Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co. Sarphatistraat

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Under the cover name Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co. Sarphatistraat (short form Liro , from 1942 also without the addition Sarphatistraat ), instead of the branch of a reputable bank of the same name, an executive authority under the supervision of the Reich Commissioner for the occupied Netherlands was hidden . This “dummy bank” served as a depository for confiscated Jewish property and took care of its utilization; it is therefore also known as a “robbery bank”.

The bank building in Sarphatistraat (2012)

background

The expropriation of Jews in Western Europe gradually followed a certain pattern: At the beginning there was the definition of Jew and Jewish company , then Jewish companies were placed under provisional administration, decisions about their Aryanization or liquidation were made and all - including private - assets were withdrawn from the control of their owners . Cash, credit balances, securities and valuables were then concentrated in one institution and processed from there. Finally, the monetary value was pooled in a collective account and confiscated.

In the Netherlands, the "success rate" of robbery was particularly high compared to France and Belgium: 19,000 of 21,000 Jewish companies were liquidated and 80 percent of the securities confiscated were sold on the stock exchange. The "dummy bank" Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co was the "most important instrument of expropriation" in the Netherlands.

Foundation and personnel

Bankhaus Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co had been based in Amsterdam since 1859 and had developed into an internationally known private bank with an excellent reputation in the 1880s through the issue of government bonds for Mexico, Russia and Portugal. As early as May 1940, this bank was placed under German administration, but two Jewish shareholders were able to continue working there unmolested until the end of the war. Both presumably seemed indispensable to the foreign exchange protection command in order to be able to handle current foreign exchange transactions with Portugal worth 80 million escudos .

On August 8, 1940, Arthur Seyß-Inquart ordered that Jewish companies and wealthy Jews had to transfer all securities , balances and deposits as well as cash amounts over one thousand guilders to the Lippmann, Rosenthal and Co. bank. For this purpose, the agency Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co. Sarphatistraat was set up as an allegedly “separate department” of the renowned Jewish banking house Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co , based in the Nieuwe Spiegelstraat . The new institute moved into the premises of the Depositenkasse Sarphatistraat 47-55 belonging to the Amsterdamsche Bank; the street was renamed Muiderschans in 1942. In 1942, in a fundamental ordinance obliging all Jews to surrender their assets, the name Bankhaus Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co was used without any additions, but it meant the “dummy bank ” in the former Sarphatistraat.

Hans Fischböck , at that time General Commissioner for Economy and Finance in the occupied Netherlands, wanted to pretend to be a solid bank and appointed Alfred Flesche as joint managing director. In fact, however, the management of Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co. Sarphatistraat was the responsibility of General Director Walter von Karger or his successor Otto Witscher. Both institutions worked materially and personally separately from one another; each had its own bookkeeping and accounted for itself separately.

Only a small part of the employees, exclusively “non-Jewish followers”, were taken over by the bank from the Nieuwe Spiegelstraat, whereby the “reliability in political terms” was checked by the German security service . By June 1941, the number of employees had grown to 268. According to the area of ​​responsibility, the number rose to 510 from the spring of 1942 and fell to 299 in 1943. In 1942, additional columns from the Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Amsterdam were paid to register the belongings of the deportees as part of Aktion M , to estimate their value and to transport them away.

First Liro regulation

Through the ordinance “on the treatment of Jewish capital assets” of August 8, 1941, all Jewish companies, foundations and associations as well as private individuals whose assets exceeded ten thousand guilders or who had an annual income of over three thousand guilders had to register their assets. All securities and credit balances as well as cash amounts above one thousand guilders had to be delivered to the agency Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co. Sarphatistraat, founded for this purpose. By the end of September 1941, fifteen million guilders had been collected and booked from private Jewish assets; Shares and bonds not included.

The persons required to deliver, in view of the exemption limits mainly the wealthier, lost the right of disposal over their property. The account holders were allowed to withdraw money from their credit balance for subsistence purposes, but this had to be applied for and approved by the bank's auditing department.

