Zerstörung der Erfurter Synagoge durch Brandstiftung. Eine Spurensuche nach 87 Jahren. Vortrag von Tom Fleischhauer

In the organizer's words:

Lecture by Tom Fleischhauer, historian, history teacher and
Chairman of the Association for the Promotion of the City Archive
Followed by a panel discussion with
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Schramm, Chairman of the Jewish Community of Thuringia
Thuringia,
Dr. Michael Löffelsender, curator for the history of the concentration camp
Buchenwald at the Memorials Foundation
Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials, and
Anne Fromm, journalist for the tageszeitung
Moderation: Prof. Dr. Annegret Schüle, director of the memorial site
Pot & Sons

In 2017, the Jewish community of Thuringia handed over a file with the original
city archive a file with the original title: "Synagogue fire
1938. Opel-Beuchel". On 30 pages, it described the efforts
from 1946 to 1960 to clarify the perpetrators of the November pogrom
1938 in Erfurt became visible. In 2020, the city archive of
Erfurt published a short essay for the first time in the journal Stadt und
Geschichte on the content of this file.
According to this, witness interrogations by the criminal investigation department
Erfurt in May/June 1945 revealed that Georg Beuchel, owner of the company
Opel Beuchel, in the night from November 9 to 10, 1938, at the
request of a customer who was an SA member, 60 liters of petrol into the
house of the SA brigade in Regierungsstraße. When from there
from there, around 50 men armed with axes and hatchets set off for the synagogue
the synagogue on Kartäuserring, Beuchel and his colleagues followed them
colleagues followed them and witnessed the arson. They then drove
to the Humboldt School, where they were let in and witnessed the
mistreatment of the approximately 200 Jewish men arrested that night by the
by the SS, SA and Gestapo before they were deported to the
to the Buchenwald concentration camp.
On July 18, 1945, the board of the Thuringian synagogue community
filed a complaint with the public prosecutor's office in Erfurt against
Georg Beuchel for arson. The investigation dragged on
until Georg Beuchel evaded arrest at the beginning of 1948 by
by fleeing to the western occupation zones.
The documents in the city archives prove that Georg Beuchel
supplied the petrol and, through his stay at the synagogue
and at the Humboldt School. If he had previously known what
the petrol was used for, so was he an accomplice?
In 2021, the Mitteilungen des Vereins für die Geschichte
und Altertumskunde von Erfurt published a longer essay. Tom Fleischhauer
had collected 500 pages of documents from the Stasi
archive, the Thuringian state archive and archives in other federal states
states. As a result, the knowledge about
Georg Beuchel as the supplier of the petrol. At the same time, the
sources after 1945 showed that he vehemently denied after the war
having known what the SA man had demanded the petrol for.

The essay expands on these sources and analyzes them critically,
without answering the question of complicity.
or being able to answer the question of complicity.
In the context of his research, Tom Fleischhauer contacted a
to a descendant of Georg Beuchel in Baden-Württemberg.
in Baden-Württemberg. From an initially approachable and friendly
contact - when the question of Georg Beuchel's complicity and guilt
of Georg Beuchel's complicity in the events of November 9, 1938
was raised - a fierce dispute arose. In the meantime
Tom Fleischhauer is now confronted with the fact that his historical research
research and impartiality being publicly questioned by this descendant
publicly questioned by this descendant, personally insulted,
discredited and threatened with criminal charges.
In the spring of 2025, Tom Fleischhauer decided to make the personal
hostilities against him publicly. On July 5
2025, the tageszeitung published a report after speaking
having spoken to all those involved.

Tom Fleischhauer's lecture and the discussion panel
will address the following questions: What do the sources tell us
sources tell us about Georg Beuchel and his role on the night
of November 9/10, 1938? What does it mean when historical information about National Socialist crimes is hindered in this way and people
crimes is obstructed in this way and people who stand up for it
are intimidated?

In cooperation with
Jewish Community of Thuringia