Wilhelm Aumer

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Wilhelm Aumer, summer 1943

Wilhelm Aumer (born January 22, 1883 in Regensburg , Upper Palatinate ; † August 22, 1958 in Lichtenfels , Upper Franconia ) was a German administrative officer close to the Social Democrats who used his professional function during the time of National Socialism for humanitarian reasons and a Christian conviction to actively support the emigration opportunities of Jewish fellow citizens. He successfully tried to protect forced laborers accused of offenses from deportation to concentration camps or from being shot. Lt. Spruchkammerverfahren In 1946, in his official function, Aumer tried to support existing opposition efforts against the Nazi state , as far as he could. This included politically persecuted people, those released from concentration camps, as well as the work of local and regional Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran parishes.

family

Wilhelm Aumer was the fourth child of the structural engineer Georg Aumer (born April 27, 1853 in Regensburg; † June 27, 1912 ibid) and his wife Elisabetha, née Bergmann (born November 10, 1862 in Regensburg; † February 1, 1947 ibid). The family was Roman Catholic. She lived in the house Regensburg A. 118 (today: Haaggasse 1) and was probably in possession of the property Regensburg A. 214 (today: Kreuzgasse 15). Wilhelm Aumer had fifteen siblings, but several of them died when they were young.

In Munich, the 37-year-old Wilhelm Aumer married the 27-year-old Margarete, née Frank (* May 19, 1892, † August 30, 1968) on April 28, 1920. She was the daughter of the post office clerk Andreas Frank (* March 4, 1862, † September 23, 1944) and his wife Kunigunda, née Würstlein (* July 7, 1871, † November 2, 1948). Wilhelm Aumer's marriage resulted in three sons: Hans Hubert (* April 20, 1921; † June 23, 2020), Paul Walter (* August 3, 1923; † April 27, 2015) and Hans Werner (* May 15, 1926; † January 30, 1995), all born in Lichtenfels.

School time and training

After attending primary school, Wilhelm Aumer successfully graduated from the Royal District Realschule in Regensburg (today: Goethe-Gymnasium ) at Easter 1899. He then did his military service as a one-year volunteer .

On August 1, 1900, he began his service as a draftsman at the Royal Bavarian Agriculture Authority in Regensburg (today: Regensburg State Building Authority ). He left this on September 30, 1901 to do another military service.

From January 22, 1904 to July 4 of the same year, he worked as a district office principal (incipient = apprentice to official clerk) in Regensburg.

Career

From July 5, 1904 to October 31, 1906 he worked as the 3rd district clerk in Grafenau, Lower Bavaria . From November 1, 1906 to December 31, 1908, he was the second district clerk in Sulzbach , Upper Palatinate , before he was promoted to district office assistant on January 1, 1909 and continued there until December 31, 1912.

As District Office Secretary, he moved to the Upper Franconian District Office Lichtenfels on January 1, 1913 , where he was promoted to District Office Secretary on April 1, 1920 and remained in this position until December 31, 1924. On January 1, 1925, he became administrative inspector there.

Nazi era

Aumer was politically close to the Social Democrats, but was not a member of the SPD . Since his attitude was known locally, he found himself exposed to multiple repression and professional disadvantages after the cession of power to the National Socialists. In 1933, because of Aumer's proximity to the SPD, the SA initially intended to take him into so-called “ protective custody ”.

For more than four years he had tried to evade membership of the NSDAP, which was suggested again and again, within his authority . Accession to the SA was made against him as a minimum requirement, but because of its behavior this was even further from him than the party.

In 1936 he joined the German Red Cross (DRK), the Reich Association of German Civil Servants (RDB), the National Socialist People's Welfare (NSV) and the People's Association for Germans Abroad (VDA). These memberships, which began almost at the same time, are at least partially an indication that Aumer tried to compensate for the pressure exerted on him within his office to get involved in the sense of the " Volksgemeinschaft " propagated by the National Socialists , possibly also to become a member of the NSDAP to avoid. He was a civil servant long before; he had been managing a hospital since 1913, so that he could have started the relevant memberships much earlier if he had wanted it or considered it useful.

After Aumer's three young sons were exposed to a confrontation with the local Hitler Youth in Lichtenfels , he finally applied to join the NSDAP, but was initially rejected by the Lichtenfels NSDAP local group leader Burger because of political unreliability. On July 1, 1937, Aumer was finally accepted into the NSDAP; however, the beginning of his membership was dated back to May 1, 1935 by the local NSDAP group. For this period of more than two years, Aumer had to pay the membership fees, and against the background of the so-called " sacrificial ring of the NSDAP " was declared as a candidate for full membership. In this way, he was initially to be recorded as inactive in the party and his contributions were skimmed off in favor of the local Lichtenfels party organization. Accordingly, Aumer was later repeatedly asked to pay higher membership fees, a request that he refused.

