Following the Allied victory over Hitler's Germany on 8 May 1945, the British occupying forces quickly took steps to reorganize public life, including in the Lower Elbe region. In addition to the elimination and arrest of Nazi cadres, efforts were made to establish new infrastructure for the supply of food to the population, as well as for the functioning of transport and traffic systems. Efforts were also made to involve citizens who were not incriminated with the Nazis in the administration. According to a record in the “Heimatfreunde” chronicle, the initial meeting of the municipal council appointed by the English authorities was held in Cadenberge on 28 June 1945.

"The council consisted of 9 people, among them the cattle dealer Arthur Samuel, the only Jew in the community". From this it can be concluded that the appreciation of Arthur's contributions in Cadenberge had endured and had reemerged following the collapse of fascism. It is likely that this same reason played a considerable role in Arthur Samuel being invited to join the working committee of the Chamber of Commerce for the newly established district government of Stade just one and a half years later.

However, this "honor" was associated with a political "hurdle" that highlights the confusion and contradictions that prevailed in Germany immediately after the war: the Cadenberge cattle dealer, who had been persecuted by the Nazis, was required to undergo a mandated denazification procedure. In practical terms, this involved completing a multi-page questionnaire to indicate whether one had ever been a member of the SS or the SA, or Gauleiter or local group leader of the NSDAP, or held other positions in Nazi organizations. Following the suffering faced during the Nazi era, such a process must have constituted a significant indignity to a Jewish individual.

Der Fragebogen zum „Entnazifizierungsverfahren“ Arthur Samuel von 1945.
The 1945 "denazification procedure" questionnaire for Arthur Samuel (Source: Lower Saxony State Archives, shelfmark NLA St Rep. 275 II No. 13461. Thank you for the permission)

Without vengeance

From today's perspective, it is particularly astonishing that, in the documentation pertaining to the period following 1945, there is no evidence of accusations or even revenge on the part of the Samuels against the local representatives of the former Nazi dictatorship. No names are mentioned, and no personalized accusations are made. On the contrary: In Arthur Samuel's "affidavit" of 1947 one finds sentences such as: "My wife and I, in the Nazi era, were except in one instance . . . not harassed " and "persecution of Jews by the party did not take place in the district of Land Hadeln". This stands in clear contradiction to the prevailing knowledge of the fate of the deported Jewish family Philippsohn of Osten.

It must be taken into account however that this municipality is located directly adjacent to the district of Stade. Today, all we can do is speculate about the motives for Arthur's statements. In addition to the possibility of the Nazis' discrimination and extermination machinery not being perfect and probably having had gaps – especially in rural areas – the point still stands that Arthur and Eugenie likely benefited from protection by the local population, even from those inside the circle of local officials, due to their esteemed reputation prior to 1933. Furthermore, reports indicate that following the dark years under the dictatorship, the couple had resolved to look ahead and re-establish themselves in village life as swiftly as possible.

This also involved Arthur immediately resuming his work as an independent livestock merchant and broker. Documentation shows that he restarted his commercial activity as early as 12th June 1945. But by far the largest expenditure of time in the following months and years was associated with the various legal disputes over recognition and proceedings related to compensation. The State Archives in Stade document the extensive correspondence by the Samuels and their lawyers (especially the Woest brothers in Cadenberge) with the offices of the district and the district president in Stade. Among other things, it pertains to the acknowledgement of Arthur and Eugenie as individuals "racially persecuted by the National Socialist tyranny". A decision confirming this was issued in June 1949 by a special relief committee of the district.

Further proceedings followed: for example, the application for financial compensation for damage to professional advancement in the period between 1937 and 1945, the application for payment in compensation for imprisonment, and the application for a disability pension to recompense for reduced earning capacity. All these applications were approved; however, other matters proceeded less smoothly. An application for reinstatement aid was rejected in 1951. Arthur states the reason in a note: "because supposedly at my age of 71 the rationale for granting a loan is deemed no longer applicable." Another application was rejected because "the use of forced labor was not considered imprisonment."

Arthur Samuel as Cadenberge Schützenkönig in 1961.
("Chronicle 200 Years of the Cadenberge Schützenverein" – 1787 to 1987)

In front of the house at 3 Osterstraße, during the visit of great-nephew Henry Irwig to Cadenberge in 1964.
(Photo: Private)

Applications, expert opinions, compensation and return to the village community

The comprehensive legal clarifications dragged on for many years and involved extensive correspondence, very many visits to the authorities, official declarations, and the production of witnesses and expert testimonies. Included in the papers is an eight-page medical examination report from the Israelite Hospital in Hamburg dated 1957. It certifies that Arthur's health was significantly impaired by osteoarthritis, deformation of a hip joint and the spine, circulatory disorders, hearing loss and other ailments. The doctors determined that a share of these ailments were directly attributable "to the heavy physical strain imposed on him during forced labor."

It was a special event when the first pharmacy was opened in Cadenberge in 1951 in the same residential and commercial building at Bahnhofstrasse 2, which the Samuels had built in 1923 and which they had to sell around 1938. In this regard, we are reminded of a remark made by the Cadenberge contemporary witness Christa Voit in an article in the "Niederelbe Zeitung". According to the article, after the end of the war the English occupying forces extended an offer to Arthur Samuel allowing him to reclaim ownership of the house (today's Kronen Pharmacy). However, he refused to do so on the grounds that he had "really" (genuinely) sold the house and that the sale made at that time remained valid. This account would further substantiate the thesis that, notwithstanding the challenging political circumstances of the time, the sale of the house might have been completed reasonably fairly.

During this period, Arthur and Eugenie lived in the house at Osterstraße 3 (formerly Ostermoor 32). Eugenie died there in 1956, and life became more lonely for Arthur. The contacts decreased. Many of his relatives had been murdered by the Nazis; others had survived in distant foreign countries, though in some cases their addresses were unknown; and communication was burdensome. Even more reason that two events in the subsequent years brought diversion and considerable joy to everyday life in Cadenberge:

In 1961 Arthur became Schützenkönig in the community for the second time, (the first being in 1930). For him, an individual who had always dedicated himself to community involvement and to associations, this award will have been a special honor. Still today, the plaque bearing the date remains displayed in a vitrine in the rooms of the Schützenverein, situated at the periphery of the old estate park.

And in 1964, the then 21-year-old student Henry Irwig, a grandson of Arthur's sister Emilie from South Africa, came to visit Cadenberge for a few days. And so, at least in the evening of his life, Arthur had the opportunity to engage in personal conversations with a close relative.
The only information known in the neighborhood about Arthur's final years are the regular walks he took with his Airedale Terrier. Just as we remember him from our childhood as we played in the Heideweg; in a checked jacket and in winter with a loden coat, always well dressed with a hat or cap. Apart from that, Arthur lived rather reclusively in Osterstraße before moving to the former district retirement home in Ihlienworth, likely because his own housekeeping became too burdensome even with help. He died there in 1971 at the age of 91.