Born on January 5, 1867 in Thalmässing/Bavaria
Murdered in the Ghetto Theresienstadt concentration camp on January 19, 1943
Interned in Weißenstein in November 1941
Max Hommel, MD, was the second of eight children born to Klara and Samuel Hommel. Samuel had been a local teacher for decades and was well known. As a young adult, Max Hommel studied medicine at the University of Würzburg and graduated in 1892. Four years later, he married Esther Marx from Freudenthal. They settled in Ichenhausen, where their only child, their son Justus, was born in 1897.
In 1907, the family moved to Stuttgart and Dr. Max Hommel opened a general medical practice. He was also involved in the Jewish community and social issues. During the First World War, he helped in the Stuttgart Relief Hospital and received the ‘Wilhelmskreuz’ in recognition.
After the Nazis came to power, his son Justus, who had become a lawyer, fled to Switzerland. Esther Hommel died in August 1940 as a result of diabetes. The couple had already been forced to move into a ‘Jews’ house’ in 1938 and on November 1, 1941, Dr. Max Hommel had to move into the Schloss Weißenstein forced residence, from where he was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in August 1942. He died there on January 19, 1943 due to the murderous conditions.
(15.08.2023 kmr/ww)
