Theodor Goldstein
Theodor Goldstein (born July 1, 1912 in Berlin ; died February 7, 1996 in Potsdam ) was the (new) founder of the Potsdam Jewish community and at the same time its first chairman .
Life
Theodor Goldstein survived the Nazi tyranny in Germany. In 1939 he was interned in the Wuhlheide labor education camp for four and a half months . From 1941 he went into hiding in Berlin, Glindow , Rheinsberg , Gulen-Glienicke and Neuruppin and was liberated by the Red Army in Rheinsberg in 1945. Theodor Goldstein lived with his family in Potsdam from 1946. In the years after 1989 he was particularly committed to the development of Jewish life in Potsdam and the preservation of Jewish traditions and history. With great personal commitment, he followed in the footsteps of the past and rediscovered numerous Jewish cemeteries in the state of Brandenburg .
Goldstein, who was looked after by the Schwerin Jewish community during the GDR era, took care of the maintenance and remembrance of the once vital Jewish life in Brandenburg from the end of the 1980s, which today only the tombstones of the Jewish cemeteries bear witness to. To stop their decline, to prevent their leveling, to restore them and to commemorate the dead and the displaced (and often displaced and killed) German-Jewish population in the various places in Brandenburg was his concern.
In the GDR, the subject of Judaism was left out and only marginally addressed, if z. B. a Communist persecuted by the National Socialists was also Jewish. Therefore it was a need for him to increase the knowledge and awareness of the worthiness of Brandenburg-Jewish traces.
On the death of the oldest Jewish fellow citizen of Potsdam, the then Minister Reiche said: “With Theodor Goldstein, Potsdam has lost the doyen of the Jewish community. He suffered from Germany and yet stayed in Germany. He re-established the Jewish community in Potsdam and rediscovered the Jewish cemeteries in the state of Brandenburg. We will honor his memory."
literature
- Irene A. Diekmann (Ed.): Jewish Brandenburg. History and present. Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86650-093-8 (Review: verlagberlinbrandenburg.de [PDF]).
- Then I'm gone for the night. The Jewish communities and the growing anti-Semitism in Germany . In: Der Spiegel . No. 51 , 1992 ( online - with a report on the situation of the Jewish communities; with quotation from Goldstein).
Web links
- Places of remembrance GDR in Google.books
- Brandenburg heads
- Fireside chat story. Potsdam latest news
Individual evidence
- ^ Jews in Brandenburg. ursulahomann.de
- ↑ Martin Gorholt (Ed.): Page no longer available , search in web archives: Press release from the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg. 31/96.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Goldstein, Theodor |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German chairman of the Jewish community in Potsdam |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 1, 1912 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 7, 1996 |
| Place of death | Potsdam |