Foundation Jewish Museum Berlin; Arnold Bernstein Collection; K 581, Mp. 1; Inv. 2007/35/167: Newspaper article published in Sonntagsblatt Staats-Zeitung und Herold, 24.11.1957.
A conversation with
Arnold
Bernstein
Former owner of a
major Hamburg
shipping company had
also made it in New
York
Quite a few memories of the former glory of the German
commercial shipping industry come to life
when one enters the sparkling clean
offices of the American Banner in the commercial port
Lines
district of
model ships, and plaques bearing
the names of well-known
German ships adorn its walls,
and all of a sudden one feels
taken back to the once grand
shipping company offices at
as soon as one sees the office of the
For at the center of the room isonce
again that antique
desk at which
Bernstein
his success. The first success.
The large fleet that he once
built up in almost two decades
under the still familiar flag
bearing the initials “A.B.”
was wrested from him by an
unrestrained tyranny, and he
could consider himself lucky to
have escaped to
his bare life just before the
began. His second success –an achievement that would have
honored even a younger man –
is what
stein
cost me 20 years to defeat
was taken away from me. In
were able to found the
and next year our old house flag is
going to fly for the first new
American
in the North Atlantic in many
years.” “Atlantic” is the name
of the ship with a displacement
tonnage of 20,000, which is
currently being refitted in
between New
York and
The first ship was called “Max” The
bright, three-color flag with the initials A.B.
used to fly over the steamers
owned by one of the world's largest
private shipping companies before
the
owned 15 ships belonging to the
and
which was an overall tonnage of
about 100,000. The
company owner
for it is from there that young
with the import and export of
animal feed and other products.
Returned from the front in
rebuilding the German commercial
shipping industry. “I
was looking for an interesting area
to work in,”
today with a laugh. The first ship of his newline was
called “Max.” “It was
named after my
he explains, pointing
to the model of that little ship of 150
tons, which sailed between
rise of his
to a worldwide business is
indicated by the other models and pictures
that adorn the office,
including several ships of the
“-stein” class, such as “Königstein,”
“Gerolstein,” etc., which once used to be
so famous.
was imprisoned by the Nazis for
2 1/2 years until they had
sold his ships abroad and he
was finally allowed to leave
“When I arrived in
New York
,”he recollects today,
“the date on the calendar was
not take anything with us, and the
in
possible to have any part of
our belongings sent to
us. Left with nothing,
stein
- it was a long way to go to get
to the new “Atlantic,” which is supposed
to connect
closely next year.
Hamburg remembers
Nothing could stop this true self-made man
from once again building
up a shipping company in the New
World, even though it did not have
its own ships in the beginning. When
again for the first time in
received with honors and
much cheer. It is a pity
that his new ship won't call at
the port of
his old friends lamented, but
“A.B.” pointed out that
the mouth of the
also been his traditional business
territory in the past and the
to create a new connection via the
large cities of
one can reach
special train in just under
an hour). The work of building up, the new
forget to mention, was essentially
made possible by his senior
staff, which include his son,
Vice President
At this moment the phone
rings: “Call for
Bernstein
and this sadly ends our conversation
with
shipping company owner
from