It was only after joining the party in July 1937 that he was promoted to Chief Administrative Inspector on December 1, 1938, which was long overdue after almost 14 years. As a result, he was also awarded Nazi awards:

On January 3, 1939, Aumer was awarded the " Loyalty Service Medal " in silver in the Lichtenfels district office . On July 3, 1939, the government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia (= regional council ) in Ansbach instructed him to leave his office at the Lichtenfels district office and help out at the Schwabach district office (in 1939 the district offices were renamed as district offices). According to the award document of February 28, 1941, Aumer was finally awarded the "Loyalty Service Medal " in gold.

During the Nazi era, Aumer tended to behave resistively in his office and, despite all the laws, service regulations and Nazi ordinances, behaved in an unorthodox or inappropriate manner in order to help discriminated and persecuted fellow citizens in a disinterested way. He was taking a high existential risk for himself and his family with three teenage sons who were twelve, fifteen and seventeen years old in September 1938. However, details were only (officially) documented in the post-war period, especially since a large number of those who had benefited from his approach had long since emigrated and never returned to Germany.

post war period

After the end of the Second World War , Aumer was removed from office on September 26, 1945 for political reasons as part of the denazification process by order of the US military government . His NSDAP membership was essential for this. The government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia in Ansbach was informed; Aumer's remuneration was therefore completely discontinued by the main government fund on October 30, 1945. At that time, Aumer was already 62 years old.

Nevertheless, Aumer was allowed and should continue to work in his old position until April 30, 1946 with the approval of the US military government, until a suitable young and above all unencumbered applicant was found and trained by Aumer.

Wilhelm Aumer therefore worked free of charge from November 1, 1945 until his private reserves were used up in August 1946. For this reason, the district of Lichtenfels decided to pay him a monthly salary of 300 Reichsmark retrospectively from November 1, 1945 , although his status as a victim of the Nazi regime had not yet been conclusively clarified. On October 26, 1946, the government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia in Ansbach ordered Aumer's dismissal from service in the Lichtenfels district office without waiting for the outcome of the scheduled judicial proceedings .

The Lichtenfelser district administrator Max Jüngling ( CSU ) had tried from October 1945 to keep his longest-serving official and to be allowed to reinstate him. This only became officially possible after Aumer had been completely exonerated in the Spruchkammer proceedings on November 13, 1946 by means of a large number of evidence and a whole series of witnesses or written testimony. The group of witnesses included the mayor of Lichtenfels, Julian Wittmann (1891–1951, CSU), the former State Secretary, who was living in Buch Castle at the time . D. Herbert von Bismarck , the Lichtenfels district administrator Max Jüngling, the former district administrator Alfons Trunk , who received two doctorates , the second mayor of the city of Burgkunstadt , Ludwig Dietzel (SPD), who was deported to the Dachau concentration camp during the Nazi era , and the district delegate of Schney , Konrad Witzgall (SPD).

As a result, on December 19, 1946, the US military government approved Aumer's reinstatement.

Aumer was in no way involved in the National Socialist sense, but was very close to the Social Democrats. He had actively supported opponents of the Nazi system, or not hindered or denounced them , had persecuted people in his official capacity and helped people who were discriminated against as " racially inferior ", among others the Jewish entrepreneurial family of Otto Bamberger based in Lichtenfels . In addition, he actively campaigned for the work of the local and regional parishes, as evidenced by the Lichtenfels parish offices and cathedral chapter Heinrich Rauh (1884-1969) from the Archdiocese of Bamberg , who worked from 1928 to 1943 as the city pastor in Lichtenfels.

Aumer helped Jews and forced laborers , the latter the so-called “foreign workers”, by giving them preferential treatment, as evidenced by numerous letters of thanks from his former protégés who had emigrated to many countries. He actively supported this by issuing visas in passports for individuals and families, by disregarding restrictive Nazi regulations on a case-by-case basis, by keeping silent about the intended emigration of Jewish fellow citizens, treating these systemically stigmatized people with respect and processing their concerns at very short notice. This was attested , for example, by the political scientist Walter Samuel Gerst-Kohn (1923–1998), who was born in Lichtenfels :

“[…] As the Nazi regime then anchored itself deeper and deeper and the anti-Semitic measures increased in number and intensity, it became more and more difficult to emigrate. [...] I still remember that I was asked for a certificate that I was not a member of the Hitler Youth . And how did you get these documents when every visit to the authorities could be a sacrifice where you could be yelled at and insulted, if not mistreated, if the authorities were enjoying it? In this respect we were lucky in Lichtenfels, because Mr. Aumer, a decent civil servant from the old school, sat in the district office. "

