Emil Kronenberg

Memorial plaque with a portrait at the Emil-Kronenberg-Haus ( city ​​library and VHS ) in Solingen

Emil Kronenberg (born October 2, 1864 in Leichlingen , † March 31, 1954 in Solingen ) was a German doctor , politician and writer .

biography

Family and childhood

Emil Kronenberg was born on October 2, 1864, the son of the doctor Aron Kronenberg . Aron Kronenberg originally came from the Münsterland and had been a teacher a few years earlier before he started studying medicine and settled down as a doctor. The mother, Amalie Kronenberg geb. Treu, came from the Düren district. Emil Kronenberg attended elementary school and later switched to the community school . In 1878 the Kronenberg family moved to Münster . Emil attended the local grammar school there for seven years . In 1881 the parents returned to the Bergisches Land . The father worked as a family doctor and obstetrician in Höhscheid . Emil stayed behind in the care of an uncle in Münster.

Study and conscription

In 1885 Emil Kronenberg passed his school leaving examination and began studying medicine in Freiburg, Bonn and Munich. In February 1890 he completed his doctorate . He then did his military service as a one-year volunteer and left the army as an assistant doctor with the rank of lieutenant .

Solingen years as a doctor and clinic founder

In 1891 Emil Kronenberg supported his father in the medical practice. In 1892 he took up a specialist degree and in June 1894 opened a practice as a specialist in ear, nose and throat medicine in Solingen . In 1899 he founded together with Dr. Paul Selter ( Pediatrics ), Dr. Pernhorst ( gynecology ) and Dr. Quint ( ophthalmology ) opened a clinic on Friedrichstrasse in Solingen. From this clinic emerged the Bethesda Hospital (House of Mercy) in 1910 . Was also medical officer Dr. Kronenberg in 1897 co-founder and later chairman of the association of West German ear and throat specialists . On April 30, 1896, he married Adele Baecker (* 1871), who initially assisted him in his medical practice.

In 1909 Kronenberg joined the Solingen Masonic Lodge Zur Bergische Freiheit . He dressed there u. a. from 1925 to 1927 the office of the master of the chair and was the honorary chair master after the re-establishment of the lodge in 1948 .

In addition to his work as a doctor, Dr. Kronenberg provided political, social and cultural impulses in Solingen in a variety of ways: in 1910, for example, he suggested the creation of a community college and in 1926 saw to it that the Solingen city library was established. In addition to all of these activities, Kronenberg was a prolific writer and poet. For many years, from 1919 to 1933, he chaired the Solingen Reading Society . Today he is considered a "classic universal scholar".

During the First World War he was in charge of Landwehr Field Hospital 6 on the Western Front . He was promoted to senior staff doctor and awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class . After the war he took over the chairmanship of the German Democratic Party in Solingen.

1933 to 1945

On April 1, 1933, members of the SA posted themselves in front of his house in Solingen ( Katternberger Str. 24), which had been his home and practice since 1911, in order to monitor the state boycott of Jews . On October 1, 1935, Dr. Emil Kronenberg relieved of his job as a Jew in the Bethesda Clinic. As a result of the Nuremberg Laws , Jews were no longer allowed to work as doctors from 1938 at the latest. He was forced to sell his house well below value and received an old-age pension of 120 Reichsmarks. Because of the financial losses, the Kronenberg couple moved into a small apartment ( Neuenkamper Str. 70). On October 1, 1938, Kronenberg's entire property was blocked and placed under compulsory administration. His license to practice medicine was also revoked. On November 9, 1938, furniture, crockery, porcelain and art objects worth 5000 Reichsmarks were smashed in the Kronenbergs' apartment . The next day, Kronenberg was arrested, but released one day later.

In 1942, Kronenberg stood up for the interests of the remaining Jewish community in Cologne as a shop steward for the Reich government. Kronenberg was also a member of the Solingen synagogue community .

On October 22, 1943, Kronenberg's wife Adele died of a heart attack . She was buried in the Evangelical Cemetery in Kasinostraße . On September 17, 1944, Emil Kronenberg was ordered by the police to report to the Gestapo barracks at Felder Strasse within two hours . From there he was transported on a truck to Wuppertal-Barmen together with five women and two men . The then 80-year-old doctor from Solingen arrived at the Theresienstadt concentration camp on October 13, 1944, via further intermediate stops in various transit camps near Stadtoldendorf and the Jewish Hospital in Berlin . There he was liberated by Soviet troops in early May 1945 and was able to return to his homeland on June 28, 1945.

post war period

In 1945 Kronenberg was a co-founder of the FDP in Solingen, was a member of the board of the district association for several years and was involved in the Solingen cultural group from 1949 onwards . In 1951, Federal President Theodor Heuss visited him in Solingen.

