4 June 2018: unveiling of the memorial plaque
In a small and very dignified ceremony, the memorial plaque commemorating the previous Jewish owners of the official villa was unveiled today. Our thanks go to the historian Dr Julien Reitzenstein for his work, without which this part of the history would have fallen into oblivion, and to Federal President Steinmeier for having faced up to that history and having done justice to it in a fitting manner. The location, the wording and the context are highly appropriate to the tragic circumstances surrounding the Heymann family. During the event, which took place before a small gathering at the Federal President’s private villa, there was an opportunity to present our association and our work. As an example of critically accompanying federal policy, our chairman, Elio Adler, mentioned the reception given by the Federal President to the IGS (the umbrella organisation of Shi’ite communities in Germany) and set out our concerns to him. (c) Photo: Office of the Federal President 2018
The problem:
Until shortly after the Nazi seizure of power, what is today the Federal President’s official villa belonged to a Jew, Hugo Heymann, who was forced under pressure to sell it in 1933 at a price below market value. The historian Julien Reitzenstein established and documented this in 2014 and published parts of it in a book. Before publication he obtained the consent of the Office of the Federal President, which was taken aback by the facts and stated in writing that it had already known the history of the house since 1999. Besides the political context and the sale price, one dubious element, among others, is the figure of the notary who certified the transaction and who declared in writing from Buenos Aires in 1949 that he had been unable to detect any pressure on the seller and that he had already advised the buyer on the matter beforehand. This may render the sale invalid – even under the law of the time – and subsequent sales as well. Already under Federal President Gauck, and now under Federal President Steinmeier, the Office of the Federal President has stonewalled on the subject. Following an intervention by the Office, the Stolpersteine initiative cancelled the laying of the Stolpersteine (“stumbling stones”) donated by Reitzenstein. Reitzenstein’s suggestion that a memorial plaque providing historical context be put up was met by commissioning the historian Wildt to produce an expert report on the matter. You will find it on the Federal President’s homepage:
In the opinion of experts, this report, paid for out of taxpayers’ money, is entirely inadequate in quality. As regards the costs, the Office stonewalls even towards Members of the Bundestag. The tenor of the report is that the seller was a wealthy Jew who, on economic grounds, considered the moment suitable to sell the house of his own free will. It is also, the report suggests, implausible that a Jew could have feared a Nazi takeover at the end of January 1933. The report fails to meet essential standards of the craft and moreover reaches no conclusion. Important files were either not obtained or expressly not evaluated. The Office of the Federal President does currently appear to be giving ground to the extent that a memorial plaque is to be put up; but, because of or rather in the light of Mr Wildt’s report, this is not being done in acknowledgement of the historical, moral and legal facts, but rather in response to political pressure. In this way no justice is done to Hugo Heymann, who was later beaten to death by the Gestapo. A revision or supplementation of the report, with the aim of turning it into a “readable” publication and of placing a memorial plaque in a fitting context, would be appropriate.