- Walter SG Kohn , 1988

“The few people who went to Jewish shops until November 1938, who came to our side of the street (sic!) To greet us, were heroes at that time. [...] There were a handful of Lichtenfelsers who stayed with us until the very end, not many and not through large demonstrations. Nobody dared to do it anymore. But a few people let us know that they were with us - and many, many fell victim to their own cowardice. Mr. Aumer was sitting in the district office and had the passports under him. [...] To be able to go to an authority without being yelled at was a rarity. Claude (Klaus) Bamberger described how Mr. Aumer came to his mother one night [in the Villa Sonnenhaus ] to warn her that her passport would be confiscated in a few days and to advise her to open it as soon as possible to travel [meaning: to emigrate]. I didn't know where I was going abroad and so we asked Mr. Aumer to issue the passport for two countries, England and North America. "I'm not allowed to, but you can't do a lot today," he said and did so. None of these were heroic deeds, but such little episodes were extremely beneficial and made life a lot easier. "

- Walter Samuel Gerst-Kohn , 1993

Aumer did not shy away from conspiratorially issued warnings in order to warn affected Jewish citizens of imminent confiscations, e.g. in September 1938. B. because of the withdrawal of all passports of Jewish citizens. Aumer held back the execution of the ordered confiscations for a few days in order to enable the people affected to escape from Germany.

"She [Henriette" Jetta "Bamberger (1891–1978)] was a practical person, and quickly recognized both the immense favor Mr. Aumer had done to her at great personal risk, and the urgent need to act quickly."

- Claude P. Bamberger (1920–2008), 1989
The establishment and expansion of the Hochstadt i. Ofr. (Later: District Hospital) Wilhelm Aumer was significantly involved as a volunteer administrator for decades from 1913

The Bavarian Gendarmerie Lieutenant Lutz testified that Aumer did not report forced laborers to the " Gestapo " in order to avoid being shot or deported to concentration camps. Despite this omission, the offenses were dealt with in accordance with the law, but without existential consequences for the slave laborers concerned.

Due to the multitude of Aumer's activities, his opposition to National Socialism did not go unnoticed, which meant that Aumer suffered a number of professional disadvantages. As a senior officer in the district office, he had been removed from his position as a shop steward and postponed from the regular promotion to chief inspector. He had suffered financial losses because he was paid the annual expense allowance as an off-duty honorary administrator of the Hochstadt district hospital . Ofr. At the request of a member of the NSDAP district council because of Aumer's nonconformity . Aumer had been significantly involved in the establishment and further expansion of the district hospital since 1913.

The Lichtenfelser District Administrator Jüngling reinstated Aumer on January 1, 1947 based on the verdict chamber decision and the reinstatement decision of the US military government, whereupon the government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia intervened in Ansbach by telephone on January 8, 1947 to deliver Aumer's dismissal again feature. Thereupon the Lichtenfels mayor, Julian Wittmann, addressed the Bavarian State Minister of the Interior, Josef Seifried (SPD), on January 10, 1947, after a session of the state parliament, on the Aumer case, deepened the subject with a letter of January 14, 1947 and asked Seifried to do so to intercede with the government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia in Ansbach in the sense of reinstatement of Aumer. Seifried complied with the request and informed the government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia in Ansbach that there were no objections to reinstating Aumer initially as a salaried employee at the Lichtenfels District Office with his last service income. After several approving resolutions to reinstate Aumers had been passed in the Lichtenfels district committee , most recently on March 6, 1947, his reinstatement was finally initiated by the government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia in Ansbach opposite the Lichtenfels district office on April 15, 1947.

On the part of the representative of the Bavarian Relief Organization (inspection and care center for former concentration camp prisoners) in Lichtenfels, Müller, the government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia in Ansbach was asked in a letter dated May 19, 1947, to restore Wilhelm Aumer with all his rights Position. Evidence of formerly “ racially ” persecuted persons was unequivocally proven that Aumer had enabled numerous people to leave the German Reich by issuing visas without requiring the “Gestapo” endorsement required at the time. This saved them from concentration camps and probably also from the loss of their lives .

On March 25, 1947, Hans Ritter von Lex (CSU) reappointed Wilhelm Aumer as a civil servant for the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior in agreement with the Bavarian State Ministry of Finance , appointed him at the same time as Chief Government Inspector and assigned him a post in the Lichtenfels District Office. The government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia in Ansbach received a copy of this resolution.

