Abraham Friedmann

Abraham Friedmann (born July 11, 1873 in Autenhausen , † May 6, 1938 in Paris ) was a German businessman . He was persecuted by the Nazi regime because of his Jewish origins and emigrated to France in 1935 . The differences between Friedmann and the local group leader of the NSDAP in Coburg, Franz Schwede, led to a referendum in Coburg in 1929, which resulted in the first NSDAP city council majority in Germany.

Life

Friedmann came to Coburg at the end of the 19th or beginning of the 20th century. He worked as a cattle dealer. As a participant in the First World War , he was wounded in 1914 and returned to Coburg after being released from the hospital. As a result, he held the office of head of the district slaughterhouse until the end of the war. For his achievements he received the title of Commissioner .

Ketschendorfer Strasse 2 in Coburg

In 1919 Friedmann became general director of the Coburg meat product factory C. Großmann and moved into a house at Ketschendorfer Straße 2 . After the name was changed to a stock corporation on July 1, 1922, he became a director of the meat products company. On October 15, 1922, on the occasion of the German Day , there was an anti-Jewish rally by about 30 SA men in front of Friedmann's house , threatening him with homicide. The background was rumors that he had paid 100,000 Reichsmarks to demonstrate against the NSDAP.

The party newspaper Weckruf of the Coburg NSDAP local group, founded in 1926, accused Friedmann of cowardice in the First World War and that he was a war profiteer. At the end of 1928 she began a five-part smear campaign against him. Among other things, it was assumed that Friedmann wanted to buy the Kommerzienrat title. At the same time, Franz Schwede, who was an employee of the municipal works , submitted an urgent motion to the municipal police and administrative council on December 10, 1928, against granting Friedmann the title of Kommerzienrat. Friedmann defended himself against the attacks by issuing an injunction against the wake-up call. He also pointed out to the employer of the machine foreman Swede that he was considering stopping the coke and electricity purchases for Großmann AG because of the denigration. The management of the municipal works and the city council called on Swede to undertake in writing to observe the obligations towards his employer in his political activities and, in this sense, to also influence the press close to him. Swede did not sign the declaration. Further wake-up call articles, including the claim that Friedmann had demanded Sweden's release, escalated the matter and failed mediation attempts. On February 13, 1929, the Stadtwerke Schwede quit because of its excessive public attacks on a bulk buyer. On February 22nd, the city council confirmed this with 14:10 votes. As a result, the NSDAP was able to successfully initiate the dissolution of the city council on May 5, 1929 with a referendum. The new election was on June 23, 1929 and led to an absolute majority of the NSDAP's seats in the city council.

Stumbling stone in front of Ketschendorfer Straße 2

On the night of March 14-15, 1933, young men broke into Friedmann's house, poisoned his dogs and took him to the Finkenau Forest. There he was severely mistreated with whips and rubber truncheons. His subsequent stay in hospital lasted until March 18, 1933. During the same time he was released from Großmann. He then moved to Berlin to live with his daughter Berta Landauer and in 1935 to Paris to live with his second daughter. Friedmann held about 25% of all shares in Großmann AG, which was "Aryanized" . As a result, he could no longer pay a mortgage on his house, which was foreclosed by Dresdner Bank in 1935.

Web links

Digital City Memory Coburg: The Friedmann Affair

Individual evidence

↑ Harald Sandner: Coburg in the 20th century. The chronicle of the city of Coburg and the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from January 1, 1900 to December 31, 1999 - from the "good old days" to the dawn of the 21st century. Against forgetting. Verlagsanstalt Neue Presse, Coburg 2000, ISBN 3-00-006732-9 , p. 151
↑ ^a ^b ^c Hubert Fromm: The Coburg Jews. Tolerated - Outlawed - Destroyed. Evangelisches Bildungswerk Coburg eV and Initiative Stadtmuseum Coburg eV (Ed.), 3rd revised and expanded edition, Coburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-938536-01-8 , pp. 226–230.
^ Joachim Albrecht: The avant-garde of the Third Reich - The Coburg NSDAP during the Weimar Republic 1922-1933 . Peter Lang GmbH European Publishing House for Science, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-631-53751-4 , pp. 107-118.

personal data
SURNAME	Friedmann, Abraham
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German businessman
DATE OF BIRTH	July 11, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH	Autenhausen
DATE OF DEATH	May 6, 1938
Place of death	Paris

[Sandner151-1] Harald Sandner: Coburg in the 20th century. The chronicle of the city of Coburg and the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from January 1, 1900 to December 31, 1999 - from the "good old days" to the dawn of the 21st century. Against forgetting. Verlagsanstalt Neue Presse, Coburg 2000, ISBN 3-00-006732-9 , p. 151

[Fromm226-2] Hubert Fromm: The Coburg Jews. Tolerated - Outlawed - Destroyed. Evangelisches Bildungswerk Coburg eV and Initiative Stadtmuseum Coburg eV (Ed.), 3rd revised and expanded edition, Coburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-938536-01-8 , pp. 226–230.

[Albrecht107-3] Joachim Albrecht: The avant-garde of the Third Reich - The Coburg NSDAP during the Weimar Republic 1922-1933 . Peter Lang GmbH European Publishing House for Science, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-631-53751-4 , pp. 107-118.