Moritz Neumann

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Moritz Isidor Neumann (* 7. April 1948 in Fulda , † 23. June 2016 in Darmstadt ) was a German journalist , SPD - local politicians since 1994 and Chairman of the National Association of Jewish Communities in Hessen .

Education, work and family

Moritz Isidor Neumann started his journalistic work after finishing school with a traineeship at the Fuldaer Volkszeitung . This was followed by editorial and correspondent activities for television and radio, but also in various Hessian publishing houses, such as the Offenbach Post , the Frankfurter Rundschau , the Jüdischen Allgemeine , the Darmstädter Tagblatt and the Darmstädter Echo .

His father, Hans Neumann, a social democrat from Breslau, had fled from the threat of arrest in the 1930s and had participated on the republican side in the fight against the fascist coup d'état of Franco during the Spanish Civil War . After the defeat, always in danger of being interned, he made his way through France to Holland, where he felt safe. After the occupation by the German Wehrmacht, he was hidden in the attic of a brothel in Amsterdam, after which he fled to France and joined the French Foreign Legion . As a result, like many emigrated Jewish Foreign Legionnaires, he was forced into a punitive battalion by the Vichy regime , which collaborated with the National Socialists. Liberated by Charles de Gaulle's army in exile, he marched into liberated Paris. As one of the few in his family, he survived the Holocaust . Moritz Neumann wrote the "experience report" In Doubt to Germany about this little-known part of the persecution of the Jews and his father's years of emigration . The story of an escape and return is written, which also deals with the attitude of the social democrats and deals with the ideological terror of the communists.

The mother Frania Broner Neumann had survived the Holocaust in the concentration camps Auschwitz and Ravensbrück . The parents met in Fulda after the war, and Moritz Neumann was born in Fulda in 1948.

Moritz Neumann died in June 2016 after years of heart disease . He left behind his wife and three children, including Daniel Neumann , who has been director of the State Association of Jewish Congregations in Hesse since 2006 and honorary manager of the Jewish community in Darmstadt since 2008.

Social Commitment

Moritz Neumann was involved in the Darmstadt Jewish Community for more than three decades, which he chaired from 1991 until his death. In 1980 he was appointed managing director of the State Association of Jewish Communities in Hesse, was elected chairman in 1994, and was also an honorary member of various boards of trustees and a member of the Commission for the History of Jews in Hesse. Neumann had been a member of the board of directors of the Central Council of Jews in Germany since 1994 and of the European Jewish Congress since 2000 . He got involved by imparting knowledge about the Jewish religion and its traditions, in earlier years through numerous school events, as well as in a monthly series of the Hessischer Rundfunk "From the Jewish World".

Moritz Neumann worked in a special way for the construction of the synagogue in Darmstadt, Wilhelm-Glässing-Straße, and contributed to the realization of the project through his expert advice. After the inauguration of the synagogue on November 9, 1988, educational events on Jewish life, cultural offerings, concerts, lectures, exhibitions and synagogue tours were initiated mainly through the efforts of Moritz Neumann. During his creative period the Jewish community in Darmstadt quadrupled to 800 members due to the influx of Russian Jews.

Moritz Neumann had been a member of the SPD since 1976 and was involved in local politics as an honorary member of the City of Science Darmstadt's municipal administration from 1997 to 2006.

Literary works

  • Max Willner - Appreciation of a Deserved Man. On behalf of the State Association of Jewish Communities in Hesse. Frankfurt am Main / Alsbach, 1991.
  • The second Life. Darmstadt Jews in emigration. A reader. E. Roether-Verlag, Darmstadt 1993, ISBN 978-3-7929-0207-3 .
  • Added in 1945. In the ruins of Darmstadt. The end of the dictatorship and the months after the war. E. Roether-Verlag, Darmstadt 1995, ISBN 978-3-7929-0218-9 .
  • Shabbat Shalom: Forays into the Jewish world. Echter-Verlag, 2005, ISBN 978-3-429-02727-8 .
  • If in doubt, go to Germany. Story of an escape and a return. To Klampen Verlag, 2005, ISBN 978-3-934920-57-6 .

Honors

  • In 1982 Moritz Neumann was awarded the friendship plaque by the City of Science Darmstadt for maintaining contact with former Jewish fellow citizens of Darmstadt.
  • In 2006 his commitment and educational work within the Jewish community of Darmstadt was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany with the Order of Merit .
  • In 2011 he received the Wilhelm Leuschner Medal , the highest award in the state of Hesse, for his work on social and cultural life in Hesse and for his contribution to understanding between religions.
  • In 2015 Neumann received the Silver Merit Plaque, the highest award in the City of Science Darmstadt.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ State, Klaus, chairman of the Jewish regional communities Moritz Neumann is dead , in Darmstadt Echo from June 23, 2016
  2. ^ Moritz Neumann, In Doubt to Germany. History of an escape and return, Zu Klampen Verlag, 2005, ISBN 9783934920576
  3. Klaus State: Through the desert to Fulda in: Jüdische Allgemeine Wochenzeitung from December 23, 2004
  4. Chairman of the Jewish state communities Moritz Neumann is dead , echo-online.de, June 23, 2016, accessed on June 26, 2016
  5. ^ Moritz Neumann died , juedische-allgemeine.de, June 23, 2016, accessed on June 26, 2016
  6. Godehard Lehwark: Mourning Moritz Neumann , on www.evangelisches-darmstadt.de from June 24, 2016 ( online as pdf )