386:
belief. His exploits included complaining in person to the
Gestapo about illegal detention of Jews. In that strange mental world of ice-cold cruelty and pseudo-bureaucratic meticulousness, Meyer succeeded in having well over a hundred Belgian and foreign Jews released one by one, arguing in detail their cases. He also alleviated the conditions of others, sometimes adducing the rights implied by military decorations awarded prior to the advent of Nazism. A man of the world, Meyer exploited the rivalry between committed Nazis and other military and civilian personnel and perhaps, too, the fear that some of his interlocutors had of facing legal retribution after the war. Meyer's initiatives were far from being of benefit solely to small numbers of people, for he arranged shelter and medical care for hundreds.
299:, a device that measures the volumetric flow rate of fluid in a closed tube. Meyer worked a good deal in exploiting the possible uses of cellulose, with applications in the form of artificial limbs, for which he also constructed new joints. In the 1920s and 1930s, Meyer was occupied with the enhanced manufacture of glass tubes, ampoules, etc. and for filling and sealing these. Already in 1906, the newlyweds could evidently make a living from the success of the inventions. The firm Rotawerke was founded in 1909 and thereafter Meyer heeded the earlier business decline of his family in that he did not draw a salary, but simply fed his own pension fund. A daughter, Kläre (later known as Claire), was born in 1907, and another, Margot, in 1909.
121:
326:, this was hailed with enthusiasm by the patriotic German public, and there was no doubt that the course of events would echo those of the rapid victory of 1870. Felix Meyer was a fervent patriot whose spirit was undaunted by defeat or postwar conditions. The debts from his father's time were finally paid off, and the family and its business prospered. Rotawerke had branches in Belgium and France and business ties to Britain. Meyer was wealthy enough to support young artists.
183:
273:, though he proved to be an indulgent father. In particular, he left his daughters free to choose their husbands. A rebel at school, he followed his father to the extent of undertaking several technical apprenticeships as a dyer, spinner, and weaver. He also took jobs in several different companies in Germany, but also in England, before joining his father's then-flagging business at the age of 22.
25:
66:
430:, Hennig commuting from there over the border daily to manage the firm. The work was not of the kind that Hennig relished, but it ensured the family's financial stability and was in any case seen by him as a duty to the memory of his revered father-in-law. The firm later became a subsidiary of the Japanese
265:, founding a successful textile factory. Moritz Meyer's son, Eduard, joined the firm and married Esther Pauline Salomon in 1874, and their daughter, Else, was born the same year, followed by five other children, of whom Felix, born in 1875, was the eldest, the others being Georg, Dora, Meta, and Erna.
368:
In
February 1939 Meyer was allowed to emigrate legally to Belgium, being married to a Belgian woman, and with the complicity of officials he knew. However, already in May Germany invaded the Netherlands and Belgium and the couple failed in an attempt to escape to France. They were now stranded as
409:
Some years passed before in 1956 the
Hennigs took the decision to return to the Continent, largely for the sake of their daughters’ future, but also to allow Hennig to take control of the Meyer business, now restored to family ownership. A plant of the firm, known as Rota, had been established at
396:
The end of hostilities in Europe brought little immediate alleviation in general conditions, though Meyer fought for his humanitarian projects and at retrieving possession of his family firm, in which he eventually met with success. The struggle may have contributed to his early death, in
Brussels
268:
Eduard Meyer's family lived well, in a sixteen-room house, with servants, a large garden, and stables. While they were not religiously fervent, they did not convert to
Christianity. In later reminiscences, Felix spoke of a happy, even boisterous, childhood, though the upbringing for the boys in the
294:
and there was a shed that Felix used for developing his inventions, which were many and varied, including forays into mechanics, chemical processes, and even medical appliances. While the definitive number of patents registered under various names is uncertain, it probably reached several hundred,
343:
of 9–10 November, during which he spent some hours under arrest. This must certainly have been a great shock for Meyer and his wife. He had taken the precaution of carrying a capsule with poison on him and in a letter to his daughters he asked them to show understanding if he or his wife should
281:
The once flourishing firm had not found in Felix's father an entrepreneurial talent to equal the firm's founder, and as Felix put it, ‘...the money disappeared rapidly since nobody knew how to earn it, but only how to spend it’. Felix Meyer rose to the occasion with innovation. For one thing, he
385:
In Aachen,Meyer had been a prominent public figure, well known among others to high-ranking army officers. In Nazi-occupied
Belgium Something of this status remained and Meyer exploited it in favour of his fellow Jews. He showed remarkable strength of character and a courage that almost defies
376:
to prepare a home there for his wife and children, who joined him a month later. Despite the separation and the many difficulties of these years, Felix Meyer and his wife
Marguerite maintained a strongly affectionate relationship with their daughter and her family.
