Max Raphael Hahn (born April 22, 1880, in Göttingen; died March 1942 in Riga) was a Jewish entrepreneur, chairman of the Jewish community of Göttingen, and art collector.

Early life

Home- and family business Weender Str. 70
Commemorative Stolpersteine for the Hahn family

Max Raphael Hahn was the youngest son of Jewish merchant Raphael Hahn (May 27, 1831, in Rhina – December 22, 1915, in Göttingen), a native of Rhina in Hesse, and his wife Hannchen Blaut (November 25, 1837, in Geisa – November 24, 1908, in Göttingen), a native of Geisa in Thuringia.[1] Raphael Hahn had come to Göttingen in 1858 and had founded a branch of the family business here, which specialized in trading in hides and casings.[2]

In 1864, Raphael Hahn purchased the large house at Weender Strasse 63 (now 70) in Göttingen, which was to become the family's ancestral home, which today bears a commemorative inscription.[3]

Business and family life

In 1896 Max Hahn joined his father's business, where his eldest brother Nathan (born November 27, 1868, in Göttingen, murdered in September 1942 in Treblinka)[4] worked since 1887. The two brothers jointly managed the business, in which their father - although officially no longer managing director since 1899 - still took a lively interest until his death in 1915, until the expulsion of the family by the Nazis in 1940.[5] Nathan and Max Raphael Hahn made the company Raphael Hahn, Göttingen, which later included a shoe factory as well as extensive real estate holdings, highly successful.[6]

During the First World War, Nathan Hahn had the company warehouses serve as a collection point for hides and cases needed for troop equipment, and Max Raphael Hahn worked as a leather expert for the Prussian War Raw Materials Department, first in Leipzig, then in Vienna and in Budapest.

Villa Merkelstraße 3
Memorial plaques at the villa Merkelstraße 3

In June 1917 Hahn married Gertud Hana Lasch (born July 14, 1893, in Halberstadt, murdered 1941 in Riga)[7] and in February 1919 Max Raphael Hahn returned to Göttingen and purchased a villa at Merkelstraße 3 in early September 1919, where their son Rudolf was born to the couple on December 3, 1919, and their daughter Hanni on March 22, 1922. The couple had a total of 12 children, but only seven of them survived to adulthood.[8]

From Orthodox Judaism to Reform Judaism

Max Raphael and Gertrud Hahn were both raised in Orthodox Judaism.[9] However, unlike their parents,they reconciled Orthodox Judaism with the Reform Judaism prevailing in Göttingen, which had materialized in the large and in 1895 expanded Old Synagogue at Untere Masch 1, (commemorated after the destruction of November 9 and 10, 1938, by the memorial erected in 1973 on the square of the synagogue). After the First World War and his return to Göttingen, Max Raphael Hahn joined the Reform Jewish majority congregation and in October 1921 became one of the three chairmen of the congregation. He held this office for almost twenty years until his expulsion by Nazis from Göttingen in April 1940.

The Hahn couple was also involved in the Göttingen chapter of the liberal Jewish Moritz Lazarus Lodge.[10] According to its bylaws, the Lodge required each of its members to prove at all times "that Judaism is synonymous with righteous behavior, with the practice of the highest principles of ethics and humanity, that the profession of the Jewish religion brings honor to the Jew" (from the Laws of the Göttingen Local Group of the Lodge of 1921, p. 4). The president of the Lodge was elected by the members for two years at a time. At least once Max Raphael Hahn also held this office in the time before 1933.

Women were excluded from membership in the lodges. However, there were sisterhoods affiliated to the lodges since 1886. In 1933 the sisterhood of the Moritz-Lazarus-Lodge in Göttingen was led by Gertrud Hahn.[11]

Nazi persecution, plunder and murder

During the time of Nazi persecution Max Raphael Hahn cared for congregation members in need, helping some to emigrate and comforting others. The young Rabbi Hermann Ostfeld, who was only 23 years old when he was appointed to Göttingen in 1935 and who changed his name to Zvi Hermon after his emigration to Palestine in October 1938, later wrote memoirs of his time in Göttingen and in them also drew an impressive picture of Max Raphael Hahn's caring work in the community.[12][13]

Of the original almost 500 Jewish Göttingen residents, only about 220 were still living in Göttingen in October 1938. Almost without exception, these became victims of the brutal assaults by the SS and SA, who on the night of the Reich Pogrom from November 9 to 10, 1938, but also on the two following days, broke into homes or business premises, devastated the facilities, looted the stores, mistreated the residents and arrested men, women and even children without distinction.[14][15]

