Simeon Zipkes

On September 3, 2024, a book owned by Simeon Zipkes (1878-1950) was returned to his grandson.

Zipkes was born on December 13, 1878 in Jassy (Romania). After Jancu and Alexander, he was the youngest of three brothers. His parents ran a hotel in the capital of the Moldavian province. Simeon Zipkes attended elementary school and grammar school in Jassy. The family belonged to the Jewish religious community. He began studying at the local university in 1897. Anti-Semitic attacks and pogroms prompted him to continue his studies in Paris in 1899. Just a few months later, Zipkes moved to Switzerland. He graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in 1904 with a degree in structural and civil engineering. He joined the company Luitpold, later Luitpold & Schneider, in Stuttgart. In 1906, he took over the Zurich branch as chief engineer. From 1911, Zipkes set up his own business and carried out pioneering work in reinforced concrete construction at home and abroad. The bookplate he chose, which shows a worker with a hammer and chisel in front of a factory landscape, also bears witness to his work.

Zipke's engineering office in Zurich was one of the largest in the city and at times had up to 20 employees. In Zipke's obituary, the Israelitisches Wochenblatt mentions the Hotel Winter Palace in Gstaad and St. Mark's Church in Stuttgart as “major buildings”. Zipke also published articles in contemporary trade journals. During this time, he must also have been in contact with the branch office of Stigler-Aufzüge GmbH in Zurich.

In 1909, Zipkes married the concert singer Adele Bloch, who died in 1918 during the influenza epidemic.5 The marriage produced two sons, Ernst (1910-1995) and Rudolf (1911-2013). Widowed, Simeon Zipkes moved to Berlin with his two sons in 1920. He remained there until 1938. The Jewish address book for Greater Berlin lists his home address as 1931: Im Eichkamp 41, Berlin-Grunewald. During this time, he met his second wife, Barbara Heidl.6 The political situation in Nazi Germany prompted him to leave Berlin as a Jew and Swiss citizen. A surviving letter from the Swiss legation dated November 19, 1938 bears witness to the circumstances:

(...) The legation then made representations in favor of our Jewish compatriot, engineer Simeon Zipkes, who had been summoned to the Labor Front, where he had been threatened with the Secret State Police and forced to sign a document stating that he would relinquish the management of the house of an Italian citizen. Zipkes, who had intended to travel to Switzerland at the end of the month anyway, has now hastened his departure and said goodbye to the legation with the remark that he had not been bothered any further and that no difficulties had been made for him because of his move. (...)

The extent to which the statement that he was not harassed by the Gestapo during his remigration to Zurich can be believed remains uncertain. It is highly probable that the book identified in the ZLB was left behind or sold in Berlin in this context. Due to the time period, it must be assumed that it was lost as a result of Nazi persecution. After his return to Switzerland, Simeon Zipkes became involved in the building committee of the Jewish Community of Zurich.8 One day before Hanukkah, Zipkes died on December 3, 1950.

The offprint identified is a special volume published on the occasion of the delivery of the 15,000 Stigler elevator. The volume contains no indication of the year or place of publication. It can be assumed that Zipkes was involved in the construction of the factory premises as an engineer. This theory cannot be verified either by sources or by the memories of his descendants. Based on the existing provenance features, it is assumed that Stigler Aufzüge GmbH handed over the offprint to the branch office in Zurich at an unknown date (sources mention various publication years for the offprint, which cannot be verified). The volume must have subsequently come into the possession of Simeon Zipkes, who added his bookplate. Based on the dedication text, it is illogical that Zipkes should have been the first owner and then handed over the volume to the Stigler factory. This thesis is supported by the fact that the offprint was identified in the BStB and Zipkes is known to have worked in Berlin from 1920 to 1938.

Consultations with the heirs did not yield any further information about the path and thus the access to the book.