282:
invented a twin loom, but the sale of the patent was insufficient to relaunch the factory's fortunes and in 1905 he convinced his father to sell the mill, taking on the remaining debts himself. In 1906, Felix married
Marguerite Darmstaedter, a
338:
constituted a danger. In Meyer's case, he even returned to
Germany in 1938 from a journey to the United States with his wife. That same year, however, events caught up with him, especially after the so-called
422:
took on its management, but the events of the Nazi period were such that the family could not bring itself to refound their family life on German soil. Instead, they took up residence in nearby
322:, towards becoming a vast militaristic-industrial complex and simultaneously largely losing control of its own foreign policy. When the summer of 1914 saw the outbreak of the
517:
38:
512:
295:
including new designs of a loom, and processes for manufacturing multi-colored yarns or fabrics. Particularly well-known is the instrument known as the
473:
527:
452:
Die
Verfolgung und Ermordung der europäischen Jüden durch das nazionalsozialistischen Deutschland, 12 West- und Nordeuropa Juni 1942–1945
445:
Felix Meyer 1875-1950. Erfinder und Menschenretter: ein Jude rettet Juden im besetzten Belgien; sein Leben dargestellt an Hand von Briefen
229:
164:
142:
102:
84:
76:
52:
204:
44:
334:
Meyer remained a German patriot and, like other assimilated Jews of the time, refused to believe that the rise to power of the
522:
542:
474:
https://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do;jsessionid=8108D3572FE8297F4515D0323C8B1648?articleId=a3936&prev=prev
319:
195:
135:
129:
389:
As to Felix Meyer's humanitarian activities in wartime Belgium, many testimonies are conserved at Jerusalem's
369:
German Jews in German-occupied Belgium, a situation which lasted till the liberation by the Allies in 1944.
344:
decide to commit suicide. By the end of the year Meyer had been forced out of the firm under the so-called '
291:
303:
146:
345:
348:' process, and its management had been reluctantly taken over for the greater part by his son-in-law
537:
532:
315:
270:
431:
411:
373:
372:
Later that same year, in October 1939, Meyer's son-in-law Hennig emigrated legally to the
323:
307:
182:
283:
254:
506:
397:
on 14 April 1950. He is buried in the Alter Jüdischer Friedhof (Old Jewish Cemetery)
340:
415:
427:
419:
357:
353:
349:
390:
335:
311:
258:
296:
352:, husband since 1933 of Meyer's daughter Kläre and with her a convert to
261:. His brothers Elias and Moses (later Moritz) established themselves at
457:
Catherine Massange, 'L’Hôpital israélite de Bruxelles (1943-1944)', in
398:
287:
262:
423:
492:
C. Massange, 'L’Hôpital israélite de Bruxelles (1943-1944)', in
286:
national, and they set up a home in the Kurs Brunnenstrasse, in
176:
114:
59:
18:
245:(1875–1950) was a German industrialist of Jewish descent.
401:. With him is buried his wife, Esther, who died in 1966.
200:
318:
followed its destiny, especially during the reign of
290:. Though the dwelling was modest, it was near the
257:family with roots traceable to sixteenth-century
8:
53:Learn how and when to remove these messages
518:Businesspeople from North Rhine-Westphalia
414:) in Germany, on the southern edge of the
454:, De Gruyter, Oldenbourg, 2015, dok. 205.
443:Felix Meyer & Amelis von Mettenheim,
230:Learn how and when to remove this message
165:Learn how and when to remove this message
103:Learn how and when to remove this message
364:Emigration of the Meyers and the Hennigs
128:This article includes a list of general
494:Les Cahiers de la Mémoire contemporaine
485:
459:Les Cahiers de la Mémoire contemporaine
466:Hennig, Paul Gottfried Johannes (John)
447:, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1998.
269:family was severe, involving regular
7:
450:Clemens Maier-Wolthausen, (et al.),
513:Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany
134:it lacks sufficient corresponding
75:tone or style may not reflect the
14:
464:Gisela Holfter and Horst Rasche,
34:This article has multiple issues.
