Siegbert Einstein (25 October 1889,

Bad Buchau Bad Buchau () (formerly Buchau; Swabian: ''Buacha'') is a small town in the district of Biberach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany with about 4,000 inhabitants. It is situated near Lake Federsee, which is separated from the town by a wide reed belt. ...

– 24 December 1968,

Riedlingen Riedlingen () is a town in the district (''Kreis'') of Biberach, Baden-Württemberg, in the south-west of Germany. It is one of the destinations of the Upper Swabian Baroque Route. Riedlingen has approximately 10,000 inhabitants. Geography ...

) was a German-Jewish politician, factory worker, civil servant,Buchauer Nachrichten, p.53 lawyer,

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...

,Buchauer Nachrichten, pp.15-17 and the last Jew who lived in the Jewish community in

Early life

Siegbert Einstein was born in

on 25 October 1889, the second son of Martin Einstein and Sally Dreyfus Einstein.

Career

Einstein joined the German Army, fought in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and was awarded the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia e ...

1st Class and the

Friedrich Order The Friedrich Order (german: Friedrichs-Orden or ''Friedrichsorden'') was an order of merit of the German Kingdom of Württemberg. It was instituted on 1 January 1830 by the second king of Württemberg, Wilhelm I in remembrance of his father, Ki ...

. He worked at Schussenrieder Street, 29. Soon afterwards he started operating in a fabric factory under the name "Einstein & Erlanger". The business was partly owned by his family and closed in 1938; Einstein had to work as a factory worker at a butter factory in Riedlingen. On 21 February 1945, he was deported to

Theresienstadt concentration camp Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination camp ...

, but he survived and returned to Bad Buchau in late June 1945, now in the French occupation zone. In September 1946, Einstein wrote a letter on the transport of the Jews taken to Stuttgart in 1942, he reports that he accompanied the transport to Stuttgart, he cared for the victims and also counted them. and in April 1947 Einstein wrote another letter regarding the transport to Theresienstadt in 1942, that the Nazi paramedics had sent some of their relatives and acquaintances to the concentration camp. The 270 Jews who lived in the city of Buchau were deported in the Holocaust; only Einstein and three others returned to the city after the war.Buchauer Nachrichten, p.48 In September 1946, Einstein was elected

deputy mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor, assistant mayor, or mayor ''pro tem'') is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many, but not all, local governments. Duties and functions Many elected dep ...

of Bad Buchau.Buchauer Nachrichten, pp.48-49 He supervised and maintained the ;Buchauer Nachrichten, pp.62-63, 70 he also proposed a memorial in honor of the Buchau Jewish community who had fallen victim to Nazism or were forced to emigrate.Buchauer Nachrichten, p.77 In 1950, Einstein purchased the land from the (destroyed by the Nazis in 1938). Einstein planted a

weeping willow ''Salix babylonica'' (Babylon willow or weeping willow; ) is a species of willow native to dry areas of northern China, but cultivated for millennia elsewhere in Asia, being traded along the Silk Road to southwest Asia and Europe.Flora of China' ...

in 1951, and the space was opened to the public. Today the space belongs to Jost Einstein, Siegbert's grandson, who is the director of the Center for Nature Conservation of Bad Buchau.

Personal life

After the end of the war, Siegbert married Elsa Schlittler; because she was an Aryan, Siegbert had additional privileges under the Nazis. They had two children, Rolf Einstein and Kurt Einstein, who were raised

Protestant Christians Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived ...

. He was a distant relative of

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...

. He died on 24 December 1968 at the age of 79 and was the last Jew buried in the Jewish Cemetery of Buchau.

Awards and honors

In 1959, Einstein received the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by ...

because of his public work and efforts in the care of the Jewish community.

Bibliography

* Charlotte Mayenberger: Juden in Buchau. (Landkreis Biberach – Geschichte und Kultur, Band 8), Federsee-Verlag, Bad Buchau 2008. *Joseph Mohn, Der Leidensweg unter dem Hakenkreuz. Aus der Geschichte von Stadt und Stift Buchau am Federsee, hrsg. von der Stadt Bad Buchau, Bad Buchau 1970.

Notes

References

Siegbert Siegbert is the given name of: * Siegbert Horn (born 1950), former East German slalom canoer * Siegbert Hummel (1908−2001), Tibetologist and cultural historian *Siegbert Salomon Prawer (born 1925), professor of German language and literature *Si ...

20th-century German businesspeople 20th-century German politicians People from Biberach (district) Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany