Background
NECKERMANN, Josef was born on June 5, 1912 in Wurzburg.
businessman and dressage rider
NECKERMANN, Josef was born on June 5, 1912 in Wurzburg.
Grammar school, Wurzburg.
He benefited greatly from the Nazi forced hostile takeover of Jewish merchants including the 1938 acquisition of Karl Amson Joel"s retail business in Berlin. Joel, grandfather of American singer-songwriter Billy Joel and conductor Alexander Joel, founded a Nuremberg-based mail order textile and clothing company in 1928. The following year he also started manufacturing.
Joel"s company soon became one of the leading mail order sellers in Germany (along with Quelle or Schöpflin).
As discrimination further increased (eg deliveries had to be marked with a "J" for Juden, or Jew), and Jewish firms became "Aryanized," Joel was forced to sell his company to Neckermann for an unrealistic purchase price in 1938. The original agreement of 2.3 million marks was further reduced by Neckermann to 1.1 million marks.
In 1957 Joel got a compensation of 2 million German marks for his former company from Neckermann who ran the most successful German mail order selling company at the time.
Later Neckermann became a member of the West German National Olympic Committee.
Married Annemarie Bruckner in 1934.