Aumer was only reinstated, promoted and made civil servants around three months before he retired. The conversion of his salary to a retirement pension and the simultaneous currency reform in 1948 led to another situation in which Aumer received no income for many months, although he worked almost continuously in the Lichtenfels district office. The official correspondence of that phase shows that there are all sorts of differences between the participating departments of the district, the regional council and the state ministries of the interior and finance about the type of Aumer's improvised de facto employment relationship, its classification, cost allocation (district, Free State ) and Legality were dealt with. The much-cited “ official white man ” ran for months at a leisurely pace through several participating departments and hierarchies from Aumer's office up to the two participating state ministries. This made for a high administrative effort, which from today's point of view seems largely avoidable, with a correspondingly large number of briefs, reports, reports, calculations and reviews of the legal situation, some of which are repeated in terms of content. This resulted in a tremendous time lag which, as a consequence, put Aumer at a massive disadvantage. The Lichtenfels district office had to step in to support him and his family financially during these difficult times. After his retirement, Aumer continued to work as an employee of the Lichtenfels district office; most recently he continued to work there without employee status and without a service contract.

Wilhelm Aumer died at the age of 75 and was buried in the grave of the Johann Würstlein family in the cemetery in Lichtenfels. In contrast to local Nazi profiteers, he was not awarded a grave of honor by the city of Lichtenfels.

"The biography of Wilhelm Aumer impressively shows which types of resistance were also possible for" normal "citizens and administrative employees - on a small scale, but with great effect!"

- Dr. Johannes Staudenmaier, Archives Councilor, Bamberg State Archives , 2020

Memberships

Honor and commemoration

The Lichtenfels District Office, the successor to the former Lichtenfels District Office, was proposed to install a privately financed bronze memorial plaque for Wilhelm Aumer .

In addition, there is a suggestion in the district office to award a Wilhelm Aumer medal to citizens of the city and the district of Lichtenfels who have unselfishly rendered lifesavers or for the common good .

The city administration of Lichtenfels has received a suggestion to name a path, a street or a square after Wilhelm Aumer in order to commemorate him.

It is examined whether Wilhelm Aumer fulfills the strict criteria of the Yad Vashem memorial as “ Righteous Among the Nations ” by actively saving entire groups of people at risk .

literature

  • Claude P. Bamberger: Art - A biographical essay , Verlagshaus Meisenbach, Bamberg 1989, without ISBN, pp. 5-7
  • Claude P. Bamberger: History of a Family - The Bambergers of Mitwitz and Lichtenfels 1770-1992 . Self-published, Tenafly, New Jersey, USA, 1993, without ISBN, pp. 9-11
  • Susanne Troche: Resistance against Hitler - individual examples from the Lichtenfels area (= Fränkische Heimat am Obermain , issue 32) . Supplement to the 1994/95 annual report of the Meranier-Gymnasium Lichtenfels, chapter 6.4.3 Wilhelm Aumer
  • Klaus Bamberger: From the history of the Bamberger family. Childhood memories of Lichtenfels (= Kleine CHW-Schriften, Colloquium Historicum Wirsbergense, Issue 2; Lichtenfelser Hefte zur Heimatgeschichte , special issue 3), ed. v. Lichtenfels city archive, HO Schulze publishing house, Lichtenfels 2005, ISBN 3-87735-177-8 , pp. 44–46

