Arthur Weber

Arthur was born on February 13, 1912 as second son of David and Sophie Weber. When he was one year old, the family moved from 16 Schillstrasse to 26 Neuburger Strasse.

In 1925, Arthur celebrated his Bar-Mizwa.

He completed a business apprenticeship at the cloth wholesaler Heinrich Kohn. The history of this company, founded by the cloth-maker Samuel Kohn in 1837, is written in the book of old companies of the city and the industrial district of Augsburg of the year 1930. A weaving mill on Schwalbeneck with only a few looms grew into a wholesale cloth dealer with a special focus on fabrics for Bavarian style mountain clothes. Samuel’s sons Heinrich and Siegfried became co-owners. In 1904, grandson Karl took over. Due to the decline of hand-weaving, they more and more purchased the fabrics. In 1912, the company moved from the Riedinger building to the Grottenau office building near the Central Post Office. Karl Kohn received part of his professional training abroad. The travel certificates for senior manager Erwin Kohn from the years 1937 and 1938 also bear witness to the company’s international activities.

It is well possible that Arthur, while working for this company, established contacts abroad and used them for his brother Willy and also for his own emigration to France. Presumably, Arthur, along with his brother, moved to France in 1933, and from there to South Africa. In Cape Town, he and Willy jointly managed a store for men’s and children’s clothing, later a factory for workwear, named “Dafna Overalls”.

The March 1942 circular of the former Augsburg Rabbi Ernst Jacob to his community in dispersion says, that Arthur and Wilhelm were in South Africa and the September 1944 one, that Arthur had married in the new homeland and gotten a daughter (Dorothy). His wife Masha, née Elterman, was from Riga. The couple had another child, their son Ted.

At that time, the address in Cape Town was specified as 57 Hannover Street. David Weber’s report card contains a note from 17 July, 1958: 12 Alexandra Ave Cape Town, South Africa. Whether Arthur was responsible for this entry and possibly was staying in Augsburg, could not be verified. In 2019, Arthur’s son Ted corrected the address to Alexandra Avenue, Oranjezicht.

On September 21, 1984, Arthur died in Cape Town and, as his wife Masha (died on March 30, 2013), was buried in the Pinelands Jewish Cemetery.
Ruth Sander (translation by Michael Bernheim)