There was this professor who taught one of my classes at a university I attended, with the last name of Garbaty, who, I found out only years later, was the grandson of a German businessman who once owned a Cigarette Factory in Berlin and manufactured cigarettes in the Pankow suburb, north of the city center.
He made some vague references occasionally to the fact that he had been born in Europe; he didn't have any European accent, and I thought for some reason his last name sounded French, but it turns out it is actually a Hungarian name. He never mentioned that his family had owned the factory or Garbaty cigarettes, or that his family left Germany around when WWII started.
It looks like the Nazis took the company over, and still used it to manufacture cigarettes during WWII; then, it looks like the D.D.R. Communist (Social Democrat??) State used it for the same purpose and merged it with another state owned company; with the Fall of The Wall, the factory stopped being used. I think (not 100% sure) I read somewhere once that this guy's family did get something like 30,000,000 or so Deutsch Marks as a post war payment sometime after WWII.
He had an entertaining lecturing style, though being funny alone doesn't make a great lecturer. At least, in comparison, Dr. (Ph.D, University of Pennsylvania) Garbaty was about three times as better to the Englishman who taught the other class I had to take; the Englishman's class was a completely awful class, probably the second worse class I have ever taken in my life.
But still, I don't think Dr. Garbaty ever really conveyed what he wanted from you academically. I think what he wanted you to do was write your test answers in an academic style, using phrases like "it is worth noting" and "as Brewer states," though he was absolutely mute on the topic; but I guess that's why there are private college preparatory schools in the United States (which I didn't attend; I attended the state-owned government public schools).
In addition, I think, unfortunately, the guy just disliked me for whatever reason from day one. Clash of personalities, I think. There was sort of a detached air whenever I spoke to him after class. I received a "B" in the class, which is o.k., but in American higher education that is basically a mediocre grade; better than a "C," I guess.
And despite his friendly lecturing style in class, on campus, if I ever ran in to him, he would have this glazed look on his face like I was empty air. Then, when I would say "hi" to him, he'd only then take notice of me. I really don't know.
Anyway, their best known brand was called "Queen of Sheba" Garbaty cigarettes.
Anyone remember, heard of, or seen those???
There is some information about the history of the company on the web, with some photos of the collectible cigarette cards that would come with the pack of smokes, and, apparently, there are still collectors who buy and trade these pieces of paper; as well as some photos of the old factory building and the Pankow area, which I guess a square of which was recently renamed as Garbatyplatz?? (If you don't speak German, enter the site on Google, and it will give you a translation; though it's weak, you'll basically understand the text).
Some information about the Garbaty company and photos of the ciggy cards:
http://www.germancards.com/Garbaty/garbaty.htm
Photos of the old factory and the Pankow suburb:
http://www.ansichtskarten-pankow.de/pankowgarbaty1.htm
http://www.ansichtskarten-pankow.de/schachteln.htm
http://www.ansichtskarten-pankow.de/schachteln2.htm
The German amateur Football Club which got permission to use the Garbaty name in the name of their club, and some good information about the company and the area:
http://www.garbaty-sc.de/gallerie.html
Have lunch at the Cafe Garbaty next time you're in Berlin!! This site also has some good information on the history of Pankow and the factory.
http://www.cafe-garbaty.de
"Cigars . . . Cigarettes??"
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