Fleissig, Wilhelm

Geislinger Str. 6

The following notation can be found in the residents’ registration files of the Göppingen city archives:
Born: May 13, 1906, in Nuremberg, Single, Profession: Dipl. Engineer
Moved from Nuremberg to Göppingen, Geislingerstrasse 6 (Löwenstein) on April 6, 1938.
_{(They are Gisela, née Dörzbacher and Albert Löwenstein, kmr)}
And the following notation was added in pencil: ‘Half-Jewish, managing director at Geschmay’.

Managing Director at Geschmay

“Geschmay” can only mean the “Wuerttemberg Felt-Cloth Factory D. Geschmay Company”, which was located in the Metzgerstrasse in Goeppingen. Besides the economic harassment to which ‘Jewish’ companies were subjected during the Nazi time, there also were difficulties on a personal level during the years from 1935 to 1938, as well as a death: Hans Geschmay, the junior partner, had primarily lived in Italy since 1935 in order to build a new factory there. His brother-in-law, Leo Neuburger, a former part-owner of the company, had moved to Stuttgart in 1935 and therefore had to resign from the firm. After these changes took place, Justin Rosenwald, who also was a brother-in-law of Hans Geschmay, became the new managing director. But in April 1938 Justin Rosenwald must probably already have been seriously ill because he died in Göppingen a month later at only 55 years of age. Hans and his father David Geschmay must have felt fortunate to have found a qualified successor in Wilhelm Fleissig. It could hardly have been a coincidence that he was a citizen of Nuremberg: the deceased, Justin Rosenwald, had owned a stuffed-toy factory there for many years and probably knew the Fleissig family, who worked in the same industry.

A Diploma Chemist

Nothing is known about Wilhelm Max Eugen Fleissig’s (that is his full name) childhood and youth; in any case, he must have attended a high school in Nuremberg.

He enrolled at the University of Erlangen when he was not even 18 years old yet. For two semesters he studied chemistry and political science. After the winter semester of 1924-25, he transferred to the Technical University of Munich where his specialization was in chemistry. During the 1927 summer semester he passed his preliminary diploma examination with a high grade. While he studied in Munich he made ‘Requests for Tuition Waivers’, a clue that Wilhelm Fleissig did not come from a well-to-do family. It is also known that he was a member of the “Free Scientific Association”, a student organization which had a different focus than the right-leaning fraternities that would not have admitted Jewish members anyway.

According to one reference, Wilhelm Fleissig completed his studies at a Berlin university or college, but additional information could not be located. It is also not known where Mr. Fleissig held first professional positions but it can be assumed that without experience he would not have been qualified to apply for the managing director position in Göppingen. Wilhelm Fleissig was able to work at the Geschmay firm until its ‘Aryanization’ at the end of 1938. It was fortunate that the new ‘Aryan’ owner Friedrich Haefele continued to employ him until his deportation – the alternative would have been forced labor – but most likely no longer in his capacity as managing director.

Gerhard Kieffer, who was a fifteen-year-old apprentice in the company, remembered Wilhelm Fleissig:
“He was approximately 1 Meter 75 [5’8”] tall and had thinning dark blond hair. He had an athletic build. He was a man in his prime years and his appearance was what the Nazis would have thought of as ‘Aryan’. He was well-spoken, without a Franconian accent. On October 1, 1941, I began my commercial apprenticeship at the Württemberg Felt-Cloth Factory. Wilhelm Fleissig was very committed to making a good businessman out of me. I will never forget this admirable man. At that time I heard that Wilhelm Fleissig had been a researcher at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institute in Berlin. First he lost his Doctor title, then his work place. At the felt-cloth factory he had to share an office space with Theodor Dickfoss in the technical and Mathilde Jucker in the commercial areas of the business. I do not know in which capacity Wilhelm Fleissig worked. And then there was I, an apprentice whom Wilhelm Fleissig took under his wing. One day I came into the office and was surprised to find that his desk had been moved and was hidden behind a cabinet. Most likely this was due to new regulation that Jewish citizens were no longer permitted to work in the same room as ‘Aryans’.”
Mr. Kieffer’s memories have also given an indication what and where Wilhelm Fleissig’s work duties at Geschmay were. Until now we were not able to locate other sources confirming that Mr. Fleissig had worked at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institute.

In the Concentration Camp and Being Homeless

Wilhelm Fleissig probably must have had his worst impression of Göppingen, his new place of residence, during Pogrom Night November 9-10, 1938: The attacks on Jewish citizens, the destruction of businesses and of the Hotel Dettelbacher, and the arson fire that destroyed the synagogue. He was arrested as well and tortured at the Dachau concentration camp from December 12 to 23, 1938.

His return from Dachau was the beginning of an involuntary odyssey through many of Göppingen’s ‘Jewish Houses’. The following notations appear in the residents’ registration registry:
Moved to Ludwigstrasse 30 (Clara Lang) on January 20, 1939. (The house on Ludwigstrasse 30, today Mörikestrasse 30, was owned by the Jewish family Veit – kmr)
Moved to Grabenstrasse 18 (Oppenheimer) on September 30, 1939.
Moved to Haupstrasse 11, second floor (Fleischer) on May 4, 1940.
Moved to Metzgerstrasse 16, second floor (Geschmay) on May 29, 1941.

