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Not only his first years, but the whole life of Helmut Steiner was imprinted by his descent from the tannery which had been founded by his grandfather. Leopold, Leopold H. Steiner (1834-1904) was a son of the legendary Heinrich Steiner (1794-1885) , the recipient of a royal medal for his achievements concerning the construction of the railroad connection Ulm-Friedrichshafen. As a young man Leopold served an apprenticeship as  a tanner; the booklet recording  his travels through Germany and the surrounding countries is still kept by the author in the family archives. For instance he worked from April to July 1855 in Rorschach (Switzerland) and then came via Zurich.to Bern. The tannery was one of the most important economic enterprises in Laupheim,  together with the other three companies of the sons and grandsons of the couple Miriam née Einstein (1769-1847) and Simon Victor Steiner (1762-1804): the estate of the castle “Schloss Gross-Laupheim”, the “Laupheim Tools’ Factory LW” of, formerly Joseph Steiner and Sons, and the hops trade of Simon H.Steiner.

 

The local historian Josef K.Braun uses the photo of the lower Kapellen Street, taken in 1925 (page 493) for a detailed description of the business. At the back of their home bearing the sign-board “Leopold H.Steiner, tannery, leather trade,shoemakers´commodities, shafts and transmissino belts” were the workshops and a big storage barn, as well as an open space towards the “Bären” inn where the big oak tanning casks were deeply inserted into the ground. Within these casks the raw skins were treated within layers of shredded bark of oaks and firs. The tanning process needed a lot of water which was easily available in that place. It took months until the acid tanning juice transformed the skins into leather.

 

   

About 1895: Two Steiner generations, in elegant attire, in front of the Kapellenstrasse  

house. On the left: Simon Leopold and his wife Melanie née Herz, on the right

Fanny née Rosengart and Leopold Steiner.

 

The bark barn and drying rooms of the Steine tannery 

the Gymnasium Strasse. Today the site is used as an unpaved parking lot.

(Photo: Ernest L Bergman, Bilderkammer Museum)

 

The chronicler Schenzinger wrote in 1897: “Out of a primitive workshop the owner had developed his business favourably by skill and financial investment into a real factory with a remarkable turnover. The main establishment in the center of the town was completed by an extensive area in the south of the town with the color casks and the wooden barns for the purpose of drying and storing the tanning bark.” This area was at the end of the Raben Street where for a long time the maintenance department quarters of the town were located.

A comparison between the tanneries which existed in Laupheim around 1856 shows the decisive development and importance of the Steiner tannery. In a report of 1871-72 the Steiner tannery was one of the few establishments disposing of a steam boiler and a steam engine.

 

Helmut’s father, Simon (officially “Sigmund”), called “Gerberle” (the little tanner) was born on June 18, 1864, as the only child of the couple Fanny née Rosengart (1838-1931) and Leopold Steiner (1834-1904), as recorded on a birth certificate by the “Royal Rabbinate of Laupheim”. After elementary school he completed the “Latin” (Junior High) school existing since 1872 (provisionally from 1869) and then went to the college “Royal Gymnasium of Ulm” which he left after two years to report for “one year’s voluntary “  military service”. Then came the time for his professional training which he started on January 1st, 1879, with a two-and-a-half-year apprenticeship at Heinrich Frankfurter in Stuttgart. According to the “Apprentice Contract” of February16th, 1879 his father Leopold paid an allowance , including board and lodging, of twice 400 Marks a year. The last half year was free of charge. After the final apprenticeship exam he worked at the tannery of Th. Dienstbach in Bingen on the Rhine. From here he once sent his parents a small basket of grapes, closing his letter with the request “Would you please send me some money, since I don’t want to ask Mr. Dienstbach for it”.

 

 

Simon Leopold Steiner, despite his remarkable

height called “the little tanner” (Gerberle).

