Robert Grumbach

Robert Grumbach (born November 3, 1875 in Freiburg im Breisgau ; † December 14, 1960 there ) was a Jewish lawyer and politician in Freiburg.

Life

Grumbach's grave in the Jewish cemetery in Freiburg

Grumbach, the son of a timber merchant, dealt with the social problems of the workforce as a high school student . After studying law and political science in Freiburg and Berlin , he settled as a lawyer in Freiburg in 1902 and worked for the SPD from 1911 to 1933 on the city council.

After the National Socialists seized power , he anticipated his expulsion from the municipal council by resigning from office. In 1933 he was briefly in protective custody . Like many other Jewish citizens, he was sent to a concentration camp , the Dachau concentration camp near Munich, after the Reichspogromnacht on November 9, 1938 , and on November 30, 1938 lost his license to practice as a lawyer due to Section 1 of the 5th Ordinance on the Reich Citizenship Act .

Grumbach then decided to emigrate to Palestine and prepared everything, including paying the high taxes required by the regime. The emigration finally failed because the British government had drastically reduced the immigration quota. On October 22, 1940, he was taken to the Camp de Gurs internment camp in southern France in the deportation of all Jews from Baden, operated by Reich Governor Robert Wagner , along with 360 other Jews from Freiburg . Despite his old age, he survived the cruel living conditions, which many inmates also succumbed to in Gurs. Because he had been classified as unfit for transport several times due to serious illnesses, he escaped death by being sent to the extermination camps in the East and returned to Freiburg. There he was no longer politically active.

He was honored many times, including the award of honorary citizenship of the city of Freiburg on November 11, 1947, which was awarded to him on behalf of all Jews, and the Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany (1952).

Individual evidence

↑ On April 10, 1933, the Freiburger Zeitung printed a letter from the then Lord Mayor Karl Bender to the imprisoned Grumbach. This was used by the Alemanni for further agitation against Bender, cf. Freiburger Zeitung, April 10, 1933, p. 1. Evening edition, p. 5 [1]

personal data
SURNAME	Grumbach, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Jewish lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH	November 3, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH	Freiburg in Breisgau
DATE OF DEATH	December 14, 1960
Place of death	Freiburg in Breisgau

[1] On April 10, 1933, the Freiburger Zeitung printed a letter from the then Lord Mayor Karl Bender to the imprisoned Grumbach. This was used by the Alemanni for further agitation against Bender, cf. Freiburger Zeitung, April 10, 1933, p. 1. Evening edition, p. 5 [1]