In 1948 he was awarded honorary membership of the newly founded German Society of Ear, Nose and Throat Doctors . On September 1, 1949, Kronenberg took part in the 50th anniversary of the Bethesda Hospital as a guest of honor.

Kronenberg died on March 31, 1954. The funeral service took place on April 5 in the chapel of the Solingen municipal hospitals . The necrologies were held by a Freemason brother of his lodge, a representative of the medical profession and the honorary chairman of the Jewish community in Wuppertal. His urn was buried next to his wife on April 12th in the Kasinostraße cemetery in Solingen.

Today the building of the city library and the adult education center in Solingen are named after Emil Kronenberg.

Works

Scientific writings

1. On the pathology and therapy of the tongue tonsil (Fischer, Berlin 1894) in the Berlin clinic: Collection klin. Lectures (signature: 8 MED EPH 491)
2. The transferability of mental disorders (1889)
3. History of Laryngology and Rhinology (1898)
4. The diseases of the ear and the upper respiratory tract in children and their care (special print from: The child, his mental and physical care up to maturity , edited by Ph. Biedert, no year)

fairy tale

• The shaggy hood. A fairy tale game. Based on a Nordic folk tale. 51 pages
• Katti
• Peterchen
• The stand-up man (typewritten and handwritten copy)
• The flying horse (handwriting)
• The Tale of the Green Princess (typewritten and handwritten copies)
• White ointment and white heather
• I am happy to dispose of what you do not have. An educational and moral modern fairy tale
• The picture witch
• The story of the strange healing (handwriting)
• Kitte Grau and the Devil (handwriting)
• A letter to the good Lord

Novellas and short stories

• The legend of Florence de Allaire and her son Mordier
• The Haberich (second part handwritten)
• The temptation of the monk
• Resurrection (handwriting)
• Mr. Hilton from London
• The man the king spoke to
• The Shadow (1926)
• The coat hook. An experience in the Eifel
• A famous man is wanted
• Swabian pranks
• In a second
• A day of remembrance
• The centaur
• Mrs. Kastendick
• Miraculous cures (handwriting)
• Distress of the mountains
• The accident. A purring story indeed
• The personal physician (typewritten and handwritten copy)
• A bricklayer's adventure in the far west
• How Della Torre died
• The cyclamen
• Gruseolett
• Ollreition (handwriting)
• Rouget de Lisle
• The riddle
• A game of chess (1938)
• A squatter in Germany in: "Deutsche Lesehalle". Sunday supplement to the Berliner Tageblatt, September 20, 1885
• The race. A high school joke (handwriting)
• The ad. A delightful story
• The Knight. A purring ghost story

Biographical Memories (1914–1939)

• Why I became a Freemason, (1938/39) (handwriting)
• Diary (1914) (handwriting)
• Diary (1914)
• My Memory of Ludwig Woltmann (February 22, 1937)

Treatises

• Treatises on Political Questions (1910–1945) (Na25-3)
• Treatises on the "Jewish Question" (1933–1938) (Na25-4)
• Treatises on the Masonic Lodge (1912) (Na25-5)
• Medical Treatises (1893–1938) (Na25-1)

Commemoration

On January 18, 2018, stumbling blocks were laid in front of his house at Katternberger Straße 24 in Solingen for him and his wife , which are intended to remind of the persecution of the Nazi era .

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Individual evidence

1. ↑ Emil Kronenberg Freemason ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , On the homepage of the Solingen Lodge Zur Bergische Freiheit (accessed on January 9, 2013) 
2. ↑ Stadtarchiv Solingen ( Memento of the original dated February 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ "Solinger Tageblatt" of April 2, 2009
4. ↑ Festschrift for the 75th Foundation Festival of the Lodge " Prince of Prussia to the Three Swords " Published by the Bergischer Geschichtsverein (Abtl-Solingen-1925) deposited in the Solingen city archive
5. ↑ Emil Kronenberg's life story - rubric: The 1000 year old empire ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , On the homepage of the Solingen Lodge Zur Bergische Freiheit (accessed on January 9, 2013) 

literature

• Wilhelm Bramann: Emil Kronenberg. Solingen doctor and writer . Bergischer Geschichtsverein, Solingen 2002, ISBN 3-925626-22-0 .
• Manfred Krause: "... that I had to leave the place of happiness before my death", contribution to the history of Jewish life in Solingen, Solinger Geschichtswerkstatt e. V., Solingen 2000, ISBN 3-9805443-3-8 (pp. 143–152)
• City archive Solingen: estate of Emil Kronenberg (Na 25 and Gf 106)

Web links

• Literature by and about Emil Kronenberg in the catalog of the German National Library
• Exilarchiv.de
• Archives in North Rhine-Westphalia (Solingen City Archives)

See also

• List of Nazi victims from Solingen