(Photo: Bilderkammer Museum)

At the age of 30 Simon married Melanie Herz from Ludwigshafen, who was 8 years younger than him, and in the same year he took over his father’s business  valued at 48,000 Marks. The picture of that time (see above, p.493) shows the freshly married newly-wed couple with his parents Fanny and Leopold Steiner-Rosengart. In 1896 their daughter Julie (Julia) was born, and three years later their son Helmut. Even at an advanced age he used to laugh about having to wear the clothes of his elder sister, and the children of the neighborhood who used to tease him: “Helmut’s wearing girls’ clothes”. At about the time of his birth the young family moved into their newly-built home at Bronner Street no.2. The grandparents Fanny née Rosengart and Leopold H.Steiner continued to live in the tannery on the Kapellen Street. In the year 1904, when the “grandfather, the tanner” died, his wife moved to their only son’s house on the Bronner Street. She outlived her husband by nearly 30 years and died at the ripe old age of 93 in the same year when her great-grandchild Heinrich was born. Up to her death she was the undisputed head of the clan, and everybody honored and cared for her. She was the third of the nine children born to the couple Nanette née Kahn (1812-1881) and Josef (1803-1885) Rosengart from Buttenhausen, a family with whose descendants the family of Helmut Steiner was in close connection.

 

After the passing away of his father Leopold, Simon  succeeded him in the leading functions of the Jewish congregation which had been occupied by tradition by members of the family: as chairman of the community, being in charge of the poor-box, and as the trustee of “Matan b’seter” (“Give in Silence” i.e. discreetly). When in 1923, in the wake of the inflation, the assets of this foundation dwindled, he appealed to the former Jews of Laupheim so that the capital could be restored. Also his wife Melanie née Herz “cared discreetly for the needy of the town but did not want to be mentioned in public – and that is exactly why she is remembered up to this day” (see in “Schwaebische Heimat” vol.22/1 (1971) p.42 ). In addition Simon personally took care of the Jewish cemetery and conducted the synagogue choir which he accompanied on the harmonium (see the concert program on p.497). He was an active member of the Jewish choir “Frohsinn” and played music at home: they owned a piano made by the still existing renowned firm of Pfeiffer in Stuttgart: Melanie and Simon played music for 4 hands on it. (The music books of Strauss edited by Peters no.1376b and the Hungarian dances by Brahms, Peters no.2100 a, with the stamp “Simon L. Steiner Laupheim” are still in family use). The two children took piano lessons (Julia) and violin (Helmut).

 

 

Announcement from the year 1929 about today’s renewed election

of the two chairmen of the Jewish congregation: Simon L. Steiner and Jakob Adler.

(From: Laupheimer Verkündiger)

  

Program of a joint concert of the synagogue choirs of Ulm

and Laupheim conducted Simon L.Steiner.

(Archives R. Emmerich)

 

In order to complete his studies Helmut attended  the German College of Tannery in Freiburg (Saxonia)  from 1922 – 1923,where he made life-long friendships (Wolgien, Praepke, Cristian Rostock. Kurt Lindgens, Fritz Rosenfelder) and took part  in the activities of the students’ society “Eichenlaub”. On Mai 12/13, 1924 the chamber of commerce of Ulm granted him his diploma as a master tanner.

However, his following professional activity at the family business was not to last long. The tannery suffered from the economic consequences of the war and the inflation, and the technical development of the profession would have required heavy investments. At about the same time Helmut was approached by his relatives in the Steiner family’s hops business where, after the deaths of Louis Steiner (1911) and his son Heinrich (1918) two additional blows of fate had to be overcome: in America William, the son of Sam S.Steiner, died of typhoid fever (1902-1924), and Samuel Victor Steiner, a cousin of Sam’s, fell victim to a blood poisoning. As an immediate consequence, Julius, the younger son of Hedwig Steiner-Reinemann, moved to New York, and Helmut entered the Laupheim business in 1926. He started as an office employee, obtained procuration and quickly advanced to  the position of manager. As the family member  resident in Europe he was responsible for the firm’s European business. At the same time, in addition to this change in his career, he got engaged to Edith Noerdlinger from St.Gallen. Her father Isaac (Sigmund) was born in Laupheim,  the son of Hirsch Noerdlinger (1819-1898) and Judith née Steiner (1829-1871) and had emigrated in his younger years to St.Gallen where he became a renowned manufacturer of embroidery. Judith was the sister of Simon H. and Leopold H. Steiner, and Hirsch was the son of Isaac (1791-1847) and Babette née Steiner (1794-1847), a sister of Heinrich’s. But the families Steiner and Noerdlinger were not only doubly related by marriage but close friends with each other. They frequently exchanged letters, spent their vacations together, and helped each other in distress. So it happened that Helmut and Edith knew each other from childhood.

