Schocken - Ein deutsches Leben

Summary

Documentary film about the Jewish entrepreneur Salman Schocken, who in 1904 founded the Schocken department store in Zwickau, Germany together with his brother Simon, which became the foundation stone for a chain of over 30 department stores. What was special about the Schocken department stores was, on the one hand, the idea of offering the average people a lifestyle with modern design; at the same time, the company combined modern management with social benefits for the employees. Salman Schocken was also otherwise known as a patron of the arts, humanist and intellectual philanthropist, for whom culture was the center of human development. He promoted Jewish writers, published the works of Franz Kafka in his publishing house, among others, and bought the liberal Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz. But after the Nazis came to power in 1933, his life's work was snatched from him piece by piece in Germany. The film traces Schocken's life, shows exclusive archive footage and features interviews with contemporary witnesses and Schocken connoisseurs.