Walter Foerster

This article deals with the lawyer Walter Foerster. For the artist see Walter Förster , for the politician see Walther Förster .

Walter Foerster (born November 4, 1896 in Gleiwitz , † July 1, 1934 near Hirschberg ) was a German lawyer. He became known as one of the victims of the so-called Röhm Putsch .

Live and act

Foerster was a son of the businessman Georg Foerster (born March 11, 1867 in Sprottau; probably June 1942 in Auschwitz concentration camp) and his wife (born September 21, 1869; September 15, 1929 in Gleiwitz).

In the summer of 1915, Foerster registered as a volunteer to take part in the First World War after completing his high school diploma. He was trained at the 2nd substitute division of the 42nd Field Artillery Regiment in Breslau. In October 1915 he came to the Western Front, where he was used with short interruptions until November 1918. Foerster was injured several times during the war and was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class. He was promoted to non-commissioned officer (December 4, 1917) and at the end of the war to the surplus deputy sergeant (January 15, 1919).

From 1919 Foerster studied law. On July 16, 1921, he passed the 1st state law examination in Breslau with the grade sufficient. He completed the subsequent legal preparatory service on July 11, 1924 with the passing of the Great State Examination in Law.

In 1924 Foerster settled as a lawyer in Hirschberg, where he was admitted to the district court and district court of Hirschberg on October 11, 1924. On May 20, 1927, he was appointed a notary, with which he became a civil servant.

According to Heinz Höhne , Foerster took part in trials against National Socialists before 1933.

After the National Socialists came to power in the spring of 1933, Foerster was ousted from his profession in the spring of 1933 due to his Jewish descent in accordance with the provisions of the law on the restoration of the civil service and his license to practice as a lawyer was withdrawn. Several contradictions on his part were rejected by the Prussian Ministry of Justice, although as a veteran of the First World War he was formally subject to an exception that allowed him to continue in his profession despite his Jewish descent.

On June 30, 1934, Foerster was arrested by members of the SS along with some other residents of Hirschberg . Together with three other Jews - the couple Alexander and Jeannette Zweig and the merchant Charig - he was put on a truck by the SS on the night of July 1st, which was supposed to take the prisoners to Görlitz . On the way, the SS escort unit simulated a broken down car and asked the prisoners to push the vehicle. The four were then killed from behind by headshots. It was officially stated that the four were shot trying to escape.

German exiles documented the murder in publications critical of the Nazi regime. So let Willi Münzenberg the obituary Foerster in the White Paper on the shootings of June 30, 1934 reprint:

“My beloved man, our beloved father, my only good child, my faithful son-in-law, our dear brother-in-law Walter Foerster passed away at the age of 38. The funeral took place in silence in Wroclaw. Hirschberg, Breslau, Gleiwitz, July 4th, 34th "

Foerster's father was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp on May 28, 1942.

family

Foerster was married to Kaethe Cohn with whom he had two children.

literature

• Horst Göppinger : National Socialism and the Jewish Jurists , 1963
• Heinz Höhne : Mordache Röhm. Hitler's breakthrough to total power , Reinbek near Hamburg 1984.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Der Spiegel No. 26/1984, pp. 122–141.
2. ^ White book on the shootings of June 30, 1934 , 1934, p. 133.