Maximilianstrasse 16 used to be the top address in the city of Regensburg. This is where the textile wholesaler Weiß & Holzinger resided, into which the entrepreneur Karl Brandis had married in 1890. He married a daughter of the owners Emil and Gisela Holzinger. As respected as the Jewish family was, they still fell into the clutches of the Nazis and were soon expropriated. On April 4, 1942, the Brandis family of six was deported from Regensburg along with more than 200 Jews, all of whom came from Lower Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate. To this day, the story of this deportation is closely linked to the name of Brandis. The fate of this family was burned into the memory of many contemporaries. The name Brandis is representative of many victims of Nazi terror.
The Regensburg journalist Thomas Muggenthaler has been researching the Brandis family for a long time, none of whom survived. It is known that the mother still wrote letters back from the ghetto. Some are published. “But I wanted to know where the originals are,” says Muggenthaler. By chance he came across a suitcase in Hauzenberg that the family had entrusted to a former employee. The brown leather suitcase was in the attic of Jutta Koller, whose aunt Fanny Hartl was employed by the Brandis family. The suitcase has been in the care of the Koller family for more than 70 years. This is a stroke of luck for research. Because it contains family trees of the Brandis and Holzinger families, photos, postcards from “grandma” to her grandchildren and a postcard from the Piaski ghetto near Lublin, where the Brandis family was deported for forced labor.
The documents gathered in the suitcase should be kept in good hands. On April 13, 1942, Alice Brandis sent an appeal for help to Fanny Hartl on the above-mentioned postcard: “Dear Fannerl, we would be very grateful if you would send us a registered parcel with food more often. Always yours, Alice Brandis.” A letter also tells of the hardship and lack of the deportees: “Toothpaste, soap, underwear, shirts, thin clothes for me and Lotte would be very welcome (…) I can’t put bread any more, it’s completely moldy (… ) Please don’t forget soap, tea, darning yarn, stockings as tight as possible.” Fanny Hartl helped as best she could. She sent parcels to the Piaski ghetto several times before finally losing contact.
Ernst Holzinger, a nephew of the Brandis family who was still able to emigrate, visited Fanny Hartl several times after the war, but Muggenthaler says he never took the suitcase with him. Now the piece is to return to Regensburg together with the valuable content. Jutta Koller wants to hand over the suitcase and the documents to the city archives. “With these original historical documents, history can be told in a vivid and impressive way,” says archive manager Lorenz Baibl. The memorabilia should also be presented to schools in particular – “as an important piece of contemporary history that must not be forgotten,” as Muggenthaler sums it up.