Otto Schwabe

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Memorial plaque for Otto Schwabe at the Hanau authorities building

Otto Schwabe (born on October 2, 1894 in Hanau ; died on September 22, 1937 there ) was a well-known German Jewish doctor in the city of Hanau , who died under unexplained circumstances after being arrested by the Gestapo .

origin

Schwabe came from a Jewish family that had been living in Hanau for a long time, whose origins were the Zum Schwaben house in Hanau's Judengasse (now Nordstrasse ), first mentioned in 1689 . He had three brothers, one of whom died as a child. His brother Willi Schwabe, a lawyer, died in the First World War in 1916 ; the businessman Karl Schwabe emigrated to the United States , where he died in 1967 and descendants still live today.

activity

Schwabe practiced at Hammerstrasse 6. In the same house, his parents had acquired the textile and furniture business KJ Cahn , which was run by his brother Karl. Reports from his driver Eugen Machtanz and his widow Johanna Schwabe , who later also emigrated to the United States, are available about his work . According to this, he had been traveling tirelessly by car to patient visits since early in the morning, at noon between morning and afternoon consultations and in the evenings. Because such mobility was not exactly a matter of course at that time, the image of the doctor in his car was familiar to many Hanau residents. In this way he also brought innumerable gifts to poor patients during the Christmas season. If the patient was not able to pay or did not belong to a health insurance fund, Otto Schwabe often waived the fee, which increased his popularity, especially in the poorer classes.

Under the Nazi regime

As early as 1933, Schwabe feared a decline in the number of patients in his practice. But this only happened with the Nuremberg Laws in 1935. Statutory health insurance patients now had to fear for their jobs if they were treated by a Jewish doctor. In addition, patients were intimidated by SA people in front of his practice . This harassment made it much more difficult to continue his medical work. In March 1936 he had to quit his chauffeur , but continued to employ him until he managed to find a new job. He treated opponents of the Nazi regime such as released concentration camp prisoners free of charge.

Tomb of the Schwabe family in the Jewish cemetery in Hanau

Arrest and death

The popular doctor was obviously a nuisance to the local National Socialists and was denounced in autumn 1937 . A roofer claimed that Schwabe got too close to his wife, a long-time patient. He was also accused of having had an abortion . In fact, a young woman had come to his practice with this request, but he refused, referring to the ban on abortion. Otto Schwabe also declined the request to drive the woman to Darmstadt or Frankfurt to addresses where she could get help in this matter, pointing out that as a Jew he would have to be particularly careful. Apparently the informer had previously tried to blackmail the doctor. For this reason Schwabe had filed a complaint, which was of no use to him as a Jew, since he became the defendant as the plaintiff.

Otto Schwabe was summoned to the police headquarters on the afternoon of September 21, 1937, then arrested and interrogated at the local Gestapo headquarters in the Hanau authorities . His books and medical instruments were confiscated by the criminal investigation department . He died on September 22nd in the neighboring city hospital after falling out of the window in the interrogation room on the second floor of Mühlstrasse that morning under unexplained circumstances. The medical officer determined a fractured skull as the cause of death.

The circumstances of his death could never be clarified even in a court case in the post-war period. According to the police chief, Schwabe would have waited in the room for the transfer to the public prosecutor's office and had a quiet conversation with the officers. He should have suddenly opened the window to throw himself out. An officer who tried to hold him injured his hand. In view of the interrogation methods customary there, there are considerable doubts about this representation. The main argument against suicide is that Otto Schwabe was preparing for emigration. A few days earlier, on September 10, his application to leave the country had been approved. The Hanauer Anzeiger only reported in a short note that a Jewish doctor had thrown himself to his death through the window of the police headquarters in order to evade court proceedings.

Otto Schwabe was buried according to Jewish custom in the Hanau Jewish cemetery - not far from the crime scene. The funeral is said to have been unusually well attended. A Gestapo employee well-known in the city took pictures and complained loudly that so many people had come to the Jewish cemetery.

Commemoration

In Hanau, Dr.-Schwabe-Strasse near the Wilhelmsbad spa park was named after him. At the place of his death, today's tax office, a plaque commemorates him at the entrance to Mühlstrasse.

literature

  • Gerhard Flämig : Hanau in the Third Reich Vol. II. Published by the Magistrat der Stadt Hanau 1987, ISBN 3-926011-04-1 , pp. 305–309.
  • Monika Ilona Pfeifer and Monica Kingreen: Hanauer Jews 1933–1945. Disenfranchisement, persecution, deportation. CoCon, Hanau 1998, ISBN 3-928100-64-5 , p. 31.
  • Claudia Schwabe: Otto Schwabe. In: Stadtzeit 6. 700 years of city rights, 400 years of Jewish existence. Hanau 2003, ISBN 3-9806988-8-2 , p. 280.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ C. Schwabe: Otto Schwabe. In: Stadtzeit 6. Hanau 2003, p. 280; his autobiography was published posthumously: Carl Schwabe: My life in Germany before and after 1933. In: Neues Magazin für Hanauische Geschichte 2014, pp. 124–201.
  2. ↑ C. Schwabe: Otto Schwabe. In: Stadtzeit 6. Hanau 2003, p. 280; G. Flämig: Hanau in the Third Reich, Vol. II. Hanau 1987, p. 306.
  3. ↑ C. Schwabe: Otto Schwabe. In: Stadtzeit 6. Hanau 2003, p. 280; G. Flämig: Hanau in the Third Reich, Vol. II. Hanau 1987, p. 307.
  4. ↑ G. Flämig: Hanau in the Third Reich, Vol. II. Hanau 1987, p. 307.
  5. ↑ Monika Ilona Pfeifer / Monica Kingreen: Hanauer Juden 1933–1945. Disenfranchisement, persecution, deportation. Hanau 1998, p. 31.
  6. ↑ Based on the literature Flämig, Pfeifer / Kingreen and Schwabe and the autobiography Carl Schwabe ( NMagHG 2014, p. 179) on 23 .; at Hoppe, Hanauer street names and on the memorial plaque Mühlstrasse September 22nd is indicated; the Hanauer Anzeiger reports the incident on the 22nd, as does the death register, registry office and the report from the police director (Hanau city archive).
  7. ↑ a b c d G. Flämig: Hanau in the Third Reich, Vol. II. Hanau 1987, p. 308f.
  8. ↑ C. Schwabe: Otto Schwabe. In: Stadtzeit 6. Hanau 2003, p. 280.
  9. ↑ Monika Ilona Pfeifer / Monica Kingreen: Hanauer Juden 1933–1945. Disenfranchisement, persecution, deportation. Hanau 1998, p. 31.
  10. ↑ Hanauer Anzeiger , 09/22/1937, p. 3: Jumping out of the window - A local Jewish doctor who was brought before the police for interrogation for racial disgrace and abortion committed suicide this morning during the interrogation by jumping out of the window and thus escaped further implementation of the criminal proceedings directed against him.
  11. ^ Martin Hoppe : Hanauer street names. Hanau 1991, ISBN 3-87627-426-5 , p. 75.
personal data
SURNAME Schwabe, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Jewish doctor
DATE OF BIRTH October 2, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanau
DATE OF DEATH September 22, 1937
Place of death Hanau