Franz and Clara Fürstenheim

Since 2012, three books and three loose bookplates from the library of Franz and Clara Fürstenheim could be returned.

Dr. Franz Fürstenheim, born on January 22, 1866 in Küstrin, and Clara Fürstenheim née Hirschhorn, born on December 18, 1872 in Berlin, both worked together in the petroleum cooking apparatus and lamp factory of Clara's father Jacob Hirschhorn. Franz had previously been a practicing physician and paediatrician in Berlin until he changed his profession in 1896. In 1917 both founded the Franz and Clara Fürstenheim Foundation at the Jewish Community of Berlin's Commission for the Poor ("Armenkommission der Jüdischen Gemeinde zu Berlin"), which was intended to help married couples in need. Clara Fürstenheim died in 1925 at the age of 52. Franz Fürstenheim was managing director of the J. Hirschhorn AG until 1928 and from 1927 to 1933 board member of the Berlin Metal Industry Association ("Verband Berliner Metall-Industrie").

As he was persecuted as Jewish, Franz Fürstenheim emigrated to the USA. He was granted US citizenship in 1946 and lived in New York City until his death in 1950.

The ex-libris were part of the ex-libris collection of the Berlin City Library, the books were part of unprocessed stock and do not contain any indications of the supplier or intermediate owners. The route of access into the collection is unclear.