Max Samuel (9 January 1883 – 2 September 1942) was a German businessman and self-made man, founder and managing-director of the EMSA-Werke, chair of the Jewish congregation in Rostock and head deputy of the Israelite Upper Council of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (board of deputies of Mecklenburg Jews).
Life Years until 1920 Max Samuel was born into a poor family as penultimate child of seven siblings. His parents were Jacob Itzig (1840–1918) and Rosalie Schrubski (1849–1934). When Max was five years old the Itzig family altered its surname to Samuel, as on 2 June 1888 the Royal Bromberg Regional Government granted the family's request. He left primary education on Easter 1897 at the age of 14 and went to live and work with his elder brother James Samuel (1871–1933) in Güstrow (Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin) where the latter had opened a shoe business (Schuhwaarenhaus J. Samuel).Rosemarie Korn and Solveig Weltzien, Spuren jüdischer Geschichte in Güstrow, Förderverein Region Güstrow e.V. (ed.), Güstrow: Koepcke & Co., 1997, pp. 10seq. No ISBN. In Güstrow Max Samuel was educated in the trades of shoemaking and business and then also worked as a travelling salesman.Herbert Samuel and Ilse Samuel, Befragung Dr. Herbert und Ilse Samuel, Lower Darwen/Blackburn (England), 21.-23. August 1991 (Frank Schröder, interviewer), Max-Samuel-Haus archive sign. SAMU 19910821 IV.
He was very ambitious and tried to develop many inventions using the early opportunity provided by his brother's shoemaking workshop. For example, in 1907 he invented a brush for maintaining suede shoes which was patented in Germany in 1926Max Samuel. Bürste mit Borsten und Bürstenkörper aus Gummi. Patent 454,943 issued on 30 September 1926. and in the United States in 1931,Max Samuel. Rubber Brush. U.S. Patent 1,817,585 filed on 12 February 1930 and issued on 4 August 1931. as Max Samuel's business was export-oriented. Max Samuel called in specialists to contribute their medical or orthopedic expertise for new inventions, such as Willi Sawitz (1893–1957He was the son of Rostock's hazzan and Jewish religion teacher Bernhard Sawitz (1849–1930; né Sawellowicz) and, denied to marry his fiancé Toni Voss in Germany, since she was classified as a so-called Aryan, they emigrated to the US in November 1935, at last faculty at the Jefferson Medical College.), Joseph May or Paul Lengemann.Cf. Der neue EMSA-Katalog: 25 Jahre vorwärts und aufwärts im Dienste an Kunden! 1906–1931, EMSA-Werke (ed.), Rostock: Hinstorff, 1931, pp. 4 and 28.
On 1 June 1906 his brother gave him control of the shoe business which Max Samuel renamed the EMSA-Werke. Later that year Max Samuel and Berta Geßner (1878–1937) married,Hilary Thomas, From Poland to Paradise Lane and other journeys: A History of the Blackburn Jewish Community, without place of imprint: self-publishing, 2018, p. 193. No ISBN. and their children, Herbert Gerson (, transliterated ; 1907–1992) and Käte Gitel (;Entry No. 431 in: Geburtenregister der Israelitischen Gemeinde Güstrow 1819–1918 (1819–1918 birth register of the Güstrow Jewish Congregation). 1910–1987; later Kate), were born in Güstrow. Rosa and Jacob Samuel came to Herbert's briss on 25 May 1907 to Güstrow, where they served as kvatters.Entry No. 424 in: Geburtenregister der Israelitischen Gemeinde Güstrow 1819–1918 (1819–1918 birth register of the Güstrow Jewish Congregation).
