Richard Semmel

Richard Semmel was born on September 15, 1875 in Zobten am Berge, Schweidnitz district. His parents were the grain trader Moritz Semmel (1839–1910) and his wife Amalie Silber (1841–1910). Both parents belonged to the Jewish religious community. Richard had four siblings: Selma, Lisbeth, Elfriede and Jacob. In 1885 the family moved to Berlin. After attending school, Richard Semmel did an apprenticeship at the Tuesday and Wolff company in Berlin. He then worked for Julius Salomon and, from 1896, for the Arthur Samulon laundry factory. In 1901 he married Claire Cäcilie Bruck, who came from Neisse and also came from a Jewish family.

He lived with his wife in his property in Berlin-Dahlem until 1933. Because he was persecuted by the National Socialists, the couple initially fled to Switzerland. Since they were unable to obtain a residence permit there, they fled to Amsterdam in 1934.

Richard Semmel stated in a statement in 1950 how he was persecuted by the Nazis:
“Following this, I would like to say that the content of the letters from Peck and Gross only show a small part of what I had to suffer at the beginning of the Hitler era. I was literally bombarded day and night with threats by phone and in writing, dirty notes came to my apartment every day, it was an incitement organized by the Nazi party with the help of the incited employees. Although I have always been a Democrat, it has been claimed that I am colluding with Severing and Braun because Severing was once in my office and asked for contributions to a youth association whose name I cannot remember. [...] I was just in St. Gallen on business when the Hitler catastrophe struck, I came back immediately, was warned at the train station upon arrival to go to my apartment, so I got a room in the hotel in Fasanenstr. took. It would soon become clear how right this measure was, because the Nazis' shop stewards acted like masters in the business and it got to the point that, as I already said, I escaped to Holland at the last moment.

In July 1934, Richard Semmel or his trustee sold the villa in Berlin-Dahlem for 170,000 Reichsmarks. In 1928 the unit value (!) of the property was 720,000 marks, in 1935 it was 377,100 Reichsmarks. The market value is therefore likely to have been significantly higher.

In 1939, after paying 20,000 Reichsmarks, the remaining amount of 204,975 Reichsmarks was “waived” for the Reich Flight Tax.

In 1939, shortly before the German invasion in 1940, the Semmel couple left the Netherlands to emigrate to the United States. After a long journey via Chile, Richard Semmel and his wife finally reached New York in 1941 and settled there, seriously ill. In May 1942 he was denaturalized in accordance with the Eleventh Ordinance to the Reich Citizenship Act and his assets remaining in Germany were confiscated. Richard Semmel's brother Jacob and his wife were killed in Auschwitz.

Richard Semmel died in New York City in 1950. At this point, no assets other than a painting by Vermeulen had been returned to him. His wife had already died on May 30, 1945.

The restitution procedures in Germany were continued for a short time by Richard Semmel's heiress, Ms. Grete Gross. Since she died shortly after Semmel, her daughter Ilse Kaufmann became the beneficiary. However, South Africa had neither the knowledge nor the means to successfully complete the reparation process.