AOTM: Billy Joel’s Family Forced to Flee Nazi Germany

Jews not allowed. If you buy from the Jews you are a traitor to your race. The Jews are our misfortune. These statements and others like it were scattered throughout Germany in the 1930s. The Nazi party had taken control and was forcing restrictions on those of Jewish descent. Many successful Jewish business owners were mandated to sell their companies for mere pennies of what they were worth, and many, never saw payment from those sales. Among those business owners was a man named Karl Joel. Joel was the paternal grandfather to celebrated singer-songwriter Billy Joel and his family was forced to flee Germany in order to survive.

Karl Joel’s (pronounced ‘yole’) family came from Germany’s scenic southeast in Coburg. He had taken over his father’s textile business expanding it into Washenmanufackturer Joel. By age thirty-nine, Karl had enough savings to invest into a mail-order linen business. The business began in a four-room apartment and quickly moved into a significant mail-order clothing company (Schruers). The Joel’s, consisting of Karl, Meta, and their son, Helmut were able to move into a villa in Nuremburg. Life was good. The Joel’s enjoyed running a successful business and living in a prosperous part of the city, however, as the early thirties arrived, Hitler and his regime were rising to power.

From the mid-twenties to the early thirties, financial crisis loomed. Government cutbacks, deflation, and the crash of the American stock market in the mid-twenties created a depression among Germany’s citizens resulting in desperation and fear for the future. The fear and desperation caused many to look to the Nazi party as the answer to the problems. Surely, this new political party could turn around the financial crisis and protect its citizens. However, there was far more involved in Hitler’s rise to power than simply saving Germany.

Among Hitler and the Nazi Party’s political leanings was the extermination of the Jews. Since the Joels were of Jewish descent, they were targeted for both their business and eventually their lives. After several discriminatory actions against Karl Joel which included a false newspaper article that claimed he under payed and sexually harassed his workers, false arrests, and his son Helmut experiencing segregation in school, their good life had become unbearable (Schruers). Karl Joel thought he could potentially make it through the ever-present danger. He visited Fritz Tillman who was the Nazi’s economic town counselor in Berlin. (Tillman later would help lead efforts to round Jewish citizens up and send them to concentration camps). Trying to save his business and hopefully make it through the politically-charged mess of Germany, Karl was permitted to move his business and family to Berlin. While opening up his business under the conditions of the regime (Jewish-owned sign, German-made machinery, and only German suppliers), Joel sent his son Helmut to a boarding school in Switzerland. This move proved important in their later escape from Germany.

As Karl Joel’s business continued in Berlin, it wasn’t without its problems. More scathing and discriminatory articles were published about the businessman. His suppliers stopped sending him the needed materials for his business, was eventually forced to stamp a J on every package he sent out, and add a German plant manager. To makes things even more difficult, a new law was established in 1938 that made Jewish business owners required to forfeit their businesses to Aryan ownership. This was the end. Any hope of riding out the political problems and racism was no longer an option. Karl had to sell his business.

Karl met with a German man named Josef Neckermann. Neckermann came from a successful business family and had achieved his own success after taking over his father’s company. A determined businessman, Neckermann saw the advantage of joining the Nazi party and Joel’s company was his first takeover. Neckermann and his lawyer met with Karl Joel and Tillmann (Joel was no allowed to have his own lawyer) in July (Schruers). His linen business was worth 12 million Reichsmarks, however, Karl was forced to accept 2.3 million; mere pennies for a business that was very prosperous. The papers were signed and Joel wanted assurance that he would receive payment, however, he was met with threats. To add to the severity of this deal, Neckermann was given possession of the Joel’s villa and all of its contents. The Joels lost everything.

Tensions flared more in Germany against the Jews as Karl and his wife Meta waited for the payment from the sale in a hotel room. The couple received a warning that the Gestapo were coming to arrest them. They fled out the back door, used fake passports, and were able to make it to Zurich. They planned to remain in Switzerland, however, Karl received word that there was a problem clearing his payment and he was required to return to Berlin. Knowing the request and meeting was most likely a trap, Karl met secretly with Tillmann at a café who told him he could resolve Joel’s issue with a payment of 100,000 Reichsmarks (Schruers). Tillmann also told Karl he couldn’t cash the Neckermann check himself because the banks had invalidated Jewish accounts; something that was completely untrue. After the meeting with Tillmann, Joel ended up being detained for a week. He escaped to Switzerland again and knew that he would never be paid for his business.

The realization that the life they knew in Germany was gone finally hit Karl Joel. He had to get his family as far away from the Nazi regime as he could. Although the Joels were left with nothing from the forced sale and loss of their villa, there was a small amount of cash still available, which provided them with the means to obtain passage on a cruise ship named the Arandora Star. The family set out in 1939 for the Atlantic of Cuba. The escape from Europe was not easy and upon arriving in Cuba, they were met with strict immigration laws to contend with from the United States. The Immigration Act of 1924 limited the amount of immigrants from Germany entering the country each year (25,957 German-born citizens). There is speculation by the Holocaust Museum that Karl most likely applied for a quota number in 1938 when his company was taken over, which is why they left for Cuba (Schruers). The family resided in Havana for about two years, and eventually settled in New York City in 1942.

In the late 1930s Germany was a politically-charged country. The Nazi regime had control and was determined to exterminate the Jews. Billy Joel’s grandfather, Karl Joel, was among the successful Jewish business owners forced to sell their companies and never received payment. Fearing for the survival of his family, Karl and his family escaped on a cruise ship headed to Cuba. Finally settling in New York, the life they knew was left behind and a new beginning needed to start. They had survived.

~Jenna Jakes, WOGB

***While the historic information on Joel’s family is listed in Fred Schruers’ biography of the musician, an important note that Joel mentions on his website is the book is not an autobiography. Schruers used much of the information from other sources rather than Joel himself. Joel also states, “The best expression of my life and its ups and downs has been and remains my music (billyjoel.com).”

***Karl Joel eventually sued Neckermann after the war. Neckermann was able to avoid prison for his business dealings if he would settle. Karl and Meta Joel received a settlement of two million Deutschmarks in 1957. After traveling the world and then shutting down their New York business, the Joels lived out the latter parts of their lives in Germany.

Source: Schruers, Fred. Billy Joel: A Definitive Biography. New York: Crown Archetype. 2014

Kevin Spacey Joins Billy Joel for “New York State of Mind”

Billy Joel Injures Hand in Motorcycle Accident; Still Finishes Album By September

Styx to Release New Album

The Sixties, The Rolling Stones, and Practicality

WOGB Exclusive Interview: Kip Winger