See also

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ according to Facsimile of the birth certificate No. 83/1883, Regensburg City Archives, Nina Herrmann, March 20, 2020
  2. ↑ Lichtenfels registry office, Reg. 73/58
  3. ↑ Israel Schwierz: "13 driving licenses - 13 Jewish fates" , on: hagalil.com
  4. ↑ a b c Claude P. Bamberger: Art - A biographical essay , Verlagshaus Meisenbach, Bamberg 1989, pp. 5-7
  5. ↑ a b c d Susanne Troche: Resistance against Hitler - individual examples from the Lichtenfels area (= Fränkische Heimat am Obermain , issue 32) . Supplement to the 1994/95 annual report of the Meranier-Gymnasium Lichtenfels, chapter 6.4.3 Wilhelm Aumer
  6. ↑ a b c Dr. Siegfried Rudolph: A Mitwitzer art collector . In: Mitteilungsblatt - Official Journal for the Administrative Community Mitwitz , No. 25 (1992), June 19, 1992
  7. ↑ a b c Klaus Bamberger: From the history of the Bamberger family. Childhood memories of Lichtenfels (= Kleine CHW-Schriften , Colloquium Historicum Wirsbergense, Issue 2; Lichtenfelser Hefte zur Heimatgeschichte , special issue 3), ed. v. Lichtenfels city archive, HO Schulze publishing house, Lichtenfels 2005, ISBN 3-87735-177-8 , pp. 44–46
  8. ↑ a b c Letter from Henriette "Jetta" Bamberger to her son Klaus in Neuchâtel dated August 21, 1937, typewritten, unpublished, contains a reference to Wilhelm Aumer, who processed Klaus Bamberger's passport in the Lichtenfels district office.
  9. ↑ a b c Claude P. Bamberger: History of a Family - The Bambergers of Mitwitz and Lichtenfels 1770-1992 . Self-published, Tenafly, New Jersey, USA, 1993, pp. 9-11
  10. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Minutes of the proceedings of the Spruchkammer for the Lichtenfels district, file number M 46/108, dated November 13, 1946
  11. ^ [Personal] file of the Royal Bavarian Government of the Upper Palatinate and Regensburg [regional attribution later changed by hand to] Government of Upper Franconia, Chamber of the Interior [for] Aumer, Wilhelm […] 037/14 A. In: Bamberg State Archives, signature : Government of Upper Franconia, Tax 1971, No. 5903
  12. ↑ according to Facsimile of the Georg Aumer family sheet, Regensburg City Archives, Nina Herrmann, March 20, 2020
  13. ^ Written information from the Lichtenfels City Archives, Christine Wittenbauer, from May 26, 2020
  14. ↑ a b Gravestone inscriptions from the grave site of the Johann Würstlein family in Lichtenfels, Upper Franconia
  15. ↑ Hans Hubert Aumer was presiding judge at the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Bamberg , he was with Elisabeth, geb. Ullrich, (born April 11, 1924; † April 27, 2011) married. Quoted from: Obituary notice Hubert Aumer , July 4, 2020, on: infranken.de
  16. ↑ Obituary notice Elisabeth Aumer , April 30, 2011, on infranken.de
  17. ^ Obituary notice Walter Aumer , on: merkur.de
  18. ↑ Written information from Reinhard Aumer (Munich), a grandson of Wilhelm Aumer, dated September 20, 2019, with photographic evidence of the tomb of the grave site of the Johann Würstlein family in Lichtenfels, Upper Franconia
  19. ↑ Certificate of the Royal Bavarian Agriculture Authority in Regensburg for Wilhelm Aumer, issued on September 30, 1901
  20. ^ Certificate from the Royal Bavarian District Office in Regensburg for Wilhelm Aumer, issued on April 28, 1904
  21. ↑ Note on files No. 1082 aa 10, issued by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior in Munich on December 6, 1924
  22. ↑ a b c d e f Letter from Wilhelm Aumer of January 9, 1947 to the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior in Munich
  23. ↑ Arne Schirrmacher: Philipp Lenard: Memories of a natural scientist . Springer-Verlag, Berlin 2009. ISBN 978-3-5408-9048-5 , p. 251, footnote 870
  24. ^ Memorandum No. 87 A 5 on Wilhelm Aumer, issued by the government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia in Ansbach on January 9, 1947
  25. ↑ Note on files 12/11, issued by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior in Munich on November 5, 1938
  26. ↑ Reservation of files for No. 59 k 12, according to Suggestion list 1068 a
  27. ^ Letter from the government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia in Ansbach, No. 104 i 18, issued on June 28, 1939
  28. ↑ Memorandum of files no. 59 k, serial no. 1460 a, issued by the government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia in Ansbach on May 13, 1941
  29. ^ Letter from the District Administrator of Lichtenfels dated October 2, 1945 to the US military government
