Goldstein, Georg

Director of the German Society for Merchants' Rest Homes

Born: 19.10.1877 in Breslau

Died: 31.08.1943 in Auschwitz concentration camp

After studying at the Mining Academy in Freiberg and completing his doctorate ("Der deutsche Eisenzoll - ein Erziehungszoll", 1912) in economics, Goldstein became an employee of the Prussian government in Berlin. In 1912 he came to Wiesbaden and began his work as director of the newly founded German Society for Merchants' Recreation Homes. In 1914, he married Margarethe Lasker (1889-1944) in Trebnitz; their daughter Barbara was born in 1917 and their son Franz in 1920.

In addition to his professional activities, Goldstein was involved in the liberal Jewish community and was chairman of the Wiesbaden branch of the "Jewish Liberal Association for Germany". His wife was a member of the "Association of Jewish Women", founded in 1917, on whose initiative other associations were founded, such as the "Association for Educational Holiday Colonies", the "Children's Day Care Home" and the "Clothing Collection Point".

As director of the Gesellschaft für Kaufmannserholungsheime, Goldstein was instrumental in its success and growth. He was particularly instrumental in the construction of the "Haus auf der Alb" recreation home in Bad Urach, which was inaugurated in 1930.

After the National Socialists came to power, Goldstein was dismissed from his longstanding position in June 1933 due to his Jewish background. Under very difficult circumstances and increasing economic hardship, the couple remained in Wiesbaden and supported the members of the Jewish community who remained in the city. In 1939, the children Barbara and Franz managed to emigrate to England. However, the Goldstein couple's planned escape to Chile failed for financial reasons.

Alongside Berthold Guthmann and Arthur Strauß, Goldstein had to dissolve the Wiesbaden Jewish community in 1942 on behalf of the "Reich Association of Jews in Germany".

After the last deportations from Wiesbaden, the couple were taken to a Jewish community shelter in Frankfurt am Main and deported from there via Berlin to the Theresienstadt ghetto in March 1943. Georg Goldstein was murdered in the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp on August 31, 1943. Goldstein's wife Margarethe was also murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp in October 1944.

A school in Bad Urach has been named after Goldstein since 2012.