Fritz Gugenheim

Fritz Gugenheim was born in Zweibrücken on May 2nd, 1859. He was a banker, silk goods manufacturer, Prussian councilor and chairman of supervisory boards in Berlin. Fritz Gugenheim was persecuted in Germany as Jewish. He died on October 6th, 1939 in Neubabelsberg.

Fritz' wife Melly Gugenheim, née. Kaiser, was able to escape from Germany together with the two sons Hans and Alfred. The assets of the Gugenheim family were confiscated, the property seized.

Several volumes found in the stock of the Central and Regional Library of Berlin (Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin, ZLB) could clearly be identified as former property of Fritz Gugenheim. On the volumes' bookplates the Potsdam Villa Gugenheim is pictured, a house built around 1910 for Fritz Gugenheim.

The route of the volumes into the stock of the ZLB is still unclear and could not yet be reconstructed. The books were assessed in 1955 in the the Amerika Gedenkbibliothek, a predecessor of today's ZLB. The acquisition journals of this library have not been preserved.

The books will remain permanently in the stock of the ZLB at the request of the heirs of Fritz Gugenheim