  30. ↑ Julian Wittmann was born on January 8, 1891 in Buchberg, Upper Palatinate, as the ninth child of a farmer. He attended the Royal Humanistic Gymnasium in Eichstätt and then studied philosophy at the Lyceum there until the beginning of the First World War , which was renamed the "Philosophical-Theological College" in 1924. Wittmann served as a soldier during the war. He then studied law and political science at the Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen , received his doctorate in 1921 with his dissertation on the subject of "War and debt relief in agriculture" and in 1923 passed the Great State Examination in Law. Since he had no prospect of being accepted into the civil service at the time of hyperinflation , he initially worked as a syndic of a shoe factory in Burgkunstadt and from 1924 worked there as a resident lawyer. In 1928 he joined the Bavarian People's Party (BVP) and from 1929 worked as chairman of the district assembly (today: district assembly ) of Lichtenfels . After the transfer of power to the National Socialists , he was taken into so-called “ protective custody ” twice by the SA in 1933 . As a result, he temporarily settled in Switzerland in 1933/34. After the end of the Second World War , he was succeeded by the US military government on July 23, 1945, succeeding the National Socialist Dr. Baptist Hofmann (1903-1984) was appointed mayor of Lichtenfels and was unanimously confirmed in office on January 30, 1946 by the city council. Wittmann belonged to the July 15 meeting participants until October 26, 1946 Constituent national assembly of Bavaria and was on 1 December 1946 as a direct candidate of the CSU as an MP ( Landtag ) in the Bavarian state parliament voted where he belonged in the wake of several committees. He died on August 17, 1951 at the age of 60 in the town hall of Lichtenfels in the arms of the second mayor Johann Unrein (CSU, later FWG), who became his successor. In the city of Lichtenfels, the previous Hochgerichtsstrasse (originally Horst-Wessel- Strasse) was renamed to Dr.-Wittmann-Strasse by resolution of the city council on August 24, 1951 . Quoted from: Bavarian State Parliament, CV Dr. jur. Wittmann, Julian, lawyer, retired mayor D. , on: bayern.landtag.de; Quoted from: Prof. Dr. Günter Dippold : From the gallows and Nazi greats . In: Obermain-Tagblatt , August 22, 2017
  31. ↑ Dr. iur. et rer. pole. Alfons Trunk, district administrator of the Lichtenfels-Staffelstein district, was removed from office on June 2, 1945 by the US military government . His administration and character traits were not objected to; however, all senior officials who were active during the Nazi era should be removed from the offices . Quoted from: Official Journal of the Lichtenfels-Staffelstein District , published under Authority, of Enactments of Mil. Gov., Law 6 No. 4, Art. 1, par. 2, June 15, 1945; Quoted from: Gerhard Schmidt: In Memoriam District Administrator Dr. Max Jüngling (1903–1963) , lecture on October 28, 2003 as part of the program of the Colloquium Historicum Wirsbergense in the large meeting room of the Lichtenfels district office;
  32. ↑ Ludwig Dietzel († August 27, 1956) was a member of the city council in Burgkunstadt from May 26, 1948 to April 30, 1956. Quoted from Stadtarchiv Burgkunstadt, Andrea Baier, July 7, 2020
  33. ^ Chronicle of the SPD local association Burgkunstadt , on: burgkunstadt-spd.de
  34. ↑ Konrad Witzgall, member of the SPD district council, was imprisoned on May 6, 1933 under the number 1393 in the judicial prison of Lichtenfels (Upper Franconia). According to the documents, he could have been taken into “ protective custody ” by the SA on May 4, 1933 and taken via Bayreuth to the Dachau concentration camp, where he arrived on May 16, 1933. There is no evidence of the length of his imprisonment, but the archives from the early days of the Dachau concentration camp have not survived in full. Quoted from: NARA Alphab. Register No. 101 pp. 184–187, TS 1.1.6.1 / 0001-0189 / 0094/0051, 0058, 0068, 0159, Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial (Bavarian Memorial Foundation), Alex Pearman, July 22, 2020
  35. ^ History of Social Democracy in Schney , on: spd-schney.de
  36. ↑ Susanne Troche: Resistance against Hitler - individual examples from the Lichtenfels area (= Fränkische Heimat am Obermain , issue 32), supplement to the annual report 1994/95 of the Meranier-Gymnasium Lichtenfels, chapter 5.2 The resistance of the SPD in Schney
  37. ↑ Military Government Liaison & Security Office, Lichtenfels and Staffelstein districts, Detachment B-247, Co B, 3d MG regiment, APO 170, US Army - 19 Dec 1946 - Reinstatements of Employment, to: District Administrator Lichtenfels, Dr. [Max] youth. The past, present and future reinstatement or employment of persons listed below is approved by Military Government: Aumer, Wilhelm, Lichtenfels, Coburgerstr. 49. For the director: signed: Judge C. Potts, 1st Lt. AC, PSO
  38. ^ Letter from the government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia in Ansbach of October 28, 1947 to the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior in Munich, file number 87 A 147
  39. ↑ Heinrich Rauh, born on September 28, 1884 in Haig , was ordained a priest on August 1, 1909 in Bamberg. On September 1, 1908, he began his service as a chaplain in Teuschnitz , where he was appointed parish administrator from December 29, 1909 . From September 1, 1910, he worked as a chaplain in Rothenkirchen , from September 21, 1911 as parish administrator of Birnbaum , from September 27, 1911 as chaplain in Kulmbach and beginning at the same time as parish administrator of Nordhalben . From January 1, 1912 he took a benefit in Hollfeld ; from March 6, 1912 he was appointed parish administrator of Kersbach . From April 16, 1912, he worked as curate of Berneck , from May 1, 1912 as curate of Reichmannsdorf . On April 16, 1928 he was appointed pastor of Lichtenfels . On June 18, 1943 he was appointed cathedral capitular in Bamberg by Archbishop Joseph Otto Kolb . From 1947 he worked as archiepiscopal finance director and from 1953 as Summus Custos of Bamberg Cathedral . Heinrich Rauh died at the age of 85 on October 14, 1969 in Bamberg. Quoted from: Archives of the Archdiocese of Bamberg, Dr. Andreas Hölscher, June 30, 2020
