Eduard Rügemer
Eduard David Rügemer (born March 27, 1883 in Nuremberg , † 1955 in Munich ) was a German major in the Wehrmacht who was posthumously honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations as the savior of the Jews .
Life
Eduard Rügemer was born in Nuremberg as the son of the saddler Friedrich Philipp Christian Rügemer (1852–1927) and his wife Katharina Born (1851–1911), who came from the Palatinate. Rügemer was deployed as a major in the Wehrmacht after the attack on the Soviet Union in the east Galician Tarnopol in late summer . In the course of the German occupation, the Jews living there were sent to a ghetto and had to do forced labor , including in the major's army vehicle fleet. During the evacuation of the ghetto, he helped his Polish housekeeper, the forced laborer Irene Gut Opdyke , to hide twelve Jews threatened by deportation in the basement of his villa and later in a nearby bunker protected by forest. For this he demanded sexual services from Irene Gut in return, which she consented to for the protection of those in hiding. As a result of this help, all of the rescued survived. Roman Haller , who was born in the forest hiding place in May 1944, was among those rescued .
After the war ended, the Haller family decided not to emigrate to the USA, but to stay in Germany. A few years later Haller's parents found Rügemer and brought him from Nuremberg to their place of residence in Munich, where he lived until his death in 1955. Rügemer became Roman's substitute grandpa.
Rügemer was posthumously honored in 2012 by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations . Rügemer's 90-year-old son accepted the medal and certificate in Allersberg in early February 2014. Roman Haller was also present during the ceremony.
Web links
- Righteous Among the Nations: Rügemer Eduard (1883-?) On http://db.yadvashem.org
- "Eduard Rügemer didn't look away" from February 4, 2014 on http://www.nordbayern.de
- Roman Haller on http://www.never-again.info
- Miryam Gümbel: Honor. "Man among beasts" . In: Jüdische Allgemeine from February 13, 2014
Individual evidence
- ↑ The heroine of Radom . Die Welt, May 24, 2003
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rügemer, Eduard |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Rügemer, Eduard David (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Major in the Wehrmacht and Righteous Among the Nations |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 27, 1883 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nuremberg |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1955 |
| Place of death | Munich |