The Story of an Unhappy Marriage

Hugo Popper (born on 28th September, 1879) was probably the richest Jew in Litomyšl (according to a written record about the money paid to the Jewish Community dating back to 1929). People remember him as a tall man with a bald spot, who wore rimless glasses. He employed two women who did the housekeeping for him. We know from the memories of Mrs. Mencáková that these two young ladies also purchased rabbit skins.

He lived in what is nowadays Na Lánech Street, in the house next door to the "sommer´s buildings". Later, it was rebuilt and today it is part of the Litex Company´s buildings.

Mr. Popper had two shoemaking "factories". One was at the end of Dolní Street (what is today Havlíček Street) and the second one was in Na Lánech Street. He managed them with the help of Miss Zrnová. He also owned a shoe shop in Prague. He had a partner, Mr. Löbel, because the shoeboxes were marked with a Popper-Löbel label, although nobody in Litomyšl knew anything about him. Mr. Popper employed shoemakers who mainly worked from home. They came to pick up supplies of material and came back with finished shoes.

The firm made luxury shoes out of alligator and snake skin. For his business partners, Mr. Popper kept samples in the ideal ladies size (about 34). Some ladies from Litomyšl with feet that small would buy these shoes from him - for example, Mrs. Hromádková, née Kaizerlíková. His shoes were well-known all over the country, but when it came to customers from Litomyšl, he only made shoes for the people they knew.

Mrs. Vovsová and Mr. Šplíchal remember that in the 1930s, a song spread amongst the children and students in the town. It went like this: ´Popper Löbel Popper Löbel Popper Löbel Popper Löbel Breitenfelt are the Jews who rip off their customers Popper Löbel Breitenfelt.´ Even though parents forbade their children to sing the song, it was still sung: when people made bonfires or marched for example. The song was not seen as hostile. It was more like a student prank, as you can see in other verses. The one we mentioned was the second one and the first one went: ´Lever pulley lever pulley lever pulley lever pulley wheel on a shaft oh wedge screw oh wedge screw wheel on a shaft´.

Hugo Popper was a keen hunter and he did not miss a chance to go hunting. It was a matter of prestige for him. Every Friday, he used to go to the "Hluchanda", a pup run organised by the Skřivan family, where he would order horse steak. He had a Fiat Monaquart car with four seats and a linen sunroof, made in Turin.

His wife´s name was Marie, née Nováková. She was a real beauty. She had wonderful hair and teeth, she dressed well and did her hair nicely, she had wonderful handwriting and she spoke German very well. She is said to have worked as a shop assistant in Popper´s shop in Prague and she was supposedly very successful. When Mr. Popper was going out with her, he would come to pick her up in an carriage hired from the Skřivan family. The horse that drew it was a precious shagia. The coachman´s name was Jindřich Doležal.

The coach would pull up in front of "Marie´s house" (she lived with her parents at 133, Smetana Square). Dressed up, she would get in and they would go somewhere.

After their marriage, the Poppers lived in their house in Na Lánech Street. Marie told the Mencáks that they often gave parties where people drank and ate till morning. A close circle of people met there and "while everything started nice and tidy, in the morning the place was a horror".

Mrs. Popper later became an alcoholic and had hallucinations. She received treatment in a medical institution. Her husband divorced her, but he gave her a flat for life at no. 133 and paid for her lunches in the ´Na Hrádku´ hotel (at what is now 406, Nádražní Street).

When Jews were forced to "stick together", Mr. Popper left his beautiful house and moved to Dolní Street (today´s Havlíčkova Street) to live with Mrs. Bedřiška Sgallová. On 5 December, 1942 he was transferred in Cf transport from Pardubice to Terezín and later, on 15th December, 1943, to Auschwitz in Dr transport under the number 1660. The date when this transport left Terezín, the 15th December, 1943, is given as the date of his death. The shoemaking firm was transferred to the ownership of an Aryan, Mrs. Konvalinková. Judging by her citizenship, she was probably a German.

After the war, Popper´s factory was rebuilt and it became one of ther branches of the Botana national corporation.

Unhappy Marie was well-known in Litomyšl. She used to visit lots of pubs (mostly in Slunce), finishing up the alcohol left by others in the bottom of their glasses. People in the town used to say: You will be as drunk as old Popper. In a corner at 139, Smetana Square, there used to be a statue of the Virgin Mary. Passing by, Mrs. Popper would always make the sign of the cross. She would also go there to pray.

Mrs. Popper was crazy and her legal guardian was Mr. Bárta. After his death, Mr. Bednář, a tinsmith, took over. Once, when she had not been out of her flat for several days, Mr. Bárta went to visit her, but she wouldn´t open the door. He fetched a ladder and got into the flat through a window. Marie was lying dead under the table. After her death, people found a picture of a saint in her flat, which had been stabbed all over with a knife. Mr. and Mrs. Macák think that it has to do with what they sometimes heard at night - bangs accompanied by Marie´s screaming, "Let her be cursed!"

Petr Tměj