The Question of Anna Drescher’s Aryan Origin, a story from Villa Birkenhain in Karpacz

When visiting the state archives in search of specific documents, I like to order ‘random’ folders to see if similar records might come in handy in the future. It’s like a lottery – sometimes I browse through hundreds of boring listings and calculations, and at other times, I discover incredible stories. One of those incredible stories is undoubtedly the story of Anna Drescher.

Villa Birkenhain w Karpaczu

Villa Birkenhain in Krummhübel (presently Brzozowy Sad in Karpacz), ulica Sadowa 2 / źródło: Polska-org.pl

Judenvermögensabgabe – “penance tax”

This time, I took on a folder concerning Judenvermögensabgabe, which can be translated as the Jewish Property Tax. Judenvermögensabgabe was a tax introduced on November 12, 1938, and it applied to every German Jew whose property was valued at a minimum of 5,000 marks. This tax was also referred to as the ‘penance tax’ because, after the assassination of the German Embassy Secretary Ernst Eduard vom Rath on November 7, 1938, by Herschel Grynszpan, a Polish-German Jew, Hermann Göring demanded the payment of one billion German marks as ‘penance’ for the damage caused to the German nation by Jews.

While reviewing case after case, my attention was drawn to Anna Drescher, who, in 1938, was residing in Villa Birkenhein in Krummhübel – today’s Brzozowy Gaj guesthouse located in Karpacz at ul. Sadowa 2.

The first page of the folder: “The question of Mrs. Drescher’s Aryan origin has not yet been resolved” – so let’s see what this is about.

Teczka Anny Drescher

Page regarding Judenvermögensabgabe and Anna Drescher / Source: State Archive in Wrocław

The wife of a mining counselor 

According to German documentation, Anna Drescher was the wife of Franz Drescher, a mining counselor, director-general, engineer, and doctor, from whom she inherited the estate. Franz was born on March 2, 1871, in Zabrze (Hindenburg), into a Catholic family, as the son of another Franz, who was a mine director in Gliwice (Gleiwitz), and Anna (née Materne).
 
Franz quickly followed in his father’s footsteps and began to climb the ranks of the mining career. In 1907, he became the director of the Queen Luiza mine in Zabrze. In 1911, he was appointed to the mining council, and in 1921, he became the director-general. At that time, Franz Drescher was regarded as the top expert in the Silesian heavy industry.
Kopalnia Królowej Luizy w Zabrzu

Queen Luiza Mine in Zabrze, 1920s-1930s / Source: Polska-org.pl

Evangelical or Jewish?

In 1903, Franz married Anna Toeplitz, a native of Wrocław and an Evangelical, the daughter of Dr. Theodor Max and Franziska. A year after their wedding, their first daughter, Käthe, was born, and they moved to Małe Zabrze, residing at Kronprinzenstrasse 14 (today’s ul. Wolności). With a Catholic father and an Evangelical mother, where does the whole issue of the Jewish Property Tax come into play?
Fragment urodzenia Kathe, córki Franza i Anny Drescher

Fragment of the birth certificate of Franz Drescher and Anna Toeplitz’s daughter, along with information about their religion / Source: Landesarchiv Berlin

So, Anna Toeplitz was born in Wrocław (Breslau) on April 14, 1879, and was the second of nine children of Dr. Theodor Max and Franziska Toeplitz.

It turns out that 5 years earlier, on June 27, 1874, Theodor and Franziska got married, not in Wrocław but in Kaliningrad (then Königsberg). Interestingly, the wedding was registered in the Evangelical parish, but in the section related to the Jewish residents of the city. And that’s not the end of it.
 
Theodor Max was 23 years old, and Franziska was 22. Both were born in Gdańsk (Danzig), both had the same last name, and as it turned out, they were quite closely related. Specifically, their fathers, Heinrich and Benedikt, were brothers. To make it even more interesting, both Heinrich and Benedikt were born in Warsaw, and their parents were Theodor Toeplitz, a merchant from Lissa (today’s Leszno in Greater Poland), and Franciszka Osterreicher, a Warsaw native.

Photographs of Franziska and Theodor Max Toeplitz / Source: Ancestry, Stefan Toeplitz

Marriage certificate of Theodor Max and Francizka Toeplitz, Kaliningrad (Königsberg) / Source: Records of the Evangelical Church in Königsberg

Franziska Toeplitz’s parents settled in Gdańsk. Theodor’s mother, Chana (née Rafaelowicz), passed away a few months after his birth and was buried in Warsaw. His father, Heinrich, moved to Wrocław with his son and daughter-in-law. He resided at Tauentzienstrasse 31a (today’s Kościuszko Street), where he served as a railway director and lived to be nearly 69 years. To this day, you can visit his grave at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Wrocław. Theodor, who reported his father’s death on February 24, 1891, was residing at Teichstrasse 2 (nowadays Stawowa Street).

Excerpt from Heinrich Toeplitz’s death certificate / Source: State Archives in Wrocław

Nagrobek Heinricha Toeplitza na Starym Cmentarzu Żydowskim we Wrocławiu

Tombstone of Heinrich Toeplitz at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Wrocław / Photo by Marta Maćkowiak

Returning to our heroine – Anna’s husband, Franz Drescher, passed away in Wrocław on January 20, 1934. Two years later, on October 12, 1936, Anna reported her mother’s death. She was living at Nova Strasse 4 (today’s Ksawery Liske Street) at that time.

At least since December 1938, Anna was residing in Karpacz. In the following years, Nazi officials must have uncovered her Jewish roots because on January 8, 1944, she was sent to the Theresienstadt camp. Fortunately, the story has a happy ending because in 1946, Anna registered with Sharit haPlatah – the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in Bavaria.

Transport document for Anna Drescher to the Theresienstadt camp (Terezin) / Source: International Tracing Service, Bad Arolsen

Sources:

  • Archiwum Państwowe we Wrocławiu (State Archive in Wrocław)
  • Landesarchiv Berlin
  • Polska-org.pl

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