“Gröschel has the best materials” – Gröschel’s house of fabrics

Colourful, expensive silks, brightly iridescent prints from Asia splendidly embroidered headscarves these were the basis for the festive traditional costumes of Forchheim and it’s environs. The farmers’ wives and daughters in the region bought their much valued materials “at Gröschel’s” and had their costumes made to measure. The haberdashery business was founded by Bernhard Gröschel (*1814) who came from the village of Wiesenthau and carried on by his son Philipp (*1847). The shop was at Hauptstraße 64 in Forchheim. The family tradition was carried on by Bernhard Gröschel jun. (*1878). His daughter Irma revealed that her father, whose daily occupation centred on colourful materials, was in fact colour-blind. However, his outgoing temperament plus small concealed notes, allowed him to compensate for this little imperfection. Together with his brother-in-law Leo Abraham, Bernhard Gröschel opened a business for ready-to-wear clothing on the other side of the street (Hauptstraße 65). After the rioting of the Pogrom Night in 1938, the business was “aryanised”. Bernhard Gröschel and his family were able to flee to the United States. His sister Jenny (*1877) and her husband Leo Abraham were victims of the Holocaust.