Günther Fleischel

Günther Rolf Fleischel (born June 1, 1903 in Berlin ; † September 5, 1943 in Riga ) was a German sales representative, member of the SA and the National Socialist Motor Vehicle Corps, and an elder of Jews in the Riga ghetto .

Origin and family

Fleischel was born as the son of the publisher Egon Fleischel and his wife Alice, née Rossin. The family relationships were considered to be upper class . The father worked as a partner of Friedrich Fontane, in whose publishing house (Friedrich Fontane & Co.) works by Theodor Fontane , Georg von Omptedas and Ernst von Wolzogens appeared. In 1897 the parents, both Jewish, were baptized and became members of the Evangelical Church . In 1903 Egon Fleischel was one of the co-founders of the Egon Fleischel & Co. publishing house , which among other things included The literary Echo . In 1921 he sold this company to the Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt .

In 1927 Günther Fleischel married the Catholic Ilse Lessel. The marriage produced a son. The family lived in Wiesbaden . On October 1, 1937, at the request of Fleischel's employer, the company moved to Hanover .

School and career

Günther Fleischel, raised as a Protestant, attended the secondary school in Berlin-Grunewald up to the senior level . In 1919 he decided to become a member of the Catholic Church. He did his commercial apprenticeship in a Hamburg export company. From 1923 to 1926 he traveled abroad to Argentina , Guatemala , Cuba , Mexico and the United States . He then achieved leading positions in various companies. He was export manager at the Wiesbaden cement manufacturer Dyckerhoff & Widmann and most recently sales manager at Germania Deutsche Nahrungsmittel Fabrik (Berlin).

politics

Günther Fleischel saw himself as a member of the national - conservative spectrum. According to his own statements, he took part in the Kapp Putsch and the Ruhr War . From January 15, 1933 he belonged to the Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten . In October 1934 he was "transferred" from the Stahlhelm to the SA. At his own request, he changed from the SA to the National Socialist Motor Corps in May 1935, where he achieved the rank of squad leader.

Detention for "racial disgrace"

Günther Fleischel found out about his father's Jewish origins in early 1936. After his death, Egon Fleischel's baptismal certificate was found in the documents left behind. Inquiries with his mother confirmed his Jewish origin.

After this fact became known, Fleischel tried to leave the NSKK with reference to "work overload". This request was refused. Fleischel then avoided taking on NSKK services. In March 1937 he announced his resignation. It is possible that the NSKK had learned something about Fleischel's origins in the meantime, because in May 1937 NSKK offices requested his Aryan proof . The rumors presumably came from the professional sphere of the traveling salesman; Fleischel had extramarital affairs on business trips. In 1937 he was questioned by his superior and in the presence of ten "witnesses" about rumors and his origins. Probably one of his professional friends denounced him to the authorities for " racial disgrace ". On December 10, 1937, Fleischel was arrested.

The Hanover Regional Court sentenced Fleischel on 28 February 1938, a three and a half years of imprisonment and five years' loss of civil rights . He spent his imprisonment in Hanover prison until March 29, 1938 , then in Hameln prison , from October 19, 1939 to January 20, 1940 in Celle prison and then again in Hameln prison until his release on June 12, 1941.

While in custody, Fleischel planned to emigrate to South America . Bolivia and Brazil in particular seemed to be suitable target countries. His wife hardly supported these plans. Instead, his mother wanted to accompany him. In the course of his emigration plans, Fleischel turned to the St. Raphaels Association in Hamburg, the Apostolic Nunciature in Berlin and Cardinal Mercati with a request for support. The prison officials made correspondence more difficult and blocked by insisting that Fleischel use his compulsory first name "Israel" in correspondence , which Fleischel wanted to avoid if possible. During his imprisonment, Fleischel assumed that the Jews would be forcibly resettled as a group after the end of the war . In his opinion, this collective fate had to be avoided. The prisoner admired the successful French campaign for the Wehrmacht and wished he had been able to fight.

Between imprisonment and deportation

Fleischel's release documents required him to resettle in Hanover. Ilse Fleischel decided to stay in Wiesbaden, where she was living with relatives together with her son while her husband was in custody. Günther Fleischel first moved into a pension run by Jewish owners . There he met the dental assistant Deborah Ferche, born in 1912, and lived with her from then on. In September 1941, Gauleiter Hartmann Lauterbacher arranged for Jewish houses to be set up in Hanover . On October 9, 1941, Fleischel had to move into such a hostel (Herschelstrasse 31) as part of the “Operation Lauterbacher”.

Deportation and position in the Riga ghetto

On December 15, 1941, Fleischel was deported to Riga together with Deborah Ferche and another 999 people who were considered Jews . They were interned there together with other “Reich Jews” in the “small ghetto” that had previously been “liberated” by mass executions of Latvian Jews. After the arrival of the deportees, Fleischel was appointed Jewish elder by the ghetto commandant Kurt Krause at the Riga-Skirotava train station, so he was part of the Jewish "self-administration" in the ghetto that was forced and commanded by the Germans. It is possible that Fleischel was chosen for this role because of his political preferences and because of his stature - the then 38-year-old was perceived as intellectual , stately (height: 197 cm) and slim.