 

 

Advertisements of the Steiner tannery firm in the local paper

“Laupheimer Verkuendiger” from the years 1924 and 1925.

 

Edith Steiner née Noerdlinger (1900-1988) had grown up with her only sister Linda (1904-1981) in the house of her father, cared for by their American aunt Elsie Goldberg who had moved to the St.Gallen family after the untimely death of her mother. Therefore she was familiar with the English language, and after a stay in the French part of Switzerland was also fluent in French. In St.Gallen, at the first college of its kind in Switzerland, she studied to be a nursery school (Kindergarten) teacher and in 1923 was awarded her diploma. After a few years in practice her father passed away, and shortly afterwards her aunt, too. At the University of St.Gallen (then called the “Handels-Hochschule”) she acquired the diploma of an English teacher. When she married and moved to Laupheim she lost – according to the law at that time – her Swiss citizenship and became a German. The first apartment of the young couple was  in the Radstrasse, until they bought a plot in the Koenig-Wilhelm-Strasse, exactly behind the present town hall, and erected a villa there. Their courtyard was adjacent to the plot of the family tannery. When Helmut joined the hops business, the production was by and by discontinued. The business shifted to the trading of raw skins, until it was dissolved entirely. This development was accelerated by the hostility of the National Socialists against the distinguished master tanner Simon L. Steiner, by a malicious denunciation about alleged fraud, and the conviction by the jury of Ulm following his “confession” enforced by the political situation. During his stay in the prison of Rottenburg (Neckar) he got severely ill and died a broken man in the University Hospital of Tuebingen. The funeral service at the Synagogue of Laupheim on Sep.8, 1937, was conducted by the chairman of the congregation Jonas Weil (1871-1942) whose wife Cilly was a Noerdlinger by birth, and by the last teacher at the Jewish school of  Laupheim, Heinz Säbel (1913–1982), who succeeded in finding refuge in Sweden at the last moment in 1939 (the eulogy is kept in the family archives). 

Shortly after moving into their new home their son Heinrich was born in the private hospital “Johanneum“  in Ulm; an enormous circle of family and friends gave him a lively welcome as a promising heir, appreciating the founding of a family as a token of confidence  within these times of political uncertainty. The ritual “Brith Mila” (circumcision) was performed on August 24 in the same clinic by Edith’s uncle Dr. Simon Noerdlinger from Buchau. When their daughter Martha was born three and a half years later, the parents drove over the border to Switzerland where Edith had grown up previously. They were aware of the precarious times and began to prepare their emigration. Helmut Steiner remembers in his memories: “For myself … the work got more awful from day to day, in particular as a partner  in the management became an ardent anti-Semite”. The first sign of his reaction towards the political situation was his letter to the Laupheim athletic club, as a consequence of the “message of the new leader of the German Athletic Club”, regarding the expulsion of the Jewish members: “I immensely regret to draw the logical consequence and to ask you to discharge me from my position as member of the committee; likewise I declare the  resignation of myself and of my wife from the Laupheim athletic club (Turnverein)”.  Furthermore, he thanked the members for their loyal comradeship and the trust they had expressed in electing him a member of the board. He asked them to let a needy member benefit  from the sum he had paid to the travel fund of the German Athletic Assembly. According to the “Nuremberg laws” of 1935 and the injunction to keep non-Jewish household staff, they had to dismiss their faithful nurse Josefine Hannes. Her father Johannes had been for years a foreman in the tannery, and her mother an employee in their parents’ household in the Bronnerstrasse. Due to her forceful dismissal their  twenty-year-old daughter renounced the worldly life, and joined, under the name of Sister Manfrieda, the order of the Sisters of Mercy (Barmherzige Schwestern). Here she trained and qualified as a Kindergarten teacher. From 1940 till 1984 she worked in Aalen and in Markelsheim, and the last years of her life she spent at the Order’s old people’s home “Maria Hilf” in Untermarchtal. The close and friendly contact with the Steiner family was never interrupted until her passing away in 2008.

