Horst Egon Berkowitz

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Horst Egon Berkowitz (born January 16, 1898 in Königsberg ; † February 13, 1983 in Hanover ) was a German lawyer and patron . The Holocaust survivor was committed to rebuilding the judiciary in Germany as early as April 1945 .

Life

family

Horst Egon Berkowitz was the son of the businessman David Berkowitz and his wife Ernestine from a Jewish family, as well as the brother of Harald and Gerhard Berkowitz . and grew up in Hanover.

Career

Machine-written postcard from mother Ester 1943 from Theresienstadt to Horst Berkowitz at Erwinstrasse 3 in Hanover; with hand stamp "Reply only via the Reich Association of Jews in Germany Berlin-Charlottenburg 2, Kantstr. 158 "
Gravestones for David (May 17, 1855– January 14, 1941) and Horst Berkowitz at the Bothfeld Jewish Cemetery in Hanover
Stumbling block at residence at Erwinstraße 3 in Hanover

Like his brother Harald, Horst Berkowitz attended the Leibniz School and passed his secondary school diploma there in 1914 . At the age of sixteen he volunteered for the First World War . There he was seriously wounded on November 16, 1915 near Chemin des Dames, he lost an eye, parts of his hearing and suffered a walking disability. For this he was awarded the Golden Wound Badge .

After staying in a hospital , Berkowitz began his law studies at the University of Göttingen in June 1916 and received his doctorate with the dissertation A contribution to the distribution of interests, conflicts of interest and the reconciliation of interests in life insurance there in 1919. In March 1922, Berkowitz passed the assessor exam and accepted the On April 26, 1922, at the age of 24, he settled as a lawyer and junior partner in a three-party law firm in Hanover, and from 1928 also assumed the function of a notary .

After the seizure of power in 1933 Berkowitz was initially spared - due to his service in the First World War - from the professional ban for Jewish lawyers, but in 1935 the National Socialists withdrew his notary's office. His two partners separated from him in June 1933. The day after the so-called “Reichskristallnacht” he was finally arrested on November 10, 1938 and taken to the Buchenwald concentration camp . Since he was the holder of the Golden Wound Badge, he was allowed to leave Buchenwald after a short time. There he initially worked as a so-called “ consultant ”, as a legal representative in Jewish affairs. In December 1940, despite his serious injuries, he was obliged to work and had to report to the Ahlem concentration camp every day .

Meanwhile Berkowitz were 'brother Gerhard and his mother Ernestine in the years 1941-42 deported ., The mother died in 1943 in the Theresienstadt ghetto to famine fever .

Immediately after the liberation from National Socialism - in Hanover - Berkowitz campaigned for a new start in the judiciary as early as April 1945 and was re-approved as a lawyer and notary by the British military government in the same month. During the reconstruction years he also served on the city's reconstruction committee . Berkowitz was one of the founding members of the re-established Hanover Lawyers' Association, on whose board he sat until 1973.

Berkowitz donated in 1978

Horst Egon Berkowitz was buried in the Bothfeld Jewish cemetery .

Honors

literature

Web links

Commons : Horst Egon Berkowitz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Peter Schulze: BERKOWITZ , (2) ... (see literature)
  2. ↑ a b c d Peter Schulze: Berkowitz, (1) Harald. In: Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon , p. 52
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Peter Schulze: Berkowitz, (2), Horst Egon (see literature)
  4. ↑ Ulrich Beer, Horst Berkowitz. Essen 1979, page 48
personal data
SURNAME Berkowitz, Horst Egon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berkowitz, Horst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and patron
DATE OF BIRTH January 16, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Koenigsberg
DATE OF DEATH February 13, 1983
Place of death Hanover