Erich Magnus Sperling & Eva Wiethaus - English

Erich Magnus Sperling, born on March 28, 1882, was a respected merchant and successful Printshop owner. His business at Große Diesdorfer Straße and his shop at Otto-von-Guericke-Straße were considered economically and socially significant for the city.  

During the Novemberpogroms in 1938, Sperlings shop was attacked by the Nazis and he was officially denounced as a „Hoarder“ and „Criminal“. In January 1939 the systematic „Aryanization“ of his company began by various institutions, including the city of Magdeburg. 

In September 1939, Erich Sperling was taken into „protective custody“ and deported to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. There he had to give up his whole fortune. He died on May 18, 1940 at Sachsenhausen. Before his death, he had been forced to appoint an „Aryan“ woman as his heir, and the city of Magdeburg imposed a significant inheritance tax of nearly one million Reichsmark.  

Erich Sperling officially died reportedly due to complications from blood poisoning. His ashes were transferred to the Israelit cemetery in Magdeburg, which is considered a religious tragedy for believing jews.  

Eva Wiethaus, born Nathan, is born on January 2, 1901 in Magdeburg and grows up as an only child, after her sister’s early death. First, she lives in Kaiserstraße 88 (now Otto-von-Guericke-Straße) with her parents Karl Nathan and Gretchen Nathan, until they move to Gustav-Adolf-Straße 22. Her father is co-owner of the shop „Richter, Bilke & Co., Papier- und Schreibwaren en gros“.  

Eva experiences the first World War and works as a maid or maybe a nurse after her education. She marries the non-Jewish innkeeper Fritz Wiethaus, yet the early years of their marriage are overshadowed by the death of her parents.

After the Nazis seized power, the couple divorces, and Eva last resides at Otto-von-Guericke-Straße 16. This was likely a provided temporary solution by the business associate of her father, Erich Sperling, a paper merchant and printing presss owner.  

On May 17, 1939, during the census, Eva is discovered as a Jew living in a shared apartment with some non-Jews on May 17, 1939. This possibly leads to the charge of so-called „racial defilement“ in the same year. On October 5, 1939 she is deported to the women’s concentration camp Ravensbrück in Uckermark under the number 2224, with this justification. The inmates there are forced into extremely hard physical labor, overseen by a number of German companies. Eva presumably dies in February 1942. Her cause of death is unknown, as multiple records were obscured during that time.