 

In 1936, Edith and Helmut Steiner were lucky to get all of their belongings out of Germany and into Switzerland. They settled in St.Gallen where Edith had grown up. Their apartment also housed the offices of the new firm he had established together with Sam and Julius Steiner: the “Hopfen Import and Export GmbH”. Shortly afterwards the firm was renamed  “Steiner Hopfen GmbH” (Steiner Hops Ltd.) with the striking cable address “hop-swiss st. gallen” which soon became a household word. In 1938 the Laupheim hop business was liquidated. The local real estate company existed formally till after the war. The Swiss company was closed from 1939-1945 as Helmut Steiner objected to any commercial connection with Nazi Germany and territories which they occupied. However he now had the time to care for his family and to volunteer in the Jewish congregation. For years he acted as the treasurer and the local representative  in the Association of Israelite Congregations in Switzerland. Also his wife Edith  became socially active:  on the Board of the St. Gallen Home-nursing Circle (“Heimpflege”), in the Jewish Womens’ Association (“Frauenverein”), and in the Women’s’ Parliament of St.Gallen (“Frauenzentrale”). Both of them cared, during the war years, for their relatives who joined them from Laupheim, as well as for Jewish children refugees whom they accommodated.

 

After the war, and before he acquired Swiss citizenship, Helmut Steiner was the first to return to Laupheim. His trips to occupied Germany equaled expeditions. Loaded with gasoline for the car, and coffee, cigarettes and silk stockings as “legal” tender, he was separated from his family in Switzerland for weeks. His intention was to rebuild the main business in Laupheim: “When I arrived at the end of 1945 for the first time at Laupheim and Tettnang, the hop firm with all its assets was gone, and the real estate  company an empty entity. The buildings and the plots, and also the hop farm (in Siggenweiler near Tettnang) still existed, but were in other people’s possession” (Helmut Steiner memories). The warehouses were empty, the firm had lost its clients and had no assets except a balance of 1800 Reichsmarks which had been overlooked by the authorities.

 

On his next trip to New York he managed to persuade the owners of the hops business to rebuild the Laupheim firm and to invest the necessary funds to start the business. With the support of the attorney Dr.G.Offtermatt of Ravensburg and the previous and loyal employees Karl Haid and Josef Schoenle who were appointed managers of the hop trade business respectively the real estate company, he succeeded “under immense difficulties” (Helmut Steiner) to set the firm in motion. On his trips to Laupheim he constantly  avoided entering into conversation with people whose views and opinions were not known to him. He did not go to any hotel and spent his nights on the sofa in the living room of his former neighbours and loyal friends, Otto Volz and his family, until the butcher Xaver Bertele opened his hotel “Zum Wyse”.