  40. ↑ Walter Samuel Gerst-Kohn, born on May 16, 1923 in Lichtenfels, Upper Franconia, as the son of Hans Gerst (* 1886) and his wife Lilly Kohn (1892–1985), was enrolled in the Lichtenfels secondary school in 1936 at the age of 13 (today: Meranier -Gymnasium ) because he was of Jewish descent. His grandfather Samuel Kohn (1851–1922) was one of the five founding personalities of this school, a private foundation. As a result, Walter had to emigrate to England in 1938 due to National Socialist discrimination and marginalization . In 1947 he graduated from the University of London with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science (B.Sc.) and went to the United States. In 1949 he obtained a Master of Science degree (M.Sc.) from the New School for Social Research (NSSR) in New York City , received his doctorate there in 1953 and then taught at Lawrence College in Appleton , Wisconsin , later at the College for Teachers at the State University of New York in Buffalo , in the US state of New York . He published u. v. a. 1980 the work Governments and Politics of the German-speaking Countries ( ISBN 0882292625 ), 1981 the book Women in National Legislatures - A Comparative Study of Six Countries ( ISBN 0030475910 ), and 1995 the German-language brochure 50 years after the deportation of the last Lichtenfels Jews - Thoughts on November 9, 1988 ( OCLC 163433523 ). For three decades he taught as a professor at the Department of Political Science at Illinois State University (ISU) in Normal , Illinois , of which he was a member of the Senate and the Arts and Sciences College Council . For many years he was committed to the Corn Belt Library System , which he founded and at times also directed. As president, he was founded by German-Jewish emigrants Loge Abraham Lincoln Lodge of BÂ'nai BÂ'rith ago. He was married to the journalist and playwright Rita (born October 10, 1933), née Tevelowitz. The marriage resulted in a daughter and two sons. In 1986 Walter Kohn retired . He died at the age of 75 on November 27, 1998 in Urbana , Champaign County , Illinois, and was buried in the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation Cemetery North in Westfield , Hamilton County , Indiana . The Illinois State University annually awards the Walter SG Kohn Award to students of European politics. Quoted from: Walter SG Kohn Award from the Department of Politics and Government at Illinois State University ; Quoted from: Paul A. Spengler: The Journal of Ethnic Studies , Vol. 10, Issue 2, Western Washington State College , College of Ethnic Studies , Bellingham, Washington, Summer 1982, p. 120; Quoted from: The Annals of the American Academy of Political & Social Science (AAPS); Quoted from: worldcat.org; Quoted from: 13 Driving Licenses - Thirteen Jewish Fates (PDF file; 11.8 MB), scrapbook for the historical exhibition of the same name. Project of the P-seminar history of the Meranier-Gymnasium in Lichtenfels under the direction of study director Manfred Brösamle-Lambrecht on the initiative of the district administrator Christian Meißner , school year 2017/18, 2nd, corr. and exp. Edition, Lichtenfels 2019, p. 98; Quoted from: Grabstätte Walter Samuel Gerst Kohn , on: findagrave.com
  41. ↑ 13 Driving Licenses - Thirteen Jewish Fates (PDF file; 11.8 MB), scrapbook for the historical exhibition of the same name. Project of the P-seminar history of the Meranier-Gymnasium in Lichtenfels under the direction of study director Manfred Brösamle-Lambrecht on the initiative of the district administrator Christian Meißner, school year 2017/18, 2nd, corr. and exp. Edition, Lichtenfels 2019, pp. 96, 98
  42. ↑ Text excerpt from a letter by Walter Samuel Gerst-Kohn (1923–1998) from Indianapolis of September 14, 1993 to Susanne Troche in Lichtenfels, quoted from: 13 driving licenses - Thirteen Jewish fates , scrapbook for the historical exhibition of the same name. Project of the P-seminar history of the Meranier-Gymnasium in Lichtenfels under the direction of study director Manfred Brösamle-Lambrecht on the initiative of the district administrator Christian Meißner, school year 2017/18, 2nd, corr. and exp. Edition, Lichtenfels 2019, pp. 96, 98
  43. ↑ Till Mayer: Exhibition “13 Driver's Licenses - 13 Fates” in the USA , in: Obermain-Tagblatt , August 19, 2019. The article's headline should correctly read: Exhibition “13 Driver's Licenses - 13 Jewish Lives” in the USA , because that's the title of the show in the United States; in Germany: "13 driving licenses - 13 Jewish fates".
