Adolf Reiter was born as Abraham Eber Spund-Reiter in Galicia and grew up in Czernowitz. On 1 October 1902 he moved from Plauen to Hof and founded the shop “Kaufhaus Adolf Reiter” in Ludwigstraße 54. He married Sabine (Sprinze) Fuhrmann in Czernowitz in March 1903. In December 1903 their first sun Bruno was born in Hof. Adolf Reiter and his family acquired Bavarian citizenship in 1912. In his department store he mainly offered household and kitchen appliances as well as luxury goods and toys. Today the building houses the Sparda Bank. After the National Socialists came to power, Adolf Reiter was subjected to increasing harassment. In April 1933 he was arrested with other Jews and held in prison for several days.

The persecutions became worse and worse and had also an effect on the children. Even before the National Socialists took power, Julius Reiter, a junior lawyer, was exposed to massive anti-Semitic hostility and defamation because he had a relationship with a non-Jewish woman. He and his siblings Bruno and Kurt therefore fled to London in 1933. The rest of the family remained in Hof for the time being. However, Adolf Reiter had to close his department store on 30 June 1936 before the forced sale was announced on 29 August 1938. Over the years he suffered from severe stomach ailments which, according to his own statements, became even worse after every contact with the Nazis. During the Reichspogromnacht he was to be imprisoned by the Nazis, but was not considered transportable, which is why his wife was imprisoned instead of him. The next day she was fortunately released again. Immediately afterwards the family escaped to England, where Adolf Reiter finally died in March 1939. Sabine Reiter also died in England on 19 July 1957. The couple’s children succeeded in building a new life in England.

Source: Hübschmann 2019, p. 211 – 234