Ludwig Dreifuß

A Jewish Lawyer in Augsburg

During the NS era, the Augsburg lawyer Ludwig Dreyfuß had to suffer double. He was a social democrat and was persecuted as an opponent of the Nazi regime. And, in addition, his fate shows how, after 1933, Jewish lawyers were excluded from their profession and ruined. After the end of the war, Ludwig Dreifuß was Mayor of Augsburg for a short period of time.

From 1911 on in Augsburg

Ludwig Dreifuß was born in Munich on August 28, 1883. As per the wish of his parents, the merchant Samuel Dreifuß and his wife Ida, he attended the classical high school Luitpold-Gymnasium. Subsequently, he studied law in Erlangen and Munich. In 1911, Dreifuß settled in Augsburg as lawyer. Initially he worked for the law firm Frommel & Thoma and, from 1913 on, in his own office at Karolinenstrasse D42. From 1916 to 1918, he served in the army in World War I. In 1919 he became a member of the Social Democratic Party, SPD.

Protective Custody

He never made a secret of his repudiation of National Socialism. He even conducted lawsuits against members of the NSDAP. Already in March 1933, Ludwig Dreifuß was taken in so-called “protective custody” for more than five weeks. In 1934, he was again detained in the Gestapo prison on Katzenstadel, in 1938 a third time. In between, he had to report routinely to the political police and had to suffer multiple harassment from the Gestapo. Until 1938, Ludwig Dreifuß could practice as a lawyer, presumably due to the “Frontkämpferprivileg”, a privilege that spared Jewish world war I soldiers from occupational ban. In November 1938, however, his accreditation was withdrawn. Until the beginning of 1945, he was still allowed to work as consultant for Jewish clients, but had to pass on part of his income to the official Chamber of Lawyers (Reichsrechtsanwaltskammer).

Deportation

In February 1945, at the age of 62, he was deported to Theresienstadt. Until then, the so-called “mixed marriage” with his non-Jewish wife Amalie had protected him from deportation. The couple had been married since 1921. In 1922, their son Rolf was born. Initially, the family lived at 11 Frohsinnstrasse, from 1934 on at 6 Frölichstrasse in the so-called “Maurer-Estate”. Mr. Maurer, the landlord, was often urged “to throw out the Jews”, the now 90-year-old son of Ludwig and Amalie Dreifuß remembers, but Maurer always refused. “When I went with my mother to the Maurers to pay the rent, they always gave me chocolate.” After the war, Ludwig Dreifuß saw to it, that the Maurers’ house was not commandeered by the American occupiers.

The son sent to the USA

In 1938, Ludwig and Amalie Dreifuß could send their 15-year-old son to the USA. The son of a cousin of his father vouched for him, says the old gentleman who americanized his name to Ralph A. Dreike and, until today, has been living in California. “Nevertheless, I grew up with another family; our relatives did not want to have a poor refugee with them.” Ralph A. Dreike graduated from high-school, started studying pharmacy, but was soon drafted by the army. He served for three years and was last stationed in Okinawa. It was there, that he learned about his father’s deportation. Via the Red Cross, his mother was able to send him a letter once a month, not longer than 25 words and mostly encrypted due to the censorship. “Father is travelling now” said the letter in spring 1945, and the young man knew.

Retrieved from Theresienstadt

In 1944, Ludwig and Amalie Dreifuß had been bombed out at Frölichstrasse. Now, they were only allowed to live with Jews. The Gutmann couple – husband Jewish as well, wife Christian – accommodated them in their apartment at 28 Oberer Graben. When Ludwig Dreifuß was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp on February 20, 1945, Amalie Dreifuß ducked for fear, she would be picked up as well. She could hide in the monastery of the Mary Ward Sisters, until the Americans liberated Augsburg. In 1945 in Okinawa, Ralph A. Dreike learned about this as well. “The Secret Service informed me that my mother had been found.” Soon after, he received a letter from the American Commander of Augsburg, saying that he had sent a car to Theresienstadt for bringing Ludwig Dreifuß home.

End of June 1945, he returned from Theresienstadt to Augsburg – seriously ill, emaciated to 80 pounds and the only survivor of four siblings. After a short stay in a recreation home, in September 1945, the Military Government appointed him Mayor of Augsburg. He became the successor to Wilhelm Ott, whom City Commander Cofran had dismissed, allegedly due to insufficient cooperation in the denazification process. From 1946 to 1948, after the Christian Social Democratic party (CSU) had won the majority in the City Council, Dreifuß was Second Mayor. Immediately after the accreditation of the political parties, he again joined the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and in 1946 he became a member of the Bavarian constitutional state assembly. He also started working as a lawyer again.

Died in Murnau

Two years after the end of the war, Ralph A. Dreike saw his parents again; he visited them in their new Augsburg apartment at 5 ½ Frohsinnstrasse (the building had been used as “Jews’ house” in the Nazi era). When they were old, Ludwig and Amalie Dreifuß moved to Murnau into a house at 6 (or 9) Eiblwiesweg. Ludwig Dreifuß died in Murnau on April 15, 1960. Amalie moved back to Stadtbergen near Augsburg, where she died in 1981.

Angela Bachmair, translation Michael Bernheim