The Lindbergh Kidnapping Hoax  

 Who Was Isidor  Fisch ? 

  Directory      Books      Search      Home     Forum     Transcript      Sources 

Isidor Fisch's gravesite, in a Jewish cemetery in Leipzig, was visited by Siglinde Rach in April 2001. 

•  Family

• The Fisch Story

•  Birth Certificate

• LKH  Public Forum Posts

• Hauptmann's Notebook Entries

•  Detective Ellis Parker interviews Steinweg about Fisch money  (Adobe PDF) 

 When the police first questioned Hauptmann about the money he lied. Thinking that he had been arrested for owning gold certificates that should have been exchanged for other bills, he said he had no more than what they found in his pocket. President Roosevelt's recall of all  gold certificates, in May 1933, was meant to  discourage Americans from hoarding gold. Hauptmann, an illegal immigrant, was afraid to admit having illegal money since he discovered this cache long after this government decree. 

But, the police would eventually discover $14,600 in Lindbergh ransom money when searching his garage and Hauptmann would finally tell the police - and the jury that convicted him - what would become ridiculed as "The Fisch Story." Hauptmann swore to the truth of this until the day he was executed and although he was offered $90,000 to "confess," he refused to change any part of his alibi.

Also, according to the letter Hauptmann wrote to his mother, the Police badgered him to reveal where the "rest" of the money was AFTER they "proved" to the jury HOW he had spent every last penny of the $50,000.00!

HAUPTMANN'S NOTEBOOK ENTRIES

"THE FISCH STORY"    

On December 5, 1933, during his farewell party, Hauptmann's business partner, Isidor Fisch, left Hauptmann with a shoebox of "important papers" before sailing to Leipzig to visit relatives.  

Siglinde Rach's photo of apartment building where Isidor spent the remaining months of his life. 

 Hauptmann claimed he had been given this box, wrapped in brown paper and tied with string, and had put it on a high shelf in a closet. 

Fisch had applied for a passport on May 12, 1932  the same day the baby's body was discovered.

 He sailed on December 6, 1933. Hauptmann told Police he had anticipated Fisch's return because he had $7,000 of Hauptmann's money.

The Knickerbocker Pie Company stock certificate in Fisch's name (submitted by Siglinde Rach)

 Fisch died of tuberculosis on March 29, 1934, (the 13^th of Nissan) in Leipzig at Klinikum St Georg. He  never returned to America and Hauptmann told Police he had believed his savings were lost forever.

 Until he discovered the shoebox.

Hauptmann  also claimed he had made the discovery of the money while cleaning the closet in which a leaky roof made the shoe box fall apart. He  recovered more money - $14,600 - than what he was owed by Fisch. He took his findings to the garage since the bills were wet from the leaking closet. He began to dry the bills and hide them behind some wooden boards in his garage. He figured that since he was owed $7,000 it was okay for him to keep the money for his family. This sequence of events, told by Hauptmann throughout the trial, was dubbed by police and reporters as "The Fisch Story."

On March 1, he said, he had been with his wife. Every Tuesday he went to Christian Fredericksen's bakery on Dyer Avenue, Bronx, where his wife worked. He ate dinner there and took her home at nine. They then went to bed so they could rise early the next morning.

The police also questioned where Hauptmann had been on April 2, the day John met Dr. Condon in the cemetery. The day was a first Saturday in the month. Every first Saturday Hauptmann and his friend Hans Kloeppenburg would meet at Hauptmann's house at seven o'clock. They had what they called a musical night. They would sing German songs. Kloeppenburg played the guitar and Hauptmann the mandolin. Kloeppenburg would leave around midnight. Anna was always with them.

thanks to Steve Romeo for submitting the following newspaper photograph

ATLANTIC CITY--a photo of Fisch's family having a great time in Atlantic City - 

Pincus, his wife Czerna, Miss Minna Steignetz, and Hanna Fisch his sister When 
Reilly was informed of the Fisch family's  arrival he said "this is just another 
example of how the state attorneys are throwing away taxpayer's money in the 
gutter."

 LKH FORUM POSTS

Following newspaper excerpts submitted by Steve Romeo