Second Liro regulation

The Second Liro Ordinance of May 21, 1942 on “the treatment of Jewish assets” expanded access to all private Jewish assets. This ordinance drove the robbery “with terrifying meticulousness, as it remained unique in occupied Western Europe.” Property and claims of all kinds such as claims from mortgages and leases, life insurance, usufructuary rights as well as pension payments, wages and salaries had to be stated. The liro became a creditor; all monetary payments were to be made exclusively to the Liro.

Almost all previously set exemption limits were removed, all cash and assets over 250 guilders had to be delivered. Securities in the depot were not accessible to their Jewish owners. In addition, collections of all kinds, works of art, gold, silver, precious stones and pearls were to be given to the Liro. Only wedding rings, a watch and four-part silver cutlery were allowed to remain. Horses, land vehicles and watercraft had to be registered in writing with the Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Amsterdam ; only the general commissioner for security, Hanns Albin Rauter, should have it. Each family was granted a monthly allowance of 250 guilders to cover their livelihood. An annual report by Liro for 1942 states that the vaults were insufficient and that other rooms had to be rented.

On November 21, 1942, Fischböck instructed the management to close the approximately 23,000 individually managed accounts of full Jews and to transfer the credit to a collective account. The intention to confiscate the entire Jewish property was thus clearly recognizable.

From 1943 onwards, Liro dissolved Jewish life insurance policies and made repurchase payments. The sale of gold, silver and jewels, paintings, carpets and antiques began shortly after delivery and brought in over five million guilders. Overall, the Dutch Jews delivered a sum to the “Raubbank Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co” through cash, checks, bank and giro balances, which is calculated at 325 to 455 million guilders.

Liquidation and refund

The “robbery bank” Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co. Sarphatistraat was declared a “hostile institution” after the liberation, placed under Dutch administration and later liquidated. In 1948 the name of the institution was changed to "Liquidatie Van Verwaltung Sarphatistraat" (LVVS); it was their job to repay as much as possible to those entitled. Initially, it was feared that the liro's assets would be completely lost, but by 1957 almost 90% of the claims made by the account holders or their heirs had been met. A large part of the "repurchased life insurances" were put back into force through the concession of the insurance companies.

No satisfactory solution was found for the securities. An automatic reimbursement was not legally possible if the purchase was made in good faith; Compensation payments did not take into account any appreciation in value or interest gains. It was not until June 2000 that an agreement was reached between the major Dutch banks and the stock exchange on the one hand, and the "Centraal Joods Overleg" and the "Platform Israel" on the other: the banks and the stock exchange provided 314 million guilders as compensation for trading in stolen securities Jewish community ready and expressed regret for their behavior during the German occupation. It was also agreed to put a plaque on the facade of the robbery bank in the Sarphatistraat.

