Moritz Mayer (lawyer)

Moritz Mayer (born February 22, 1864 in Laumersheim ; † September 3, 1942 in Theresienstadt concentration camp ) was a judicial advisor and lawyer in the city of Frankenthal .

Life

He came as the son of the merchant of Jonathan (Jonas) Mayer (1828–1890) and his wife Barbara geb. Mayer (1820–1901) to the world. Moritz Mayer had three siblings.

Attending school and studying

Moritz Mayer attended elementary school in Laumersheim from 1870 to 1873, then, because the family had moved to the city of Frankenthal, attended elementary school there for one year, and then attended Latin school from 1879 to July 1883. Afterwards he was a student at the grammar school in Speyer and passed the Abitur there. From the winter semester 1883/84 up to and including the summer semester 1887 he studied law at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich , where he also attended philosophical, literary and cultural-historical lectures. In the last 4 semesters he was assistant to the then famous full professor of criminal law, international law and general constitutional law, Franz von Holtzendorff , which probably caused him not to continue his studies at another university. After the university examination he became a trainee lawyer in Frankenthal and passed the state examination in December 1890, which he passed with the grade "very good". In August 1891 he was admitted to the Frankenthal District and Regional Court as a lawyer, who received his doctorate on July 24, 1891 from the Law Faculty of the Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen. He opened his office on August 18, 1891 in Frankenthal.

Lectures

Moritz Mayer married Paula Aischmann on August 1, 1895 in Cologne, who was born there on December 5, 1875 and whose sister was married to Moritz Mayer's brother Jakob. Moritz Mayer was a versatile speaker and was in great demand with the clubs and associations in Frankenthal. From October 4, 1891, he held several lectures at the Technical Association on the "workers 'legislation of the German Empire" and on January 30, 1895 at the Commercial Association one on Ferdinand Lassalle, who received a lecture at the general assembly of the house owners' association on February 1 1897 on the "lease according to Palatinate law and according to the civil code for the German Empire" followed. He stated that there would be a major change in the law in the German Empire at the beginning of 1900 and that it was necessary to prepare for it now. When the Free Association for People's Lectures held lectures in Frankenthal in the gymnasium of the Turnergesellschaft, which was located in the Foltzring, to which the members of the workers' training association had free access, he gave the lecture on March 21, 1901 on “the spirit of the civil code. "

Professional and voluntary work

When the general assembly of the joint local health insurance fund had to be supplemented, Moritz Mayer was elected by the employer on February 9, 1896. At the general assembly held on February 12, 1896, he was appointed to the committee (board of directors) and was elected chairman at the constituent meeting on February 14, 1896. Moritz Mayer remained in office until his resignation on July 15, 1918, when he moved from Frankenthal to Heidelberg.

In addition to his honorary position as chairman of the Frankenthal general health insurance fund , Moritz Mayer was also active in leading associations. At the general assembly of the Skating Club on February 12, 1895, he was elected to the committee (board of directors) and in the spring of 1897 the Beautification Association appointed him as an assessor in the board of directors, to which he belonged for years and at the general meeting on May 8, 1912 was re-elected. When the non-profit building association was founded on a cooperative basis in the local Brauhauskeller on October 17, 1898, Moritz Mayer was elected to the supervisory board and its 1st chairman. In the general assembly on May 7, 1902 he was re-elected. He was also a member of the building commission. When the youth welfare association for the districts of Grünstadt and Frankenthal was founded in the spring of 1904 (the district (later the district) Frankenthal was divided into the offices of Grünstadt and Frankenthal), he was elected to the association committee and in the general assembly of the day care center association on January 29, 1916 transferred to him the office of 1st chairman. The shareholders of the Hansa canning factory with limited liability in Grünstadt decided on April 11, 1917 to appoint him as deputy managing director.

This commitment, in addition to his work as a lawyer, could not remain hidden from Prince Regent Luitpold, so that on the occasion of his 90th birthday, Moritz Mayer was awarded the title of Counselor. When it was published in the spring of 1896 "which companies are connected to the telephone system", "Dr. Mayer, lawyer, Westliche Ringstrasse 67 ”included.

When it came time to donate amounts of money, Moritz Mayer was ready to do so too. He was one of the people who responded to a call by the committee to honor Neumayer on his 70th birthday and he transferred 300 marks for the construction of the Palatinate Warrior Home. In addition, he was the first in Frankenthal to give a large sum of money (500 marks) to the Ludendorff donation for war invalids. He signed the appeal for donations for the establishment of public health facilities in the Palatinate of July 8, 1897, as well as the one for a general child welfare day (sacrifice day) on Saturday, November 18, 1917. His wife, who died on October 29, 1933 in Heidelberg, received the May 1917 the King Ludwig Cross for voluntary nursing during the war.

