The Gabriel Theilheimer Family
Gabriel Theilheimer was a merchant, born 18.December 1848 in Dittenheim. His parents were Felklein Theilheimer and Fanny born Marx. Gabriel married Fanny Neuburger of Ellingen. They had seven children:
Heinrich * 26.08.1880 Gunzenhausen + 24.06.1882
Max * 23.10.1881 Gunzenhausen
Paula * 21.01.1883 Gunzenhausen
Albert * 04.11.1884 Gunzenhausen
Clothilde * 13.02.1886 Gunzenhausen
Ignatz * 10.03.1891 Gunzenhausen
Willi * 11.10.1892 Gunzenhausen
Source: Documents about the Jewish citizens of Gunzenhausen, compiled by Werner Mühlhäußer, City Archivist
The Theilheimer family left Gunzenhausen in 1898 and moved to Munich.
Helene Neusiedl-Hub of Gruenwald researched the fate of the Theilheimer family of Munich and Gruenwald. She found personal information in the files that recorded the restitution process. These files are kept in the local Archives in Gruenwald.
Following are some notes that she derived from these files:
Gabriel Theilheimer soon became a successful Realtor in the Munich/Gruenwald area.
Gruenwald was said to have a positive environment and great potential for development, and predictions were made, that it would soon be annexed to Munich. That was reason enough for the Jewish families Theilheimer, Feuchtwanger, and Josef and Jacob Guggenheim(er) to invest in extensive real estate in Gruenwald.
In 1915 Gabriel Theilheimer and Heinrich Feuchtwanger acquired a complete farmstead (today Marktplatz 12) with the accompanying acreage? fields. They had made a trade, notarized by the Munich offices in the fourth district on 1.June 1915. The real estate had been owned by the Alois and Maria Taferner family of Gruenwald, and it was traded for a farmstead in Haunsbach near Mainburg.
Maria Taferner was born Maria Kogler, and she was the sister of Georg Kogler, who was to become the mayor later on.
The Taferner family was eager to make the trade, because the fields in Gruenwald consisted of many small lots strewn all over the area. In Mainburg they surrounded the farmstead.
For financial reasons only Gabriel Theilheimer’s name was listed in the land register with the understanding, that Heinrich Feuchtwanger was entitled to 50 % of the property.
When in 1952, after WWII restitution was being arranged to compensate those, who had lost their property, the siblings Clothilde Kaumheimer born Theilheimer, Max Theilheimer and Wilhelm Theilheimer (later William Tyler) swore before the committee that they would not have sold their father’s property, if they had not been persecuted in the Third Reich. (meaning, they had no choice)
In the hearing before the Restitution Committee on 28. May 1953, Max Theilheimer declared: I was only aware that my father’s interest in the property in Gruenwald was as an investment with great potential. It was expected that Gruenwald would be developed, and the land parcels would then become very valuable. We had no particular date in mind. I also remember, that every time someone inquired about the availability of the plots, my mother opposed the sale.
Gabriel Theilheimer died in Munich on 6. April,1933 at age 86. His wife Fanny had died 4 days earlier on 2. April 1933, also in Munich.
Their son, attorney at law, Dr. Albert Theilheimer, born 4. November 1884 in Gunzenhausen, died in WWI on 24. December 1916 as a German soldier in Romania. His name appears on the Monument for the Fallen Soldiers of WWI, in the Justizpalast (Palace of Justice) in Munich.
Another son, Ignatz Theilheimer, born 10. March 1891 in Gunzenhausen also fought as a German soldier in WWI, for 4 years. He returned with severe injuries and lived in Munich at Trautenwolfstrasse 7. On 4. May 1940 he emigrated to New York and died there in 1946 as a result of his injuries.
Max Theilheimer also lived in Munich. He emigrated to Paris on 22. November 1938.
Wilhelm Theiheimer first went from Gunzenhausen to Nuremberg, where he was partner/co-owner of the Wholesale Company J. Breitenbach at Bauerngasse 30. He emigrated to New York in 1938 and changed his name to William Tyler. He married Anna born Federlein.
Daughter Clothilde Theilheimer married the merchant Bernhard Kaumheimer, and they emigrated to Johannesburg, South Africa. She had been a British citizen since1906.
Her older sister Paula Theilheimer married Ignaz Meier, and they lived in Munich. She died there in 1936, her husband in 1941.Their daughter Thea Hoechstaetter born Meier also emigrated to New York.