Max Raphael Hahn and his family, as wealthy Jews, were subjected to special harassment. In the middle of the night of November 10, at about two in the morning, SS men with axes broke into the villa at Merkelstrasse 3, roused the Hahns from their sleep and devastated their home. They smashed the doors and windows and destroyed furniture, artwork and antiques, driving the family out into the street in their nightgowns.[16] Max Raphael and Gertrud Hahn, his brother Nathan and his wife Betty, whose apartment at 19 Baurat Gerber Strasse had also been vandalized, were arrested. The two women were released the next day, and Nathan Hahn returned home on November 19, 1938. Max Raphael Hahn was the only one to remain in custody until July 15, 1939. That was the reason why he and his wife did not manage to emigrate in time, for which relatives in the USA and England had already prepared everything. Their two children were able to escape to England in 1939.

After the Hahn enterprises were liquidated on March 1, 1939, due to Nazi persecution Max Raphael and Gertrud Hahn moved to Hamburg in April 1940, hoping to emigrate from there. But on December 6, 1941, they were deported from Hamburg to Riga. [17] Gertrud Hahn, who was diabetic, possibly died on the transport, Max Raphael Hahn was murdered at the latest in March 1942 during the so-called Aktion Dünamünde, a large-scale shooting operation in a forest near Riga.[18]

The son Rudolf emigrated from Great Britain to Cape Town and changed his name to Roger Hayden. He is the father of the Canadian geneticist Michael R. Hayden.[19]

The Judaica Collection of Max Raphael Hahn

Max Raphael Hahn was an important collector, and especially, although not only, a collector of Judaica, that is, of Jewish cult objects. His Judaica collection was of such high quality that it was published in the Philo-Lexikon. Handbuch des jüdischen Wissens (Handbook of Jewish Knowledge), first published by the Berlin Philo publishing house in 1934, they were mentioned in the same breath as the collections of the Rothschilds and the Sassoons. Max Raphael's father, Raphael Hahn, had already begun collecting Judaica, and his son Rudolf (Roger Hayden) and his sons Jonathan and Michael continued this tradition.[20]

In 2011, the descendants of Max Raphael and Gertrud Hahn launched the Hahn Research Project. Through research in the holdings of the Städtisches Museum Göttingen, a number of objects belonging to the Hahn family were identified (furniture, arts and crafts objects, graphic art, etc.), which were officially returned to the family in 2014. They are now on permanent loan from the family to the Göttingen Municipal Museum. Subsequently, as part of the Hahn Research Project, further research was conducted into the whereabouts of the family's possessions and Judaica collection. With the help of catalog information and historical photographs from the family's holdings, the so-called Jacob's cup from the Hahn Collection was identified at the Museum für Kunstgewerbe in Hamburg. It was officially returned to the family in November 2018.[21]

The fate of the Hahn Judaica collection, which was confiscated by the Nazis is the subject of the book "Das Vermächtnis des Max Raphael Hahn. Göttingen citizen and collector - a story of life and death, courageous perseverance, and the continuing power of family tradition," published by Hogrefe Verlag in 2014.[22]

In 2019, the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre held an exhibition on the history of the family and its collection.[23][8]

Memorials

On November 8, 2017, a memorial plaque for Mr. and Mrs. Hahn was unveiled at their villa in Merkelstraße.

