Max Sternberg

Max Sternberg (born July 24, 1856 in Meppen ; died August 15, 1930 in Emden ) was a general practitioner and politician. He was one of the founders of the Association of German Soil Reformers led by Adolf Damaschke and was a political companion of Friedrich Naumann . In the early 1920s he joined Silvio Gesell's free trade movement , for which he was politically and literary committed until the end of his life.

Life

Max Sternberg came from a Jewish family. After obtaining his university entrance qualification, he studied medicine at the University of Göttingen , then went to the University of Würzburg for a few semesters and finally returned to Göttingen, where he was awarded a Dr. med. to do a PhD. The subject of his dissertation, which was printed and published in Meppen, was: On the effects of inhalations of oil. Terebinth. and Ol. Eucalypt. on kidney and urine .

Sternberg opened his first practice in Oldersum , East Frisia , moved to Hanover in 1887 and finally settled in Emden in 1890, where he practiced as a poor doctor and family doctor . During the First World War he was a medical officer. Before that, after twenty years of medical activity, he had received the title of medical councilor , which was customary at the time . In addition to Sternberg, eleven so-called "Christian" doctors and another Jewish doctor, Dr. Goldschmidt by name. After 1919, Dr. Julian Kretschmer added a third Jewish doctor.

In addition to his work as a doctor, Max Sternberg was primarily involved in politics. In the years after 1880 he was a member of the liberal German Progressive Party (DFP, progress ) founded in 1861 . She fought under Eugen Richter in particular against Otto von Bismarck's economic and social policy . After the split in the DFP in 1893, Sternberg joined the Liberal Association , but left it very quickly because of its Manchester liberalism and turned to the land reform movement. He studied the works of Henry George and Michael Flürscheim and became one of the founders of the Federal Land Reform Association . The Bund Deutscher Bodenreformer (BDB), led by Adolf Damaschke , emerged from this organization in 1896 , and Max Sternberg was also instrumental in its founding.

Sternberg was on friendly terms with both Damaschke and Friedrich Naumann . The latter had founded the political party National Socialist Association (NSV) in 1896 and participated unsuccessfully in the Reichstag elections in 1898 and 1903. In the few years that the NSV was active, Sternberg initiated a National Socialist local group in Emden. After the two failures, Naumann dissolved the NSV and transferred its members (including Sternberg) to the aforementioned Liberal Association . A few years later this merged with the German People's Party to form the Progressive People's Party . Sternberg had actively participated in this party merger. Naumann and Sternberg stayed during these years - despite some changes in the program - members of this party in order to “sharpen their social conscience”. The financial expert and land reformer Ludwig Eschwege influenced his economic thinking during these years.

Historical FFF logo of the free economy movement

From 1922, Max Sternberg dealt with Silvio Gesell's free economics and was soon one of its representatives. After the unsuccessful attempt to integrate the monetary reform demanded by Gesell into the program of the Bund Deutscher Bodenreformer and into the party program of the DDP, Sternberg withdrew from both organizations and from then on devoted himself to the establishment and expansion of a free trade association FFF . The three FFF, which were also used as an abbreviation for a free economic party, stood for free money , free land , fixed currency . As early as 1924 he published the text Why and how for free economy in Emden Anton-Gerhard-Verlag ? In the same year he ran for the FFF party and was elected on May 4th with 601 votes (5.2%) in the Citizens' Board. There he belonged to the opposition with four representatives of the Communist Party , while the majority faction of the civil association formed a government coalition together with the five SPD members . Sternberg - according to Marianne and Reinhard Claudi - "saw almost every question in the city parliament from the point of view of the economic theory he advocated, which above all demands the abolition of interest." His constantly repeated warning was "There is a crackling in the beams!" .

