Heinz Katzenstein

(29 October 1913 – 22 April 2003)

Black and white photograph showing a man with grey hair in a hospital room. The man is sitting in a hospital bed with his upper body slightly raised on a pillow and turned towards the camera; he is covered up to his stomach with a white blanket. He is bandaged on several parts of his body, such as his chest and arms. He holds a photograph of a smiling young man in front of the camera. A large window can be seen in the background, through which a snow-covered street view is visible. On the windowsill are a row of bouquets of flowers.
In Hospital rechts der Isar, the injured Heinz Katzenstein holds up a picture of his son, Arie, who had been killed, February 1970, © picture alliance / Gerhard Rauchwetter / Gerhard Rauchwetter
Colour photograph of an elderly couple in front of a panorama of the Alps. The man, with grey hair, is wearing brown trousers and a white shirt, while the woman is wearing a brown woollen suit and has wavy hair. They are standing on a path in the countryside, with wooded hills and a snow-capped mountain range in the background.
The couple Heinz and Mirjam Katzenstein in the Alps, undated, © Private collection

Heinz Katzenstein, Arie Katzenstein’s father, was a well-respected man in Haifa. The successful entrepreneur was the director of two factories that produced synthetic fibres for the textile industry, among other things. He was born in Marburg in 1913 and grew up in Jesberg in Hesse, where part of his family had lived for generations. With his political foresight and practical approach to life, Heinz Katzenstein realised early on that, as a Jew, he would have no future in Germany once the Nazis came to power. He emigrated to Palestine as early as 1933 at the age of 19. He learnt Hebrew and established a new life for himself. In 1936, he returned to Jesberg for a short time to help his parents David and Gerti Katzenstein and his brother Erich to emigrate and ultimately save their lives. In Israel, he married Mirjam Dorf, with whom he had two sons, Arie and Yuval.

On 10 February 1970, Heinz Katzenstein was travelling on business with his son Arie. The attack at Munich Airport was to impact their lives devastatingly. Heinz Katzenstein was seriously injured and had to watch his son die, killed by a hand grenade.

After his return to Israel, Heinz Katzenstein continued to run the family business until his retirement. Thanks to his initiative, a street in Haifa was named after Arie Katzenstein in 1978 on the anniversary of the attempted hijacking in Riem. He played an important role in the lives of his grandchildren Miki, Tami and Ofer. Heinz Katzenstein died in 2003.

Black and white photograph of an elderly man and a young girl. The grey-haired man, Heinz Katzenstein, is dressed in a formal shirt, jacket and tie. In front of him stands a young girl, his granddaughter Miki, in a short-sleeved patterned dress. Both look directly into the camera.
Heinz Katzenstein with his grand-daughter Miki, the eldest daughter of his son, Arie, who had been killed, undated, © Private collection

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