181:
119:
85:guide to writing better articles
64:
23:
16:German industrialist (1875–1950)
42:or discuss these issues on the
1:
528:20th-century German inventors
470:Dictionary of Irish Biography
194:to comply with Knowledge's
559:
496:7 (2006), here pp. 16-17.
356:, in Hennig's case from
314:in the aftermath of the
253:Felix Meyer came from a
207:may contain suggestions.
192:may need to be rewritten
149:more precise citations.
523:German industrialists
292:Cologne-Liège railway
304:united German Empire
316:Franco-Prussian War
271:corporal punishment
543:People from Aachen
330:The Rude Awakening
306:proclaimed in the
405:The Firm Survives
320:Kaiser William II
240:
239:
232:
222:
221:
196:quality standards
175:
174:
167:
113:
112:
105:
79:used on Knowledge
77:encyclopedic tone
57:
550:
497:
490:
374:Irish Free State
235:
228:
217:
214:
208:
185:
177:
170:
163:
159:
156:
150:
145:this article by
136:inline citations
123:
122:
115:
108:
101:
97:
94:
88:
87:for suggestions.
83:See Knowledge's
68:
67:
60:
49:
27:
26:
19:
558:
557:
553:
552:
551:
549:
548:
547:
503:
502:
501:
500:
491:
487:
482:
440:
438:Further reading
407:
393:memorial site.
383:
381:Wartime Belgium
366:
332:
324:First World War
308:Hall of Mirrors
279:
251:
236:
225:
224:
223:
218:
212:
209:
199:
186:
171:
160:
154:
151:
141:Please help to
140:
124:
120:
109:
98:
92:
89:
82:
73:This article's
69:
65:
28:
24:
17:
12:
11:
5:
556:
554:
546:
545:
540:
535:
530:
525:
520:
515:
505:
504:
499:
498:
484:
483:
481:
478:
477:
476:
462:
461:7 (2006) 13-35
455:
448:
439:
436:
406:
403:
382:
379:
365:
362:
331:
328:
278:
275:
255:liberal Jewish
250:
247:
238:
237:
220:
219:
189:
187:
180:
173:
172:
127:
125:
118:
111:
110:
72:
70:
63:
58:
32:
31:
29:
22:
15:
13:
10:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
555:
544:
541:
539:
536:
534:
531:
529:
526:
524:
521:
519:
516:
514:
511:
510:
508:
495:
489:
486:
479:
475:
471:
467:
463:
460:
456:
453:
449:
446:
442:
441:
437:
435:
433:
429:
425:
421:
417:
413:
412:Bad Säckingen
404:
402:
400:
394:
392:
387:
380:
378:
375:
370:
363:
361:
359:
355:
351:
347:
342:
341:Kristallnacht
337:
329:
327:
325:
321:
317:
313:
309:
305:
300:
298:
293:
289:
285:
276:
274:
272:
266:
264:
260:
256:
248:
246:
244:
234:
231:
216:
206:
202:
197:
193:
190:This article
188:
184:
179:
178:
169:
166:
158:
148:
144:
138:
137:
131:
126:
117:
116:
107:
104:
96:
86:
80:
78:
71:
62:
61:
56:
54:
47:
46:
41:
40:
35:
30:
21:
20:
493:
488:
469:
465:
458:
451:
444:
416:Black Forest
408:
395:
388:
384:
371:
367:
346:Arianization
333:
301:
280:
277:New Energies
267:
252:
242:
241:
226:
213:January 2022
210:
201:You can help
191:
161:
155:January 2022
152:
133:
99:
90:
74:
50:
43:
37:
36:Please help
33:
538:1950 deaths
533:1875 births
428:Switzerland
420:John Hennig
410:Säckingen (
358:Lutheranism
354:Catholicism
350:John Hennig
249:Early years
243:Felix Meyer
147:introducing
93:August 2017
507:Categories
480:References
391:Yad Vashem
336:Nazi party
312:Versailles
259:Westphalia
130:references
39:improve it
297:Rotameter
205:talk page
45:talk page
432:Yokogawa
434:group.
284:Belgian
143:improve
418:area.
399:Aachen
288:Aachen
263:Aachen
203:. The
132:, but
468:, in
424:Basel
472:,
302:The
310:at
509::
426:,
360:.
48:.
233:)
227:(
215:)
211:(
198:.
168:)
162:(
157:)
153:(
139:.
106:)
100:(
95:)
91:(
81:.
55:)
51:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
