Robert Ballin (born December 14, 1872 in Munich[1]; died February 9, 1960 in Munich)[2] was a German-Jewish furniture manufacturer.
Life
editRobert Ballin was the son of Max Ballin, a master upholsterer and upholsterer who came to Munich from Limburg an der Lahn in 1864 and set up a factory for upholstered and wooden furniture there at the end of the 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 based in the Munich district of Obergiesing-Fasangarten[3] and was appointed purveyor to the royal Bavarian court that year. Under their leadership, the company built a prestigious headquarters on Promenadeplatz in the Kreuzviertel district of the old town, which housed showrooms, offices and workshops.[4] Before the outbreak of the First World War, the company had up to 325 employees.
After the war, the company fell into a crisis as demand for luxury furniture collapsed. However, it was able to recover by the mid-1920s[5].
On the evening of November 9, 1923, Ballin involuntarily witnessed the suppression of the Hitler putsch by the Bavarian state police. Hermann Göring, who had been seriously injured by a shot to the groin, was dragged into the entrance area of Ballin's former home in Residenzstraße by his comrades as he fled. Ballin allowed Göring and his companions into his apartment and, together with his wife Bella, a former nurse,[6] gave him first aid before the injured man was taken to a private clinic.[7]
In the course of the global economic crisis, the situation of the furniture company deteriorated again. After the National Socialists seized power in January 1933, boycotts of Jews put the manufacturer under pressure and Ballin and his family were exposed to anti-Semitic terror.
In September 1937, the company was aryanized, albeit on much more tolerable 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.[8] Apparently Hermann Göring had personally intervened in favor of the Ballins.[9]
In the course of the November pogroms of 1938, Robert Ballin and his family were briefly interned in the Dachau concentration camp; however, the family was released after just a few days - again at Göring's instigation[10].
An emigration to Great Britain planned for 1939 was apparently prevented by the outbreak of the Second World War. 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 fleeing to Spain in November 1942 and from there by ship to Argentina. Ballin's wife Bella died on board the ship on January 8, 1943.
From Buenos Aires, Robert Ballin traveled on to Asunción in Paraguay with his brother Martin and his wife Thekla, where they lived for several months before being allowed to enter the USA in August 1943. They traveled by plane to Miami and from there to New York[11].
Ballin returned to Munich in the spring of 1958 and lived there in the Jewish retirement home in Kaulbachstraße until his death on February 9, 1960. He was buried in Munich's New Israelite Cemetery.
Literature
edit- Ben Barkow, Raphael Gross, Michael Lenarz (Hrsg.): Novemberpogrom 1938. Die Augenzeugenberichte der Wiener Library, London. Frankfurt 2008, ISBN 978-3-633-54233-8, S. 482.
- Heidrun Edelmann: Promenadeplatz 9. Die Geschichte eines Anwesens in München. Volk.Verlag, München 2017, ISBN 978-3-86222-233-9.
- Tobias Mahl: Die Arisierung der Hofmöbelfabrik Ballin in München, in: Angelika Baumann, Andreas Heusler: München arisiert. Entrechtung und Enteignung der Juden in der NS-Zeit. C. H. Beck Verlag, München 2004, ISBN 3-406-51756-0, S. 54–79.
- Despina Stratigakos: Hitler at Home, Yale University Press, London, 2015, ISBN 978-0-300-18381-8.
Weblinks
edit- Landeshauptstadt München: KulturGeschichtsPfad Obergiesing Fasangarten, München 2015.
- Volk.Verlag: Bayerische Geschichte(n), 27/2017: Vom „Matratzenmacher“ zum „Hof-Möbelfabrikanten“, mit einer Kurzfassung des Buches von Heidrun Edelmann.
References
edit- ^ Tobias Mahl: Die Arisierung der Hofmöbelfabrik Ballin in München, 2004, P. 55
- ^ Tobias Mahl: Die Arisierung der Hofmöbelfabrik Ballin in München, 2004, P. 69
- ^ Landeshauptstadt München: KulturGeschichtsPfad Obergiesing Fasangarten, 2015, P. 13
- ^ Heidrun Edelmann: Promenadeplatz 9, 2017
- ^ Tobias Mahl: Die Arisierung der Hofmöbelfabrik Ballin in München, 2004, P. 55
- ^ Despina Stratigakos: Hitler at Home, 2015, P. 18
- ^ Tobias Mahl: Die Arisierung der Hofmöbelfabrik Ballin in München, 2004, P. 65
- ^ Tobias Mahl: Die Arisierung der Hofmöbelfabrik Ballin in München, 2004, P. 59
- ^ Tobias Mahl: Die Arisierung der Hofmöbelfabrik Ballin in München, 2004, P. 62
- ^ Ben Barkow, Raphael Gross, Michael Lenarz: Novemberpogrom 1938. Die Augenzeugenberichte der Wiener Library, London, 2008, P. 482
- ^ Tobias Mahl: Die Arisierung der Hofmöbelfabrik Ballin in München, 2004, P. 67 f
[[Category:Men]] [[Category:1960 deaths]] [[Category:1872 births]] [[Category:German people]] [[Category:Emigrants from Nazi Germany]] [[Category:Beer Hall Putsch]] [[Category:Businesspeople from Munich]]