Munich Stories Bamberger & Hertz fashion store in Kaufinger Straße
Kaufinger Straße 28, 80331 München
Hirmer Menswear is the only surviving branch of Bamberger & Hertz Men’s Outfitters, a once popular shop all over Germany, a company that realised the value of cinema advertising early on. Its façade also drew attention to an old Munich legend.
In 1914, the textile trading company Bamberger & Hertz opened a branch in a new building at Kaufinger Straße 22 (now 28) in Munich. After Frankfurt am Main (1904), Stuttgart (1910), Leipzig (1911), and Saarbrücken (1912), the Munich shop was the fifth branch of this rapidly expanding company, a leader in men’s fashion across Germany. Fourteen years later, a branch opened in Cologne.
One striking feature of the building is the protruding tower on the corner of Kaufingerstrasse and Augustinerstrasse, reminiscent of the original ‘Schöne’ or Kaufinger Tower that was part of the second medieval fortification from 1479-1807. Coloured floor slabs in front of the main entrance to the commercial building are a reminder of the tower’s former location, which is linked to the legend of a goldsmith unjustly executed. A plaque on the façade tells the story.
The managing director of the clothing store, Fritz (Siegfried) Bamberger (1885-1976), was the seventh child of Jacob Bamberger (1849-1918), a Jewish clothing merchant from Worms, who had set up a textile business there with his brother-in-law Karl Hertz in 1876. After completing a commercial apprenticeship and working in Brussels and New York, Fritz joined his father’s company in 1909 and took over the newly opened Munich branch with his brother Heinrich in 1914.
The commercial success of this ready-to-wear shop, which specialized in men’s fashion, was sustained throughout Germany by sensational advertising campaigns that broke completely new ground at the time. Early on, for example, ‘advertising’ appeared in cinemas, eye-catching posters were designed for outdoor advertising and, from 1931, “Der freundliche Herr. The reliable magazine of the Bamberger & Hertz boys”, a free customer magazine with entertaining articles, puzzles, games, and handicraft instructions aimed at future customers.
The Nazi boycott campaign on 1 April 1933 against Jewish department stores, shops, doctors’ surgeries, and law firms hit the Bamberger & Hertz branches hard. This was followed by an increase in massive, violent attacks against customers, employees and the shop premises. The company was prevented from continuing its innovative advertising, leading to a severe slump in sales. Fritz Bamberger’s attempt to sell the shops collectively failed. He was obliged to break up the company and close branches (Saarbrücken 1934) or sell them individually (Frankfurt 1935, Cologne in 1938). The Leipzig branch was burnt down in the Reichspogromnacht in 1938.
In the autumn of 1938, Fritz Bamberger succeeded in selling the Munich branch to Hans Hirmer (1897-1980), who had worked at the company since 1915, initially as an apprentice and later as a senior employee and authorised signatory. With two financial backers, he founded “Hirmer & Co. KG”. It was verbally agreed, however, that the Bamberger family would remain involved unofficially, as the transfer was carried out far below value in accordance with the requirements of the Nazi authorities. This ‘Aryanisation’ meant that the business was spared from attack in the Reich Pogrom Night of 9/10 November 1938. Fritz Bamberger, like many other Jewish entrepreneurs, was deported to Dachau and only released in December 1938 after agreeing in writing to leave the country. In March 1939, he and his wife managed to emigrate to England. They had already sent their two children there in the autumn of 1938. The family finally moved to the USA in 1940.
Fritz’s son, Hans Bamberger, contacted Hans Hirmer in 1945 after the war to arrange continuation of the company as verbally agreed in 1938. The Bamberger family officially became partners again. In 1951, when agreement on a future business strategy failed, Hans Hirmer paid off the Bamberger family, who had remained in the USA, and became the sole owner. Both families are keen to emphasise that they have remained friends to this day.
By Heidi Rehn
