From ashes to fashion

In Hamburg, on a street called ABC, there once stood a famous boutique shop called Coco Moden. As the first French-style boutique in Germany founded in 1964, it attracted prominent German personalities including Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass and his wife; members of the German royal Bismarck family; evening news presenter Dagmar Berghoff; and international Israeli singer Esther Ofarim. The force behind this shop of high fashion, where the latest in Parisian high heels and cocktail dresses could always be found – was Lola Taumann, a Holocaust survivor whose journey to the world of French fashion was tailored with tragedy and triumph. Born in Kielce (Pinczow), Poland, on May 6, 1920, to a traditional middle- class Jewish family who owned a small textile business, Taumann learned the basics of the garment trade and developed a passion for fashion at a young age. The third of five children in the Fajnszat family, she was an active member of the Revisionist Zionist movement, Betar. But with Nazi Germany's rise to power, Lola and her family's comfortable life was torn apart when German troops invaded Kielce in September 1939. Some 18 months later on the eve of Passover, March 31, 1941, Lola was locked into the Kielce Ghetto along with 28,000 other Jews. Subsequently, her father committed suicide and her elder brothers were deported and shot. In the ghetto, at the age of 21, Lola married David Taumann in December 1941 and became pregnant with their first child. In August 1942, the Kielce Ghetto was liquidated and Lola's surviving family was killed in the Treblinka extermination camp on arrival. More than 800,000 other Jews were murdered at the camp between July 1942 and October 1943. After working in slave labor in an ammunition factory, she was sent to Auschwitz and became No. A 15092. Thereafter, she was sent to Bergen-Belsen, and then to German slave workers' camps. Taumann had lost her first child in the ghetto while her husband was killed on April 28, 1945, in the Mauthausen concentration camp. On April 20, 1945, her fate changed when she liberated herself by escaping a locked train in Germany. “My mother was able to save herself from a burning train following an Allied bombardment,” Jimmi Rembiszewski, Taumann's son, told The Jerusalem Post in an interview. “One of the few stories she told us from the war was how she and her best friend from the camp, Bella, had been able to save each other on that lucky day.” Taumann headed back to her hometown, Kielce, where she discovered that she was the only surviving member of her family. There she met Abram Rembiszewski, her second husband. But the two had to escape once again when their Polish neighbors began to lynch Jewish refugees in what came to be known as the Kielce Pogrom on July 4, 1946, that left 42 Holocaust survivors dead. At a displaced persons camp in Bergen-Belsen, Lola and Abram married and eventually settled in Hamburg after lengthy travels through Poland and Germany. “My mother was determined to make a new life for herself and her family,” Rembiszewski recalled. “But it was a struggle.” After trying several different ventures, Taumann opened a little shop on the then-decrepit and forgotten ABC Street in Hamburg, where she first sold T-shirts and eventually moved to high fashion following visits to her best friend Bella, who was living in Paris and who introduced her to the city's fashion trends and designers. “Bella and my mother shared a close bond following their liberation from the death camps. My mother named the boutique shop in honor of Bella's son, Coco,” explained Rembiszewski. Through Coco Moden, Lola introduced what was considered outrageous and fashion-forward choices – including cocktail dresses, furs and shorts – for conservative Hamburg. Such fashion revolutions and the success that followed led her to create her own label with her own designs that attracted everyone from movie stars, royalty, politicians to housewives and local clientele. Shoppers were not only fond of fashion but of Taumann herself – she was known for her unique and bubbly personality. “My mother treated everyone the same – she didn't see any differences between people and I think her customers felt that,” recalls her son. “She had very good instinct and people felt comfortable talking to her. Although she came from a very conservative home, having gone through the camps, she became very liberal.” Husbands particularly enjoyed going with their wives to Lola's shop, because they were always treated to a good cognac and pastry, according to Rembiszewski. “It was quite a transition for her, but she was considered a kind of Hamburg celebrity.” Lola became the subject of many TV, radio and newspaper reports, with leading German newspaper publisher Axel Springer reporting on Lola's fashion work on a regular basis in his newspapers and about Coco Moden. “When people and news personalities wanted to know about a new trend, my mother was the person to be interviewed,” said Rembiszewski. But while Lola enjoyed much success with her boutique shop as ABC Street eventually became a successful commercial center where Chanel and Prada items can be found today, life for Hamburg's Jewish community following the Holocaust was complex, including for Lola's children. The Rembiszewski family, which included Jimmi and sister Sarah, both born in Hamburg, were an active part of the Jewish community there. “The Jewish community was made up of many eastern European and Iranian Jews. We shared one synagogue. None of the original Hamburg Jews returned – a large number of the community had been killed in the Holocaust,” said Jimmi. “Our teachers at school were ex-Nazis. We were growing up in a country that gassed my mother's entire family,” he said. “Almost none of the second generation of Holocaust survivors remained in Hamburg, most of them came to Israel or left Germany after they grew up.” Lola's daughter Sarah made aliya in her late teens and is a researcher at Tel Aviv University while Jimmi works in international marketing management and lives in London with his wife and children. In the late 1990s, Taumann had to give up Coco Moden for health reasons, having worked in the boutique until age 76. She came to live in Israel permanently soon after. Previously, she had visited the Jewish state, which she always considered home, two or three times a year to buy textiles from Israeli suppliers for her Hamburg shop (including Israel's internationally known Gottex swimwear). In 2010, Lola Taumann died in Israel at the age of 90. Following her death, Jimmi and Sarah wanted to honor their mother's memory in some way and decided to establish a fashion award for young Israeli designers in Lola Taumann's memory. “I wanted to continue my mother's story among the next generation of fashion designers and we wanted to do something for Israel as well,” Jimmi explained. Consequently, the Rembiszewski family established the Lola Taumann Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design for the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. Last November, the 2014 winner, Lital Sade, was awarded the Lola Taumann Prize for designing bags, clothing and shoes for her fourth-year final student project. The Bezalel graduate was very grateful for the $10,000 award, which is given annually to a top graduate from the academy. “It was very moving to hear Lola's story at the award ceremony,” said Sade, who works as an assistant designer for French designer Eliane Stoleru on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv. “It's not easy to be a designer here. With the money, I've designed a collection of bridal bathing suits complete with lace and pearls that I will be launching soon.” “The Lola Taumann Prize is an excellent opportunity to give young Israeli fashion designers a jump start in the world of design,” says Tamara Yovel- Jones, the head of the Department of Jewelry and Fashion at Bezalel. “In Israel, young fashion designers don't get this kind of financial opportunity – it's a tough field here, so we are very appreciative to have an award like this to help a student follow his or her dream and succeed.” “My mother came from the ashes and literally built herself up all on her own. She was an enormously tolerant person and I am glad that her character and undefeatable spirit continues to impact the future of fashion here in Israel,” concludes Jimmi Rembiszewski.

From ashes to fashion

Returning to Germany after surviving the Holocaust, Lola Taumann was determined to make her mark – opening the country’s first, and very successful, French-style boutique.

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