The wildfowl and fur shop Norbert Lorch

The current photo of the month dates from 1932 and shows the shop in question at Ostmauer 3. The Jewish shop owner himself and his wife Elise Auguste, née Kleine-Vehn, presumably positioned themselves in front of it together with their son. The extensive and openly displayed goods include rabbits, pheasants and a few hares.

After the death of his father in 1924, Norbert Lorch continued to run his parents' horse butcher's shop and converted the business into a poultry, egg and fur shop. However, during an unannounced inspection in 1932, "apparently untenableconditions" were found in the slaughter room, as recorded in a regulatory file in the city archives: Only ventilated through a small window, the view of the neighbouring house façade could be seen just 30 cm behind the window. Neither daylight nor fresh air could reach the slaughter room, also because the narrow alley was said to be completely dirty and cleaning was impossible due to the narrow space. Once again, this statement shows the dense development of Bocholt's city centre before the destruction.

In unusually harsh words, police chief constable Abbing described the slaughterhouse in 1934 as "adisgusting sight" that was "disgusting". In a letter to the district president, the mayor spoke of a state "thatdefies description". Obviously anti-Semitic prejudices influenced her judgement. Further alleged "unsustainable" defects in the shop, which consisted of a sales room, a slaughter room with an integrated toilet and a storage room, led to its closure on 24 January 1936, whereupon Norbert Lorch first tried his hand at selling everyday items and then, after it was banned, at selling furs. At the end of 1936, the Nazi mayor Emil Irrgang finally prohibited the operation of the business premises. In any case, the building rented by the widow Hüls was dilapidated, which was used as justification for the gradual economic exclusion. However, the actual demolition of the allegedly dilapidated building did not take place until 1958.

Although the Nazi mayor and also the district president assured Norbert Lorch at the end of 1936 that a resumption of the business in suitable premises was entirely possible, the anti-Semitic motives of the decision-makers are evident from the language used in the records and their behaviour. In 1947, the municipal regulatory office ruled that "there would never have beena business closure if Lorch had not been a Jew."

Norbert Lorch reacted to his economic marginalisation and the violent persecution of Jewish people by fleeing to the Netherlands, where he was captured by the Gestapo and deported to a concentration camp. However, Norbert Lorch survived the reign of terror and dared to make a new start in war-ravaged Bocholt after the end of the war. After returning home from the concentration camp, Norbert Lorch applied to reopen his shop for "game, poultry, delicatessen, fruit, vegetables and hides" in September 1945, which he succeeded in doing at Stiftstraße 32.

Photo: Bocholt city archives, picture collection no. 2441