Siegfried Lemberger

Siegfried Lemberger ( May 28, 1884 in Preßburg - 1942 in Auschwitz concentration camp ) was an Austrian cinema operator , film distributor and film producer . In 1937 he produced Der Pfarrer von Kirchfeld, the last Austrian film of the interwar period that was not influenced by Nazi production guidelines.

life and work

Lemberger was born the son of Jacob and Therese Lemberger in today's Bratislava (Slovakia). He has been active in the Austrian film industry since 1921 and was the tenant of the Gloriette cinema in Vienna-Penzing . He also worked as a film distributor and founded the film distributor Excelsior-Film . He married Ella Soyka, born on February 21, 1891 in Vienna. The couple had two daughters: Gertrud, born on June 7, 1914 in Vienna, and Edith.

In 1937 Lemberger produced the Anzengruber film adaptation of Der Pfarrer von Kirchfeld , which became extremely important in terms of film history because it was the last Austrian production before the Anschluss that was independent of state requirements . As early as April 20, 1936, Austrian production companies had signed an agreement with the German Reich according to which Austria's producers undertook not to employ any “ non-Aryans ” in their films . Then Siegfried Lemberger decided to produce the film himself at his own risk. The pastor of Kirchfeld became the only Austrian film made in 1937 that consistently evaded the racist dictate.

After the annexation of Austria , Siegfried and Ella sold their belongings and initially fled to Belgium. There they were separated. Ella was arrested in Denmark, Siegfried made it to France and wrote several times to his wife. After the Nazi regime marched into France, he was arrested and taken to the internment camp in Noé and then to the Camp de Gurs . Siegfried Lemberger was finally deported from the Drancy assembly camp on August 28, 1942 with Transport 25, Train 901-20 to Auschwitz-Birkenau , where he was murdered by the Nazi regime.

His wife Ella was sent to the SS assembly camp in Mechelen . On September 8, 1942, she was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau (her number on the transport was 620), where she was murdered immediately after her arrival on September 10, 1942. Both daughters escaped in time and survived the Holocaust . Gertrud came to Argentina via Italy as early as 1939, married Jose Monath and had a son, Thomas. Edith married Fritz Löwy . The couple had a child.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kay Less : Between the stage and the barracks. Lexicon of persecuted theater, film and music artists from 1933 to 1945 . With a foreword by Paul Spiegel . Metropol, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-938690-10-9 , p. 400.
2. ↑ Relico has records that packages were sent to both camps for him.