Justin Sonder

Justin Sonder (born October 18, 1925 in Chemnitz ; † November 3, 2020 there ) was a German survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp and a contemporary witness .

Life

Justin Sonder began an apprenticeship as a cook after graduating from school in 1941. In the same year he was obliged to do forced labor in an armaments factory. In the course of the National Socialist Holocaust , the police arrested him on February 27, 1943 because of his Jewish origin. Sonder was given the prisoner number 105027. He first came to the Hellerberg Jewish camp and was soon transferred to Auschwitz , where he was at the ramp for the Auschwitz III Monowitz concentration campwas selected. In total, he survived 17 selections in Auschwitz. Shortly before the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, he was sent on a death march to Gleiwitz on January 18, 1945, and finally deported on open coal wagons with another 7,000 prisoners , arriving at the Flossenbürg concentration camp on January 26, 1945 . From there on April 16, 1945, he was once again sent on a death march in the direction of Wetterfeld , and was finally freed by US soldiers on April 23, 1945. He was one of the few survivors of Auschwitz and the Flossenbürg death marches .

On June 19, 1945 Sonder returned to Chemnitz and was initially accommodated in the Hotel Hermann for six weeks. He embarked on a career in the criminal investigation department. As early as October 1945 he was a police officer on an examination and then became a sergeant in the 7th Chemnitz district (Augustusburger Straße / Gablenzer Platz). In 1947 he was hired as a detective in the criminal police, in 1952 head of a commissariat and finally from 1956 to 1985 head of the department for serious crimes.

Sonder joined the SPD in 1945 and became a member of the SED after it was forcibly merged with the KPD . He was involved in the association of those persecuted by the Nazi regime and was at times regional chairman in Saxony. In 1947 he also joined the FDJ . At the age of 90, he reported to schools about the persecution of the Jews during the Nazi era .

Sonder was a member of the 13th Federal Assembly as a member of the 13th Federal Assembly nominated by the party Die Linke in Sachsen . In 2013 Margitta Zellmer wrote a biography of Sonder with the title “Chemnitz - Auschwitz and back. From the life of Justin Sonder ”. The cabaret artist Uwe Steimle had Sonder as a guest for his show Steimles Welt .

In February 2016, Sonder traveled to Detmold at the age of 90 to testify as a witness in the trial against the 94-year-old former SS Sergeant Reinhold Hanning , who worked as a security guard in Auschwitz.

Justin Sonder died in early November 2020, a few days after his 95th birthday, in a care facility in Chemnitz.

Honors

• 2008: Honorary Prize of the Chemnitz Peace Prize
• 2015: Medal of Honor of the International Auschwitz Committee
• 2017: Honorary Citizenship of Chemnitz

Biographies

• Margitta Zellmer : Chemnitz - Auschwitz and back: from the life of Justin Sonder. Klinke eV Chemnitz, Chemnitz 2013, DNB 1128077868 .
• Klaus Müller, Justin Sonder: 105027 Monowitz - I want to live! From Chemnitz to Auschwitz - back via Bavaria. Nora Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86-557321-6 .

literature

• Enrico Hilbert: His powers of observation and curiosity saved him. Auschwitz survivor Justin Sonder becomes an honorary citizen of Chemnitz today. In: Neues Deutschland , April 21, 2017, p. 16.
• Marianne Schultz: He cried only once. In: Freie Presse , January 27, 2014, p. 11.

Web links

• Literature by and about Justin Sonder in the catalog of the German National Library
• Justin Sonder: I'm accusing: the slap. In: neue-deutschland.de . 23 December 2019 . 
• Klaus Hillenbrand : Nazi Trial in Detmold: The Witness from Auschwitz. In: taz.de . February 17, 2016, accessed November 4, 2020 . 
• Klaus Müller: Auschwitz survived: The 82-year-old Justin Sonder answers questions from young people. In: New Germany . January 24, 2009 . 
• Thomas Muggenthaler , Christian pieces: The death marches from Flossenbürg. (Video; 17:50 minutes) In: Controversy - The Political Magazine . April 22, 2015 . 
• Saxon State Center for Political Education (Ed.): Justin Sonder - Memories of Chemnitz and the Auschwitz concentration camp. (YouTube video; 19:14 minutes) January 23, 2015 . 
• Olaf Glöckner : Portrait of the week: “I remember exactly”. Justin Sonder survived Auschwitz and appears in Detmold as a joint plaintiff. In: Jüdische Allgemeine . June 14, 2016 . 
• Mourning for Justin Sonder: The Shoah survivor and committed contemporary witness died at the age of 95. In: Jüdische Allgemeine. 4th November 2020. 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Klaus Hillenbrand : Auschwitz Trial in Detmold: No “good SS men” experienced. In: taz.de . February 12, 2016, accessed November 4, 2020 . 
2. ^ ^{A b} Justin Sonder: My illegal work in the Auschwitz concentration camp. In: Chemnitz history building site. Latch e. V. Chemnitz, accessed on November 3, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Hans Holzhaider : Auschwitz - “You think all the time: Will I manage to survive again?” In: sueddeutsche.de . February 10, 2016, accessed November 4, 2020 . 
4. ↑ Honorary citizen and survivor of Auschwitz concentration camp Justin Sonder is dead. In: Free Press. November 3, 2020, accessed on November 4, 2020 (teaser with information legible). 
5. ↑ Honorary citizenship for Justin Sonder. Press release 34. In: chemnitz.de. January 25, 2017, archived from the original on January 26, 2017 ; accessed on November 4, 2020 . 
6. ↑ Uwe Rechtenbach: Auschwitz Committee awards medal of honor to Chemnitz. In: Free Press. November 19, 2015, p. 11 , archived from the original on November 20, 2015 ; accessed on November 4, 2020 . 
7. ↑ Chemnitz makes Auschwitz survivor Justin Sonder an honorary citizen. In: Free Press. January 25, 2017, archived from the original on January 25, 2017 ; accessed on November 4, 2020 .