Former Department Store Schwarz at the Old Market

Only a few weeks after the “Anschluss” on 12 March 1938, the NS regime issued an order requiring Jews and Jewish women to disclose their property holdings. Through this disclosure – referred to in NS jargon as “Vermögensanmeldung” – the National Socialists gained an overview of all property owned by the Jewish population. As part of the so-called “Arisierungen” [Arisings], Jews and Jewish women were dispossessed; numerous houses, apartments, businesses and factories, as well as cash, jewelry and life insurance policies, came into the hands of the Nazis. In the city and countryside of Salzburg, property was often at stake; this was also the case with the particularly contested department store Schwarz, which was intended to be “arisiert” [Arisen] by different parties. The business was liquidated. The owner, Walter Schwarz, was already arrested in March 1938, then released again, and the second arrest took place in August 1938. Schwarz was held in the Gestapo headquarters in Munich and, according to the death certificate, is said to have committed suicide while in custody. Whether this corresponds to the facts or whether Schwarz was murdered while in custody cannot be determined with certainty. Frequently, the official cause of death was incorrect. Walter Schwarz is remembered today with a Stolperstein [stumbling block] in front of the former department store Schwarz.