Silversmiths MT Wetzlar

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The silversmiths MT Wetzlar was a 1875 to 1938 in Munich existing silversmiths . Its founder was the eponymous Moses Tobias Wetzlar . After his death in 1916, his sons continued to run the company until it was Aryanized in 1938.

history

Moses Tobias Wetzlar (born October 31, 1847 in Gudensberg as the son of Mordechai Wetzlar) moved in 1875 with his first wife Flora Frummet Ellern (1853-1900) from Hesse to Munich.

Here he opened a silver goods shop (located at Maximilianstrasse 2 from 1903 ), which was soon considered to be one of the leading addresses for silver in the city. The silversmith's workshop was located in the rear building. Wetzlar's silver work is characterized by its own designs and high processing quality of the generally thick-walled silver. The silverware had a high artistic value and can be compared with pieces by C. Wollenweber or Th. Helden .

The family with their six children integrated themselves into both civil and Jewish life in Munich . Wetzlar was the cantor of the Orthodox Old Synagogue Ohel Jakob . In 1907, Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria awarded the business the title of " Court Supplier to His Royal Highness". Moses Tobias Wetzlar died on March 16, 1916. His sons Markus (1882–1925), Heinrich (1891–1974) and Alexander (1893–1958) remained associated with the company. Heinrich and Alexander set artistic impulses for the company with new designs in the 1920s, so in 1930 Heinrich designed the 8361-piece council cutlery for the city of Munich, which was used until 1980.

With the seizure of power of the Nazis , the company suffered from reprisals. In 1938, immediately after Kristallnacht, the company was Aryanized , which destroyed the family's bourgeois existence. Their company, whose warehouse alone was worth over 100,000 Reichsmarks, was forcibly sold to other Germans. The family should be paid around 70,000 Reichsmarks for this, ultimately the Wetzlars went empty-handed because of the Reich flight tax , as they emigrated to England in 1939.

The last of the family, Heinrich Wetzlar, returned to Munich in 1956. However, he was no longer able to work in his traditional professional field and worked as a sales manager in the shop of the Nymphenburg porcelain factory . With his suicide in 1974, the family died out. Before his death he wrote down his memories.

Works by the silversmith MT Wetzlar can be seen in the Jewish Museum in Munich and in the Munich City Museum . In 2014, the curator of the Stadtmuseum, Florian Dering, dedicated the family the special exhibition "MT Wetzlar - Silversmiths in Munich, founded 1875 - Aryanized 1938", in which around 200 pieces of silver crockery were shown, including silver plates, coffee services and large cups.

literature

  • Florian Dering: MT Wetzlar: Silversmiths in Munich (founded 1875 - Aryanized 1938) Arnolsche, 2014, ISBN 3-89790-409-8 , 216 pp.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Guided tour through the exhibition: “MT Wetzlar. Silversmiths in Munich, founded in 1875 - Aryanized in 1938 ”. In: Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Munich and Upper Bavaria from June 24, 2014.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Doris Losch: Münchner Stadtmuseum shows gems from the silversmiths MT Wetzlar. In: dagusta.de of February 22, 2014.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Juliana Keppler: Special exhibition MT Wetzlar in the Munich City Museum . Kultur-mit-handicap.de, 2014
  4. ↑ a b c d Bernhard Purin: MT Wetzlar - Jewish silversmiths in Munich. In: Jewish Museum Munich from February 21, 2014