Politically, Moritz Mayer belonged to the left-wing liberal Volksverein Frankenthal, then after its renaming to the Frankenthal Progressive People's Party, of which he became 2nd chairman in 1910. Constantly named as a candidate for the city council elections from 1899, he was elected to the city council on Monday, December 14, 1914, when there was a joint list of proposals from all parties, on which Moritz Mayer took 15th place. In the city council meetings, there was often an exchange of blows with the full-time mayor Dr. Ludwig Ehrenspeck, because Moritz Mayer persistently represented the interests of the persecuted and oppressed by calling for an expansion of public poor relief in Frankenthal, which also led to his constantly dissenting opinion from the majority in the liberal city council. But when Moritz Mayer resigned from the city council in July 1918 and he succeeded main teacher Johannes Kober, the parliamentary group took leave of him with a heavy heart and the best wishes of the local branch of the Progressive People's Party for his further well-being accompanied him.

His work as chairman of the board of the Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse Frankenthal was self-sacrificing. In the farewell ceremony it was expressed that he had led these 22 years in a disinterested way with the greatest conscientiousness and impartiality and that his departure was very much regretted. The improvements that were achieved for the insured during his tenure were extensive. In 1896 there were 1,451 treasury members, rising to 6,000 in 1914, but then decreased to 4,700 as a result of the First World War . In 1896, 3,593 marks were spent on medical treatment; in 1917 it was 41,500 marks. In 1896, 8,715 marks were paid in sick pay, in 1917 the total was 78,000 marks.

After the office of the health insurance company had moved several times, a house was purchased at Wilhelmstrasse 2 (today: Heinrich-Heine-Strasse) to accommodate them. But when this house became too small, Moritz Mayer suggested a new building to accommodate the health insurance company. The city council approved the assignment of a building site next to the kindergarten on Pilgerstrasse in its session on July 18, 1913. In November 1913 work began on the new building, which was ready for occupation in July 1914, a building with which Moritz Mayer set a monument and in which the general local health insurance office is still located today. For almost as long as he led the Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse Frankenthal, he was chairman of the Free Association of Palatinate Health Insurance Funds, which in 1918 comprised 24 Palatinate local health insurance funds with almost 100,000 members and was in charge of it even after he left Frankenthal. He helped found the Association for People's Health Resorts in the Palatinate, which was launched on February 1, 1897. The aim of this association was to set up lung sanatoriums and rest homes in order to combat consumption (tuberculosis), and Moritz Mayer was the secretary of the board until December 1918. Treasurer Semmelbeck described him as "one of the greatest benefactors of our city who, together with his wife, made large financial contributions to this association." He was a member of the editorial team of Professor Dr. Fritz Stier-Somlo, editor of the Central Gazette of the Reich Insurance Code, Verlag Dr. Eduard Schnapper, Frankfurt am Main. He gave a lecture at the Association Days of the Main Association of German Local Health Insurance Funds. For example, on October 11, 1915 in Frankfurt am Main about "Claims for compensation from the health insurance companies from the aftermath of the war and participation in the elimination of war damage, particularly in the fight against venereal diseases. He was a board member of the Main Association of German Local Health Insurance Funds based in Dresden." His name as steadfast , active promoter of all social endeavors, who are concerned with the expansion of cash benefits, the establishment and expansion of family support, the promotion of the maternity protection movement, the care for the employees and their surviving dependents, who cannot thank him enough, undying merits who saw the planned exercise of infant care as the basis for Germany's future prosperity, is not only mentioned with admiration within Frankenthal. In all German local health insurances - from the largest to the smallest - in all health insurance associations of the German Reich one names his name among the most famous social politicians. His advice is always heard by the insurance authorities up to the Reich Insurance Office and the Reich Office of the Interior. "

Relocation to Heidelberg, further professional activity and sentencing

Moritz Mayer sold his house on Westliche Ringstrasse 15 for 52,500 marks to the company Klein, Schanzlin & Becker AG and moved with his wife from Frankenthal to Heidelberg. Assuming that the savings would be sufficient for a peaceful retirement, he gave up his legal practice. In Heidelberg from 1918 to 1922 he was head of the rental agreement office without pay. Towards the end of the First World War and in the early years of the Weimar Republic there was a housing shortage in Germany and the rent settlement offices, which could be set up at the municipal level, had the main task of helping to set rents in order to avoid unacceptable rent increases. They could also declare dismissals ineffective.

The inflation of 1923 devoured the savings of Moritz and Paula Mayer, geb. Aischmann, whose marriage remained childless, so that in 1925 he resumed his legal practice in Ludwigshafen am Rhein and Frankenthal. He was admitted to the Frankenthal Regional Court until November 30, 1938. When the National Socialists came to power, the number of clients among the Jewish lawyers fell and ultimately stayed away, which led to them falling into financial and material hardship. This was also the case with Moritz Mayer. Therefore, he allowed himself to be seduced into a crime. On December 9, 1935, he had received a security deposit of over 9,000 RM for a client, which he paid into a special account. In the period from September 8, 1936 to September 16, 1937, he continued to withdraw smaller amounts. Moritz Mayer, who unreservedly admitted the act, stated that he acted out of necessity and paid mostly tax debts. The 1st criminal chamber of the Frankenthal regional court sentenced him on September 13, 1940, chaired by the regional court director Dr. Wernz, the associate judges LGRäte Semmler u. Zahn and the public prosecutor Hommrich for unfaithfulness in unity with embezzlement to a prison sentence of one year and a fine of three thousand Reichsmarks, alternatively 30 days in prison and to the costs of the proceedings. The three months' pre-trial detention was taken into account. In order to mitigate the sentence, it was taken into account that the convicted person had not been guilty of any penalties into old age. However, it was denied that he had acted in need.