Sternberg's commitment to the spread of the free economic teachings of Silvio Gesell remained in the memory of many people from Emder. Uri Hartogsohn, for example, remembered him in an interview conducted by Marianne and Reinhard Claudi: “Dr. Sternberg was our family doctor. He rode around town on a three-wheeled bicycle. His practice was on Grosse Brückstrasse. He founded a party in Emden. It was called FFF. That meant: free money, free economy, free land. After all, he once had around 1,000 voters. "Julian Kretschmer, Sternberg's already mentioned Jewish colleague, wrote in 1931:" The FFF movement in Emden actually succeeded in gaining a seat for Sternberg in the city parliament, while in Germany it was otherwise insignificant A splinter party remained. As far as I could judge the mentality of the population, the success in Emden was less due to the program than to the person of Sternberg, whom the poor population valued as the fearless champion of the rights of the dispossessed. [...] How great his popularity was despite his Jewishness was shown at his funeral. Hundreds followed his coffin, and the streets through which the funeral procession passed were lined with a dense crowd that I had seldom seen in Emden before. "

Max Sternberg was one of the co-founders of the Emden local association of the non-partisan alliance Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold . In addition to his political commitment, Max Sternberg was also active in the Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith and from 1924 headed its local Emder group. Max Sternberg was also active as a “lecturing member” in the Natural Research Society in Emden . The topics of his lectures were in the field of medicine and health care.

Sternberg died at the age of 75. His grave is in the Jewish cemetery on Emder Bollwerkstrasse . His wife Minna Levi is also buried there. She was born on July 4, 1864 as the eldest child of the married couple Joseph and Hanna Levi in ​​Eschwege and died on April 30, 1924 in Emden. The inscriptions on the two gravestones indicate that children emerged from the marriage of Max and Minna Sternberg. No sources have yet been found for numbers and names.

Publications (selection)

• On the effects of inhalations of oil. Terebinth. and Ol. Eucalypt. on kidney and urine (dissertation), Meppen 1880.
• Why and how to the free economy? (Publisher by Anton Gerhard), Emden 1924.
• Discovery journeys of a land politician , published posthumously in: Volume 36 of the scientific series of the Freiwirtschaftliche Zeitung , Erfurt 1933.
• Socialism of the Mosaic Legislation . In: weekly magazine CV-Zeitung. Organ of the Central Association of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith . III. Volume, No. 3. Berlin, January 17, 1924. pp. 461–467 (posthumously published in 1964 in Mülheim as a brochure again by Friedhelm Spieker)

Literature (selection)

• Werner Onken : Great personalities of the free economy movement: Dr. med Max Sternberg . In: Monthly magazine The Third Way , December 1988, p. 2.
• Detlef Garz, Gesine Janssen: About the lack of character of the German people. To the autobiographical notes of the Jewish doctor and emigrant Dr. Julian Kretschmer from Emden , Volume 18 of the Oldenburg Contributions to Jewish Studies ( series of publications of the Jewish Studies course in Fac. IV of the Carl von Ossietzky University ). BIS-Verlag Oldenburg 2006. ISBN 978-3-8142-2041-3 . P. 99, note 7; P. 134 (notes by Dr. Julian Kretschmer)