 

Helmut Steiner used his visits to Laupheim, too, to deal with the affairs of the former Jewish congregation and  its members. Concerning this Ernst Schaell reported: “It was due to him that soon after the end of the war the cemetery regained its dignified state. His initiatives were varied and must not be forgotten. The town administration acknowledged his competence and authority and took him seriously”. He also ensured that the deceased internees of the former camp Biberach-Birkendorf and victims from the concentration camps which had been freed by the Allies, who were buried in Laupheim, obtained decent tombstones. He also did not spare any pains to discover their identity. On recent graves which well-meaning Laupheim people had provided with crosses, Jewish tombstones were erected. The allied soldiers who were buried here were exhumed and transferred to their homeland. Due to an initiative of Helmut Steiner, in 1955 the following text was attached to the monument for the fallen Jewish soldiers of the first World War, which was originally drafted by the Laupheim artist Friedrich Adler: “A previously attached plaque had been forcefully removed in the years 1933-1945. This new plaque is dedicated to the Jewish victims of those horrible times. May peace henceforth rule upon this site”. It was his achievement that the lot where the synagogue stood until 1938, was put at the disposal of the Free Protestant Community (Baptists) for the erection of a place of worship.

 

After more than 40 years in service at Steiner Hops, Helmut Steiner retired from business in 1969, in order to devote himself to his hobbies and to his family and to enjoy the home which was built in the meantime on a hill above the city of St.Gallen.  He took care of the garden, attended to his collections (antique mugs, faiences, stamps) and put old family documents and photos in order. The home of Edith and Helmut Steiner remained a destination for visitors from all over the world. Frequently, official and personal delegations from Laupheim also arrived, in order to convey their congratulations (the cover of such an album is exhibited on the 2^nd floor of the House at the Jewish Cemetery). His vivacity and humor, his interest and appreciation of art and culture and all affairs of public importance, as well as his cautious and responsible behavior in business provided him and his wife with many lasting friendships. In the meantime both of their children had founded their own families. Their son Heinrich had emigrated with his wife Marianne née Wallach (1942-2001) to Israel where they had four children (Daniel 1966, Michael 1968, Judith 1970 and Neomi 1975). Their daughter Martha lived with her husband Vincent C. Frank and daughter Simone (1968) first in Bern and then in Basel. After the passing away of his wife Edith (1988) his energies dwindled, but he was granted the privilege of concluding his life, according to his last wish, in his own home. The Laupheim press acknowledged him under the headline “All the years he remained in his heart a man from Laupheim” with the words “Until his last years his great personality, his lively spirit and his warm-heartedness impressed everyone he met”.

 

 

Quellen:

1) Vgl. STEINER, Yitzhak Heinrich: Die Firma Steiner Hopfen aus Laupheim im Laufe der Geschichte – ein auf Tradition und Kontinuität beruhende Erfolgsstory. In: Laupheimer Gespräche 2002. Jüdische Unternehmer und Führungskräfte in Südwestdeutschland 1800–1950. Stuttgart (Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg, Redaktion Anna-Ruth LÖWENBRÜCK) 2004, S.120.

2) Original im Privatarchiv. Zum Beispiel arbeitete er vom April bis Juli 1855 in Rorschach (Schweiz) und kam dann über Zürich nach Bern. Die Angabe diverser Quellen (vor allem SCHENK, Georg: Die Juden in Laupheim. In: LAUPHEIM, hrsg.von der Stadt Laupheim in Rückschau auf 1200 Jahre Laupheimer Geschichte 778–1978, Weißenhorn (Konrad) 1979 S. 294), wonach die Gerberei von Leopold Steiner seit 1823 bestanden habe, ist deshalb fragwürdig und bedarf weiterer Nachforschung.

3) Vgl. SCHENK (loc.cit.) S. 293–94; BRAUN, Josef K.: Alt-Laupheimer Bilderbogen (Band I) 1985, S. 277/78, und: Nebeneinander Miteinander Gegeneinander. Museum zur Geschichte von Christen und Juden in Laupheim. Ein Museumsbegleiter (2006) S. 58.

4) Siehe Artikel „Adolf Wohlgemut Steiner“.

5) Siehe SPECKER, Hans Eugen : Laupheim vom Übergang an Württemberg (1806) bis zum Jahre 1945, in: LAUPHEIM (loc.cit.) S. 245, 293, und: August SCHENZINGER: Illustrierte Beschreibung und Geschichte Laupheims samt Umgebung (1897) S. 461/62 (Neudruck 1987 S. 487/88).

