Max Kohl

Max Kohl (* 1881 in Burscheid ; † 1976 in Stuttgart ) was a German industrialist and Righteous Among the Nations .

Live and act

Max Kohl came from a Thuringian family of tanners. Ancestors had worked in the trade since the middle of the 18th century. Max Kohl also embarked on a similar career. At the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 he won a gold medal for tanning techniques he developed. At the outbreak of the First World War , as a pacifist, he refused to serve with weapons. Alternatively, he took over medical services.

In 1921, Kohl founded his own tannery in Burscheid with "Kölner Feinleder GmbH". This later resulted in "Colonia-Feinleder GmbH". In the 1930s, Kohl had other tanneries in France, England, and Poland. When the Second World War broke out , he also owned a leather factory in Białystok, Poland . Because of his expertise, the National Socialists appointed Kohl as acting manager of a leather factory in Lemberg . The company mainly manufactured products for the Wehrmacht and the SS . Poles, most of whom were Jews, were conscripted as staff. These lived in the Lviv ghetto and had to work in nearby companies for a few months each. They were then transferred to the Belzec concentration camp .

Kohl was aware of the hopeless situation of his employees and of the situation in the Lemberg ghetto. In order to help the workers, he initially offered them additional income opportunities and food. As a result, he got into many conflicts with the police. When Kohl realized that the National Socialists were murdering the Jews, he hid Jews who were scheduled for removal in the basement of his house. This put his life in danger.

Kohl was still working as a consultant in Iran when he was seventy.

Honors

The Polish Jews rescued by Kohl reported on his deeds after the war in Israel. Eliashiv Ben-Horin presented Kohl with the Yad Vashem Medal and a Righteous Among the Nations certificate for his actions in 1972 . They also planted a carob tree in his honor and made a memorial plaque.

The city council of Burscheid decided in February 1982 to name Max-Kohl-Strasse after its former resident.

literature

• Wilhelm Farnung: A Righteous Among the Nations - Max Kohl (1881–1976) saved Polish Jews from the Holocaust . in: Rheinisch-Bergischer Calendar 1983 . 53rd year. Heider-Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach, pp. 134-136.