Stumbling stone for Josef Kupczyk

Josef Kupczyk was born on May 9, 1883 to Jewish parents in Breslau. When he was 2 years old, his parents and two sisters moved to Bremen.

In 1919 he came to Frankfurt, where he acquired German citizenship and became a partner in the "FREDENHAGEN" company in Offenbach. In 1922, he became the sole owner of the company. In 1923 he married the Protestant Christian Johanna Marie Caillé, born on May 4, 1895 in Offenbach.

From 1924, he lived with his wife and three children in his own house at August-Bebel-Ring 10, which was renamed Adolf-Hitler-Ring in 1933.

Josef Kupczyk was an entrepreneur and Offenbach citizen who was respected beyond the city limits. His company "FREDENHAGEN" produced important conveyor systems for the whole of Germany. In 1938, he was put under massive pressure by the NSDAP and forced to sell his company to an "Aryan entrepreneur" for far less than it was worth.

On November 10, 1938, the family home was stormed by NSDAP party members, the family was threatened and all the furniture was smashed. Josef Kupczyk was arrested in front of his wife and children and deported to Buchenwald concentration camp on November 11, 1938.

On December 10, 1938, he was released after paying money and handing over his BMW car to the camp management. Josef Kupczyk was only able to obtain a visa for Argentina with great difficulty and with the support of his brother-in-law and emigrated to Buenos Aires on July 3, 1939.

His wife and children were unable to follow him, as all efforts to obtain a visa failed. All his assets, including those of his wife, were "declared forfeited to the Reich and frozen by the Gestapo". Mrs. Kupczyk and her children had to leave the house at Adolf-Hitler-Ring 10 and move into an apartment at Roonstraße 16.

She was in a difficult social and financial situation and was monitored by the Gestapo and repeatedly summoned.

The children Hermann, Werner and Edith, as "half-Jews", were not able to continue their education as planned. As a "half-Jew", Hermann was not allowed to study engineering and initially worked at the Schmalz machine factory. His younger brother Werner had to drop out of secondary school and then worked as an assistant fitter at Schneider & Helmecke. Daughter Edith was sent to Thuringia with the Kinderlandverschickung for five months in 1943.

As part of the action against "Mischlinge und jüdisch Versippte" ("mixed-bloods and Jews of mixed blood"), the sons were conscripted as forced labourers by the Todt organization in France from May 1944. Hermann was then sent to the Clausthal-Zellerfeld camp in the Harz Mountains.

Josef Kupczyk tried to build a new life for himself and his family, who wanted to follow him, under difficult circumstances in Argentina. Far from his family, he suffered greatly under the stressful situation. His sisters from Bremen were deported to Theresienstadt on July 23, 1942. Tinka (Erna) died there on January 4, 1943 and Nanny (Natalie) was sent to the Ausschwitz extermination camp on May 15, 1944, where she perished.

Josef Kupczyk's health deteriorated from 1943 onwards and he died in Buenos Aires on December 12, 1944 due to a serious illness.