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The Cigar Factory of Isay Rottenberg : The Hidden History of a Jewish Entrepreneur in Nazi Germany / Hella Rottenberg, Sandra Rottenberg ; translated from the Dutch by Jonathan Reeder.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Rottenberg, Hella, 1955- author.
- Rottenberg, Sandra, author.
- Standardized Title:
- Sigarenfabriek van Isay Rottenberg. English
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Businesspeople.
- Cigar industry.
- Confiscations.
- Jewish businesspeople.
- National socialism.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (231 pages)
- Edition:
- First edition.
- Place of Publication:
- Waterloo, Ontario : Wilfrid Laurier University Press, [2021]
- Summary:
- "Isay Rottenberg was born into a large Jewish family in Russian Poland in 1889 and grew up in Lodz. He left for Berlin at the age of eighteen to escape military service, moving again in 1917 to Amsterdam on the occasion of his marriage. In 1932 he moved to Germany to take over a bankrupt cigar factory. With newfangled American technology, it was the most modern at the time. The energetic and ambitious Rottenberg was certain he could bring it back to life, and with newly hired staff of 670 workers, the cigar factory was soon back in business. Six months later, Hitler came to power and the Nazi government forbade the use of machines in the cigar industry so that traditional hand-rollers could be re-employed. That was when the real struggle began. More than six hundred qualified machine workers and engineers would lose their jobs if the factory had to close down. Supported by the local authorities he managed to keep the factory going, but in 1935 he was imprisoned following accusations of fraud. The factory was expropriated by the Deutsche Bank. When he was released six months later thanks to the efforts of the Dutch consul, he brought a lawsuit of his own. His fight for rehabilitation and restitution of his property would continue until Kristallnacht in 1938. The Cigar Factory of Isay Rottenberg is written by two of Rottenberg’s granddaughters, who knew little of their grandfather’s past growing up in Amsterdam until a call for claims for stolen or confiscated property started them on a journey of discovery. It includes a foreword by Robert Rotenberg, criminal defense lawyer and author of bestselling legal thrillers."-- Provided by publisher.
- Contents:
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- 1. ISAY ROTTENBERG
- A drinking-straw factory in Amsterdam
- Iwaniska and Lodz
- Berlin
- Amsterdam
- The paper business
- Vevey
- Back in Amsterdam
- 2. DÖBELN JUNCTION
- Promise beckons
- A mountain of newspapers
- Eleven dossiers
- 3. MERCHANT FROM AMSTERDAM
- Fait accompli
- On the eve of Nazism
- Germany's "brownest" state
- The Red Kingdom
- Goon squads
- Pragmatic city officials
- Alert, and yet...
- A brand-new factory
- 4. KRENTER'S RISE AND FALL
- Salomon Krenter
- Daring advertising
- "The Indians are coming"
- Döbeln first
- Temporary setback
- Bankruptcy
- 5. THE NAZIS IN POWER
- The Reichstag fire
- Upheaval
- The new order in Döbeln
- Boycott
- The factory occupied
- 6. THE MACHINE BAN
- Handcrafted vs. machine-made
- A successful lobby
- Targeting the Deutsche Zigarren-Werke
- 7. A COMPLAINT FILED WITH THE GESTAPO
- Praise from a Nazi
- Misgivings
- Labourers to the rescue
- Mit deutschem Gruss
- Deceptively normal
- To the Secret State Police
- 8. GERMAN VIRTUE
- The pressure mounts
- Counteroffensive
- The defence
- Confrontation
- 9. ARBEIT UND BROT
- Crusade against unemployment
- Discontent
- Back at the negotiating table
- Winter relief
- 10. THE WORKERS REINED IN
- The group of seventeen
- A measly pension, finally
- 11. SWORD AND LIGHTNING
- Brownshirts
- Abducted by the Deutsche Bank
- Raid
- Intrigues
- A ray of sunshine
- 12. MÜNCHNER PLATZ
- Honey and vinegar
- Aryanization
- Unexpected insight
- Word of honour
- 13. UNDAUNTABLE
- Mayor Denecke fired
- Der Jude Rottenberg
- Resold
- 14. AND THEN, WAR
- DZW under new ownership
- Isay Rottenberg
- Well-informed
- The occupation
- Isay finally flees, too
- Afterword
- Acknowledgements
- List of Persons
- Family Tree.
- Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations
- Photo Credits
- Sources and Bibliography.
- Notes:
- Translation of: De sigarenfabriek van Isay Rottenberg: de verborgen geschiedenis van een joodse Amsterdammer in nazi-Duitsland.
- Includes bibliographical references.
- Description based on print version record.
- ISBN:
- 9781771125512
- 1771125519
- 9781771125529
- 1771125527
- OCLC:
- 1289371114
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