Otto Schwabe

Otto Schwabe (born on October 2 1894 in Hanau; died on September 22 1937 ibid) was a German Jüdian physician well known in the city of Hanau, who met his death under unexplained circumstances after being arrested by the Gestapo . Schwabe came from a Jewish family long established in Hanau, whose origin was the house first mentioned in 1689 Zum Schwaben in Hanauer Judengasse (today Nordstraße).

Schwabe practiced at Hammerstraße 6. In the same house his parents had acquired the textile and furniture business K.J. Cahn . He was already on the road by car since early morning, at noon between morning and afternoon office hours, and in the evenings tirelessly to visit patients. Because such mobility was not exactly a matter of course at that time, the image of the doctor in his car was familiar to many Hanau residents. Moreover, in this way he brought countless gifts to ärmer patients during the Christmas season. If the patient was not in a position to pay or did not belong to a health insurance fund, Otto Schwabe often waived the fee, which increased his popularity, especially among the poorer classes.

Already in 1933, Schwabe had feared a decline in the number of patients in his practice. However, this did not occur until the Nürnberg laws 1935. The popular doctor was obviously inconvenient to the örtliche National Socialists and became the victim of a denunciation in the fall of 1937. A roofer claimed that Schwabe had offended his wife, a patient of many years. In addition, he was accused of having performed an abortion. Otto Schwabe was summoned to the police headquarters by telephone in the afternoon of September 21, 1937, then arrested and arrested at the Gestapo headquarters in the Hanauer Behördenhaus. He died on September 22 in the neighboring city hospital, after he had fallen out of the window in the interrogation room on the second floor of Mühlstra;e in the morning under unexplained circumstances.