The conditions in Güstrow were not opportune for Max Samuel's expanding business. In 1916 he therefore rented a plot on Rostock's Friedrichstraße 28 in Rostock's neighbourhood and had his factory moved there,Frank Schröder, „Rostock“, in: Wegweiser durch das jüdische Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Irene Diekmann (ed.) on behalf of the Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum für europäisch-jüdische Studien, Potsdam: Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, 1998, (=Beiträge zur Geschichte und Kultur der Juden in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sachsen-Anhalt, Sachsen und Thüringen; vol. 2), pp. 195–223, here p. 202. .On 16 May 1916 the company was registered in the company registry at the Rostock Grand Ducal Amtsgericht. where, at the company's zenith, about 150 people were employed.Frank Schröder, „Max Samuel“ (entry), in: 100 jüdische Persönlichkeiten aus Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Stiftung Begegnungsstätte für jüdische Geschichte und Kultur in Rostock (ed.), Rostock: Stadtdruckerei Weidner, 2003, (=Schriften aus dem Max-Samuel-Haus; vol. 4), pp. 141–142, here p. 141. No ISBN. On 17 October 1918 Max Samuel attended as groomsman his cousin Gustav Schrubski's (1879–1971) wedding with Toska Gunkel (1884–1967) in Stettin.
In 1919 Max Samuel purchased the said premises on Friedrichstraße from their owner Kurt Orth. At the factory was also a training centre for salespeople, shoe artisansDas goldene Buch der deutschen Schuh- und Lederwirtschaft: 1857–1932 (Festgabe aus Anlass des 75jährigen Bestehens des Verlages), Franz Sailer and Max Wittenberg (eds.), Berlin: Verlag Schuh und Leder, 1932, p. 308. and chiropodists.Der neue EMSA-Katalog: 25 Jahre vorwärts und aufwärts im Dienste an Kunden! 1906–1931, EMSA-Werke (ed.), Rostock: Hinstorff, 1931, p. 31. Max Samuel usually concerned himself directly with factory matters.
At first the Samuels lived in a rented flat on Schröderstraße 20, as of 1919 they rented a flat in the house on Stephanstraße 8a on the corner of Schillerplatz. Their landlords there were (1872–1943, Theresienstadt) and his wife Margarete (née Salomon; 1881–1943, Theresienstadt). Richard Siegmann was the majority shareholder and director of the , running the trams in Rostock.
Max Samuel and Richard Siegmann became friends, and when in October 1919 Samuel had a dangerous car accident Siegmann replaced him as managing director till his reconvalescence in November 1920.Jan-Peter Schulze, Richard Siegmann: ... aber wir waren Deutsche, Stiftung Begegnungsstätte für jüdische Geschichte und Kultur in Rostock (ed.), Rostock: Redieck & Schade, 2011, (=Schriften aus dem Max-Samuel-Haus; vol. 11), p. 104. On 11 April 1921 Samuel acquired from Gustav Adolf Reinbeck, lord of the manor of Röstenberg, as his home a which was erected in 1912 and designed by (1875–1945, suicide) for the professor of physiology (1879–1963).Kristine Schlaefer and Frank Schröder, Führer zu Orten jüdischer Geschichte in Rostock, Stiftung Begegnungsstätte für Jüdische Geschichte und Kultur in Rostock (ed.), Rostock: Redieck & Schade, 2002, (=Schriften aus dem Max-Samuel-Haus; vol. 1), p. 9. No ISBN. In the famine years during the war and the inflation, Max Samuel donated to supply emergency kitchens.„Hunger tut weh!“, in: Rostocker Anzeiger, 30 November 1922.
Max Samuel's commitment to humans and society
Max Samuel did not really observe the sabbath rest and did not maintain a kosher diet, but diligently avoided snubbing feelings of those who did, such as his father-in-law Jakob Geßner (1848–1937). However, he was very and authentically Jewish in appreciating and valuing human life, aiming to support, maintain, rescue, or protect it, he wanted to take away problems from humans so that they could truly live, thus he sanctified life, the highest Jewish value. According to Herbert, Max Samuel was very impulsive and generous, and he was excited by opportunities to help people. He was very compassionate and his sympathy could be quickly excited. In religious matters he wanted to support the troubled Jewish congregation, which – having lost all its savings in the inflation between 1914 and 1924 as so many private people and charities – was brought back into solvency with his financial acumen.Frank Schröder, „Max Samuel: ‹Hauptsache anständig› – Ausstellung und Vorträge über den Rostocker Unternehmer, Gemeindevorsitzenden und Flüchtling“, in: Hanse Anzeiger, 22 February 2006, Lokales p. 15.
