Hermann Lewandowski

Hermann Lewandowski (born April 26, 1875 in Stralkowo , Province of Posen , † 1950 in London ) was a German manufacturer . His company Venetia turned confectionery ago.

biography

1918 to 1938

In 1918, Hermann Lewandowski and his partner David Diamant founded a branch in Lichtenberg near Berlin of the first factory of the two business partners, located on Venitianerstraße in Poznan . As a tribute to Posen, the company at Rittergutstrasse 32–34 was named the Venetia Chocolate and Sugar Confectionery Factory .

Two years later, in 1921, the branch became the headquarters of the factory. In the meantime the city of Lichtenberg had been incorporated into Berlin.

Venetia made chocolates , sweets , jams and jams .

David Diamant died in 1931. Hermann Lewandowski then continued to run the factory alone. In 1933 Venetia employed 400 people. The company had its own specialty shop.

Hermann Lewandowski was married to his partner's sister, Sarah Diamant. The couple had two sons, Georg and Kurt. Georg was born in Poznan in 1912, Kurt in 1918. Both sons worked for Venetia .

1938 to 1949

In 1938 the factory was Aryanized . The Lewandowski family emigrated to England . Kurt Lewandowski founded the Caxton Chocolates Company in north London . His father and brother joined the company.

Kurt Lewandowski took on British citizenship . From 1938 he was named Kirk Lawton. His older brother Georg, who had a doctorate, was called George Lawton.

Vain George Lawton tried after the end of Nazism about Venetia recover. The factory site was in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, the later GDR . In 1949 the factory became public property .

From 1949

George Lawton died in 1949. A year later, in 1950, Hermann Lewandowski died. Kirk Lawton died in 1970.

The German reunification led to the company being returned to the heirs of Georg and Kurt Lewandowski. These sold Venetia . The factory's production building was blown up.

See also

• Open property questions

literature

• Roland Ender: Venetia chocolate and sugar confectionery factory . In: Factory town Lichtenberg, uphill - downhill in the east of Berlin . Lichtenberger Contributions, Issue 3, published by the Lichtenberg District Office of Berlin, Berlin (Ruksaldruck) 1997, pp. 82–85.
• Venetia's bittersweet years. Chocolate and sugar factory, Rittergutstr. 32-34 . In: Thea Koberstein, Norbert Stein: Jews in Lichtenberg, with the former districts in Friedrichshain, Hellersdorf and Marzahn . Berlin (Druckhaus Hentrich) 1995, pp. 152–159, ISBN 3-89468-191-8 .

Web links

• November 9, 1938. On the trail of Jewish life in Lichtenberg , accessed on January 11, 2020. (PDF; 1.3 MB)
• Jewish businesses in Berlin 1930-1945 , accessed on January 11, 2020.
• Orange sandwich wafer chocolate block from the Caxton Chocolate Company , accessed January 11, 2020.