Ferdinand David (politician)

Ferdinand David (born April 8, 1885 in Hagen ; † July 24, 1950 ) was a German lawyer and local politician. He was a member of the SPD council in Hagen and a judge at the labor court.In his honor, an inner-city park in his hometown was named Dr. Ferdinand David Park .

Life

David was born in 1885 as the eldest son of Alwine Harff David and Louis David. He studied law at the universities of Bonn , Munich and Münster and completed his studies in 1910 with a doctorate. jur. from. After his internship, he opened a law firm in Hagen in 1912, which he soon left to serve as a soldier on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918 , for which he was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class. In 1921 he was appointed a notary and began rebuilding his law firm. In 1922 he married Ilse Gerson David, on May 28, 1923 his son Henry P. David was born.

During these years David began to be very involved in the Jewish community and in local politics in Hagen. In 1922 he became a member of the representative assembly of the Jewish community in Hagen, and in 1937 a member of the board. He became legal advisor to the SPD parliamentary group, a judge at the labor court , and from 1929 to 1933 he was a member of the SPD council.

With Hitler's rise to power in 1933, he was relieved of all his offices and expelled from his apartment, whereupon he moved into his grandfather's house. His son emigrated to the United States in 1937 after his permission to attend school was revoked. During the Reichspogromnacht on November 9, 1938 , his apartment was stormed, his property was destroyed and Ferdinand David was pushed out of the window, so that his serious back injuries had to be treated surgically for two months in the hospital.

In 1939 the David couple managed to emigrate, first to England, then to Cincinnati in the US state of Ohio . Ferdinand David initially worked there as a night watchman on a coal yard, his wife as a nurse. In 1942, the couple took over the management of a retirement home and in 1946 received US citizenship .

His son Henry P. David founded the Transnational Family Research Institute in Bethesda , Maryland , in 1975 , which he still directs today.

swell

• Historic center of Hagen
• City history tour of Hagen (PDF file; 3.27 MB)
• Correspondence between the author and Henry P. David