Web links

• Tristan Abromeit: The small free-economic library . A short biography of Sternberg (Werner Onken) and an online version of Sternberg's text Why and How on Free Economy? (First published in 1924)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The data and facts in this section are - unless otherwise noted - taken from the following article: Werner Onken, Große Personalitäten der Freiwirtschaftsbewegung. - Dr. med Max Sternberg . In: Monthly magazine The Third Way , December 1988, p. 2
2. ↑ Entry on Worldcat ; accessed on April 23, 2016
3. ^ Richard Gescheidlen (ed.): Breslauer Ärztliche Zeitschrift . 9th year (1887). Issue 10. p. 118 (personal details)
4. ↑ Detlef Garz, Gesine Janssen: About the lack of character of the German people. To the autobiographical notes of the Jewish doctor and emigrant Dr. Julian Kretschmer from Emden , Volume 18 of the Oldenburg Contributions to Jewish Studies ( series of publications of the Jewish Studies course in Fac. IV of the Carl von Ossietzky University ). BIS-Verlag Oldenburg 2006. ISBN 978-3-8142-2041-3 . P. 99, note 7
5. ↑ Detlef Garz, Gesine Janssen: About the lack of character of the German people. To the autobiographical notes of the Jewish doctor and emigrant Dr. Julian Kretschmer from Emden , Volume 18 of the Oldenburg Contributions to Jewish Studies . BIS-Verlag Oldenburg 2006. p. 99
6. ↑ Michael Flürscheim was a brother-in-law of Max Sternberg; Werner Onken: Great personalities in the free economy movement. - Dr. med Max Sternberg . In: Monthly magazine The Third Way , December 1988, p. 2
7. ↑ In the Reichstag elections in 1898, the NSV did not win a seat in the German Reichstag, in 1903 with outside help.
8. ↑ From 1918 the Progressive People's Party was renamed the German Democratic Party (DDP).
9. ↑ Martin Keßler: The Karlstadt image in research . Volume 174 in the series Contributions to Historical Theology . Tübingen 2014. ISBN 978-3-16-153175-0 . P. 167; Note 87
10. ↑ Quoted from Werner Onken, Große Personalitäten der Freiwirtschaftsbewegung. - Dr. med Max Sternberg . In: Monthly magazine The Third Way , December 1988, p. 2
11. ↑ In the literature often, but incorrectly, reproduced with free money, free land, free economy ; see the FFF logo opposite.
12. ↑ It is with Tristan Abromeit: The small free-economic library put online as a PDF file.
13. ↑ Marianne Claudi, Reinhard Claudi: Golden times and other times. Emden - city in East Frisia . Attachment volume Zeittafel, texts, documents, maps , Gerhard-Verlag Emden o. J. [1982], p. 33: Table of the elections for citizens in Emden 1919–1933 .
14. ↑ Marianne Claudi, Reinhard Claudi: Golden times and other times. Emden - city in East Frisia . Gerhard-Verlag Emden, 1982. ISBN 3-88656-003-1 . P. 245.
15. ↑ Born on January 27, 1910 in Emden as Philipp Hartogsohn ; Emigrated to Palestine in February 1935 .
16. ↑ The interview took place on September 10, 1985 in Norden .
17. ↑ Marianne Claudi, Reinhard Claudi: We have lost. Life stories of Emden Jews. With a story of the Jewish community in Emden by Wolf Valk. Epilogue: Jan Lokers (Ed. Volkshochschule Emden, Ostfriesische Landschaft ). Verlag Ostfriesische Landschaft Aurich, 1988. ISBN 3-925365-31-1 . Interview 6.09 (Uri Hartogsohn); the “1000 voters” mentioned by Hartogsohn from memory can possibly be explained as follows: On May 4, 1924, both the elections for the city council and the Reichstag took place. If you add up the FFF votes from both elections, you get over 1000 votes for Sternberg's party.
18. ↑ Quoted from Detlef Garz, Gesine Janssen: About the lack of character of the German people. To the autobiographical notes of the Jewish doctor and emigrant Dr. Julian Kretschmer from Emden , Volume 18 of the Oldenburg Contributions to Jewish Studies . BIS-Verlag Oldenburg 2006. p. 134.
19. ^ Dietmar von Reeken : Ostfriesland between Weimar and Bonn. A case study on the problem of historical continuity using the example of the cities of Aurich and Emden . Volume 7 of the sources and studies on the history of Lower Saxony after 1945 . Verlag August Lax, Hildesheim 1991, ISBN 3-7848-3057-9 . P. 31.
20. ^ Allemannia Judaica: History of the Jewish community in Emden ; accessed on February 8, 2016.
21. ↑ See for example the annual report of the Natural Research Society in Emden from 1889 ( Memento of the original from February 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; accessed on February 8, 2016. 
22. ^ Gravestones Ostfriesland.de: Gravestone Max Sternberg ; accessed on February 8, 2016.
23. ↑ Gesine Janssen: ... a shining example of human love: the Israelite community in Emden from its beginnings to the Holocaust , published as Volume II of the series of publications by the Emden City Archives . Emden 2010. ISBN 9783000302930 . P. 200.
24. ↑ Grabsteine.de: Minna Sternberg-Levy ; accessed on February 8, 2016.
25. ↑ Heilbrun ancestors: Hannchen / Hanna Heilbrun Levisohn ; Accessed July 30, 2016