Leo Sonder

Leo Sonder was born in Mainstockheim near Kitzingen (Lower Franconia), the son of master butcher Simon Sonder. After attending the local secondary school, he began a commercial apprenticeship before enlisting in the army during the First World War. In August 1918, he was shot in the lung but survived. He was discharged from the army and completed his apprenticeship.

On 29 December 1924, he married Cäcilie (known as Zita) Stern in Würzburg – the marriage produced a son, Justin. Since March 1923, the family had been living in Chemnitz-Kaßberg at 12 Germaniastraße (now Rudolf-Breitscheid-Straße). Here, Leo worked as a wine and spirits wholesaler alongside his brother Berthold Sonder and Siegfried Fleischmann. The business was wound up in June 1927 – from then on, Leo worked as a travelling sales representative for the wine wholesalers “S. Sonder & Co.” in Kitzingen.

His business licence was revoked in September 1938. During the November pogroms of 1938, he fled from Chemnitz to stay with acquaintances in Saxon Switzerland, thereby escaping arrest. Shortly afterwards, he returned, living at 1 Lindenstraße (formerly in the town centre) and performing forced labour in the forest, then in a brickworks and finally at the E. F. Barthel lighting factory in Altchemnitz. In 1940, he was forced to move to the ‘Judenhaus’ at 74 Zschopauer Straße (Bernsdorf), and in 1942 to the ‘Judenhaus’ at 18 Apollostraße (city centre).

In September 1942, Leo and his wife Cäcilie were deported to Theresienstadt, and sent to Auschwitz the following January. There, Leo survived as a “locksmith” and was forced to work in the quarry and transport units – Cäcilie did not survive.

He remained in the camp until 18 January 1945, after which he was forced to undertake death marches to Sachsenhausen, Flossenbürg, Natzweiler and Dachau, amongst other places.

On 1 May 1945, he was liberated by the US Army. In June 1945, Leo returned to Chemnitz with his son Justin.

In Chemnitz, Sonder joined the SPD and helped found the Jewish Community. On 17 November 1945, he married Hertha Müller, the daughter of the former Saxon Minister of the Interior, Max Müller.

In 1946, he took over the interim management of a laundry, which he purchased in July 1947. In 1948, Leo was elected to the executive committee of the Jewish Community as the administrator responsible for the community cemetery. He last lived at 16 Franz-Mehring-Straße (Kaßberg) in Chemnitz.

On 6 January 1949, he died there of a heart attack and was buried in the Jewish Cemetery. His widow, Hertha Studnitzka, died in 1992.

In memory of Leo Sonder, a Stolperstein will be laid on 7 May 2021 in front of the house at 74 Zschopauer Straße, where a stone was already installed in 2007 for Cäcilie (Zita) Sonder, who was murdered in Auschwitz.