Gustav Abraham Schickedanz (1 January 1895 – 27 March 1977
) was a German entrepreneur and Nazi party member who profited from the Aryanization of Jewish companies.
Early life
Schickedanz came from a modest background.
After attending ''
realschule
''Realschule'' () is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), ...
'' in his hometown of
Fürth
Fürth (; East Franconian: ; yi, פיורדא, Fiurda) is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division ('' Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the ...
, he absolved a commercial
apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
.
In 1919 he married Anna Zehnder.
He registered his first enterprise in 1923 and in 1927 registered the
mail order company Quelle, later Europe's largest mail-order house.
On July 15, 1929, his wife Anna and only son Leonhard were killed in an automobile accident in which he was also seriously injured. Only his daughter at the time, Louise, was unharmed.
Career in Nazi era
When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Jews were forced out of businesses. In 1935 Schickedanz, a
Nazi party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
member, was involved in the
Aryanization
Aryanization (german: Arisierung) was the Nazi term for the seizure of property from Jews and its transfer to non-Jews, and the forced expulsion of Jews from economic life in Nazi Germany, Axis-aligned states, and their occupied territories. I ...
(or forced transfer) of the property of the Jewish businessmen Oskar and Emil Rosenfelder, acquiring for a low price the rights to the Tempo brand and the paper company Vereinigte Papierwerke in
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
.
In 1939 Quelle achieved sales of 40 million
Reichsmark
The (; sign: ℛℳ; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until 20 June 1948 in West Germany, where it was replaced with the , and until 23 June 1948 in East Germany, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reich ...
.
On 8 June 1942 Gustav Schickedanz married 17 years younger Grete Lachner in St.-Pauls-Kirche in Fürth. On 20 October 1943 daughter Madeleine was born in the bunker of Nuremberg women hospital.
Postwar
After the war Schickedanz was initially prohibited from carrying on his business by the American occupation authorities.
He was later rehabilitated and in 1952 was awarded a "citizen's medal" by the city of Fürth; in 1959 he was made an honorary citizen, the equivalent of being given
the keys to the city.
Efforts were made to rewrite his history under the Nazis.
After numerous acquisitions, Quelle's group sales reached 5 billion
Deutschmarks
The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...
by 1972.
Gustav Schickedanz and his wife Grete initiated a number of charitable works for which they received much public recognition.
References
Other readings
* "Die Zeit" Nr. 24, 5. Juni 2003 Author: Georg Etscheit
* "Das kleine Buch vom Taschentuch" von Eugen Roth
* Artikel in CICERO "Die Weihnachtsfrau" von Thomas Schuler
External links
Gustav-Schickedanz Stiftung web site
People from Fürth
Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
1895 births
1977 deaths
{{Germany-business-bio-stub