Theodor Hoffa

Theodor Hoffa (born August 11, 1872 in Victoria West , Cape Colony , † January 22, 1946 in Johannesburg ) was a pediatrician , social worker and member of the Confessing Church .

Hoffa's last name was originally Cohn ; the family was of Jewish origin, but had long since renounced Judaism. Prior to his marriage, Hoffa took his mother's maiden name as his surname.

From 1897 Hoffa was a pediatrician in Barmen , today a district of Wuppertal . In 1907 he was appointed city pediatrician and medical councilor. According to his plans, the Barmer infant home, one of the first infant hospitals in Germany, was built in 1907. On his initiative, the first maternal advice center was set up in 1908 and in 1920 that of the municipal maternity and baby home in Barmen. He wrote numerous publications on topics in his field.

Hoffa was a participant in the Barmer Confession Synod . A short time later, he was a signatory of a resolution of Nazi Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick , which preclude a new, the DC circuit turned intending church order. In 1934 he was dismissed from the city service. In 1939 he emigrated to South Africa.

A street in Wuppertal today commemorates Theodor Hoffa.

literature

• Lotte Zelger: A large family of doctors - the Hoffas. Their history, their fates 1822 - 2002 , Ennetbürgen 2002
• Ulrike Schrader : Confession and betrayal. A city guide to Wuppertal's church history in the time of National Socialism. Wuppertal 2009, p. 120 f.
• Ulrike Schrader: Torah and textiles. On the history of the Jews in Wuppertal , Wuppertal 2007, p. 120 f.
• Eduard Seidler: Jüdische Kinderärzte 1933-1945: Entrechtet - Geflohen - Ermordet Jewish Pediatricians - Victims of Persecution 1933-1945 :, page 375 , 2nd edition, Verlag Karger S., 2007 ISBN 978-3-8055-8284-1