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    Title

  • Collection of WWI related items from Simon Mühlfelder

  • Physical Description

    17 objects : chalk, porcelain, metal ; variable measurements., + boxes for medals

  • Date

    early 20th century

  • Summary

    2019.11a Chalk carving of the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Bavaria. Under the coat of arms is the text "1914 Arras 1916", and on the back is inscribed the name "Inft. Klaus 2/.1/1916." Simon Mühlfelder served in the Bavarian Army during World War I.

    2019.11b Porcelain plaque featuring a painting of a horse. The horse was the mount of Simon Mühlfelder's during World War I. The artist Otto Graebner signed the bottom of the painting.

    2019.11c Box containing fifteen military decorations awarded to Simon Mühlfelder for his service during World War I. The medals include the Prinz-Regent-Luitpold Jubiläums-Medaille, the Sachsen Meiningen Ehrenkreuz, the Königlich Bayerischer Militär-Verdienstorden. Kreuz 4. Klasse mit Schwertern, various classes of Iron Crosses (Eiserne Kreuz) , and a chain of miniature reproductions of the medals. Two ribbons are also included in the box. Also included is a typed card, affixed with a pin, that honors Simon Mühlfelder for fifteen years of loyal cooperation with the Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands, dated June 26, 1960.

  • Subject

    Military decorations; Medals; World War, 1914-1918

  • Genre

    Commemorative medals

  • Medium

    Objects; Medals; Numismatics

  • Part Of

    Mühlfelder and Roeckert Families Collection, AR 25844

  • Accession Number

  • URL

Biographical/Historical Information

Simon Mühlfelder was born on April 9, 1884, in Walldorf (Meiningen), Germany, to Jakob Mühlfelder (1853-1922) and Karoline Mühlfelder née Weiskopf (1856-1905). Simon formally left the Jewish religion after the death of his father. He became a physician and served as a staff surgeon during World War I. On October 22, 1912, Simon married Martha Kassel (1880-1952), who was also a physician, in Berlin. They later divorced. On July 29, 1926, Simon married Hedwig Roeckert in Berlin. His son Claus (later Charles) was born in 1927.

When Simon was forced to give up his medical practice in 1938 under Nazi racial laws, the family moved in with Agnes Roeckert, where they remained until the end of the war. In early 1943, Simon was among those rounded up as part of the Fabrikaktion and transported to Rosenstrasse 2-4. Hedwig joined the other non-Jewish wives of these men in protesting their detention; the men, including Simon, were ultimately released. Hedwig Mühlfelder died on March 10, 1954, in Berlin. Simon Mühlfelder died in Berlin on July 24, 1965.

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Citation

Collection of WWI related items from Simon Mühlfelder, Leo Baeck Institute, 2019.11a-c.