Jewish woman's family-run store was smashed by Nazis in 1938—8 decades later, she discovered it was still there

The political unrest caused by the Nazi-led German government shattered the lives of millions of people, mainly Jews. The Jews, who escaped the holocaust, lost their livelihood, their houses, their families and everything they owned in their hometowns. Suzanne Cohen, a retired English teacher in New York, also had a similar heartbreaking fate, per The Washington Post. Her family owned a shoe shop that had been standing in a German town for over a century. The woman had heard about it from her father Walter Klaus Cohen, whose uncle owned it before World War II. Cohen believed that her family store was shattered during the Holocaust — until she made a mind-blowing discovery.

Even Cohen’s father believed that the store was long gone along with the belongings of other Jewish family members at the time. However, the woman recently learned that the store was pretty much up and running by her relatives. The confusion took place as Cohen’s father had escaped Germany with his family when he was 9. He eventually settled in Baltimore at a young age and thought he lost his extended family — he had no clue as to what had happened to their assets back in Germany. The dad never knew much about his family history. They only feared the worst and there wasn’t much to find out. Cohen described it as an “awful” experience the family steered clear from discussing.

After the death of her parents, she set out to discover more about her extended family. She came across photographs of people who weren't familiar. One of the pictures was that of the family store called “A. Grünebaum." It was started by Cohen’s great-great-uncle. Cohen was even more “inspired” and determined to trace the roots and see what the store was now if it existed at all. She hopped onto a genealogy platform called “My Heritage” to look for any identity of related members. That’s when she found Dagmar Bassarak, a distant relative in Germany.

The man connected with her and she finally learned that the store she’d only ever heard of was still there and run by her family members. “It was beyond exciting to find out that it was still there and they were there,” Cohen remarked. She reunited with the current owners, Werner Grünebaum and his daughter Kirsten Bonanati-Grünebaum, and found an enriching tale of what happened to the store and family over the decades. Turned out, the store was broken and shattered in 1938 during the “Kristallnacht” or the “Night of Broken Glass,” where several Jewish shops and establishments were destroyed and around 30,000 Jewish men were arrested.

Cohen’s grandfather, who had been running the store, was also arrested. However, back when he was serving during World War I, he had saved the life of his commanding officer, Dr. Alfred Meyer. The commanding officer went on to become one of the head Nazis and helped Cohen’s grandfather to get out of the jail. He allowed the man to escape with his family from Germany. Cohen connected the dots, understanding how her dad managed to flee with his family at a young age. As for the store, Fritz Grünebaum, one of the relatives who was believed to be dead during the Nazi rule, reopened the family store in its original place following the liberation of concentration camps. Cohen, after reuniting with her family, was beyond happy to see that not all was lost.