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“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.”

—E. Randol Schoenberg
Attorney (“Woman in Gold”)

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About the Book

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.”

But the story is STILL not over.

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News

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Events

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Media

National Labor Relations Board

Written by Dina Gold on April 10, 2018. Posted in News

I spoke at the National Labor Relations Board for a program organized by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The event was part of the Federal government’s annual Holocaust Days of Remembrance.

And I was given a certificate to mark the occasion.

Institute für Zeitgeschichte

Written by Dina Gold on March 23, 2018. Posted in News

In Munich today speaking about provenance research and restitution at the Institute of Contemporary History (Institute für Zeitgeschichte). This event was part of an annual series of four seminars for museum staff under the auspices of the Freie University of Berlin. My session was about the importance to families of receiving restitution. Non-state museums across Bavaria, of which there are over 1,200, are examining what they hold in their archives and whether or not items were illegally acquired during the Third Reich from former Jewish owners. Attempts are now being made to trace heirs and return objects to them wherever possible.

My talk was followed by a panel discussion. Here I am being asked a question by Dr. Uwe Hartmann, Head of the Department of provenance research, German Lost Art Foundation. Joining me on the panel are Dr. Carolin Lange, senior provenance researcher at the office for non-state museums in Bavaria and historian Magnus Brechtken, deputy director of the Institute and professor at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich.

Temple Sinai, Washington DC

Written by Dina Gold on February 24, 2018. Posted in News

I spoke at Temple Sinai’s annual Authors’ Roundtable alongside Morra Aarons-Mele, Hiding in the Bathroom: An Introvert’s Roadmap to Getting Out There (When You’d Rather Stay Home); Anna Solomon: Leaving Lucy Pear; and Alexandra Zapruder: Twenty-Six Seconds: A Personal History of the Zapruder Film.

We spent an hour together on stage being interviewed by Lynn Sweet, Washington Bureau Chief for the Chicago Sun-Times, and then broke off into individual rooms where we were joined by members of the audience wanting to hear more about our books. I had prepared a powerpoint presentation to show the crowd in my room while they ate their lunch and then took questions and was whisked away to sign books.

Book Club, Potomac, Maryland

Written by Dina Gold on January 28, 2018. Posted in News

Today I presented the story of “Stolen Legacy” to a book club held in a lovely home in Potomac.

Here I am showing the audience powerpoint photos and pointing out who the various people are and their significance in the story. Attendees had their own restitution stories to tell the group. One related her family’s experience reclaiming two properties in Krakow, Poland. Another told of her father’s long lost property in Ukraine – with precious little hope of ever regaining it.

Kristallnacht in Missouri

Written by Dina Gold on November 9, 2017. Posted in News

I was invited to speak at the 39th St. Louis Jewish Book Festival, one of the largest in the country with over 10,000 audience members.

People come to hear authors speak on topics as diverse as: business, cooking, economics, family, fiction, history, music, religion, sports, and more.

My event, in partnership with the Holocaust Museum and Learning Center, was in commemoration of the 79th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

I really enjoyed meeting the enthusiastic volunteers in the bookstore, which I visited before going on stage. Great to learn that all contributors’ books are on sale for the duration of the Festival!

It was a packed auditorium, with 275 people listening intently to the Stolen Legacy story. What a great atmosphere!