BIOGRAPHY

Reichenstein was born in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, at 5:45 p.m. on 1 February 1906. His parents married in Rozhniativ, in present-day Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, on 1 March 1905. Shortly after, they emigrated to Germany, settling first in Herne, where he was born. His father began as a peddler in Herne. Later, he opened a haberdashery shop there. After this shop burned down, they relocated to Gladbeck and established a furniture store. When this venture didn’t succeed, they moved to Bottrop in March 1913, where he ran an antiques and furniture shop. This business proved successful, so he needed larger premises. He moved the shop to another location. After a few years, his father purchased that building and converted it into exhibition rooms. As the sole proprietor, he expanded the business, making it one of the largest in town. In 1920, his father opened another furniture store, with his daughter Mirjam managing it. Later on, the family was evicted from their apartment because they lacked permission from the housing authority. Officials reassigned their apartment to a childless couple, leaving them homeless. With no alternative, they closed their business, converting the shop into a bedroom. His father purchased a plot of land in Bottrop, where a single-family house was being constructed. They moved into the house in 1928.

From 1916 to 1920, he attended Pestalozzi Elementary School in Bottrop, followed by Humanistic High School in Bottrop until March 1920, and then High School in Gelsenkirchen until 1925. He devoted many hours each week to studying Latin and Greek and graduated on 17 March 1925. After graduating from high school, he pursued studies in law, economics, and philosophy at the universities of Freiburg, Munich, Vienna, Berlin, and Cologne. On 5 January 1929, he passed the traineeship exam at the Higher Regional Court in Cologne. Subsequently, on 9 April 1929, he was appointed as a trainee by the President of the Higher Regional Court in Hamm. On 23 October 1930, he was assigned as a judge at the Bottrop District Court, specializing in guardianship and family matters. He completed his doctorate on 12 December 1930, from the Faculty of Law at the University of Cologne. On 20 January 1933, he passed the assessorship exam at the Chamber Court in Berlin. On 26 January, he was appointed as a court assessor by the Prussian Minister of Justice. He was released from civil service, and on 13 March 1933, he was admitted as a lawyer to the district and regional courts by the President of the Higher Regional Court in Cologne. The final step was to be sworn in. For this, he was summoned to the courthouse on Reichenspergerplatz on 31 March 1933, at 10 a.m. As he ascended the courthouse stairs that day, he encountered a large, agitated crowd dressed in judicial attire – Jewish judges, prosecutors, and lawyers being forcibly removed by SA and SS men. He found himself becoming a part of that crowd. They were eventually loaded onto municipal garbage trucks and driven slowly through the city, subjected to insults and ridicule from onlookers. After waiting for hours, they were released one by one through a small back exit. According to him, the subsequent official report claiming that the police and SS were protecting them from public anger was a blatant fabrication.

On 5 May 1933, he received a letter signed by Roland Freisler, the Prussian Minister of Justice, stating that he was hereby prohibited from practicing law. On 7 July 1933, he received a carbon copy of a letter from the Prussian Minister of Justice to the President of the Higher Regional Court in Cologne, stating that his admission as a lawyer in Cologne was revoked. In the family business in Bottrop, income had declined in 1930/31 due to the onset of the economic crisis. His father began seeking ways to generate additional income. The house had several covered courtyards that could be used to store bicycles, even in rainy weather. Therefore, his father applied to the city for permission to operate a bicycle storage facility. Initially, the application was rejected due to a perceived lack of demand. However, his father persisted with his application until the District Administrative Court in Münster, in its ruling on in June 1934, overturned the decision of the city committee in Bottrop and granted permission to operate the bicycle security business. However, in September 1935, without prior warning or explanation, two police officers closed the bicycle station and confiscated the permit. After January 1933, his family reportedly faced constant reprisals. They resided in a single-family house in Bottrop, where individuals in SA and SS uniforms, sometimes without, would visit to extort money from them. In April 1934, they relocated to a small apartment in Essen, taking only a few pieces of furniture with them.

To be expanded…

RECOGNITION

His age was verified by Georg Fürholzer and James Roberts, and validated by LongeviQuest on 24 June 2024.

ATTRIBUTION

* “Yedioth Hayom – Ich und meine Zeitung, eine erlebte Geschichte” – Yedioth Hayom (Author: Dr. Friedrich Reichenstein)

https://longeviquest.com/supercentenarian/friedrich-reichenstein/