64 November 14, 1975

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

A Bicentennial Feature

• Industry
more Jewish Contributions to' the Automobile

Back-page feature stories
The year was 1882, a time who formerly had been
troit was also named for studio for auto design, pack- and invented numerous
on Jews in the automobile when there was a wide in- Henry Ford's chief me- him.
aging and display design innovations for loading
industry in the Sept. 19 and terest in marine motors.
chanic, was their superin-
The advertisement quoted and corporation trade- and shipping automobiles.
26 issues of The Jewish
H. L: Goldman, with his
tendent.
Arden as endorsing the Ab- marks.
News have brought a heavy sons, Louis, Abe and
During World War II he
Production of the Cres-
* * *
reader response.
Harry, purchased the as- cent Motor Car Co. some- bott-Detroit. It listed him as
worked
as a civilian expert
Detroiters mentioned in sets of the Reliance Motor times amounted to two Reli- an insurance adjuster — "a
Inventor - Engineer
with
the
Navy at Chrysler to
those articles included Ber- Co. and the Marvel Motor ance automobiles and five good judge of values — has
develop anti-aircraft guns.
driven
for
eight
years,
and
nard Ginsburg, A. Edward Co. in 1904 and integrated Marvels a month. All the
Dr. Alex Friedlaender of He also worked for Franklin
Barit, Meyer L. Prentis, Dr. both into the Crescent stock in the Crescent Motor owned seven different cars." Southfield wrote about his Motor Co. in Syracuse, N.Y.,
father, Leo I. Friedlaender, and as a consultant to the
Jacob Goldman, Samuel N.
Arden isquoted as say-
Motor Co.
Co. was owned by the Gold-
Heyman and others.
ing,
"I
am
thoroughly
con-
who worked as an engineer E.S. Evans Co. on loading
They set up manufactur- man family.
with several of the automo-
Mrs. Julian Krolik, ing at Meldrum and Cham-
devices, and developed auto
Abe Goldman, another vinced that I can not buy a tive pioneering firms.
daughter of the late Mr. plain (now Lafayette).
parts carriers for trains
son of the founding father better automobile an y-
Leo
Friedlaender
dlaener
d
was
a
Ginsburg, provided material
that are now used on trucks.
The Benham Motor Car was the chief tester of the where for $1,800 than an graduate of f B
l
Polytech
-
'44' seven-
about Max Grabowsky's Co. was absorbed by the Goldman cars. He had his
The Briggs manufactur-
passenger, fore-door Tour- nic Institute, and came to ing plant on Mack Ave. was
power wagon, a forerunner Crescent company, which own system:
of GMC trucks, and Frank now manufactured both the
the U.S. in 1907 shortly laid out by Friedlaender,
He would drive his car to ing Car. I ought to know,
Theylig mentioned many Marvel and the Benham the foot of Belle Isle and because I have had a new after graduation. He joined and he also worked at Bur-
every year, and the his brother Bernard in Sebe - roughs for a time.
Jewish automotive execu- models, which were marked there wait until the fa-
k d fo
f r
tives while commenting on for early fame and the dis- mous old steamer Tash- last three have been Ab- waing, and worked
According to his son,
Buick Motor Co. in Flint.
the possible reasons why tinction of being exhibited moo emerged from Lake bott-Detroits."
many young Jewish engi-
none ever reached the top, at the early automobile St. Clair, to enter the
He later joined General neers would gather at the
The name of Detroiter Electric in Schenectady, Friedlaender home for ad-
decision-making posts. shows at the old Light river.
Arthur Ross was also sub- N.Y., and worked with the
The following article lists Guard Armory, at Brush
ice Mr.
and help
in obtaini ng
When it arrived at a point mitted. Ross joined General "electrical wizard" Charles vibe
Friedl
some of the additional con- and Congress.
aender, an
opposite Belle Isle, Abe Motors in 1936 and rose to Steinmentz.
tributions of Detroiters to
Friedlaender
avid Zionist an d ortho
The Reliance car which would engage the throttle become chief designer for returned to Detroit
orthodox
in
1916
Je
the automobile industry:
H, died n i 1
they also manufactured was and race the steamer the Oldsmobile. Under his di- and remained here for the
at
62.
* * *
a two-cylinder touring car, full length of the island.
His wife Frances still
rection the two-tone body rest of his career.
The Goldman Marvel
lives in Oak Park, his sons
with the motor under the If the car did not collapse design and spinner hubcaps
He became a staff engi-
n d Alex are all son -
Harry Goldman submit- center of the body and the and finished ahead of the were introduced. Oldsmo- neer for the Maxwell Mo- Sidney aut
fists in So hfiel d , and a
-
ted a Detroit News story entrance to the tonneau steamer, Abe chalked up a bile rose from seventh to for Car Co., a forerunner ists
in-la w is a metallurgical
third in sales.
about his family's involve- from the rear. big win.
of Chrysler Corp., and was
The Marvel was a two-
ment, in the automotive in-
But the victory was
Ross left General Motors an expert in plant layout, engineer with a Muskegon
cylinder roadster and was soured somewhat when the
dustry:
1958 and opened his own power plant engineering, automotive parts manufac-
turer.
Goldman's father, H. L. one of the first cars to hide accompanying photograph
Goldman, arrived in Amer- its motor under the hood, was taken, because waiting
ica in 1875 and came to De- well down front.
for Abe at the foot of the is-
General manager of the land was a bicycle police-
troit in 1880. His first big
