Physician Dr Alfred Masur, chairman of the Jewish congregation (1869 – 1941)
Alfred Masur is born in Coburg in 1869. He becomes a physician. His medical practice is located at Mohrenstraße 26.
From 1911 (until 1941), he is the chairman of the Jewish congregation.
He first becomes a victim of the destructive antisemitic frenzy in December 1931 when the pane of his hallway door is smashed.
When the mistreatment of Jews begins in March 1933, it also marks the beginning of Masur’s persecution. He attracts the attention of the National Socialist officials: not only as chairman of the congregation and due to his ongoing protests against the terror, but also as member of a Jewish lodge and chairman of the Association for the Defence against Antisemitism.
Initially, Dr Masur flees Coburg. But in March 1933, when he returns to his home town, he is apprehended at the train station and taken into so-called “protective custody”. After mistreatment in the beating room of the town hall, Dr Masur attempts suicide. Once released, he travels to Munich where he is again arrested (see audio document).
After his return, he has to give up his medical practice.
In 1941, Alfred Masur dies in Coburg.
Audio document:
An account of the time Dr Alfred Masur spent imprisoned in Munich by Stephan Lorant in his book: “Ich war Hitlers Gefangener” [“I was Hitler’s prisoner”] (Munich 1985, pp. 76 f.)
Text read by Irmingard Eidt and Rolf Schilling