Robert Ballin

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Robert Ballin (born December 14, 1872 in Munich ; † February 9, 1960 there ) was a German - Jewish furniture manufacturer.

Life

Robert Ballin was the son of Max Ballin, the master upholsterer and upholsterer who came to Munich from Limburg an der Lahn in 1864 and who built a factory for upholstered and wooden furniture there in the late 19th century. Robert Ballin had two brothers, Martin and Louis.

From 1901 the three brothers took over the management of the company, which was then located in the Munich district of Obergiesing-Fasangarten , which was appointed purveyor to the royal Bavarian court that year . Under their leadership, the company set up a representative headquarters on Promenadeplatz in the Kreuzviertel of the old town, in which there were exhibition rooms, offices and workshops. Before the outbreak of World War I , the company had up to 325 employees.

After the war, the company fell into a crisis as the demand for luxury furniture collapsed. However, it was able to recover by the mid-1920s.

On the evening of November 9, 1923, Ballin involuntarily witnessed the suppression of the Hitler coup by the Bavarian state police . Hermann Göring , who was badly injured by a shot in the groin , was dragged by his comrades on the run to the entrance area of ​​Ballin's house on Residenzstrasse . Ballin allowed Goering and his companions to enter his apartment and, together with his wife Bella, a former nurse, gave him first aid before the injured person was taken to a private clinic.

In the wake of the global economic crisis , the furniture company's situation deteriorated again. After the National Socialists seized power in January 1933, the Jewish boycotts put the manufacturer under pressure and Ballin and his relatives were exposed to anti-Semitic terror .

In September 1937 the company was aryanized , but on significantly more bearable terms than in most other cases. Ballin was initially able to remain as an employee and received a monthly pension from the new owner Edgar Horn. Apparently Hermann Göring had personally intervened in favor of the Ballins.

In the course of the November pogroms of 1938, Robert Ballin was briefly interned with relatives in the Dachau concentration camp ; the family was released after just a few days - again at Göring's instigation.

An emigration to Great Britain planned for 1939 was apparently prevented by the outbreak of World War II . It was not until March 1942 that the brothers Robert and Martin Ballin and their wives managed to emigrate to Switzerland , where they initially lived in Baden , before they fled to Spain in November 1942 and from there by ship to Argentina . Ballin's wife Bella died on January 8, 1943 on board the ship.

From Buenos Aires , Robert Ballin traveled with his brother Martin and his wife Thekla to Asunción in Paraguay , where they lived for a few months before they were allowed to enter the USA in August 1943 . They took the plane to Miami and from there to New York .

In the spring of 1958 Ballin returned to Munich and lived there until his death on February 9, 1960 in the Jewish retirement home on Kaulbachstrasse. He was buried in the New Israelite Cemetery in Munich .

literature

  • Ben Barkow , Raphael Gross , Michael Lenarz (eds.): November pogrom 1938. The eyewitness reports of the Wiener Library, London. Frankfurt 2008, ISBN 978-3-633-54233-8 , p. 482.
  • Heidrun Edelmann: Promenadeplatz 9. The history of a property in Munich. Volk.Verlag, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-86222-233-9 .
  • Tobias Mahl: The Aryanization of the Ballin court furniture factory in Munich , in: Angelika Baumann, Andreas Heusler : Munich Aryanized. Disenfranchisement and expropriation of the Jews during the Nazi era. CH Beck Verlag, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-51756-0 , pp. 54-79.
  • Despina Stratigakos: Hitler at Home , Yale University Press, London, 2015, ISBN 978-0-300-18381-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tobias Mahl: The Aryanization of the Ballin court furniture factory in Munich , 2004, p. 55
  2. ↑ Tobias Mahl: The Aryanization of the Ballin court furniture factory in Munich , 2004, p. 69
  3. ↑ State capital Munich: KulturGeschichtsPfad Obergiesing Fasangarten , 2015, p. 13
  4. ↑ Heidrun Edelmann: Promenadeplatz 9 , 2017
  5. ↑ Tobias Mahl: The Aryanization of the Ballin court furniture factory in Munich , 2004, p. 55
  6. ↑ Despina Stratigakos: Hitler at Home , 2015, p. 18
  7. ↑ Tobias Mahl: The Aryanization of the Ballin court furniture factory in Munich , 2004, p. 65
  8. ↑ Tobias Mahl: The Aryanization of the Ballin court furniture factory in Munich , 2004, p. 59
  9. ↑ Tobias Mahl: The Aryanization of the Ballin court furniture factory in Munich , 2004, p. 62
  10. ↑ Ben Barkow, Raphael Gross, Michael Lenarz: November pogrom 1938. The eyewitness reports of the Wiener Library, London, 2008, p. 482
  11. ↑ Tobias Mahl: The Aryanization of the Ballin court furniture factory in Munich , 2004, p. 67 f
personal data
SURNAME Ballin, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Jewish entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH December 14, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH February 9, 1960
Place of death Munich