Hermann Levinger

Hermann Levinger (born August 25, 1865 in Karlsruhe , † December 8, 1944 in Wiesbaden ) was from 1908 to 1930 Oberamtmann of the Baden district office in Überlingen . Levinger, a victim of National Socialism , and his daughter Barbara Levinger committed suicide by poison on December 8, 1944 , after he learned that the National Socialists wanted to kidnap and kill him and his daughter.

Life

Hermann Levinger came from a Jewish family from Karlsruhe and was born on August 25, 1865. He converted to Protestant Christianity while studying law at the end of the 19th century . From 1898 to 1902 he was employed as a clerk at the district office in Überlingen , between 1902 and 1908 he worked at the district office in Mannheim. In 1902 he married the widowed Maria Karolina von Bünau, née Staib. Daughter Barbara Levinger was born on December 26, 1904. From 1908 on, Hermann Levinger was the head of the district office in Überlingen. Hermann Levinger worked in Überlingen for almost 30 years until 1930, and since 1924 as the district administrator of the Überlingen district.

Today's building authority in Überlinger Bahnhofstrasse was Hermann Levinger's official residence and residence from 1908 to 1930. He lived with his wife Maria, daughter Barbara and relatives in the official apartment on the upper floor of the district office. Here he resided until the Baden Revolution as chairman of the grand ducal district office and then as district administrator. Barbara Levinger, who worked as a writer and actress in the 1920s, also grew up here.

In 1930 Levinger retired “after a life of most faithful fulfillment of duty and exemplary dedication to his high office”. The Überlinger Zeitung “Seebote” praised Levinger's administration, who had served the Überlingen district since 1898. From today's perspective, Levinger's contribution to the Unteruhldingen pile dwelling museum has remained . It was he who gave the suggestion in 1921 and later supported the plan to display the finds in a museum. After his retirement in September 1930, Hermann Levinger moved with his family to Wiesbaden in 1930. The family lived in seclusion, and the hope was that a healing spring would provide relief for Maria Levinger, who suffered from gout . Maria Levinger died in Wiesbaden in 1933.

After the death of his wife in 1933, the National Socialists came to power. Hermann Levinger was considered a Jew due to the race laws passed in 1935 . Since his wife Maria was of Christian origin, their daughter Barbara was considered " half-Jewish ". According to the historian Oswald Burger , an expert on the history of National Socialism in Überlingen, the Levinger family “did not feel like Jews” and converted to Christianity at an early age. However, this should not protect them later from persecution under the racist laws. Hermann Levinger now had to experience how his services to the Pfahlbaumuseum were publicly negated on Lake Constance. This is followed by the material plundering of the pensioner and his daughter, who was now also banned from performing . Eventually she was used for forced labor , father and daughter had to move, in September 1941 the Jewish star on clothing became compulsory, they were not initially deported. In December 1944 they learned of the imminent deportation to the Auschwitz concentration camp , and their deportation was likely. In order to avoid the imminent deportation, both took poison in their Wiesbaden apartment on December 8, 1944. Hermann Levinger died on the same day, his daughter on December 10th.

Both were in close contact with people in Überlingen until the end of their lives. In the face of death, father and daughter had decreed that they would find their final resting place in Überlingen. This wish was granted and they were buried in Überlingen.

Commemoration

tomb

In the Überlingen cemetery, where his wife Maria was buried, a memorial stone on the cemetery chapel today commemorates the Levinger family. The family's graves are cared for by the city as graves of honor .

Literary commemoration

It is thanks to the Überlingen authors Oswald Burger and Hansjörg Straub that the Levingers are preserved in literary memory. In their documentary volume “Die Levinger. Eine Familie in Überlingen ”, the authors tried to reconstruct traces of this destroyed existence and to trace the life of the former Überlingen district administrator, his wife Maria and daughter Barbara using traces that can still be found. The story of the Levinger family is told on 200 pages with numerous illustrations.

Stumbling blocks

The completely researched book on the fate of the persecuted Levinger family serves as the basis for the laying of three so-called “ stumbling blocks ” in front of Hermann Levinger's former official residence and residence. The former district office, which later became the district office, is now part of the city administration.

The stones were laid on September 8, 2005 and have a brass plaque on the top, on which the heading “Here lived” and the date of death are entered with a hammer and blown letters. The text says:

LIVED HERE / COUNTRY COUNCIL / HERMANN LEVINGER / born 1865 / TOT / 8 December 1944 - LIVED HERE / BARBARA LEVINGER / BARBARA LEE / born 1904 / TOT / 10 December 1944

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  Stumbling block for Hermann Levinger

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  Stumbling block for his daughter Barbara Levinger

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  Stumbling block for Barbara and Hermann Levinger

literature

• Oswald Burger, Hansjörg Straub: The Levingers. A family in Überlingen. Edition Isele, Eggingen 2002, ISBN 3-86142-117-8
• E. Kuhn: In memory of District Administrator and District Administrator Hermann Levinger 1865-1944 . In: platform. Journal of the Association for Pfahlbau- und Heimatkunde eV Issue 9/10, 2000/01, pp. 127–129.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Admonishing stumbling blocks . In: Südkurier from April 6, 2005
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Hanspeter Walter: Against forgetting . In: Südkurier from September 9, 2005
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Roland Burger: Stumbling blocks approved . In: Südkurier of March 3, 2005
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Tobias Engelsing : Traces of an extinguished existence . In: Südkurier of April 8, 2003
5. ↑ ^{a b} Sylvia Floetemeyer: Tragic Hero with fire-red hair . In: Südkurier of September 17, 2002
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} Levinger family . In: Südkurier of November 18, 2008
7. ↑ ^{a b} The Levingers return to Überlingen . In: Südkurier of September 10, 2002
8. ↑ ^{a b} Hanspeter Walter: Stumbling blocks only symbolically relocated . In: Südkurier of April 11, 2005
9. ↑ Birgit Mehl: Victims received a face . In: Wochenblatt from May 19, 2005
10. ↑ Roland Burger: Stones of admonishing contention . In: Südkurier from March 1, 2005
11. ↑ ^{a b c} Oswald Burger cleans stumbling blocks in Überlingen during the day of action. Memory of the district administrator and his daughter. Polishing against oblivion. In: Südkurier , November 18, 2008.