Alfréd Meissner (April 10, 1871 – September 29, 1950) was a Czechoslovak politician and member of the Social Democratic Party in the First Czechoslovak Republic. He was elected to the National Assembly and served twice as Minister of Justice and twice as Minister of Social Welfare of the republic. Following the German occupation of Czechoslovakia during the Second World War, he was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. He survived the Holocaust, and after the war he returned to Prague where he died at the age of 79.
Alfréd Meissner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Justice | |
| In office May 25, 1920 – September 15, 1920 | |
| Prime Minister | Vlastimil Tusar |
| Preceded by | František Veselý |
| Succeeded by | Augustin Popelka |
| In office December 7, 1929 – February 14, 1934 | |
| Prime Minister | František Udržal Jan Malypetr |
| Preceded by | Robert Mayr-Harting |
| Succeeded by | Ivan Dérer |
| Minister of Social Welfare | |
| In office February 14, 1934 – June 4, 1935 | |
| Prime Minister | Jan Malypetr |
| Preceded by | Ludwig Czech |
| Succeeded by | Jaromír Nečas |
| In office November 5, 1935 – December 18, 1935 | |
| Prime Minister | Milan Hodža |
| Preceded by | Jaromír Nečas |
| Succeeded by | Jaromír Nečas |
| Member of the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia | |
| In office 1918–1939 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 10, 1871 Mladá Boleslav, Kingdom of Bohemia |
| Died | September 29, 1950 (aged 79) Prague, Czechoslovakia |
| Political party | Czechoslovak Social Democratic Worker's Party (1898–1938) National Labour Party (1938) |
| Spouse(s) | Rosa, née Sommer |
| Children | three children |
Life
editAlfréd Meissner was born in Mladá Boleslav, a city about 50 kilometres (31 miles) northeast of Prag, on April 10, 1871, in what was then the Kingdom of Bohemia, a crown-land of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied law at the University of Vienna and the University of Prague. After obtaining the degree of Doctor of Law, he worked as a lawyer in Prague. In 1898 he joined the Social Democratic Party (a forerunner of today's Czech Social Democratic Party), of which he became an influential member. He married Rosa Sommer (born 1887), and together they had three children.[1][2]
When the First Czechoslovak Republic was formed in 1918, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies of the National Assembly. Meissner made important contributions to statutes and the constitution of the new republic. He served as Minister of Justice of the Czechoslovak Republic from May 25, 1920, until September 15, 1920; and from July 12, 1929, until February 14, 1934. Subsequently, he was made Minister of Social Welfare in 1934. An office he held until June 4, 1935, when he was replaced by Jaromír Nečas. He then briefly held the same post again, from November 5 to December 18, at the end of 1935. In 1930 Meissner was made honorary president of the conference of the International Association of Penal Law in Prague. He was also the managing director of a factory. By reelection (in 1925, 1929 and 1935) he remained a member of the National Assembly until the German invasion and subsequent occupation in 1939.[1][2]
Edvard Munch painted several portraits of Rosa Meissner and of Olga and Rosa Meissner[3][4][5] which are now in museums including the Munch Museum, the Bergen Museum of Art and the Hiroshima Museum of Art.
Due to his Jewish origins, Meissner and his family were persecuted by the Nazis. The Germans deported Meissner and his wife to the Theresienstadt concentration camp; they arrived there on January 30, 1942. In Theresienstadt, Meissner was one of the elders of the Jewish Council led by Benjamin Murmelstein. At the end of the war on May 1, 1945, control of the camp was transferred from the Germans to the Red Cross. The Commandant of the camp and the SS subsequently fled a few days later, and on May 8 Theresienstadt was liberated by Soviet troops. Rosa Meissner was transported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz where she was murdered.[6][7]
Meissner returned to Prague in the summer of 1945, where he lived until his death in 1950, at the age of 79.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c Feuß, Axel (2002). Das Theresienstadt-Konvolut (in German). Hamburg: Dölling und Galitz. p. 46. ISBN 3-935549-22-9.
- ^ a b J. Cvetler: "Meissner, Alfred". In: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Vol. 6, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-7001-0128-7, p. 200 f. (Direct links to "p. 200", "p. 201")
- ^ "Weeping Woman – Works – Munchmuseet". 2022-03-03. Archived from the original on 2022-03-03. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ "Olga og Rosa Meissner [Olje på lerret]". digitaltmuseum.no. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ "Rosa Meissner - Edvard Munch - The Athenaeum". 2015-10-05. Archived from the original on 2015-10-05. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ "Terezín Memorial". www.pamatnik-terezin.cz. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ "Rosa Meissner | Database of victims | Holocaust". www.holocaust.cz. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- Bibliography
- Adler, H. G. (2005). Theresienstadt. Das Antlitz einer Zwangsgemeinschaft 1941-1945 (in German). Göttingen: Wallstein. ISBN 3-89244-694-6.
External links
edit- Alfred Meissner on www.ghetto-theresienstadt.info
- Bratři Emil a Alfréd Meissnerovi (in Czech)