“This is a meticulous and finely written account of Dina Gold’s struggle to seek belated justice for her mother, with all the twists and turns one would expect from a fictional detective story — but it is all true.”
When Dina Gold was a little girl, her grandmother told her stories about the glamorous life she had led in pre-war Berlin and how she dreamed of one day reclaiming the grand building that had housed the family business.
Dina’s grandmother died in 1977, leaving behind no documents, not even an address, to help locate the property or prove its ownership. But when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Dina had not forgotten her grandmother’s tales and set out to find the truth.
In 1990, Dina marched into a German government ministry at Krausenstrasse 17/18, just two blocks from Checkpoint Charlie, and declared:
“I’ve come to claim my family’s building.”
And so began her legal struggle — to reclaim the building that had belonged to her family.
The six-story office block had been the headquarters of the H. Wolff fur company, one of the most successful Jewish fashion firms in Germany. Built by Dina’s great-grandfather in 1910, it was foreclosed on by the Victoria Insurance Company in 1937. Ownership was transferred to the Deutsche Reichsbahn, Hitler’s railways, that later transported millions of Jews to death camps.
Today the Victoria is part of ERGO, a leading German insurance company. Few are aware that the Victoria was once chaired by a lawyer with connections to the top of the Nazi party. The Victoria was also part of a consortium that insured SS-owned workshops using slave labor at Auschwitz and other concentration camps.
Dina has delved deep into archives across the world and made shocking discoveries. What she found has repercussions even in today’s Germany.
In a major victory, Dina persuaded the German government to put up a plaque in July 2016 acknowledging in both German and English the history of “The Wolff Building.”
A nice surprise today in the Times Book section where columnist Melanie Phillips has selected “Stolen Legacy” as one of her three favorite books of the year. It is listed alongside her other two recommended authors – the illustrious Niall Ferguson and Michel Houellebecq. To be in such company is truly flattering.
One day ahead of a meeting to decide the future of the Kurt Hamann Stiftung (Foundation) at Mannheim University, the German online newspaper, The Local, published a story on the issue. The Victoria insurance company (now part of ERGO insurance) had foreclosed in the late 1930s not only on the building once owned by my family but had also expropriated many other Jewish-owned properties and businesses. Dr. Kurt Hamann had been chairman before, during and after the war. Is this really a suitable person to be honored with a foundation in his name? I am waiting to find out.
In the Winter 2015 issue of JW Magazine, published by Jewish Women International, “Stolen Legacy” was recommended as a Book for Giving, under Memoirs of Interesting Lives (next to Donna Karan!).
The Jüdische Allgemeine newspaper reports the story that ERGO insurance group and Mannheim University to decide on the future of the foundation named for Dr. Kurt Hamann, the villain in Stolen Legacy who insured Auschwitz. (Article is in German.)
In Washington Independent Review of Books‘ popular feature “Bedtime Stories” I share what books are queued up and ready to read on my nightstand. Curious? Read it here.
A nice surprise today in the Times Book section where columnist Melanie Phillips has selected “Stolen Legacy” as one of her three favorite books of the year. It is listed alongside her other two recommended authors – the illustrious Niall Ferguson and Michel Houellebecq. To be in such company is truly flattering.
One day ahead of a meeting to decide the future of the Kurt Hamann Stiftung (Foundation) at Mannheim University, the German online newspaper, The Local, published a story on the issue. The Victoria insurance company (now part of ERGO insurance) had foreclosed in the late 1930s not only on the building once owned by my family but had also expropriated many other Jewish-owned properties and businesses. Dr. Kurt Hamann had been chairman before, during and after the war. Is this really a suitable person to be honored with a foundation in his name? I am waiting to find out.
In the Winter 2015 issue of JW Magazine, published by Jewish Women International, “Stolen Legacy” was recommended as a Book for Giving, under Memoirs of Interesting Lives (next to Donna Karan!).
In Washington Independent Review of Books‘ popular feature “Bedtime Stories” I share what books are queued up and ready to read on my nightstand. Curious? Read it here.