In the ghetto he married Deborah Ferche, who later was one of the 69 survivors of the transport from Hanover. He got on well with Ghetto Commander Krause. His influence grew when, as a result of mass executions, he was also appointed ghetto elder for the Berlin and Vienna transports. Fleischel insisted on discipline and order, implemented the instructions of the ghetto commandant's office and did not shy away from violence. At the same time he tried to use leeway for Jewish wishes and interests. This found expression in the construction of an additional dormitory for young, orphaned men, in the construction of schools for ghetto children or in Krause's successful request to be able to bake matzos for Passover 1942 . In the eyes of the SS , Fleischel proved himself. After his death, which occurred on September 5, 1943 as a result of stomach cancer , it was said in the ghetto that Commandant Krause had fired three volleys over Fleischel's grave .

Fate of relatives

His mother Alice Fleischel was arrested by the Gestapo in Radolfzell on Lake Constance on October 22, 1940 as part of the Wagner-Bürckel campaign , where she lived secluded in a hotel room. On the same day she was deported to the Camp de Gurs internment camp in the south of France ; She died there on April 26, 1941. In Radolfzell, a stumbling block has been remembering Alice Fleischel since 2014 .

Günther Fleischel's brother, Erich Fleischel (born July 16, 1897 in Charlottenburg ), fled to France. His escape time is not known. Also interned in Gurs by the German occupation regime, he was deported on March 4, 1943 on the 50th transport via Drancy to the Majdanek extermination camp , where he was murdered. His name is recorded in Paris on the "Wall of Names" of the Mémorial de la Shoah .

literature

• Herbert Obenaus : From SA man to Jewish ghetto elder in Riga. On the biography of Günther Fleischel . In: Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung , Vol. 8 (1999), pp. 278-299.
• Uta Schäfer-Richter: In no man's land. Christians of Jewish origin under National Socialism. The example of the Hanoverian regional church , Wallstein, Göttingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-8353-0469-7 .

Web links

• Alice and Günther Fleischel 1940 , Günther Fleischel's prisoner files and letters to his mother in Radolfzell 1940; There is also a photograph by Günther Fleischel.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ For Alice Fleischel see the information about her stay in Radolfzell and her deportation to Gurs in 1940.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Herbert Obenaus: From the SA man to the Jewish ghetto elder in Riga , p. 282.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Herbert Obenaus: From SA man to Jewish ghetto elder in Riga , p. 283.
4. ↑ Uta Schäfer-Richter: Im Niemandsland , p. 288.
5. ^ ^{A b} Herbert Obenaus: From SA man to Jewish ghetto elder in Riga , pp. 283–285.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Herbert Obenaus: From the SA man to the Jewish ghetto elder in Riga , p. 285 and p. 290 f.
7. ↑ Herbert Obenaus: From the SA man to the Jewish ghetto elder in Riga , pp. 287–290.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Herbert Obenaus: From SA man to Jewish ghetto elder in Riga , p. 289.
9. ↑ On her see Uta Schäfer-Richter: Im Niemandsland , pp. 288–294.
10. ^ Herbert Obenaus: From SA man to Jewish ghetto elder in Riga , p. 291.
11. ↑ ^{a b c} Biographical keywords on Günther Fleischel , geschichte-bewusst-sein.de ( Lower Saxony Memorial Foundation ), accessed on January 2, 2017.
12. ↑ Number to Hanover commemorates the Jews deported to Riga , Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung , December 14, 2011, (accessed on January 5, 2014).
13. ^ Herbert Obenaus: From the SA man to the Jewish ghetto elder in Riga , p. 285.
14. ↑ Uta Schäfer-Richter: In the No Man's Land , p. 290.
15. ↑ ^{a b} Herbert Obenaus: From the SA man to the Jewish ghetto elder in Riga , p. 280 f.
16. ↑ Obenaus calls him a "man of law and order". Herbert Obenaus: From SA man to Jewish ghetto elder in Riga , p. 293.
17. ^ Herbert Obenaus: From the SA man to the Jewish ghetto elder in Riga , 281 f. and p. 292 f.
18. ↑ Uta Schäfer-Richter: Im Niemandsland , p. 293 f.
19. ↑ Information about Alice Fleischel in the Yad Vashem database, accessed on January 3, 2017. See also Torsten Lucht: Vom cruel Background an index card , Südkurier , June 13, 2007, accessed on January 3, 2017; Markus Wolter: Deportation of Jews from Baden 75 years ago. Radolfzell as the last place of hope , Südkurier, October 22, 2015, also under: Alemannia Judaica (PDF).
20. ↑ Information about Erich Fleischel in the Yad Vashem database, accessed on January 3, 2017.

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on January 12, 2017 .