Josef Zürndorfer

Josef Zürndorfer (* 29. May 1888 in Rexingen ; † 19th September 1915 in Berlin ) was a German fighter pilot in the First World War .

Life

He was the eighth and youngest child of the textile merchant Max W. Zürndorfer from Rexingen and the Ida geb. Hilb from Haigerloch and grew up in the Swabian town of Rexingen in the local Jewish community . He took part in the First World War as a member of the air force within the air force of the German Empire .

In September 1914, Zürndorfer was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class, “because of special bravery in the face of the enemy” . Ten days before the award, he had been promoted to lieutenant in the reserve in the 154th Infantry Regiment. His machine crashed during a training flight in Berlin-Johannisthal near the then motorized airfield Johannisthal-Adlershof without enemy influence.

In his will, Zürndorfer said:
“As a German, I went into the field to protect my fatherland. But also as a Jew, in order to fight for the full equality of my fellow believers. "

funeral

Entrance to the Jewish cemetery in Rexingen (2019)

Another 14 Jewish soldiers from Rexingen were killed in the First World War . Their names can be found on a war memorial in the council chamber of the town hall there. Zürndorfer was buried in the first row of the Rexingen Jewish cemetery . His family later erected an honorary grave next to the war memorial, which is adorned with a relief portrait of Zürndorfer created by the Düsseldorf sculptor Leopold Fleischhacker .

literature

• Franz Quarthal (Ed.): Between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alb. The land on the upper Neckar. Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1984, ISBN 3-7995-4034-2 . (= Publication by the Alemannic Institute Freiburg , Volume 52.)
• Stadtarchiv Horb (ed.): Jewish cemeteries of the city of Horb, Volume 1. Theiss, Stuttgart 1997, pp. 100-102 and p. 346, grave documentation, grave no. 799. (not evaluated)
• Reichsbundischer Frontsoldaten (Ed.): The Jewish fallen soldiers of the German Army, the German Navy and the German Schutztruppen 1914-1918. A memorial book. Berlin 1932, pp. 115 and 321. (not evaluated)

Web links

• Literature by and about Josef Zürndorfer in the catalog of the German National Library