Willy Lessing

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Willy Lessing (born January 19, 1881 in Bamberg ; died January 17, 1939 there ; full name Wilhelm Heinrich Lessing ) was a German entrepreneur . From 1938 until his death he was chairman of the Jewish community in Bamberg.

Life

Willy Lessing was born the son of the grand brewer Simon Lessing and his wife Clara. On the opening day, October 1, 1890, he entered the new grammar school in Bamberg and passed his Abitur there in 1891. After the early death of his father, at the age of 22, he and his mother took over the management of Hofbräu Bamberg AG . In 1919 the brewery merged with the Erlwein & Schultheiß brewery in Erlangen and subsequently developed into one of the largest breweries in Franconia . Lessing remained the majority shareholder in the company. Before the First World War he headed the local office of the Bamberg section of the German Fleet Club . After participating in the war, he became a member of the liberal German Democratic Party in Bamberg in the Weimar Republic and was awarded the German Red Cross Decoration of Honor in 1932 for his civic engagement . His successful entrepreneurial activity earned him the honorary title of commercial councilor in 1924 .

Grave of Willy Lessing in the Jewish cemetery in Bamberg

After the seizure of power by the National Socialists were Lessing's shares in 1936 expropriated . Despite several warnings and although his wife and son had already fled to Great Britain, Lessing stayed in Bamberg. In 1938 he took over the chairmanship of the already decimated Jewish community in the city. When the building was in flames during the storming of the Bamberg synagogue on the night of the pogroms on November 9th and 10th, 1938, Lessing rushed there. While trying to save the Torah scroll, he was recognized by the arsonists and severely ill-treated. When he was lying on the floor covered in blood at home, the mob broke into his apartment and set it on fire. Lessing himself was dragged onto the street again and knocked unconscious. Two months later, he succumbed to the consequences of the abuse.

After the end of World War II , on November 26, 1946 and April 11, 1949, the storming of the synagogue and Lessing's murder were legally dealt with. The two main perpetrators were sentenced to seven (Otto Körk) and six (Hans Stadler) years in prison; District leader Lorenz Zahneisen received four years in prison.

In 1948 the city council of Bamberg decided to name Sophienstrasse, where the Lessing family had lived, after Willy Lessing.

literature

Web links

Movie

ARD Prost and L'Chaim , November 7, 2016, 8:15 p.m., 44 min., From 8 min., Accessed on November 12, 2016

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joseph Walk (ed.): Short biographies on the history of the Jews 1918–1945. Edited by the Leo Baeck Institute, Jerusalem. Saur, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-598-10477-4 , p. 223.
  2. ^ Georg Wenzel: German business leader . Life courses of German business personalities. A reference book on 13,000 business figures of our time. Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt, Hamburg / Berlin / Leipzig 1929, DNB 948663294 , Sp. 1342 f.
  3. ^ Reichspogromnacht in Bamberg - Andreas Stenglein. In: Andreas Stenglein. Retrieved on May 27, 2016 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Lessing, Willy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lessing, Wilhelm Heinrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur, victim of the Holocaust
DATE OF BIRTH January 19, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Bamberg
DATE OF DEATH January 17, 1939
Place of death Bamberg