6) Siehe STEINER (loc.cit.), S. 117–130.

7) Alt-Laupheimer Bilderbogen, Band II (1988), S.173/74.

8) SCHENZINGER loc.cit. S.463/64 (Neudruck 1987 S. 487/88).

9) Siehe KREUTLE, Ulrich: Die Bedeutung der Israelitischen Gemeinde für die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung Laupheims, Abschlussarbeit an der wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Tübingen vom 16. 2. 1984 (hektographiert), S. 79–81.

10) Siehe Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart E 146/1 2319, Protokolle der Visitationen des Oberamts Laupheim durch die Kreisregierung Ulm (Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg). Ein massives Ventil der Dampfmaschine ist erhalten geblieben.

11) Original im Privatarchiv bei Rolf Emmerich.

12) Vgl. EMMERICH, Rolf: Beth Ha-Sefer. Das Haus des Buches – Die jüdische Schule in Laupheim. In: Schwäbische Heimat 2000/1, S. 72–78; SCHENK (loc.cit.) S. 296.

13) Näheres bei BRAUN (loc.cit.Band I) S.190–94, Nebeneinander (loc.cit.) S. 54, SCHENZINGER (loc.cit.) Neudruck p.458/59, Original S. 434/35.

14) Zeugnis der Stadt Laupheim von 1882, im Fundus des Stadtarchivs Laupheim oder des Museums zur Geschichte von Christen und Juden.

15) Siehe Brief an die Eltern vom 31. Oktober und Tagebuch Bingen 1883 (im Besitz des Verf.).

16) Siehe die Abbildung des jungen Paares Simon L.Steiner mit seinen Eltern. Als Vertragspartner erscheint seine Mutter als „Witwe Fanny Steiner-Rosengart“, obwohl sein Vater erst 10 Jahre später verstarb. Vermutlich wurde diese Übergabe vordatiert, um als Heiratsgabe zu gelten.

17) Siehe Abbildung (Original im Privatarchiv).

18) Siehe NEIDLINGER, Karl: Artikel „Familie Julie Bergmann geb.Steiner“, in diesem Band S. 100–109.

19) Siehe Bild auf Seite 101 und 103. Vgl. Adolf SCHAHL: Die Bau- und Kunstgeschichte von Laupheim und Umgebung, in: LAUPHEIM, hrsg.von der Stadt Laupheim in Rückschau auf 1200 Jahre Laupheimer Geschichte 778–1978, Weißenhorn (Konrad) 1979 S. 313. Ausführlicher Beschrieb, Fotos und Baupläne in der prämierten Schülerarbeit „Wohnen im Wandel“, verfasst 1978/79 von Margret BRAUNGER und Simone KÜTTENBAUM (vervielfältigtes Manuskript, im Besitz des Verf.).

20) Siehe Bild auf Seite 91.

21) Siehe Familienbild auf Seite 92.

22) Ein gerahmter Meisterbrief der Oberamtsstadt Münsingen für Josef Rosengart von 1853 befindet sich im Fundus des Stadtarchivs Laupheim oder des Museums zur Geschichte von Christen und Juden.

23) Hier folgte er seinem 1910 verschiedenen Großvetter Louis Steiner, auf den das Amt von seinem Vater Simon H.Steiner und auf diesen von seinem Großvater Heinrich Steiner übergegangen war.

24) Zitat aus: SCHILLER, Friedrich A.: Jüdische Gemeinden in Oberschwaben. In: Schwäbische Heimat Jg. 22 (1971, Heft 1) S. 42.

25) Vgl. BERGMANN, John H.: Die Bergmanns aus Laupheim. Eine Familienchronik. Hrsg. von Karl Neidlinger, Laupheim 2006, S. 61, 69.

