Bernhard Kamnitzer

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Bernhard Kamnitzer (born October 25, 1890 in Dirschau , † July 15, 1959 in New York City ) was a German lawyer, district judge and Senator for finance in the Free City of Danzig (1928-1931) in the Senate Sahm III and politician ( SPD and Social Democratic Party of the Free City of Gdansk ).

Life

Kamnitzer studied law at the University of Danzig and the University of Königsberg (Prussia) from 1909 to 1912 . He became a soldier in the First World War and was elected district judge in August 1921 . From 1928 to 1934 Kamnitzer was a representative (assessor) on the board of the Central Association of Danzig citizens of the Jewish faith and was one of the representatives of liberal Judaism. From 1924 to 1929 he was a member of the Danzig People's Day for the Social Democratic Party of the Free City of Danzig , from 1928 parliamentary senator and from 1929 to 1930 full-time finance senator. He brought about the cancellation of the Danzig war debts at the Hague Debt Conference in 1930.

After 1930 worked as a lawyer in Danzig , mainly in disputes with the National Socialists. In the course of the National Socialist Gleichschaltung, he was imprisoned for a short time and was banned from working . He emigrated to Great Britain in 1938 and later to New York, USA. In the spring of 1940 he was placed on the special wanted list by the Reich Security Main Office , a directory of persons who, in the event of a successful invasion and occupation of Great Britain by the Wehrmacht, were to be located and arrested automatically and primarily by SS special units.

After the Second World War , Kamnitzer represented claims for reparation by Jewish citizens of Danzig against the Federal Republic of Germany and was president of the American Danzig Association .

literature

  • Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss (ed.): Biographical manual of German-speaking emigration after 1933. Vol.1: Politics, economy, public life . Munich: Saur 1980, p. 346
  • Joseph Walk (ed.): Short biographies on the history of the Jews 1918–1945. Edited by the Leo Baeck Institute, Jerusalem. Saur, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-598-10477-4 , p. 182.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Federal Archives , Institute for Contemporary History: German Empire 1933–1937 , p. 205.
  2. ↑ Samuel Echt : The History of the Jews in Danzig , Leer: Rautenberg, 1972, p. 281 f.
  3. ↑ Boris Schilmar: The European discourse in German exile 1933–1945 , p. 366.
  4. ^ Leo Baeck Institute
personal data
SURNAME Kamnitzer, Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer, district judge, politician (SPD) and senator for finances in the Free City of Danzig (1928–1931)
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Dirschau
DATE OF DEATH July 15, 1959
Place of death New York City