adventure in industry was Marvel Co. was a Mr. Ab- man, a "scorching cop" as
the Riverside Scrap Iron and bott, who signed on with the they called them then.
Metal Co., at St. Aubin and Goldmans as their sales
He gave Abe a summons
Atwater.
manager. Charles Wain, for speeding. Abe was flat- • In the Sept. 26 issue of
a cigarette case and re- air raid wound.
tered. He swears the fastest The Jewish News, Frank L. ported it as stolen to the
:;;Z4
Incidentally, my brother
he could negotiate in the Theyleg, a retired Ford Mo- police. He was arrested, returned to Berlin about
Marvel was 20 miles an for Co. engineer, gave his brought to Moabit Prison, 1937 when he was 14 years
hour.
views on the lack of Jewish Berlin, and died there a old. He was immediately ex-
But the legal speed limit executives in the automobile few days later, reportedly pelled as a "returned emi-
recognized by the Police industry who have major by hanging himself with grant" and was sent to Eng-
Department was 15.
decision-making roles. In straps of his artificial leg.
land by the Hilfsverein in
* * *
passing, it was found that
We were not allowed to which, I understand,
Theyleg
was
related
to
Sieg-
visit him and only learned worked at that time a Mr.
Auto Executive;
fried Markus, the 19th Cen- about his arrest and the ar- Skolnick, later known as
Auto Designer
tury Austrian inventor who rest locale through the Israel's Prime Minister Levi
Mrs. Natalie Ecker sub- perfected the automobile. In death notice which re- Eshkol.
mitted a photograph to The this article, Theyleg gives quested disposition of his
I met the prime minister
Jewish News showing her his family's history, and sealed coffin and funeral during the 1968 Jerusalem
father, Burt G. Arden, driv- how his ancestor Markus af- arrangements. My father Economic Conference which
ing a 1911 Abbott-Detroit fected his life.
buried him under Gestapo I attended as unofficial dele-
automobile in a Saturday
By FRANK THEYLEG
supervision at the Berlin gate of the Ford Motor Co.,
Evening Post magazine ad-
Siegfried Markus was a Weissensee Jewish ceme- and he seemed to remember
vertisement.
brother of my great-grand- tary.
the episode.
My family was forced by
Arden was a vice presi- mother on my father's side.
My brother lost all con-
Abe Goldman and sister Ray are shown test driving
dent of the Abbott Motor His name was well-remem- the Nazis to liquidate its tact with us but heard
the Goldman Marvel car.
Co., and Arden Park in De- bered by my family and his business in Pommerania in somehow that we had gone
memory undoubtedly con- 1935, and my parents moved to China. Upon outbreak
tributed to inspiring an en- to Berlin in that year while of World War II, he was
gineering career in me, al- my younger brother contin- interned as a "German"
-
that I cannot buy a better automo-
ready during childhood.
ued schooling in Sweden on the Isle of Man and
bile anywhere for $1800 than an
My uncle Siegfried Seelig and I stayed in Pommerania later managed to enlist in
was named for Siegfried because I had a tool-maker's the British commandoes
Markus. Siegfried Seelig apprenticeship contract and fight for five years in
was an officer in the Ger- which prevented me from Burma, where he rose to
man Army during World moving to Berlin until 1936. Sergeant Master.
"44" seven passenger, fore door Touring Car
War I. He saw much active
After arriving in Berlin,
He picked that theater be-
combat and lost one leg my uncle Siegfried intro- cause he hoped to somehow
I ought to know, because I have
had a new car every year, and
when shot down as observer duced me at Siemens & make his way to China and
over France.
the last three have been Abbott-
Halske, in order to obtain a his family. Shortly after V-J
Detroits."
He held one of the highest continuing apprenticeship day, he indeed succeeded in
decorations and, I believe, for me there. S & H had a locating us in Shanghai.
served under von Richtho- trade school which taught a
He later returned to Eng-
fen. He also seemed to know number of Jewish appren- land, was transferred to
Hermann Goering from tices even at that time and Germany to help interro-
those days, as he often men- Siegfried Markus's name gate various Nazi prisoners
tioned that he could not was still well remembered.
and then demobilized. Dur-
understand how that man
I was given an appren- ing his stay, he was
could have sunk so low.
ticeship, later a junior en- "adopted" by a British Jew-
1911
After Hitler's take-over in gineer's position, first at ish family which also helped
1933, my uncle, who was a Siemens & Halske, then him to learn the trade of
watch maker-jeweller, was transferred to associated furrier; he was successful
forced to relinquish his serv- Jewish-owned and oper- operating his furrier busi-
ice pension and to "sell" his ated subsidiaries, until ness until he died in 1970.
place of business near Fasa- they were "arisiert" and I He left a wife and a son,
nenstrasse, Berlin, to Nazis. discharged, in 1939.
who is now an officer in the
He then started a new
I fled to China shortly Royal Customs Service and
small watch maker's shop
thereafter, together with might well be the only heir
on
Beusselstrasse,
Berlin,
my family, where my father to Siegfried Markus's fam-
Detroiter B. G. Arden is shown in the 1911 Abbott-Detroit in a magazine ad.
in which the Nazis planted succumbed to effects of an ily continuity, as I know it.

Famous Ancestor's Influence
on Detroit Automobile Engineer

"I am thoroughly convinced

MAW

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