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Max Neubacher * 1894

Kalischerstraße 3 (Harburg, Harburg)

HIER WOHNTE
MAX NEUBACHER
JG. 1894
SPANIENKÄMPFER
TOT 10.1.1938

Max Neubacher, b. 4.19.1895 in Harburg, died in the Spanish Civil War on 1.10.1938

Harburg-Altstadt district, Kalischerstrasse 3

Max Neubacher was born in 1895 as his birth certificate shows, a wrong year of birth given in old literature causes the inscription of the stumbling block.

The worker Max Neubacher was a Communist and led the "Red Sailors" in Harburg, a section of the "Red Front-Fighters Alliance," which was banned in Prussia (and also in Harburg) after the bloody Berlin May Day of 1929. According to the directory, he lived at Neue Strasse 14 and worked as a "dealer" and "messenger." Further addresses listed were Bremer Strasse 127 (1928) and Friedrich-Naumann Strasse 8 (1930). He married Luise Attermüller, b. 7.23.1894 in Magdeburg. His brother August was born on 6.29.1903. He joined the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 1935 and then, in 1931, the Communist Party (KPD).

After the Reichstag Fire on 27 February 1933, Max Neubacher, like many other Communists and Social Democrats, was taken into "protective custody," spending from 6 March to 1 June 1933 in the Harburg court jail on Buxtehude street. He was transferred from there to the court jail in Altona. Nothing is known concerning a judicial process or conviction.

In 1934, together with his brother August, he made contact with Karl Nieter, who later emigrated to Denmark and, as a courier in the Communist resistance, came to Harburg repeatedly. August Neubacher often accommodated Karl Nieter in his home at Langen Strasse 14 (today, Goldtschmidtstrasse). In 1937 August Neubacher was arrested, sent to Kola-Fu (Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp), then to detention in Hamburg and Berlin; he was convicted of "preparation for high treason" (as part of the Günther trial). He survived the Nazi period and after the war lived in Fischbek (house no. 175).

Even earlier, Max Neubacher had once again attracted the attention of the Gestapo. He probably sensed this and left by ship for Denmark. His last address in Harburg was Feldstrasse 3a, adjacent to the present Haus at Kalischerstrasse 3. From 15 August 1935 he was classified as "address unknown." Luise Neubacher at first remained in the dwelling at Feldstrasse 3a; in June 1938 she moved to Gerade Strasse 8.

On 18 July 1936, Spanish generals under the leadership of Francisco France staged a coup against the democratically elected Popular Front government of the Spanish Republic. They were supported militarily by National Socialist Germany and Fascist Italy. German transport carriers flew Franco’s mercenary army from Spanish Morocco to the Spanish mainland; later Germany and Italy also sent troops, for example, the German "Condor Legion."

From all over Europe and the USA, volunteers came to support the Spanish Republic‘s fight against fascism. They were organized in "International Brigades." The leadership of the Social Democratic and Communist parties in exile had called for support of the legal government. The later chairmen of the Social Democratic Party Willy Brandt and Erich Ollenhauer served as journalists or performed political functions in Spain.

Many émigrés who wanted to fight in the "International Brigades" made their – sometimes perilous – way to Spain. Because France pursued a policy of "neutrality" in the civil war, it went so far as to make the crossing of the French-Spanish border illegal for anti-fascists.

Among the men from Harburg who fought in Spain on the side of the Republic was Max Neubacher. He was in the Chapayev Battalion and served as the platoon leader of the 1st Company. Named after one of the army leaders of the Soviets against the "Whites" (bourgeoisie and monarchists) in the Russian Civil War, this battalion was composed mainly of Germans and Austrians. It was part of the 13th International Brigade. After the costly battle at Brunete (July 1937), it was dissolved and merged with the 11th Brigade.

The Chapayev Battalion fought in April 1937 at the Andalusian-Estremadura border, taking part in the storming of the railroad station at Valsequillo. Max Neubacher was later promoted to Teniente (lieutenant) and singled out for his bravery there. He wrote a detailed report of this battle for "Chapayev – Battalion of 21 Nations," which appeared in German in Madrid in 1938.

From December 1937 to February 1938, there were violent struggles for the City of Teruel in the south of the Province of Aragon. The city lay only 87 miles from the Mediterranean. Coming from the North, Franco’s troops wanted to cut the Republican zone in two (which they later succeeded in doing). The city changed hands twice until, in February, Franco finally was victorious. Max Neubacher fell in these battles on 10 January 1938 in the Province of Concud on the road from Teruel to Zaragoza.


Translator: Richard Levy (addition Beate Meyer)

Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: November 2017
© Hans Joachim Meyer

Quellen: StaH, 332-5_12902/567/1895; VVN-BdA Harburg (Hrsg.), Die anderen, S. 55, 169ff.; Hochmuth/Meyer, Streiflichter, S. 176, 201; StaH, 332-8 Meldewesen, A44, A46; StaH, 430-64 Amtsgericht Harburg II B 25; StaH, Adressbücher Harburg-Wilhelmsburg; VVN, Komitee-Akten; Heyl/Maronde-Heyl, Abschlussbericht; Totenliste VAN.