Michel Oppenheim

Michel Oppenheim (born May 19, 1885 in Mainz , † May 31, 1963 in Garmisch ) was a German civil servant and cultural department head in Mainz.

Life

Michael Stefan Oppenheim was born in May 1885 as the son of Judicial Councilor Ludwig Oppenheim (1850-1916) and his wife Elise Hopf (1859-1922) in Mainz. The father came from a Jewish family in Mainz. The mother was Catholic and came from Nuremberg. The parents lived on Kaiserstrasse in Mainz and had a villa in Gonsenheim . His father was a member of the Mainz Liedertafel for 44 years and its vice-president for 25 years.

Michel Oppenheim attended the humanistic grammar school (today: Rabanus-Maurus-Gymnasium ) and graduated from high school in 1904. Like his father, he studied law in Munich , Berlin and Giessen . In the meantime he dealt with art-historical topics from time to time. He began his legal clerkship in Mainz in 1908. From 1912 to 1914 he worked at the Triumph works in Nuremberg and then returned to Mainz as an assessor. After passing the exam to become an administrative lawyer , he became a soldier in the First World War on August 3, 1914 and did not return until December 1, 1918. He then found a job at the Mainz district office of the Rheinhessen provincial office and was appointed to the government council on August 1, 1922. In this function he was responsible for occupation issues, since Mainz was occupied by France until 1930. At times he was also expelled from the French.

After the seizure of power of the Nazis , he was referring to the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service forced to retire for "racial reasons" on April 1, 1934th In March 1941 Oppenheim was appointed liaison man between the Gestapo and the Reich Association of Jews in Germany, Mainz administrative office. Shortly before his departure, Rabbi Sali Levi (1883–1941) asked Oppenheim to take on this task. Here he had u. a. the task of compiling deportation lists. Michel Oppenheim recorded the increasing harassment of the National Socialists in Mainz and the deportations in detail in a secret diary that was only found after his death.

After the liquidation of the Jewish community, Oppenheim worked as a bookbinder's assistant. In the turmoil of the final phase of the Second World War, he and his wife were able to survive, as if by a miracle and with the support of friends. He was temporarily hidden by the mayor of Gonsenheim. The couple had sent their only son, Ludwig, to Switzerland in the mid-1930s. He returned to Mainz as an American soldier in March 1945.

After the Americans marched into Mainz in March 1945, Michel Oppenheim visited the American military government and supported the establishment of the new administration. On March 30, 1945, Lord Mayor Rudolph Walther appointed him as head of culture and councilor for the city of Mainz.

In this function Oppenheim made a significant contribution to the cultural reconstruction (including museums, theaters, concerts) in Mainz. He also emphatically advocated the reopening of the University of Mainz in 1945/46 . In October 1945 he was involved in the re-establishment of the Jewish community in Mainz. On June 1, 1951, Oppenheim retired.

He was one of the founders of the Association of Friends of the University of Mainz .

Michel Oppenheim died a few days after his 78th birthday at his holiday resort Garmisch. He was married to Erna von Zakrzewski (1893-1982), who came from a Catholic family, since 1921. The only child out of the marriage was their son Ludwig (born 1922).

Honors

• Honorary Citizen of the University of Mainz (1951)
• Honorary doctorate from the University of Mainz (1955)
• Federal Cross of Merit, 1st Class (October 18, 1956)

literature

• Lydia Werth: Michel Oppenheim (1885–1963) , in: It'll be all right again soon ...? Mainz 1945–1962 , Mainz 2015, pp. 109–116.
• The New Jewish Cemetery in Mainz , Mainz 2013, pp. 215–221.
• Oppenheim, Micheal , in: Joseph Walk (Ed.): Short biographies on the history of the Jews 1918–1945 . Munich: Saur, 1988, ISBN 3-598-10477-4 , p. 288

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Office of the Federal President