  44. ↑ Henriette "Jetta" Bamberger, née Wolff, was born on July 14, 1891 in Hall am Kocher as the daughter of the merchant Beni Wolff (April 1, 1857 in Braunsbach; † January 2, 1923 in Stuttgart). On December 24, 1913, she married the entrepreneur Otto Bamberger, who lives in Lichtenfels in Upper Franconia . The marriage resulted in two children, Ruth (1914–1983) and Klaus Philipp (1920–2008). Her children visited, among other things, reform educational rural education homes , Ruth the free school community Wickersdorf in the Thuringian Forest and later, together with her younger brother Klaus, the school by the sea on the East Frisian North Sea island of Juist . After the early death of her husband in September 1933, the then 42-year-old “Jetta” Bamberger worked alongside her brother-in-law Ludwig Bamberger (1893–1964) and her husband's nephew, Alfred Bamberger (1890–1956), in the family business D. Bamberger which had developed into one of the largest European suppliers of raw materials for the wicker and rattan furniture industry. From the mid-1920s, the company also sold a wide range of educational wooden toys from its branch in Coburg, made by Pestalozzi student Friedrich Fröbel . Wilhelm Aumer, whose eldest son Hans Hubert (born April 20, 1921) had attended the same elementary school class with Klaus Bamberger in Lichtenfels, visited the widow one night in her Villa Sonnenhaus . He took a high professional risk, especially since the building used by the NSDAP district leadership (Adolf-Hitler-Straße 20) and his workplace, the Lichtenfels district office (Adolf-Hitler-Straße 28), are only a few steps away and in sight across the street from the villa (Adolf-Hitler-Strasse 21). Aumer conspiratorially warned "Jetta" Bamberger of the imminent confiscation of all passports of Jewish Germans in order to give her the opportunity to flee abroad in good time. She then went to see her mother in Stuttgart, received a visitor's visa at the US consulate there, and was able to emigrate to the United States. There she worked in childcare and as a housekeeper, driver and companion of a former Austrian consul who refused in 1938 to fly the Nazi flag in front of his consulate in the USA after the occupation of Austria by the Wehrmacht . “Jetta” Bamberger temporarily rented out rooms in her house due to her economically precarious situation in the post-war period, but mostly lived in a small apartment. She died on October 30, 1978 at the age of 87. Quoted from: Familienbuch Beni Wolff, entry B. No. 58; Registry office Schwäbisch Hall, transmitted by the Schwäbisch Hall city archive, Dr. Andreas Maisch, on July 5, 2019; Quoted from: Otto Bamberger's death book entry; transmitted by the Baden-Baden City Archives, Claudia Falk, on August 8, 2019; Quoted from: Claude P. Bamberger: ART - A Biographical Essay . Meisenbach publishing house, Bamberg 1989, without ISBN; Quoted from: Claude P. Bamberger: History of a Family - The Bambergers of Mitwitz and Lichtenfels 1770–1992 . Self-published, Tenafly, New Jersey, USA, 1993, without ISBN; Quoted from: Claude P. Bamberger: Breaking the Mold - A Memoir . C. Bamberger Molding Compounds Corp., Carlstadt, New Jersey, USA, 1996, ISBN 0-9653827-0-2 ; Quoted from: Klaus Bamberger: From the history of the Bamberger family. Childhood memories of Lichtenfels ( Kleine CHW-Schriften , Colloquium Historicum Wirsbergense, Issue 2; Lichtenfelser Hefte zur Heimatgeschichte , special issue 3), ed. v. Lichtenfels city archive, HO Schulze publishing house, Lichtenfels 2005, ISBN 3-87735-177-8 ; Quoted from: Obituary Jetta Bamberger. In: Structure , German-Jewish Periodical in New York City, Vol. XLIV, No. 44, Friday November 3, 1978, p. 28
  45. ↑ a b Letter from the Lichtenfels District Office, Dr. Max Jüngling, dated February 2, 1950, file number 5652 D / S, to the government of Upper Franconia in Bayreuth
  46. ^ Letter from the Lichtenfels district office, Dr. Max Jüngling, dated July 6, 1950, file number 2921, to the government of Upper Franconia in Bayreuth
  47. ^ Letter from the mayor of Lichtenfels, Dr. iur. Julian Wittmann, to the Minister of State of the Interior, Josef Seifried, on January 14, 1947
  48. ^ Letter from the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior in Munich, Minister of State Josef Seifried, No. III A 3, of January 30, 1947, to the government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia in Ansbach
  49. ^ Letter from the district administrator of Lichtenfels, Dr. Max Jüngling, dated March 29, 1947 to the government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia in Ansbach, No. 934
  50. ^ Letter from the government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia in Ansbach of April 15, 1947 to the Lichtenfels district office under file number 87 a 44
  51. ^ Letter from the shop steward of the Bavarian Relief Organization in Lichtenfels, Müller, dated May 19, 1947 to the government of Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia in Ansbach with the request for the reinstatement of Wilhelm Aumer
  52. ^ Letter from the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior in Munich to the government of Upper and Middle Franconia in Ansbach, No. III A 4, of March 25, 1948, signed Ritter von Lex, Ministerialdirigent
  53. ^ Letter from the Lichtenfels district office, Dr. Max Jüngling, file number 3904 A / S, to the government of Upper Franconia in Bayreuth on July 30, 1949
  54. ↑ Letter from Dr. Johannes Staudenmaier, archivist at the Bamberg State Archive and its deputy director, dated June 30, 2020, unpublished, quoted after written consent
personal data
SURNAME Aumer, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German civil servant
DATE OF BIRTH January 22, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Regensburg , Upper Palatinate
DATE OF DEATH August 22, 1958
Place of death Lichtenfels , Upper Franconia