Gertrude Kraus remembers
Already in 1938 Joseph’s business was practically destroyed, the Strauss family
had hardly any income, economically they were ruined. Mrs. Kraus was telling,
that a business colleague used to help out now and then during that terrible time:
”Well, it was then that the Vogt’s - Delicatessen Vogt at the ‘Rathausplatz’ -
supported Mr. Strauss. Mrs. Vogt nee Vogt was a schoolmate of mine, and we quite
often talked about those times. She told me that her father, Joseph Vogt, often helped
Mr. Strauss with groceries, and somehow or other, during that terrible time. They
were businessmen who were on friendly terms with each other. But across the street
from Strauss’ there was the ‘Adlerwirt’, the Hodes, a real Nazi-joint. And what a
Nazi he was! They would observe the Strauss’! But fate caught up with them. The
‚Adlerwirt’ was just across the street, the place where Aldi is nowadays.
The ‘Schützenhof’ (Lühn) was kitty-corner; those were humane people, and I don’t
think, that they did anything to the Strauss’. But down there next to the ‘Marschall
bakery’, there lived the fat Nazi-Lühn. That was at the ‘Niedertor’ next to what is
now ‘Café Marschall’, that’s where the Nazis met. Still nowadays it is a restaurant
owned by the family.