The Jewish
Community
of
La
Book Pages 68 - 70
Translated: Wolfgang Reich
KARL NEIDLINGER
Theodor Bergmann, born on December 17th, 1875 in Laupheim, died on August 16th, 1941 in NY, OO Thekla Bergmann, née Steiner, born on August 22th, 1881 in Laupheim, died on February 27th, 1974 in Seattle/USA.
– Hildegard „Hilde“,born on January 24th, 1908, died on April 24th, 1997 in Seattle/USA,
– Ilse, born on January 24th, 1911, died on July 15th, 1953.
The whole family emigrated to the USA between 1933 und 1939.
With regard to Josef Bergmann’s eldest son and his family we have the least
information or photos. There are two reasons for
this lack of information about him: firstly, even back then in Laupheim he
appeared to be the member that least participated in the life of his extended
family, and secondly, all contacts between the family and all their relatives
were cut off entirely after their emigration to the US. That is why “John” Hans
Bergmann’s family chronicle provides the least information about uncle Theodor,
as the author seemed to have hardly any material about him.
John Bergmann’s family chronicle is the most important basis for the
company history on the preceding pages and also for the following six family
histories.
Theodor,
who always read a great deal, was “perhaps the most intelligent and
intellectual” among the later four company owners, . After primary school he
attended the Laupheimer Lateinschule (Laupheim grammar school) and graduated
with the so-called „Einjaehrige“, as the respective secondary education
certificate was called at that time. After graduation he began his professional
life, meaning for the sons, as it once did for their father Josef Bergmann, to
take to the road. Theodor worked for several years in Italy, also learning the
language. In 1903 he spent some months in England. It was not only good
connections, business experience and the Italian tongue he brought back to
Laupheim, but also his passion for the Italian Opera. The “Bergmann whistle”,
which he introduced, mastered to perfection by every family member except
Grandfather, was a well-known tune from one of the operas. Whenever the whistle
was heard, everybody knew: there was a Bergmann coming!
In 1907 he married Thekla Steiner (born 1881) of the well-respected Steiner
family. It was her parents’ house in the Kapellenstrasse 47 that she brought
into the marriage as dowry. After restructuring and renovation it became their
family residence. In 1908 their first daughter Hildegard, also called Hilde, was
born, followed by their second daughter Ilse in 1911. From 1904 Theodor
and his cousin, Marco Bergmann, were managing directors and in 1907 he became
joint partner with plenary authority.
On the outbreak of the First World War Theodor was already 40 years old, which saved him as the only one of the four partners from report for duty. During the war he ran the company together with his father.
The family lived a rather private and secluded life and had but few contacts either with their relatives or with others. John Bergmann attributes this fact mainly to Theodor’s wife Thekla, who tended to be seen in a negative light, and to her domineering influence on her husband. She could never get along with anybody except herself and had only her own benefit in mind. This became apparent after Josef Bergmann’s death in 1922, when Theodor was to share out his private inheritance. This was followed by severe arguments in the family, which did not help to improve the image of the “Theodor side”
Thekla Bergmann, née Steiner,
with her daughter Hilde
The elder daughter,
Hilde, married Hermann Schmidt in Stuttgart in the late 20’s and
from there she emigrated to the US with him later on. Ilse, the younger
daughter, began her medical studies in Tuebingen in 1930, which she had
to abandon in 1933. She took up her studies in Vienna, but it
is unclear for how long. In 1937 she married Kurt Lebrecht from Ulm with
whom she emigrated to the US early in 1937.
He went to the hospital in Laupheim for treatment where he was
accepted and taken in but it was only the women’s section which could
provide a bed for him. So he had to make use of the women’s toilets
where he unfortunately met a leader of the BdM (Nazi association of
German Girls). The woman felt offended by the presence of a Jew and
reported Theodor to the party executive committee: still very sick he
was forced to leave the hospital.
After the night of the pogroms in 1938 almost all German Jews tried to flee their homeland as fast as they could. But the immigration countries, also the US, were still very reluctant to hand out entrance visas, raising anxiety and emotional pressure among would-be emigrants. Those tensions destroyed the relationship between Theodor’s family and the other Bergmanns. Due to the collapse of trust there were hardly any contacts between them. For more details see the Edwin family.
Theodor died young in New York as early as 1941 but his wife Thekla,
with whom all the others had to come to an understanding during
the restitution negotiations after the war, reached the ripe old age of
92 years. She died in Seattle, Washington, in 1973, where also their
daughter Hilde had settled with her husband Hermann Schmidt. Theodor’s
second daughter Ilse was married twice,
first to Kurt Lebrecht and, after her divorce, to Siegfried Einstein
from Buchau. In her second marriage Ilse gave birth to Theodor Einstein,
later physics professor at the University of Maryland.
Source:
John Bergmann: The Bergmanns from Laupheim, 1983.
Fotos: Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen, Wü 65/18 T4, Nr. 13-17, Archiv Ernst Schäll.