literature

  • Gerard Aalders: Robbed! The expropriation of Jewish property in World War II. Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-920862-29-5 .
  • Milja van Tielhof: banks and occupiers. Major Dutch banks 1940-1945. agenda Verlag, Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-89688-317-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The name Raubbank comes from the Dutch historian L. de Jong and is taken up in other publications such as B. at Gerard Aalders: Robbed! The expropriation of Jewish property in World War II . Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-920862-29-5 , p. 24 as well as p. 221 and 388 / “Scheinbank” is what Jean-Marc Dreyfus says: The expropriation of the Jews in Western Europe. In: Constantin Goschler, Philipp Ther (Ed.): Robbery and Restitution. Frankfurt / Main 2003, ISBN 3-596-15738-2 , p. 49.
  2. ^ Jean-Marc Dreyfus: The expropriation of the Jews in Western Europe. In: Constantin Goschler, Philipp Ther (Ed.): Robbery and Restitution. Frankfurt / Main 2003, ISBN 3-596-15738-2 , p. 44.
  3. ^ Jean-Marc Dreyfus: The expropriation of the Jews in Western Europe. In: Constantin Goschler, Philipp Ther (Ed.): Robbery and Restitution. Frankfurt / Main 2003, ISBN 3-596-15738-2 , p. 53.
  4. ^ Jean-Marc Dreyfus: The expropriation of the Jews in Western Europe. In: Constantin Goschler, Philipp Ther (Ed.): Robbery and Restitution. Frankfurt / Main 2003, ISBN 3-596-15738-2 , p. 49.
  5. ↑ Gerard Aalders: Robbed! The expropriation of Jewish property in World War II . Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-920862-29-5 , p. 223.
  6. ↑ Document VEJ 5/85 - Katja Happe, Michael Mayer, Maja Peers (edit.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 (collection of sources) Volume 5: Western and Northern Europe 1940 – June 1942. Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-58682-4 , pp. 262f.
  7. ↑ Gerard Aalders: Robbed! The expropriation of Jewish property in World War II . Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-920862-29-5 , pp. 221-223.
  8. ↑ Document VEJ 5/136 - Katja Happe, Michael Mayer, Maja peers (Ed.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 (source book) Volume 5: Western and Northern Europe 1940-June 1942. Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-58682-4 , pp. 377–383 / Designation “Scheinbank” by Jean-Marc Dreyfus: The expropriation of the Jews in Western Europe. In: Constantin Goschler, Philipp Ther (Ed.): Robbery and Restitution. Frankfurt / Main 2003, ISBN 3-596-15738-2 , p. 49.
  9. ↑ Gerard Aalders: Robbed! The expropriation of Jewish property in World War II. Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-920862-29-5 , p. 230.
  10. ↑ Document VEJ 5/101 - Katja Happe, Michael Mayer, Maja peers (Ed.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by Nazi Germany 1933-1945 (collection of sources) Volume 5: Western and Northern Europe 1940-June 1942. Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-58682-4 , here p. 297 / see Milja van Tielhof: Banks and Occupiers. Major Dutch banks 1940–1945. Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-89688-317-9 , p. 83.
  11. ↑ Document VEJ 5/101, here S. 297 and S. 303rd
  12. ↑ Gerard Aalders: Robbed! The expropriation of Jewish property in World War II. Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-920862-29-5 , p. 234.
  13. ^ Document VEJ 5/85.
  14. ↑ Gerard Aalders: Robbed! The expropriation of Jewish property in World War II. Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-920862-29-5 , p. 261 - Aalders and Tielhof use both Liro and Liro Regulation as abbreviations , others also use LiRo .
  15. ↑ Gerard Aalders: Robbed! The expropriation of Jewish property in World War II. Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-920862-29-5 , pp. 260/261.
  16. ↑ VEJ 5/136
  17. ^ Jean-Marc Dreyfus: The expropriation of the Jews in Western Europe. In: Constantin Goschler, Philipp Ther (Ed.): Robbery and Restitution. Frankfurt / Main 2003, ISBN 3-596-15738-2 , p. 45.
  18. ↑ Gerard Aalders: Robbed! The expropriation of Jewish property in World War II. Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-920862-29-5 , pp. 311-313.
  19. ↑ VEJ 12/127 in: Katja Happe u. a. (Ed.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933-1945 , Volume 12: Western and Northern Europe, June 1942-1945. Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-486-71843-0 , p. 388.
  20. ↑ So with Gerard Aalders: Robbed! The expropriation of Jewish property in World War II. Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-920862-29-5 , p. 244.
  21. ↑ Milja van Tielhof: Banks and Occupiers. Major Dutch banks 1940–1945. Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-89688-317-9 , p. 193.
  22. ↑ Gerard Aalders: Robbed! The expropriation of Jewish property in World War II. Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-920862-29-5 , p. 331.
  23. ↑ Gerard Aalders: Robbed! The expropriation of Jewish property in World War II. Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-920862-29-5 , p. 261.
  24. ↑ Milja van Tielhof: Banks and Occupiers. Major Dutch banks 1940–1945. Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-89688-317-9 , p. 291.
  25. ↑ Milja van Tielhof: Banks and Occupiers. Major Dutch banks 1940–1945. Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-89688-317-9 , pp. 299-301.
  26. ↑ Milja van Tielhof: Banks and Occupiers. Major Dutch banks 1940–1945. Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-89688-317-9 , pp. 323–328.