Confiscated Twice – The History of the Popper Printing House of Monor

Abstract

The Popper family was one of the Jewish families living in Monor. Since the mid-19^th century, members of the family had been working as book binders, until Ernő Popper founded the printing house in 1909. The fate of the printing house was strongly connected to that of the family throughout the 20^th century: when the anti-Jewish persecution started, first, local and county authorities tried to interfere with Popper’s work through bureaucratic means. Then after the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944, Hungarian Jews were deprived of their properties – and the printing house was “Aryanized”. Almost the entire Popper family lost their lives in Auschwitz-Birkenau, except for Ernő’s son, László, who survived as a military laborer. László Popper returned to Monor at the end of 1944 and reclaimed the printing house. He re-started work, however, soon the socialist regime nationalized the printing house, which has never been given back to the Popper family.