Adam Ganz is the great-grandson of Felix Ganz (1869–1944), managing director of Ludwig Ganz AG – a successful carpet and textile company that was based in Mainz. The company as well as Felix Ganz’s extensive art collection fell victim to the Nazi dictatorship. In 1934, Ludwig Ganz AG was ‘aryanized’. Felix remained in Mainz, despite his descendants (including Adam’s father Peter) fleeing in 1938 and 39, until 1942 when his second wife Erna and he were deported to Theresienstadt. They were murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp in October 1944. Adam Ganz’s father, Peter, who fled Germany after his 6-week internment in Buchenwald, was a renowned Germanist and an interpreter for Operation Epsilon.
In August 2022 Adam Ganz unveiled a plaque dedicated to his great-grandfather Felix Ganz alongside Michael Ebling in Mainz.
We spoke to Adam Ganz about his family history and his thoughts on memorialization culture. You can read the interview →here.
