Leo Steinweg

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Leo Steinweg (born June 11, 1906 in Münster ; † 1945 in Flossenbürg concentration camp ) was a German motorcycle racer .

family

Leo Steinweg was born as the son of the raw materials trader Salomon Steinweg (1863–1932) and his wife Caroline geb. Nathan (1865–1934) born. He had seven older siblings: Siegfried (1889–1954), Samuel (1892–1914), Paul (1894–1965), Else married. Seelig (1897–1965), Meta married. Seelig (1899–1943), Erna married. Hinderkinck (1901–1944) and Anna married. Kahn (born 1903).

life and career

Even as a boy, Leo Steinweg showed great interest in automobiles and motorcycles , which were technically still in their infancy at the time. Purposefully, he took up  a four-year mechanic apprenticeship in Güstrow - his older brother Siegfried lived there . After graduating, he returned to his parents in Münster in Westphalia.

With the support of the local DKW agency, Steinweg, then 18 years old, got in touch with the Zschopau DKW works in 1924 and received a contract as a works driver for the classes up to 175 and 250 cm³. In the next few years he went to the race tracks , but mainly on the cement railways in Germany. In 1929 he was successful in both classes at the track races in Dresden - Reick , the 175 in Duisburg - Hamborn and Düsseldorf and in the 250 class in Katowice (now Katowice). In the years that followed, he often took top positions. Steinweg started in Gelsenkirchen , Hanover , Münster, Stettin (today Szczecin) and in Elberfeld (today Wuppertal-Elberfeld). In 1929 he was able to use his prize money to set up a motorcycle and bicycle shop with an attached workshop in his hometown .

After Adolf Hitler took power in Germany on January 30, 1933, Leo Steinweg's business activities were massively hindered due to his Jewish descent . SA men had blocked customers from entering his shop. From 1933 onwards, German racing drivers of the Jewish faith were no longer given driver licenses, which at the end of this year marked the end of his career.

In 1933 he married Emma "Emmy" Bogatzki in Münster , who came from Ludwigsdorf (today Charbielin) in Upper Silesia. The church wedding took place in 1935 after Leo converted to the Catholic faith.

In August 1938 a friend who was meanwhile a member of the SS urgently advised him to leave. Leo Steinweg then fled to Enschede in September 1938 . Before that, he had brought two boxes with silver cups, silver bowls and wreath bows from his many racing successes to safety with his in-laws. His wife Emmy followed him penniless into exile in the Netherlands. The couple lived in hiding on the upper floor of a house in Utrecht . The Dutch police had previously confiscated their passports. Thanks to the solidarity of Dutch friends and a Catholic underground aid organization, they were able to survive in spite of the deteriorating conditions. The departure to Brazil , originally planned for June 1940 , was prevented by the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940. The manufacture of toys at home brought the two of them a little extra income. In August 1942, Leo was denounced by a neighbor, was arrested by the German occupation authorities and the Westerbork transit camp in the Auschwitz concentration camp brought. There he repaired Wehrmacht motorbikes and cars , and later - in the Gleiwitz / Gliwice I subcamp - also Reichsbahn locomotives. The soldier guarding him made friends with Leo, accepted letters and parcels for Leo under his own name and, at risk of death, made his own address available for letters. Emmy received these programs through her brother-in-law in Germany.

In connection with the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Leo and other prisoners were sent to the Flossenbürg concentration camp on the Czech border in January 1945, where he arrived on February 14th. On February 20, he was transferred from there to the newly built subcamp Obertraubling near Regensburg, where he died under unknown circumstances. His wife Emmy did not find out about his murder until 1948, and in 1950 Leo was declared dead by the Münster District Court.

At the age of 96, Emmy Herzog-Steinweg wrote down her memories of Leo Steinweg in her book Life with Leo . She died in 2009 at the age of 106.

exhibition

References

literature

  • Herzog, Emmy: Living with Leo . A fate under National Socialism. 1st edition. Aschendorff, Münster 2000, ISBN 3-402-05369-1 .
  • Schwietzer, Andy: winning series . Four decades of DKW motorcycle racing. 1st edition. tape 2 . Bodensteiner Verlag, Wallmoden 2012, ISBN 978-3-9806631-8-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schwietzer (2012), pp. 467–468
personal data
SURNAME Steinweg, Leo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH June 11, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Muenster
DATE OF DEATH 1945
Place of death Flossenbürg concentration camp