In January 1923, the Rostock Jewish Congregation () had amended its constitution,Gemeindeordnung für die israelitischen Einwohner der Stadt Rostock, des Stadtfeldes, der Kämmereigüter, der Hospitalgüter und Warnemündes, Schwerin in Meckl.: typescript, 1923. accounting for the separation of state and religion in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, as prescribed by her new constitution of April 1919, Constitution of the Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (), mainly authored by the liberal Jewish lawyer (1853–1929) from Schwerin in Mecklenburg. In February 1923 Max Samuel succeeded Siegmund Bernhard (1846–1934) as chair of Rostock's Jewish congregationMecklenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv, 10.72-1 Israelitischer Oberrat, 28 [Geschäftsbetrieb des Oberrates, Rechts- und Personalangelegenheiten des Oberrates und der Landesversammlung (Handakten des Rechtsanwalts Dr. Richard Josephy)], folio 43, 23 February 1923 (protocol of the inauguration of the elected members of the board of directors of the Rostock Israelite Congregation, namely Arnold Bernhard, Siegfried Marchand and Max Samuel, in presence of Gustav Goldstaub and Friedrich Rubensohn). which was the largest in the then two Mecklenburgs. He reformed the congregation's taxes (member dues).
While a businessman in Rostock, Max Samuel liked playing football with his dog (a competition he referred to as the dog team vs. EMSA-Werke). He wanted his children to be extensively educated, as he had left school at the age of 14 and did not want his children to experience that. Although he was not academically trained, he was very pragmatic and socially intelligent. As his granddaughter Ruth Kaiser Nelson recalled – when he had time for himself, he enjoyed being engrossed in reading newspapers. In politics he also joined and supported the new German Democratic Party (DDP), founded in 1918.Frank Schröder, „Rostock“, in: Wegweiser durch das jüdische Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Irene Diekmann (ed.) on behalf of the Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum für europäisch-jüdische Studien, Potsdam: Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, 1998, (=Beiträge zur Geschichte und Kultur der Juden in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sachsen-Anhalt, Sachsen und Thüringen; vol. 2), pp. 195–223, here p. 205. . In 1930 he was elected a member of Mecklenburg-Schwerin's five-person state executive committee of the German State Party (DStP)Ingrid Ehlers and Frank Schröder, Zwischen Emanzipation und Vernichtung: zur Geschichte der Juden in Rostock, Rostock: Stadtarchiv, 1988, (=Schriftenreihe des Stadtarchivs Rostock; no. 9), p. 33. No ISBN. which was the DDP's successor.
He often had visitors in his home and enjoyed socialising. Every two weeks he collected an economic and political 'club' to his fireplace room for coffee, cognac, and cigars. This group was a circle of democrats, among them the liberal local chief postmaster Heinrich Greve (1868–1936), Ludwig Klein (insurance broker), (1881–1963; publisher und art patron), (1876–1950; owner of the Haliflor perfume and cosmetics factory), (1864–1938; chemical manufacturer), and seldom Otto Hörsing (Social Democratic Party of Germany [SPD]).Jan-Peter Schulze, Richard Siegmann: ... aber wir waren Deutsche, Stiftung Begegnungsstätte für jüdische Geschichte und Kultur in Rostock (ed.), Rostock: Redieck & Schade, 2011, (=Schriften aus dem Max-Samuel-Haus; vol. 11), p. 147.