Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 16 hours ago
The Simson family business has been manufacturing everything from firearms to vehicles for decades. But when the Nazis take over, they’re not happy to learn that a Jewish family is supplying weapons to the German army. After a new law forces the Simsons to relinquish their company to the Nazis, the family flees to the United States. Fifty years later, a Simson descendent makes his way back to Germany – and finds out what became of the business empire his family once led.
The LBI Archives hold much of the extensive documentation Ulrike Schulz used to create her history of the Simson company, which was published in German in 2013. Among the records available digitally at LBI are Arthur Simson’s statement to the Zurich police after fleeing there in 1936 and a folder of clippings about the expropriation of the company.
🎧 Listen now: lbi.org/projects/podcast/episode-22
📸 Portrait of the Simson family taken in the late 1880s or early 1890s. The photo depicts Jeanette Simpson with her husband and 7 children.
📸 The the Simson factory in Suhl, Germany.
📸 Advertisement for a Simson motor scooter.
Leo Baeck Institute Archives, Julius Simson Family Collection, AR 11961.
Exile is a production of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York and Antica Productions. It’s narrated by Mandy Patinkin. This episode was written by Hana Walker-Brown.
Our executive producers are Laura Regehr, Rami Tzabar, Stuart Coxe, and Bernie Blum. Our producer is Emily Morantz. Research and translation by Isabella Kempf and David Brown. Voice acting by Manuel Mairhofer. Sound design and audio mix by Philip Wilson. Theme music by Oliver Wickham.
Special thanks to Jens Arndt for the use of the film The Simson Suhl Vehicle Works.
This episode of Exile is made possible in part by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance and the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future.
#podcastclips #mandypatinkin #jewishculture #rememberinghistory #neverforget
The Simson family business has been manufacturing everything from firearms to vehicles for decades. But when the Nazis take over, they’re not happy to learn that a Jewish family is supplying weapons to the German army. After a new law forces the Simsons to relinquish their company to the Nazis, the family flees to the United States. Fifty years later, a Simson descendent makes his way back to Germany – and finds out what became of the business empire his family once led.
The LBI Archives hold much of the extensive documentation Ulrike Schulz used to create her history of the Simson company, which was published in German in 2013. Among the records available digitally at LBI are Arthur Simson’s statement to the Zurich police after fleeing there in 1936 and a folder of clippings about the expropriation of the company.
🎧 Listen now: lbi.org/projects/podcast/episode-22
📸 Portrait of the Simson family taken in the late 1880s or early 1890s. The photo depicts Jeanette Simpson with her husband and 7 children.
📸 The the Simson factory in Suhl, Germany.
📸 Advertisement for a Simson motor scooter.
Leo Baeck Institute Archives, Julius Simson Family Collection, AR 11961.
Exile is a production of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York and Antica Productions. It’s narrated by Mandy Patinkin. This episode was written by Hana Walker-Brown.
Our executive producers are Laura Regehr, Rami Tzabar, Stuart Coxe, and Bernie Blum. Our producer is Emily Morantz. Research and translation by Isabella Kempf and David Brown. Voice acting by Manuel Mairhofer. Sound design and audio mix by Philip Wilson. Theme music by Oliver Wickham.
Special thanks to Jens Arndt for the use of the film The Simson Suhl Vehicle Works.
This episode of Exile is made possible in part by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance and the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future.
#podcastclips #mandypatinkin #jewishculture #rememberinghistory #neverforget
