Selma and Paul Latte
In 1907, Selma (1876–1943) and Paul (1878–1943) Latte founded in Berlin what would later become one of the largest companies of German beverage industry. Beginning in 1920, the Paul Latte firm was located in Niederschönhausen between Buchholzer Straße and Hermannstraße. Paul Latte was the first chairman and managing director of the Reich Association of German Beverage Wholesalers. In 1934 the Lattes leased parts of their property to the “Reich Representation of German Jews”, which used the area as a retraining site that helped prepare youth and adults for emigration. After the establishment of the National Socialist regime, the Nazi anti-Jewish boycott measures and the growing exclusion of Jewish businessmen from the economic life of the city destroyed both the economic and social livelihood of the Lattes. They were forced to sell parts of their estate in Niederschönhausen below market value to the city of Berlin in 1939, and production in the firm ceased on September 30th of the same year. This was followed in 1940 by the deletion of the firm from the Berlin trade register. The pair had to move into a so-called “Jew House” in Berlin-Hermsdorf on Falkentaler Steig 16. Selma and Paul Latte were deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto on January 13th, 1943. Paul Latte died there on January 24th, and his wife Selma on July 16th as a result of the inhumane living conditions. Two “Stolpersteine” (golden memorial cobblestones) in front of the house at Falkentaler Steig 16 in Berlin-Hermsdorf serve as a reminder of the couple.
In 1906, Selma and Paul Latte moved from Bromberg (Bydgoszcz), at the time part of the Prussian province of Posen, to the metropolis of Berlin.
Source: Privately owned by the Sekr family, no date
Invoice by Paul Latte, Berlin North-West 5, August 19th, 1918. The Paul Latte firm also owned stores in the Berlin neighborhoods of Moabit and Wedding.
Source: Private
Map section, Buchholzer Straße, Hermannstraße (since 1937 Wackenbergstraße), Grumbkowstraße, 1926–1928
Source: Berlin State Archive
Below: Advertisement from the Paul Latte firm
Source: Trade directory from 1926
