Max dearest
Max Liebster (born February 15, 1915 in Reichenbach (Lautertal) , † May 28, 2008 in Aix-les-Bains / France ) was a German- Jewish merchant , prisoner in five concentration camps and later the founder of a global Holocaust Remembrance Foundation .
Life
Max Liebster was the son of a Jewish cobbler and his wife. He grew up in simple circumstances. At school he was the only Jew in his class. After the transfer of power to the NSDAP , he and his relatives also had to accept verbal and physical attacks on people and lives. After finishing school he was given to relatives of his mother named Oppenheimer in Viernheim , who ran a business there. In 1939 he wanted to go into hiding with friends in Pforzheim for fear of persecution . But here he was arrested by the Gestapo and locked in the city prison. After four months he was deported to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp . There he met his father again, who died very weak in his arms. The son brought the dead father to the crematorium himself . One day he was sent to Neuengamme concentration camp , where he was used to build canals. Two years later he was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp , where he had to do forced labor in Camp III Monowitz to build IG Farben . Here he also met a humane SS man who, according to his own statement, saved his life. With the advance of the Red Army Auschwitz was evacuated and Liebster was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp . Here he experienced the liberation in 1945.
Inspired by his positive experiences with Jehovah's Witnesses in the camps, he joined the Jehovah's Witnesses community in 1947 and was baptized. In 1956 he married Simone Arnold in Paris . He later emigrated to the USA .
In 2002, Max Liebster and his wife Simone Arnold founded the Arnold Liebster Foundation “to give future generations the opportunity to learn from history”, as stated in the foundation's charter.
publication
- Ray of Hope in the Nazi Tower: Story of a Holocaust Survivor (German) Paperback, 2003
- Free! We want to be grateful for that. Max Liebster, in: The Watchtower , January 1, 1979.
memory
- In 2004, Max Liebster was made an honorary citizen of his hometown Reichenbach.
- On June 21, 2013, a monument for Max Liebster was inaugurated in Reichenbach, a sculpture made of granite and bronze.
Individual evidence
- ^ Foundation organization. Arnold Liebster Foundation, accessed on June 9, 2020 .
- ↑ Article and photos of the newspaper Bergsträßer Anzeiger from November 20, 2004. In: | JWhistory.net
- ↑ Jutta Haas: Monument for Max Liebster inaugurated - Bergstrasse Anzeiger. Mannheimer Morgen, June 24, 2013, accessed on June 9, 2020 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Dearest, Max |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German businessman and founder of a Holocaust foundation |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 15, 1915 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Reichenbach (Lautertal) |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 28, 2008 |
| Place of death | Aix-les-Bains , France |