Emil Buchholz

Emil Buchholz was a mason who became a member of the SPD in 1904. From 1910, he worked as a health insurance company employee. In 1916 he was employed by the AOK in Schöneberg. He was a member of the cooperative society and was also on the board of the cooperative society in Berlin. In the snap elections of 1933, brought forward by Hitler following his appointment as Chancellor, he was re-elected city councillor. Following the SPD ban in June 1933 and the Decree for Safety of the Leadership of State passed in July, he was unseated and barred from acting as a city or local councillor. On 14.9.1933, he was dismissed by the Schöneberg AOK for political reasons. His pension was reduced by 25 percent. He subsequently worked as an insurance agent. In September 1942, he was reinstated by the AOK to make up the labour shortage caused by the war. He was arrested during Aktion Gewitter in August 1944 and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Unlike many others arrested then, he was not released after a few weeks. It is not known if another reason was given for his arrest, as occurred in similar cases. In the last days before the camp was liberated, a fellow prisoner from Schöneberg saw him in Block 8 of the camp. The prisoners were then forced on a death march to Mecklenburg under the supervision of the SS. Outside Schwerin, all the prisoners were re-assembled. Emil Buchholz was no longer among them. Since his family never heard anything from him again, he presumably died of exhaustion or was shot on the march by a guard. The district court of Schöneberg determined his date of death as 30.4.1945.

Emil Buchholz was a city councillor; 1929 – 1933 nominated for election (SPD)