Otto Zinn

Otto Zinn (born September 1, 1906 in Hirschberg (Saale) , † April 6, 1993 in Soest ) was a lawyer, politician ( NSDAP ) and Lord Mayor of Gera from 1936 to 1945 .

Life

After graduating from high school and passing the state examination in law, Otto Zinn worked as a legal assistant at the Thuringian public prosecutor's office in Gera from 1933 . In 1934 he became a member of the public prosecutor's office.

Since 1933 he was district leader of the NSDAP for the city and the district of Gera . In 1936 he was appointed Lord Mayor of Gera by the Thuringian Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel and the Thuringian Minister of the Interior. From October 1937 he exercised his office as district leader - due to the Fuehrer's decree “on the separation of state from party offices” - “for special use”. In March 1938 Zinn became SS-Untersturmführer . He did active military service from 1940 to 1942, was promoted to sergeant in 1941 , later to sergeant and in 1944 to lieutenant .

Otto Zinn played a key role in the implementation of the pogrom against the Jewish citizens of Gera on November 9, 1938. On this day the synagogue in the Hotel Kronprinz and the Jewish school in the Meistergässchen were destroyed by the SA , SS and Hitler Youth . Some Jewish citizens committed suicide , for example the doctor Dr. Oskar Salomon, who committed suicide with his whole family on September 18, 1941 after being instructed to wear the “ Star of David ”. Of 378 Jewish citizens who lived in Gera in 1933, at least 212 were murdered during the Holocaust by 1945.

After Gera was occupied by the US Army on April 14, 1945, Otto Zinn was removed from his position as mayor in May 1945.

literature

Günter Domkowsky: Lord Mayor of the City of Gera. Publishing house Dr. Frank GmbH, Gera 2007, ISBN 978-3-934805-31-6 .
Klaus Brodale, Heidrun Friedemann: That was the 20th century in Gera. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2002, ISBN 3-831-31273-7 .

Individual evidence

↑ Bundesarchiv Berlin, BArch-BDC SSO / 1922, 1071 S, Otto Zinn's biography.
↑ Alice von Plato: A "Festival of the People's Community". The 700th anniversary of Gera (1937). In: Adelheid von Saldern , Lu Seegers (Ed.): Staged pride. City representations in three German societies (1935–1975). Steiner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-515-08300-6 , pp. 83-114, here p. 88.

personal data
SURNAME	Tin, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German lawyer, politician (NSDAP), Lord Mayor of Gera (1936–1945)
DATE OF BIRTH	September 1, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH	Hirschberg (Saale)
DATE OF DEATH	April 6, 1993
Place of death	Soest

[BArch-1] Bundesarchiv Berlin, BArch-BDC SSO / 1922, 1071 S, Otto Zinn's biography.

[SS-2] Alice von Plato: A "Festival of the People's Community". The 700th anniversary of Gera (1937). In: Adelheid von Saldern , Lu Seegers (Ed.): Staged pride. City representations in three German societies (1935–1975). Steiner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-515-08300-6 , pp. 83-114, here p. 88.