Alfred Schär

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Alfred Conrad Friedrich Schär (born August 5, 1887 in Hamburg ; † July 13, 1937 there ) was a German teacher and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Live and act

Alfred Schär was the son of a master tailor. He attended the seminar for elementary school teachers and, meanwhile, sat in on the school of the deaf-mute institution in Hamburg. In 1908 he got a job as an assistant teacher there. He passed the examination as a teacher for the deaf and dumb in 1912. On October 1 of the same year, he became civil servant at the age of 18 and received a permanent teaching position at the school for the deaf. As was customary at the time, Schär preferred the spoken language method that renounced sign language . In addition to his classes, he worked from 1913 at the phonetic laboratory of Giulio Panconcelli-Calzia . Schär researched the speech style of the deaf and developed devices that should be used for speech research. During the First World War he did military service and passed the war maturity examination in 1919 . After enrolling at the University of Hamburg in November 1919, Schär continued his research at the phonetic laboratory. From 1921 he worked as an assistant to Panconcelli-Calzia and pursued the goal of developing new methods for school articulation lessons. Until 1925 Schär did not have to teach because he was released from teaching.

Schär had been a member of the SPD since 1929/30 and was involved in the community assembly in Volksdorf . For this reason, the National Socialists suspected from 1933 that Schär was pursuing “communist activities”. Since Schär had made negative comments about the NSDAP and neighbors reported him, the NSDAP searched his house for the first time in August 1934. Schär's wife worked at a private preschool in Hamburg's Heilwigstrasse, which was run by the Jew Cläre Lehmann. In addition, Jewish children had lived with Schär's family since 1934. Both facts led to reports by several NSDAP members who assumed Schär had an "anti-state" attitude. The neighbors in Volksdorf then organized a public rally on the subject of “The Jew as the enemy of popular society”, while the Schär was heavily criticized. The state education authority summoned him and instructed him not to become “conspicuous” again and threatened consequences if he violated the law.

Schär was considered to be interested in economic policy, dealt with theories of the social market economy and had belonged to the land reform movement in 1920 . The land reform of the Buchenkamp settlement in Volksdorf went back to him. Through these activities he became a member of the International Socialist Combat League (ISK) in 1933, which had been considered illegal since 1933. Schär took over the leadership of a working group to which members and friends of the ISK belonged. The group dealt with economic policy issues and met monthly after the ISK was banned. From the end of 1933 to the end of 1936, preliminary investigations were carried out against members of the ISK for a trial at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court , including against "ISK functionary" Schär.

Stolperstein Wulfsdorfer Weg 79, Hamburg-Volksdorf

Meanwhile, Schär continued to teach at the school for the deaf and did not violate the requirements of the state school authorities. The Hereditary Health Court called on him as an interpreter in trials against the deaf. Negotiations were held against deaf persons who were regarded as “hereditary diseases” within the meaning of the law for the prevention of genetically ill offspring and were therefore mostly forcibly sterilized. Schär belonged to the "Working Group of Teachers at Schools for the Hearing and Speech Impaired" and in 1935 took part in a new examination regulation for teachers of the deaf, hard of hearing and speech therapy. Without warning, the Gestapo invited him to an interrogation that took place on February 11, 1937. Schär was arrested and transferred to the Fuhlsbüttel police prison one day later on suspicion of being an "accessory to high treason " . The arrest took place as part of a nationwide campaign that ended the illegal work of the ISK in autumn 1937.

Alfred Schär died the day after he was transferred to the concentration camp. According to the Gestapo, it was a suicide by hanging.

In 1964 a street in Hamburg-Lohbrügge was named after Alfred Schär, in Hamburg-Volksdorf a stumbling block reminds of him.

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personal data
SURNAME Schär, Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schär, Alfred Conrad Friedrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German teachers and resistance fighters against National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH August 5, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH July 13, 1937
Place of death Hamburg