26) In Zylinder und Frack vor dem Gasthof „Zum Ochsen“, Benno und Hermann Nördlinger sowie Arthur Grab, auf Foto in BERGMANN, John H.: Die Bergmanns aus Laupheim, hrsg. von Karl Neidlinger (2006) S. 20.

27) Das schön gebundene „Strauss-Album“ der Edition Peters No. 1376 b sowie die „Ungarischen Tänze“ von Brahms (Peters No. 2100 a) mit Stempel „Simon L.Steiner Laupheim“ sind immer noch im Gebrauch der Familie.

28) Die von Helmut Steiner aufbewahrten 28 Platten wurden dem Museum zur Geschichte von Christen und Juden vermacht und auf moderne Tonträger überspielt. Eine kommentierte Ausgabe auf CD ist in Vorbereitung. Vgl. EMMERICH, Rolf: Synagogale Musik aus der Laupheimer Judengemeinde. In: BC – Heimatkundliche Blätter für den Kreis Biberach 15. Jg. (1992 Nr. 1), Sonderdruck S. 7–9, und ESS, Robert: Beitrag „Familie Emil (Elias) Dworzan, Biberacher Str.6“, in diesem Band S. 122–126.

29) Im Fundus des Museums zur Geschichte von Christen und Juden.

30) Siehe auf dem Klassenfoto bei BRAUN (loc.cit. Band I, 1985) S. 191 und 193/94: in der obersten Reihe der zweite von rechts.

31) Original im Besitz des Verf. (SCAN in YHS family archives/Helmut Steiner)

32) Zur „Gerberstadt“ Backnang, mit der sich Helmut Steiner lebenslang verbunden fühlte, vgl. die Beiträge von Rudolf KÜHN in: Backnanger Jahrbuch, Beiträge zur Geschichte von Stadt und Umge- bung, Band 3 (1995) S. 55–67, und von Gérard HEINZ (a.a.O.) S. 155, 186–194.

33) Sein Vater Simon vermerkte in einem alten Gebetbuch wörtlich: „Dienstag 20 Juli 1915 Abd 6 h ver- unglückte Helmut in Bckg so dass ihm Freitag 30 M. 1/2 12 v. Dr. Wiegand der rechte Vorderarm amputiert werden musste. Am 20. Sept wurde er aus dem Wilh. Spital Stgt entlassen“ (Original im Privatarchiv).

34) Vgl. SCHICK, Michael: Der Steiger. Die Geschichte einer schwäbischen Autofabrik in den 20er Jahren. Laupheim (Selbstverlag) 1999, 160 S., und SCHICK, Michael: Steiger-Automobilbau 1918–1926, in: Schwäbische Heimat, 47. Jahrgang Heft 4 (Okt.–Dez.1996) S. 396–401. Ferner auf Homepage http://www.steiger-burgrieden.de .

35) Im Besitz des Verf.

36) Wie Anm. 20.

37) Zwei etwa gleichaltrige Verwandte von ihm, beide ebenfalls Urenkel von Heinrich Steiner (1794– 1885), Heinrich Steiner (geb.1895) und Julius Regensteiner (geb.1897), waren gefallen. Julius Steiner (Bruder von Heinrich) kam nach drei Jahren Dienst unverletzt nach Hause zurück. Vgl. SCHAELL, Ernst: Deutsche Soldaten jüdischen Glaubens aus einer württembergischen Kleinstadt. In: Schwäbische Heimat 49. Jg. Heft 4 (Okt.–Dez.1998) S. 433–441.

38) Original des Meisterbriefs im Privatarchiv.

39) Vgl. GIMBEL, Louis Steiner 3rd: Steiner. Broschüre, neue Auflage, New York (S.S. Steiner, Inc.) 2004 (Ursprünglich veröffentlicht 1982) S. 48, 51.