Since February 7, 2018, eight Stolpersteine in front of the residential and commercial building at Weender Straße 70 in Göttingen commemorate the fate of Max Raphael Hahn and his relatives.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Max Raphael Hahn". geni_family_tree. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  2. ↑ NDR. "Auf den Spuren der Familie Hahn". www.ndr.de (in German). Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  3. ↑ "Unveiling of the Plaque of Honour for Max Raphael and Gertrud Hahn and Presentation of the Book The Legacy of Max Raphael Hahn" (PDF).
  4. ↑ "Nathan Hahn". geni_family_tree. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  5. ↑ ""RESTITUTION: EIN WEITERER SCHRITT IN RICHTUNG VERSÖHNUNG UND WÜRDE" | Städtisches Museum Göttingen" (in German). Archived from the original on 2022-01-21. Retrieved 2022-01-21. Als Juden wurden die Hahns ausgegrenzt, enteignet, verfolgt. Die Eltern Max Raphael und Gertrud Hahn wurden 1941 in Riga ermordet. Ihren Kindern Rudolf und Hanni war 1939 die Flucht nach England gelungen. Eines der Instrumente der NS-Judenverfolgung war die sogenannte Arisierung, sprich legitimierte Erpressung, Übervorteilung und Enteignung durch „Arier". So wurde auch die Familie Hahn finanziell ruiniert.
  6. ↑ "Unveiling of the Plaque of Honour for Max Raphael and Gertrud Hahn and Presentation of the Book The Legacy of Max Raphael Hahn" (PDF). The brothers made the company one of the largest and most respected companies in Göttingen, the reputation of its skins and intestines was known internationally, and it also produced shoes
  7. ↑ "Gertrud Tana Hahn". geni_family_tree. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  8. 1 2 "The Hahn Family & the Search for a Stolen Legacy" (PDF).
  9. ↑ "Family trying to recover extensive Hahn Judaica collection – looted, destroyed by Nazis – and build". lootedart.com. Retrieved 2022-01-21. Hayden's grandfather, Max Hahn, was born into a large Orthodox Jewish family in 1880. He was a successful, wealthy businessman and a respected member of the German aristocracy, who served for more than 20 years as the president of his synagogue in Göttingen, Germany. In 1935, Max's collection was deemed one of the greatest collections of Judaica in the world, ranked with those of the Rothschilds and Sassoons. Some of the pieces had come from the collection of his father, Raphael Hahn.
  10. ↑ "The Hahn Family & the Search for a Stolen Legacy" (PDF). Max and Gertrud joined Göttingen's growing Reform Judaism community as members of the city's synagogue. Max became prominent as chairman of the congregation, a position he held for more than 20 years. He also served as president of the local Moritz Lazarus Lodge, which focused on Jewish welfare assistance in Germany. Gertrud too held leadership positions in the lodge's affiliated women's association.
  11. ↑ "Stolpersteine in Hamburg | Namen, Orte und Biografien suchen". www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  12. ↑ "Stadtarchiv Göttingen, Entry from November 17, 1988". www.stadtarchiv.goettingen.de. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
  13. ↑ Hermon, Zvi (1990). Vom Seelsorger zum Kriminologen : Rabbiner in Göttingen, Reformer des Gefängniswesens und Psychotherapeut in Israel : ein Lebensbericht (in German). Göttingen: Verlag O. Schwartz. ISBN 978-3-509-01520-1. OCLC 23693985.
  14. ↑ "Stolpersteine in Hamburg | Namen, Orte und Biografien suchen". www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de. Retrieved 2022-01-22. In Oct. 1938, about 220 of the former 500 Jews from Göttingen were still living in the city. They had no idea what would happen in the night of 9 Nov. to 10 Nov. 1938. Almost without exception, they became victims of the brutal attacks of "people's wrath", in addition to the destruction of synagogues, buildings, and stores. The devastation continued over the next two days. The Hahn families were in the special focus of the Nazis. SS men stormed their home at night and devastated it. The brothers and their wives were arrested. Gertrud and Betty were released the next day, Nathan a few days later. Max Hahn remained imprisoned for the longest time, only in July 1939 did he return.
  15. ↑ "Stadtarchiv Göttingen". www.stadtarchiv.goettingen.de. Retrieved 2022-01-30. In Göttingen, wie fast überall, leistete die nichtjüdische, christliche Bevölkerung keinen wirksamen Widerstand. Als am 28. März 1933, nur wenige Wochen nach dem Machtantritt Hitlers, der braune Mob in den Göttinger Straßen die Scheiben der "jüdischen" Geschäfte zertrümmerte und ihre Waren plünderte, die Eigentümer misshandelte und öffentlich demütigte, blieb das andere Göttingen stumm. So ermutigt verschärften die Nazis die Unterdrückung der jüdischen Bürger Schritt für Schritt und schränkten ihre Rechte immer mehr ein. Am 9. November 1938 brannte auch die Göttinger Synagoge. Triebkraft aller dieser Verbrechen waren nicht nur dumpfer Antisemitismus, sondern oft weit handfestere, nicht zuletzt wirtschaftliche Gründe: Indem man jüdische Menschen aus dem Geschäftsleben verdrängte oder aus dem Land vertrieb raubte man ihnen zugleich gewaltige Vermögenswerte
