J. B. Soellner Nachfolger A.G. (fl. 1907-1934), Nuremberg.

J.B. Soellner

On 10 April 1854, Johann Bernhard Soellner (*1822 München;†1902 Nürnberg) began with the manufacture of bronze and foil metals, and metal powder. In 1874 Ernst Robert Noack was made partner in the firm and became sole proprietor when Soellner left the company in 1881. Noack's death is recorded in the Bayerisches Handelszeitung of 1887. His widow Ursula Noack then ran the company. In 1889 Hermann Hetzel was made partner in the firm [2]. Mr. Soellner took over the position of president of the Chamber of Commerce from Mr. Hetzel in 1890 [3]. The company was known to have been an exporter of drawing sets prior to manufacturing their own drawing instruments in 1895 [1]. In 1907 Hermann Hetzel (†1924) sold the J.B. Soellner business to Justin Rebitzer (*1882 Ottensoos;†1948 Chicago) and Emil Späth. The company was then renamed J.B. Soellner Nachfolger. In the same year Hermann Hetzel founded the Vereinigten Silberhammerwerke Hetzel & Co. for the large-scale production of hammered silver. 

J.B. Soellner Nachfolger

In 1910, Soellner merged with Georg Friedrich, a maker of drawing instruments established in 1861 [8], whose factory was located at Waechterstrasse 26. Before the merger the Soellner factory had around 24 and Georg Friedrich's factory 65 workers [1]. After the merger the Soellner company occupied the Friedrich factory location at Waechterstrasse 26. The company expanded rapidly which necessitated relocating the factory in 1915 to larger premises in the Veilhofstraasse 8. 

The company became an Aktiengesellschaft in 1922. In 1924 Soellner had a workforce of 230, making it one of the major drawing instrument manufacturers in Germany. According to US immigration records Justin Rebitzer visited the US in 1923 and 1924. Little is known about the trip in 1923, other than that he stayed at the Commodore Hotel in New York [14]. Interestingly, the purpose of his trip in 1924 was recorded as business with 'Keuffel & Esser, 3rd Adam Street New Jersey'. His length of stay was then for a period of 6 weeks [15]. Justin's relationship with K&E is unclear, but it is quite possible that Soellner may have been a supplier to K&E. By the early 1930s Soellner was listed as a Jewish owned company, and forced to transfer ownership to non-Jewish Germans as part of the Judenboykott that came into effect in 1933 [9][18]. J.B. Soellner Nachfolger is last listed in the Nürnberg Addressbuch of 1934.

 

Fred Rebitzer

Fritz 'Fred' Ernst Rebitzer was born November 9, 1918 in Nuremberg, Germany. On 3rd November 1934 Fred, at age 16, enrolled as a student at Herne Bay College, Kent, UK [18]. The college specialised in engineering and in the 1930s it possessed one of the largest and best equipped engineering workshop schools in England [19]. Realising the threat that Nazism posed, the Rebitzer family decided to leave Germany and emigrate to the USA. On September 25, 1937, Fred arrived in the Port of New York on board the ship 'Statendam'. The ship's port of departure was Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Fred was listed on the ship's manifest as Fritz E. Rebitzer, age 18, occupation mechanic, and accompanying him was his sister Lotte Rebitzer, age 23, occupation clerk. On arrival brother and sister were met by their uncle E. H. Morganthau [17]. On 17th September 1938, a year after their children's arrival, Justin and Anna Rebitzer arrived in the Port of New York on board the ship 'Nieuw Amsterdam'. The ship's port of departure was Rotterdam, the Netherlands. They were met by their son-in-law Friedrich Aufrecht, who in the previous year had married Lotte [14].

Fred fought during WW2 with the U.S. Navy. He married Magda Berkes (*1923;†2012) on November 3, 1948 in Chicago, Illinois. During WW2, Magda was forcibly relocated to Auschwitz and Altenburg-Buchenwald Concentration Camps where she worked at forced labor until her liberation by American forces [11]. Fred and Magda had three children: Sandy Joy, James Bryant and Robert Scott Rebitzer.

 

Cury Manufacturing

After the war, Fred Rebitzer founded Cury Manufacturing that manufactured drawing instruments. Keuffel & Esser's Annual Report for 1966 lists among its manufacturing plants, "Cury Manufacturing, Chicago, Illinois". So it would appear that at least some, if not all, of Cury's output was destined for K&E. Fred passed away, aged 89 in 2007. Fittingly, on his gravestone his name is surmounted by a bow compass [10]. 

_____________________

[1] STARCK, Georg; Die Entwicklung der Deutschen Reißzeugindustrie, Universitätsverlag Robert Noske, Borna-Leipzig, 1925.

[2] Bayerische Handelszeitung. 19,1-6. 1889 [MDZ]

[3] August Jegel; Die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung von Nürnberg-Fürth Stein und des Nürnberger Raumes seit 1806, Verlag Lorenz Spindler 1952 Nürnberg. p.233. 

[4] Stadtarchiv Nürnberg C 22/II Nr. 21/441 An (1889)

[5] Adressbuch Nürnberg 1891

[6] Stadtarchiv Nürnberg C 22/II Nr. 28/479 An (1896)

[7] Stadtarchiv Nürnberg C 22/II Nr. 41/1892 a AN, Stadtarchiv Nürnberg C 22/II Nr. 44/4112 a AN (1907), Stadtarchiv Nürnberg C 22/II Nr. 45/2283 An (1911)

[8] Georg Friedrich (*1823;†1906), successor [14] to Johann Jakob Kißkalt (*1821;†1860), established a workshop in Nurnberg in 1861. His son Philipp Friedrich (*1862) took control of the company in 1888. Stadtarchiv Nürnberg C 7/II Nr. 15462 (1858), Stadtarchiv Nürnberg C 22/II Nr. 20/101 AN (1888). After merging with Soellner in 1907 the names of both owners continued to be entered separately in the commercial register, although there was only one company and one factory.

[9] Jüdische Gewerbetreibende, Ärzte und Rechtsanwälte in. Nürnberg 1930. p.27.

[10] Many thanks to Alan Williams for researching the American connection.

[11] Chicago Tribune, Sunday 29, 2007: Death Notice: Fred Rebitzer.  

[12] Kunst- und Gewerbeblatt des Polytechnischen Vereins für Königreich Bayern 1868, p.197 [GoogleBooks] 

[13] Stadtarchiv Nürnberg C 7/II Nr. 14424, Niederlassungsakten Johann Bernhard Soellner

[14] New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957 [Family Search].

[15] New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924 [Family Search].

[16] Soellner 1924 drawing instruments catalogue [Internet Archive] 

[17] The ship's manifest gives Morganthau's address at 1133 5th Ave., New York, N.Y. [Family Search]. Henry Morganthau Sr. (*1856;†1946) former US ambassador to Turkey, lived at this address in 1938. [The American Hebrew, Vol.143, Issue 13, p.15]. 

[18] Fred Rebitzer, database unified search, JewishGen. USC Shoah Foundation, Visual History Archive Online.

[19] John Clancy; Herne Bay through Time, Amberley Publishing 1915.

[20] Death of Robert Noack in 1887, proprietor of J.B. Soellner. Bayerische Handelszeitung. 17. 1887 [MDZ]

[21] For the history of J.B. Soellner see: Gross-Industrie und Gross-Handel von Nürnberg-Fürth und Umgebung, 1894. [MDZ]