40) Ein Bild von 1926 zeigt ihn im „Kontor“ neben der legendären „Tante Hedwig“, die damals das Geschäft führte. Über Hedwig Steiner vgl. den im Druck befindlichen Vortrag des Verf. an den Laupheimer Gesprächen von 2004: „Hedwig Steiner-Reinemann (1868–1952), Bewährung in Krieg und Frieden“.

41) Vgl. EMMERICH Beth Ha-Sefer (loc.cit.) S. 76 und 77/78; HAHN, Joachim: Jüdisches Leben in Ludwigsburg. Geschichte, Quellen und Dokumentation. Karlsruhe (Braun) 1998 S. 512/13; HECHT, Cornelia/KÖHLERSCHMIDT, Antje (Hrsg.): Die Deportation der Juden aus Laupheim. Eine kommentierte Datensammlung, Geiselmann Druck Laupheim 2004, S. 17, 30; NEIDLINGER, Karl: Beitrag „Hedwig und Irma Einstein, Ulmer Straße 54“, in diesem Band.

42) Laut Inschrift seiner Großvaters Simon L.Steiner in einem alten Gebetbuch (im Privatarchiv).

43) Siehe STRAUSS, Walter (Hrsg.): Lebenszeichen. Juden aus Württemberg nach 1933. Gerlingen (Bleicher Verlag) 1982, S. 295.

44) Vgl. den Artikel vom gleichen Tag in der Frankfurter Zeitung vom Samstag, 22. April 1933, Nummer 297–298 S. 2: „Die neuen Richtlinien der Deutschen Turnerschaft“.

45) Brief an Gewerbeschulrat Eduard Eisele, erster Vorstand des Turnvereins Laupheim, vom 22. April 1933 (Originalkopie im Privatarchiv).

46) Vgl. Katholisches Kirchenblatt Laupheim, 85. Jg., Nr. 25 (15. 6. 2008) und 26 (22. 6. 2008).

47) Siehe den Nachruf in: Gallus-Stadt 1990. Jahrbuch der Stadt St. Gallen, hrsg. von Zollikofer AG/ St. Galler Tagblatt, S. 232.

48) Siehe NEIDLINGER, Karl: Artikel „Familie Julie Bergmann geb.Steiner“, in diesem Band S. 93.

49) Siehe STRAUSS (loc.cit.) S. 295.

50 )Vgl. GIMBEL (loc.cit.) S. 54/55.

51) Brief an den Verfasser vom 11. 9. 1995.

52) Vgl. BERGMANN, John H./SCHÄLL, Ernst: Der gute Ort. Die Geschichte des Laupheimer jüdischen Friedhofs im Wandel der Zeit. In: Ulmer Forum, Heft 68 (Winter 1983/84) S. 46.

53) Siehe BERGMANN/SCHÄLL (loc.cit.) S.44. Zum Kriegerdenkmal vgl. BRAUN (loc.cit.) Bd.II 1988

54) S. 192–94; SCHÄLL (loc.cit. Soldaten 1998) S. 439/40; SCHÄLL, Ernst: Der jüdische Friedhof in Laupheim. In: Schwäbische Heimat Jg. 47 Heft 4 (Okt.–Dez.1996) S. 413–14; SCHAELL, Ernst: Friedrich Adler. Leben und Werk. Hrsg. von Landrat Peter Schneider, MdL, Bad Buchau (Federsee-Verlag) 2004, S. 52, 57.

55) So z.B. überbrachte ihm am 25. 8. 1977 BM Otmar Schick mit Delegation das neu erschienene Werk von Georg Schenk mit der Widmung: „Unserem lieben treuen Laupheimer Herrn Helmut Steiner in dankbarer Verbundenheit“.

56) Vgl. den Nachruf in: Gallus-Stadt 1993. Jahrbuch der Stadt St. Gallen, hrsg. von Zollikofer AG/ St. Galler Tagblatt, S. 274/75.

57) Siehe Schwäbische Zeitung vom 13. 6. 1992, Der Neue Laupheimer Anzeiger vom 17. 6. 1992.

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