  16. ↑ Lederman, Marsha (2019-11-08). "Family treasures looted during Germany's Kristallnacht on display for the first time at Vancouver exhibition". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 2019-11-08. Retrieved 2022-01-22. Max ran a successful business that included a leather factory and a real estate empire; the Hahns owned about 40 per cent of the buildings in the town. They were prominent members of the Jewish community – Max was president of the synagogue – and deeply patriotic Germans: Max had been a senior procurement official for the German army during the First World War. And they were great collectors – of art, fine furniture, antiques – and a collection of Judaica that is said to have rivalled those of the Rothschilds and Sassoons. At about 2 a.m. on Nov. 10, 1938, Nazis armed with axes broke into the Hahn home, smashing doors and windows, destroying their belongings and forcing Max and Gertrud half-naked into the street, while bystanders hissed and yelled, calling them "filthy Jews" and "pig Jews". Their home was ransacked and many of their possessions were stolen.
  17. ↑ "Stolpersteine in Hamburg | Namen, Orte und Biografien suchen". www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de. Retrieved 2022-01-22. In the summer of 1940, the couple fled to Hamburg, where their brother and sister-in-law had already been living for a year. Initially, they hoped to experience less harassment in the big city, and so close to the port, escaping abroad might be successful after all, provided that all formalities were available stamped and approved. However, with the beginning of the war in Sept. 1939, it had become almost impossible to find a host country. Around 1940/1941, the couple succeeded in shipping extensive documents in several containers to Sweden and Switzerland. However, they themselves were unable to follow. With the transport on 6 Dec. 1941 from the Hannoversche Bahnhof train station, the Nazis deported Gertrud and Max Hahn to Riga. It is not possible to reconstruct exactly when the couple died there.
  18. ↑ "Stadtarchiv Göttingen, Personen, Hahn, Max Raphael, Hahn, Gertrud". www.stadtarchiv.goettingen.de. Archived from the original on 2016-03-17. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  19. ↑ "How One of the World's Leading Geneticists Recovered His Family's Stolen Legacy". Tablet Magazine. 2015-06-22. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  20. ↑ "The Most Significant Private Collection of Pre-War Jewish Artifacts Opens in Vancouver". MONTECRISTO. 2019-11-08. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  21. ↑ "Von Nazis konfiszierter Kult-Becher taucht wieder auf". GT - Göttinger Tageblatt (in German). Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  22. ↑ Ferera, Lisette (2015). Das Vermächtnis des Max Raphael Hahn - Göttinger Bürger und Sammler : eine Geschichte über Leben und Tod, mutige Beharrlichkeit und die fortwirkende Kraft der Familientradition. Cordula Tollmien, Michael Hayden, Sharon Meen, Tanja Grinberg, Michael Rubell, Diana Kanter. Göttingen: Hogrefe. ISBN 978-3-8017-2679-9. OCLC 910103277.
  23. ↑ "Family treasures looted during Germany's Kristallnacht on display for the first time at Vancouver exhibition". www.lootedart.com. Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 2020-06-24. Retrieved 2022-01-21. Treasured Belongings: The Hahn Family and the Search for a Stolen Legacy is at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre until Nov 27, 2020.

Further reading

  • Vom Seelsorger zum Kriminologen. Rabbiner in Göttingen. Reformer des Gefängniswesens und Psychotherapeut in Israel. Ein Lebensbericht. Otto Schwartz & Co. ISBN 3-509-01520-7.
  • Lohnende Geschäfte. Die "Entjudung der Wirtschaft am Beispiel Göttingens. Fackelträger Verlag. ISBN 3-7716-1601-8.
  • Juden in Göttingen: 1918 bis 1933: Wirtschaftlich-kulturelle Integration und erstarkender Antisemitismus (darin zwei Abschnitte über die sozio-ökonomische Entwicklung und die Personalstruktur der Gemeinde von Matthias Manthey); 1933 bis 1945: Entrechtung, Vertreibung und Ermordung; Nach 1945: Organisation des Überlebens und die Entstehung einer neuen jüdischen Gemeinde. Vol. Band 3: Von der preußischen Mittelstadt zur südniedersächsischen Großstadt 1866 bis 1989. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. pp. 688–760. ISBN 3-525-36198-X.
  • Das Vermächtnis des Max Raphael Hahn – Göttinger Bürger und Sammler. Hogrefe. ISBN 978-3-8017-2679-9.
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