Also the Jewish orphanage was already closed in 1938. It was managed by Minna Czerkowsky who sub-rented furnished rooms. It was owned by the the Jewish orphanage trust who sold the building to Dr. Vincent Lissek in 1938. Dr. Lissek was laywer in Guttentag. After the war he became prosecuter in Fulda, West-Germany.
In 1960 Dr. Lissek filed for compensation for a one family residential house which he had purchased in 1938. The question if he purchased one of the assets from a politically persecuded person he answered: "not applicable".
He also filed for furniture and books of his lost law office.
Read here an excerpt of his application for restitution.
The Lastenausgleichsamt (restitution office) researched quite intensive, if Dr. Lissek really owned all that books and what the value of that books was. A huge part of the file is related to that research. Finally the Lastenausgleichsamt reduced the value quite heavily. Dr. Lissek agreed immediately when the restitution office asked questions. This recorded the civil servant.
The restitution office also researched if Dr. Lissek said the truth regarding the residential building. As usually witnesses were interviewed. But even if the year „1938“ as the year of the purchase must have the alarm sounded at the restitution office, the office didn’t ask the witnesses how Dr. Lissek came into the possession of the building. They civil servants only asked their common questions: was Dr. Lissek in 1939, the reference-date for the restitution, the only owner, when was the building build, how many rooms did the building have, which heating did it have, etc. If all witnesses only had answered this questions the issue of „Arianisation“ would have never emerged.
Read here the questions sent to all witnesses.
But more than one witness answered more detailed and said that Dr. Lissek was the only owner because he purchased the building in 1938 from the Jewish parish.
Read the testimonies from this witnesses who testified
that Dr. Lissek purchased the building from the Jewish community:
Wilhelm Schirmer
Josef Dornhof
Hermann Markgraf
One of the witnesses was Wilhelm Schirmer the former Kreisbüroleiter (office manager of the head oft he district authority) and after the war the head of the Heimatauskunftsstelle (information center of the home county „Guttentag“, located at the Lastenausgleichsamt). I know a lot of testimonies of Mr. Schirmer in restitution processes and mostly he backed the position of the applicant. Even if he couldn‘t say anything to the shop or company oft he applicant at least he stated that he got to know the applicant as a trustworthy person. In the process of Richard Schatka/ Louis Siedner he even supported the fraud that Richard Schatka purchased the building already in 1937, which was probably later, and that the building was run down, in reality it burnt down in „Reichskristallnacht“. But in the case Dr. Lissek he unquestioned raised the issuel of arianisation. He certainly knew what he did.
Now the Lastenausgleichsamt was forced to undertake further research. First they asked Dr. Lissek himself. He commited that he didn’t purchase the building not from the former lessee but from the Jewish orphanage trust. How he stated it, one must think that earlier he had made a statement that he purchased it from that woman. But I couldn’t find such a statement. Was it removed from the file later?
Read here the testimoney of Dr. Lissek from 5.5.1961
Dr. Lissek further stated that it wasn’t a problem that he purchased the building from Jews because he handled the purchase price to the free disposal of Dr. Luft, the president of the trust. He personally had brought the money to Dr. Luft in Ratibor.
Read here the testimoney of Dr. Lissek
from 15.5.1961
Dr. Lissek was not requested by the Lastenausgleichsamt to submit the purchase agreement and a proof for the payment. Mr. Lissek didn’t flee during the war-turmoil in January 1945 but several months later. Therefore he would have had enough time to pack in the purchase agreement and to bring it to West-Germany. Dr. Lissek was also not interrogated how he could manage to circumvent the permission authorities that in 1938 usually ordered to pay the purchase price to a confiscated bank account.
The Lastenausgleichsamt also didn’t try to find Dr. Luft. The only witness who was interviewed was Margarete Faber, a friend of the family. The family Faber had in 1933 purchased the Adler-pharmacy of the Jew Paul Bender. Magarete Faber confirmed that Dr. Lissek paid the purchase price personally to Dr. Luft. Wherefrom she knew that, she was not asked by the Lastenausgleichsamt.
Mrs. Faber further testified that the most important Jewish families Eisner, Siedner, Miss Schwarz and Miss Zurkowski all supported it that Dr. Lissek bought the former Jewish orphanage. This testimony the Lastenausgleichsamt picked up gratefully and argued now that Dr. Lissek was a well known friend of the Jews, whom it was a personal concern that the money would reach to the poor Jews.
Read here the testimoney of Margarete Faber.
Therefore the Lastenausgleichsamt said that Dr. Lisseks testimony was credible and the paid the restitution.
Read here the ruling.