„You are all my secondary witnesses. I need you to share my story.“

Eva Weyl, a Holocaust survivor, honoured Deutsche Bank at the beginning of November with a visit to our headquarters, where she spoke to more than 200 people, primarily bank employees. Some had brought their teenage children – something the ninety-year-old was very much in favour of. Her intention is to reach as many young people as possible with her story, so that mass discrimination, persecution and extermination never happen again.

"I am a child of Deutsche Bank," she began her story. Her grandfather, Willy Wolff, was manager at the bank’s Freiburg branch for 26 years. Her uncle, Hans Wolff, also worked for the bank until the Jewish family fled to the Netherlands from the National Socialists.

Preserving precious freedom

Eva Weyl was born in the Netherlands in 1935 and experienced a happy childhood until the age of six and a half, when she and her family were deported to the Westerbork transit camp. She vividly described how painfully she experienced the loss of her freedom and appealed:

We have lived in freedom for 80 years, and everyone has the task of preserving this precious gift. Only when it is taken from you, when all you see is barbed wire, do you know what it means to no longer be free. Eva Weyl

"You are now my secondary witnesses"

From Westerbork, Jews were deported to labour and extermination camps. According to Eva Weyl, the commandant of Westerbork has more than 80,000 lives on his conscience. In fact, it was only a series of fortunate circumstances that saved her and her family after their names had been added to the transport lists on several occasions.

She said that when people started hearing about what was happening in Auschwitz, they dismissed them as rumours of atrocities. The reality of the Nazi’s industrial mass murdering was almost unimaginable to those in Westerbork, where Weyl attended school and daily life in the camp ran “like clockwork.”

None of you are responsible for it, but you have the responsibility to ensure it is not forgotten! I am a contemporary witness, but we will soon be gone. That is why I am making all of you secondary witnesses to my story. Eva Weyl

Lest we forget

James von Moltke, Chief Financial Officer of Deutsche Bank opened the event with a short address. He emphasised the close partnership between Deutsche Bank and "Zweitzeugen" – a charity dedicated to sharing the stories that holocaust survivors have to tell. He also underlined that companies like Deutsche Bank must take responsibility for their history, especially for the period of National Socialism.

I hope that this day inspires us to learn more, to raise awareness, to be a secondary witness, and to pass on memories – to families and to colleagues, so that we do not forget. James von Moltke

Deutsche Bank assumes responsibility for its history

In a panel discussion after Eva had shared her story, Martin Müller, Head of Deutsche Bank's Historical Institute, emphasised the company's responsibility to critically reflect on its history. He explained that it took the bank decades to unreservedly confront the role it played during National Socialism.

The 125th anniversary marked a turning point. With the backing of the then Management Board spokesmen Alfred Herrhausen and Hilmar Kopper, the bank allowed independent historians to investigate its Nazi past without reserve. “It was certainly a risk at the time, but it was worth it – Deutsche Bank was the first financial institution to have its history reviewed externally, and many others followed,” Müller said.

An invaluable gift and thoughts on postcards

As a gesture of thanks, Martin Müller surprised Eva Weyl with copies of her grandfather’s and uncle’s personnel files, an invaluable gift that connected past and present.

At the end of the event, participants were asked to write on postcards how they intend to keep memories like Eva Weyl’s alive. Remembrance is not just about looking back; it is about taking action and assuming responsibility for the future. The voices of the contemporary witnesses will one day soon grow silent, but we can share their stories as secondary witnesses.