Detention and deportation

Moritz Mayer was transferred from the Frankenthal regional court prison to the Frankfurt am Main-Preungesheim prison on November 20, 1940 . His cousin Rachel Gimbel, born in America and living in New York, was ready to take him in after his release from prison. On July 14, 1941, Moritz Mayer was released from prison by the Frankfurt am Main police. The further process is unknown. It can only be ascertained that on June 4, 1942, he came from the Jewish old people's home (NS collective camp) at Reuterweg 91 in Frankfurt am Main to the hospital of the Israelite community at Gagernstrasse 36, from where he was evacuated on August 18, 1942. He came with the first transport from Frankfurt am Main (Transport XII / 1 - 545) on August 19, 1942 to Theresienstadt, where he perished on September 3, 1942.

literature

• Paul Theobald: lawyer for the oppressed . In: Die Rheinpfalz - Frankenthaler Zeitung of January 27, 2014. Online copy at alemannia-judaica.de.
• Reinhard Weber: The Fate of Jewish Lawyers in Bavaria after 1933 . Published by the Bavarian State Ministry of Justice, the Bamberg, Munich and Nuremberg Bar Associations and the Zweibrücken Bar Association. Oldenbourg, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-486-58060-0 , p. 302.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Reinhard Weber: The fate of Jewish lawyers in Bavaria after 1933, 2006, p. 302.
2. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung, October 5, 1891.
3. ↑ Frankenthaler Zeitung of January 30, 1895.
4. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of February 2, 1897.
5. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of March 21, 1901.
6. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of February 10, 1896.
7. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of February 12 and 13, 1896.
8. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung, February 15, 1896.
9. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of February 13, 1895.
10. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of March 18, 1897.
11. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of May 9, 1912.
12. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of October 18, 1898.
13. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung, May 10, 1902, 1st sheet.
14. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of February 1, 1916
15. ↑ Frankenthaler Zeitung of May 18, 1917 and August 14, 1919.
16. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung, March 11, 1911.
17. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of March 26, 1896.
18. ↑ Frankenthaler Zeitung of January 30, 1917.
19. ↑ Frankenthaler Zeitung of June 27, 1918.
20. ↑ Frankenthaler Zeitung of July 8, 1897.
21. ↑ Frankenthaler Zeitung of November 18, 1917.
22. ^ Paul Theobald: Jewish fellow citizens in Frankenthal with Eppstein and Flomersheim from 1800 to 1940, copy: January 2014.
23. ↑ Frankenthaler Zeitung, May 10, 1917.
24. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of April 22, 1910.
25. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung, December 9th and 14th, 1914.
26. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of February 26, 1915 and April 15, 1916.
27. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of July 12th and 15th, 1918.
28. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of July 9, 1918.
29. ↑ Frankenthaler Zeitung of June 27 and 29, 1900 and April 29, 1902.
30. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of December 29, 1904 and March 31, 1905, 1st sheet.
31. ↑ Frankenthaler Zeitung of June 24, 1913.
32. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of July 19, 1913, 1st sheet.
33. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of October 8, 1913, 1st sheet.
34. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of July 6, 1914, 2nd sheet.
35. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of December 7, 1896, 1st sheet, December 13, 1913, 5th sheet and October 23, 1917.
36. ↑ Frankenthaler Zeitung of February 26, March 8 and April 6, 1897 and December 11, 1918
37. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of July 9, 1918
38. ↑ Frankenthaler Zeitung of December 27, 1911
39. ↑ Frankenthaler Zeitung of October 12, 1915
40. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of July 9, 1918
41. ^ Frankenthaler Zeitung of July 9, 1918
42. ↑ Frankenthaler Zeitung from June 15, 1918.
43. ↑ Reinhard Weber: The fate of Jewish lawyers in Bavaria after 1933, 2006, p. 302.
44. ↑ Christoph Sachße / Florian Tennstedt: History of poor welfare in Germany, volume 2, welfare and welfare care 1871-1929, pp. 139 and 140.
45. ↑ Reinhard Weber: The fate of the Jewish lawyers in Bavaria after 1933, 2006. P. 302.
46. ↑ Under the signature Dept. 409/4 No. 4638 the prisoner files of the Frankfurt-Preungesheim prison are transferred to the Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv in Wiesbaden. Moritz Mayer kept.
47. ^ Letter from the Institute for Urban History Frankfurt am Main dated December 12, 2008.
48. ↑ writing Pamatnik Terezin - MUZEUM GHETTA of 21 January of 2004.