Roots in the Remstal as well: the ancestors on the mother’s side

It was not possible to confirm the notation ‘Half Jewish’ that was penciled in on the Göppingen registration form. Both of Wilhelm’s parents, his mother Wilhelmine Eleonore Fleissig, née Wertheimber, as well as his father Julius Fleissig, belonged to the Jewish faith.

However Wilhelm Fleissig also had Christian ancestors: His grandmother on his mother’s side, Wilhelmine Wertheimber, née Munder, was the daughter of a Christian family from Stetten in the Rems valley in Württemberg: Wilhelm’s great-grandfather Christian Wilhelm Munder (1828-1901) was a nail-smith and vintner by profession, whose daughter Wilhelmine (1860-1934) was employed as a housekeeper for unmarried merchant Emil Wertheimber in Munich. Four years after the birth of their daughter Wilhelmine Eleonore in March 1883, the unlikely couple (age difference of 20 years) were married after all and their daughter was thereby ‘legitimized’.  Because of her marriage Wilhelmine converted to the Jewish religion of her husband. Wilhelmine Eleonore, the daughter of Emil and Wilhelmine Wertheimber, married Julius Fleissig, a merchant from Nuremberg, in 1905.

Native to Franconia: the ancestors on the father’s side

Wilhelm’s paternal grandparents were Cäcilie (née Brebacher) and Samuel Fleissig, who had lived in Nuremberg since 1881, where they sold haberdashery and toys.

Wilhelm Fleissig’s father, Julius, born in 1870, had three older and two younger siblings. Beginning in 1901, he ran a metal and glassware business in Nuremberg, which initially gave rise to a fabric toy factory and eventually became a lamp factory that went bankrupt in 1933. Julius Fleissig was also the inventor of various electrically powered household items. Following the birth of their son Wilhelm in 1906, their daughter Else Helene was born in 1908.

The entry mentioned above which claimed that Wilhelm Fleissig was “half-Jewish” – did not hold true according to Nazi criteria. It is quite understandable that Wilhelm Fleissig, risking his life, tried to “embellish” his ancestry.

A Family Is Wiped Out

Wilhelm Fleissig’s uncle, Paul Hugo Fleissig, had already moved to Basel, Switzerland, by the end of the 19th century. He studied pharmacy, passed the pharmacist’s exam, and earned his doctorate. During the Nazi era, his family tried to persuade their relatives in Nuremberg to flee to Switzerland.

Wilhelmine Wertheimber, née Munder, Wilhelm Fleissig’s ‘Aryan’ grandmother, died in Nuremberg in 1934, which spared her from knowing about the fates of her daughter and her two grandchildren:

Her daughter Wilhelmine Eleonore Fleissig, née Wertheimber, 59 years old and a widow, according to the Nazis’ criteria ‘Half-Jewish’, was deported on March 24, 1942, from Nuremberg to Izbica and murdered in the extermination camp Bergen-Belsen.

Her granddaughter Else Helene Fleissig (Wilhelm Fleissig’s younger sister), 33 years old, unmarried and a nanny by profession, was rounded up on the same transport as her mother and murdered in Izbica.

And also: Her grandson Wilhelm Fleissig, who was probably murdered at Riga/Jungfernhof, to where he had been deported from Göppingen on November 28, 1941, a few days before the deportation of his mother and sister.
Mr. Kieffer remembered: “Before the Jews were taken away from Metzgerstrasse in 1941, Mr. Fleissig came to our office to say good-bye by telephone to his ‘Aryan’ mother in Nuremberg, and after that he said good-bye to us. It was an extremely dramatic scene. He gave me the book ‘The Battle for the Matterhorn’ by Carl Hänsel because he knew very well about my enthusiasm for mountaineering. This book still stands on my bookshelf today.”

Two relatives from Wilhelm’s father’s side of the family were murdered:

Wilhelm’s uncle, Theodor Max Fleissig, a merchant who lived as a bachelor in Nuremberg, was deported to Izbica in March 1942, along with his relatives. Theodor Fleissig had worked as an authorized signatory in his brother Julius’s company.

On November 27, 2024, Stumbling Stones were laid in Nuremberg–Gostenhof, at 37 Bärenschanzstr., for Wilhelmine, Else, and Theodor Fleissig – the place where the Fleissig family had lived for many years.

Wilhelm’s aunt Luise Löwy, née Fleissig, who was married in Wuppertal, died on December 5, 1942, at the Theresienstadt concentration camp. A Stolperstein was laid in her memory on October 20, 2022, in Wuppertal. The initiative came from her great-grandniece, Ms. Santoro-Burckhardt, to whom we also owe the photos of Luise Löwy Fleissig and of Samuel and Cäcilie Fleissig.

On September 19, 2012, Gunter Demnig laid a Stumbling Stone in front of the former building at Geislinger Str. 6 in memory of Wilhelm Fleissig’s fate. There were no relatives who could have been invited to the ceremony.

We would like to thank Mr. Kieffer for sharing his memories of Wilhelm Fleissig with us.

The Nuremberg City Archives kindly provided us with several family photos. We would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Ms. Miriam Santoro-Burckhardt for photos and additional information about the family. The “Shoah Nuremberg” project has documented the history of the Fleissig family in detail; we would like to thank them as well for providing important information.

(25.06.2026  kmr/ir/ww)