Singergasse 15 (laid 2014)

The Grünwald Family

Robbed – Expelled – Deported

Otto Grünwald, born on May 1, 1883, in Wiener Neustadt, procurator of his father’s company;
Olga Grünwald, née Seinfeld, born on February 26, 1901, in Wiener Neustadt;
and son Erich, born on December 19, 1921, in Wiener Neustadt.
The family fled to France, was interned there, and on September 16, 1942, was deported from Drancy to Auschwitz, where they were murdered.

Otto Grünwald worked in his father’s company (“Kleng-Anstalt für Waldsamen A. Grünwald Wr. Neustadt”), was procurator there, and after his father’s death in September 1920, became the owner of the business. In April 1920, he married Olga Seinfeld and moved with her into their own house at Waxriegelgasse 8.

Otto was active as a seed merchant and soap manufacturer. The Kleng-Anstalt (processing of forest seeds from pinecones) was located at Haidbrunngasse 38. Together with his wife, he also ran the “Wr. Neustädter Seifenfabrik u. Samenhandlung Grünwald & Co.” In the factory premises at Singergasse 15, candles, perfumery, and toiletry articles were produced and also sold directly. The business also included two retail shops and two additional operational facilities.

The Grünwald family’s enterprises were very successful in the 1930s. The company maintained business relations in Europe (for example, to Italy and France), but also to America (for example, to the USA and Argentina) and Australia.

Son Erich was born in 1921. After elementary school, he attended the Bundesgymnasium starting in 1931, but left prematurely in 1937 at the age of 15. In 1928, the small family moved to Singergasse 15, to the production site of the soap factory. In 1938, the business had to be closed and the apartment at Singergasse 15 cleared out. At the beginning of September 1938, the family moved to Domplatz 12.

Otto had hoped—from today’s perspective, it was an illusion—to receive a large sum of money for his company. He wanted to move with his family to one of the countries to which the Grünwald company had business relations. But by then, the Grünwald company was already under provisional administration, and the couple had lost access to their assets.

Officially, Otto Grünwald changed his residence on “30.11.38,” according to the available registration records, to Vienna, Lassingleithnerplatz 1/9. In reality, however, the family was expelled from the city at the time of the November Pogrom. The three-member family believed they would be safe from persecution in France and fled to the west. However, during the course of World War II, they were overtaken by events. The German Wehrmacht occupied part of France. Jews were arrested and rounded up. The Grünwald family was deported from Drancy to Auschwitz on September 16, 1942, and murdered there.

Werner Sulzgruber