Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

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By the end of 1939 all of the former staff who held religious responsibilities at
the Synagogen-Gemeinde had left. The cantor and teacher Max (Meier) Teller was
the last to leave the community. He left Magdeburg some time after July 1939
bound for Belgium. Whilst details of his exact fate remain unknown, it is known
that he was arrested in Belgium and did not survive the Shoah. 47 When Hermann
Spier was appointed to the position of teacher at the re-opened ‘Judenschule,’ the
religious community also benefited by virtue of his training and former position as
a cantor. However, most importantly, as a highly competent and diligent
individual, he became the community’s religious leader and a source of inspiration
and moral courage.
Spier was born on 22 April 1885 in Schrecksbach in the Prussian province of
Hesse-Nassau. He completed his teacher training in Jewish education at the
Jewish seminary in Kassel in 1906. 48 He was married to Frieda Kaufmann and
they had three children, Hans, Ruth and Siegbert. 49 Prior to the commencement of
his teaching duties in Magdeburg in June 1939, he had held the position of cantor
and teacher at the Synagogengemeinde Prenzlau in Brandenburg since 15 January
1934. 50 Previously, he had occupied the same post at the Synagogengemeinde
Braunsberg in East Prussia. 51
47 M. F., op. cit., 27 June 1999.
48 Correspondence from Der Vorstand der Synagogengemeinde Prenzlau, An den
Herrn Regierungspräsidenten in Potsdam, 5 February 1934, Bestand Rep. 2A I Pol,
Signatur Nr. 2010, Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv Potsdam (BLHA),
unnumbered page.
49 Personal file on the Spier family, Bestand Pe, Signatur Nr. 44, ASGM.
50 Correspondence from Der Vorstand der Synagogengemeinde Prenzlau, An den
Herrn Regierungspräsidenten in Potsdam, 5 February 1934, Bestand Rep. 2A I Pol,
Signatur Nr. 2010, BLHA, op. cit., unnumbered page.
51 Ibid.