–1930, financed the construction of the Krochsiedlung in Leipzig- Gohlis , a residential complex of early social housing in the classic modern style, which was soon popularly named after him .

Kroch high-rise

In the course of the “ Aryanization ” of German companies by the National Socialists , Kroch was arrested on November 10, 1938 after the pogrom night and taken to the Buchenwald concentration camp , later Sachsenhausen . Only after he had given a waiver of the corporate assets of the Kroch banking house on behalf of all family members was he released and the bank was finally taken over by Industrie- und Handelsbank AG . Kroch managed to escape to Amsterdam with his children , later he emigrated to Argentina and finally emigrated to Israel , where he built the Eretz Hatzvi hotel complex ("Hirschland", later renamed Holyland ) in the Jerusalem suburb of Bayit VeGan . His wife Ella Kroch, b. Baruch (born July 16, 1896 in Karlsruhe , May 12, 1942 in Ravensbrück ), who initially stayed behind to cover up her escape, was arrested on her own escape. She was deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1940 and murdered there two years later.

The son Jacob was killed in the Israeli War of Independence in 1948 while fighting for Kibbutz Nitzanim. In memory of him, Hans Kroch donated the Holyland model to the city of Jerusalem . It has been on the campus of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem since 2006 .

literature

  • Hans-Otto Spithaler, Rolf H. Weber, Monika Zimmermann: Kroch - the name remains. The fate of a Jewish family business in Leipzig. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 2018, ISBN 978-3-96311-007-8 .
  • Horst Riedel: Stadtlexikon Leipzig from A to Z. Pro Leipzig, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-936508-03-8 .
  • Rainer Behrends: Bankhaus Kroch. The facade of the first high-rise building on Augustusplatz has been renovated. Leipzig sheets. Issue 40. Passage-Verlag, Leipzig 2002, pp. 10-13 ( excerpt from the web ).
  • Cornelia Junge: The carillon reconciled. The history of the Kroch House. Leipzig University Journal. Issue 4/2002, pp. 39–41 ( PDF version ).

Web links

  • Stumbling blocks Leipzig: Ella Kroch
  • CLOSER Issue 10: [1] , Dec. 2005 - Feb. 2006, page 11

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joseph Walk (ed.): Short biographies on the history of the Jews 1918–1945. Edited by the Leo Baeck Institute, Jerusalem. Saur, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-598-10477-4 , p. 206.
  2. ^ The Model of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period. In: The Israel Museum. Retrieved March 17, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Kroch, Hans
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kroch, Hans Meyer Zwi (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German banker
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH 7th February 1970
Place of death Jerusalem