Emil Sommer (General)

Emil summer also, Emil Samuel of Summer (* 19th November 1869 in Dorna-Watra , Bukovina ; † 10. April 1947 in Danvers , Massachusetts , USA ) was an officer of Austria-Hungary in the First World War .

Life

After attending grammar school, Emil Sommer completed the infantry cadet school in Budapest , the corps officer school in Sibiu , then the staff officer course in Vienna with the associated exams. He had been a career officer since 1889 .

During the First World War he was battalion commander on the Russian front and was wounded on the Uszoker Pass in 1915 (shot in the lung and broken collarbone). He was taken prisoner by Russia, but after a first unsuccessful attempt (from Siberia , arrest in Kishinev ), he was able to flee from the Novo Nikolayevsk camp to his home country via Finland and then became a lieutenant colonel and immediately assigned to the Italian theater of war ( regimental commander at the Piave- Offensive in June 1918). In the same year he was promoted to colonel .

In 1922 he was the head of the military conquest of Burgenland and then became major general . In 1924 he was retired.

In 1932, Sommer founded the Association of Jewish Front- Line Soldiers (BJF), split off from it in 1934 and founded the Legitimist Jewish Front- Line Fighters (LJF). Sommer was able to win Otto von Habsburg over to take over the protectorate over the association.

After his son-in-law was arrested by the National Socialists in Buchenwald concentration camp in 1938 after the "Anschluss of Austria" , Emil Sommer managed to free him by standing up for him with Walther von Brauchitsch , the German field marshal and commander in chief of the army Sommer allowed him to speak to him personally on this matter in Berlin, where, to the amazement of the whole neighborhood, Sommer was received in honor, and von Brauchitsch finally promised his release. In fact, von Brauchitsch kept his promise.

Emil Sommer's grave at Vienna's Central Cemetery

Shortly before, a few days after the “Anschluss”, Emil Sommer embarrassed the National Socialists in a sensational action when they tried to force him, together with other Jews in Vienna, to clean the streets in a humiliating way. He asked if he could change quickly before he started his work and then, after receiving permission, appeared in full general uniform with all medals and decorations with the words: "Please gentlemen, let's go!" they let him go on his way ashamed.

Emil Sommer was married to Anna Sommer, née Mittler (1887 Vienna - 1970). Both had been interned in the Theresienstadt ghetto since September 12, 1942 , where they were regarded as so-called prominent prisoners . After Theresienstadt was liberated by the Red Army on May 8, 1945, the Sommer couple were able to return to the American zone of Vienna on June 1, 1945. They had two children: Erika Sommer (1909–1988) and Anton Sommer (1911–1992).

Emil Sommer was buried in the family grave in the Old Jewish Department of the Vienna Central Cemetery (Gate 1, Group 20, Row 24, No. 214).

War awards

Order of the Iron Crown III. Class with swords and with the war decorations
Austrian Military Merit Cross with swords and with the war decoration
Karl-Troop Cross
Wounded medal
Service mark for 40 years as an officer

literature

M. Senekowitsch: Summer Emil. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 12, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2001-2005, ISBN 3-7001-3580-7 , p. 412.
Marthi Pritzker-Ehrlich and Andreas Pritzker : Disturbed bourgeoisie. Evidence of a Judeo-Christian family in letters, documents and pictures. Munda, Brugg 2007, Volume 1 (period 1802–1937), ISBN 978-3-9523161-0-8 ; Volume 2 (period 1938–1948), ISBN 978-3-9523161-1-5 .

Web links

Commons : Emil Sommer - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Summer in the celebrity album of the Theresienstadt ghetto at www.ghetto-theresienstadt.info

“The field marshal got two bullets” : Article by Arno Lustiger in Die Welt , January 23, 2010.

Individual evidence

↑ Marta S. Halpert : Courageously out for emperor and fatherland. In: Wina - the Jewish city magazine . June 2014, accessed September 1, 2018 .
^ Rudolf Steiner, George E. Berkley, Jews , Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA: Branden Pub Co, 1997, p. 213
↑ Thomas Chaimowicz: “Don't laugh, I wash God's earth” . In: Thomas Chorherr (Ed.): 1938 - Anatomy of a year . Ueberreuter, Vienna 1987, ISBN 3-8000-3245-7 , p. 293.
↑ Newspaper report of the Jewish Chronicle from August 17, 1945: "Jewish General Defied Nazis and Lived: Major-General Emil von Sommer, a famous Jewish Soldier who served the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, and who was believed to have been executed by the Nazis , has returnd to Vienna with his wife from Theresienstadt. General von Sommer, a few days after the Anschluss, on April [sic] 12, 1938, created a minor world sensation by his action when Nazi storm troopers called at his home and ordered him to report immediately for compulsory street cleaning. Asking permission to change his clothes, he appeared in a few minutes in full general's uniform, wearing all his medals. He then announced that he was ready to wield shovel an broom. The party of storm troopers, shamed and apparently unwilling to degrade the general's uniform, saluted and retired. Still vigorous, despite his 75 years, General von Sommer seems to have recovered from the effects of his confinement. He and his wife hope eventually to migrate to the United States to join their daughter. "

personal data
SURNAME	Summer, Emil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Austrian officer in the First World War
DATE OF BIRTH	November 19, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH	Dorna-Watra , Bucovina
DATE OF DEATH	April 10, 1947
Place of death	Danvers (Massachusetts) , USA

[1] Marta S. Halpert : Courageously out for emperor and fatherland. In: Wina - the Jewish city magazine . June 2014, accessed September 1, 2018 .

[2] Rudolf Steiner, George E. Berkley, Jews , Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA: Branden Pub Co, 1997, p. 213

[3] Thomas Chaimowicz: “Don't laugh, I wash God's earth” . In: Thomas Chorherr (Ed.): 1938 - Anatomy of a year . Ueberreuter, Vienna 1987, ISBN 3-8000-3245-7 , p. 293.

[4] Newspaper report of the Jewish Chronicle from August 17, 1945: "Jewish General Defied Nazis and Lived: Major-General Emil von Sommer, a famous Jewish Soldier who served the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, and who was believed to have been executed by the Nazis , has returnd to Vienna with his wife from Theresienstadt. General von Sommer, a few days after the Anschluss, on April [sic] 12, 1938, created a minor world sensation by his action when Nazi storm troopers called at his home and ordered him to report immediately for compulsory street cleaning. Asking permission to change his clothes, he appeared in a few minutes in full general's uniform, wearing all his medals. He then announced that he was ready to wield shovel an broom. The party of storm troopers, shamed and apparently unwilling to degrade the general's uniform, saluted and retired. Still vigorous, despite his 75 years, General von Sommer seems to have recovered from the effects of his confinement. He and his wife hope eventually to migrate to the United States to join their daughter. "