The Letter That Changed Everything: How a 1939 Act of Kindness Connects Lieber's Luggage to Briggs & Riley

In August 2017, a man named Richard Krulik was cleaning out his mother's basement in New Jersey when he found a letter.

It was old — nearly 80 years old — typed on official letterhead from a business called Lieber's Luggage Shops in Cleveland, Ohio. The letter was dated 1939. It was an affidavit of sponsorship, written on behalf of a Jewish refugee named Hans Ax who was trying to escape Austria as the Nazi regime tightened its grip on Europe. The letter guaranteed Hans a home and a $75 monthly allowance in America. It was signed by a man named Max Lieber.

Richard Krulik is the CEO and co-owner of Briggs & Riley Travelware.

His grandfather was Hans Ax.

And the Briggs & Riley bags on our shelves at Lieber's Luggage in Albuquerque exist, in some meaningful way, because of what Max Lieber did for a stranger in 1939.

Vienna, 1939

Hans Ax was a leather goods businessman in Vienna. He had built a life there — a business, a family, a community. Then the Anschluss happened. Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in March 1938, and the world Hans had built began to collapse around him.

Like thousands of Jewish families across Austria and Germany, Hans needed to get out. But emigrating to the United States required more than a desire to leave — it required an American sponsor willing to sign a legal affidavit guaranteeing that the immigrant would not become a public charge. The sponsor had to promise financial support: a home, a monthly allowance, a safety net.

Finding a sponsor was not easy. It required someone in America to put their name, their reputation, and their money behind a person they may never have met.

Max Lieber signed that affidavit.

Max Lieber and the Lieber's Luggage Shops

Max Lieber was the founder of Lieber's Luggage Shops in Cleveland, Ohio — a business with roots stretching back to the early 20th century. He was deeply involved in Cleveland's Jewish community and in organizations working to help refugees escape Europe during the war years. It is believed that Max and Hans did not know each other personally — that Max sponsored Hans as a complete stranger, through the refugee networks he was part of, because it was the right thing to do.

The affidavit was written on official Lieber's Luggage Shops letterhead. It was a business document, a legal commitment, and an act of extraordinary moral courage all at once.

In 1940, Hans Ax arrived in the United States. He was alive. He was safe. He had a sponsor.

Hans Ax in America

Hans brought his leather goods expertise with him to America and built a new business — London Leather — from scratch in his adopted country. He rebuilt what he had lost in Vienna, this time in a country that had given him a second chance.

His grandson Richard grew up in the family business, eventually taking over executive leadership in the 1990s. In August 2000, Richard acquired Briggs & Riley Travelware — a luggage brand founded in 1993 — and built it into one of the most respected names in the travel goods industry. Briggs & Riley is known today for its unconditional lifetime guarantee, its ballistic nylon construction, and its unwavering commitment to quality.

Hans Ax's leather goods legacy, carried forward by his grandson, became one of the finest luggage brands in the world.

The Discovery

For nearly 80 years, the connection between Max Lieber and Hans Ax was unknown — a piece of history sitting in a basement, waiting to be found.

When Richard Krulik discovered the letter in August 2017, he began tracing the story. Who was Max Lieber? What had happened to the Lieber's Luggage business? Were there descendants?

In September 2017, descendants of Max Lieber, Sam Fine — Max's close friend who purchased the Cleveland operation in 1943 and ran it for decades — and Hans Ax gathered for dinner in New York City. They brought documents. They shared photographs. They pieced together a story that none of them had known in full.

Frank Fine, Sam's grandson, had grown up working in the original Cleveland Lieber's store. That experience sparked a lifelong passion for retail and travel goods. Frank eventually moved to Albuquerque and formally adopted the Lieber's Luggage name in 1978 — partly for its alliteration, partly for its deep industry cachet, and partly to honor the legacy of a business that had meant something.

Dustin Boyd started working at Lieber's in 2002 and later purchased the business from Frank. Today, Dustin and Felicia Boyd operate Lieber's Luggage at 6515 Menaul Blvd NE in Albuquerque.

The Full Circle

Here is what makes this story remarkable beyond its human dimensions:

Lieber's Luggage in Albuquerque carries Briggs & Riley on its sales floor. Has for years. We recommend it to customers every day. We stand behind the lifetime guarantee. We've seen the bags come back a decade later for repairs and go back out into the world.

And now we know that the brand on our shelf exists, in part, because of a letter written on our letterhead 85 years ago.

Max Lieber sponsored a stranger named Hans Ax. Hans built a leather goods business in America. His grandson Richard built Briggs & Riley. And Briggs & Riley bags sit on the shelves of the store that still carries Max Lieber's name.

We don't know if Max ever imagined that his act of kindness would ripple forward this far. We don't know if he thought about legacy in those terms. But we think about it now, every time we hand a Briggs & Riley bag to a customer in Albuquerque.

Some stories are too good not to tell.

Shop Briggs & Riley at Lieber's Luggage

We carry the full Briggs & Riley Baseline collection in-store and online, including the Baseline 21" Global Carry-On and the Baseline 26" Medium Spinner — both backed by Briggs & Riley's unconditional lifetime guarantee and available with a free custom monogram from Lieber's.

Come see us at 6515 Menaul Blvd NE, Albuquerque or shop online at liebers.com.

Lieber's Luggage — Everything but the trip.™