SOMMER, EMIL

SOMMER, EMIL (1869–1947), Austrian soldier. Born in Dorna Watra / Vatra Dornei, Bukovina, Sommer was one of the top graduates from the cadets' school and served on the general staff. During World War I he commanded a regiment and was highly respected. In 1923 he retired as a full colonel and later received the brevet rank of major general. Sommer was head of the Austrian Jewish War Veterans (Bund juedischer Frontsoldaten Oesterreichs) until the organization split over his strong monarchist views in March 1934. He and his supporters founded a monarchist-oriented War Veterans Organization (Legitimistische Juedische Frontkaempfer). Following the Anschluss newspapers reported that he was forced to sweep the streets in his general's uniform with all his decorations. This false report was a pure invention; he was, however, arrested. In 1942 he and his wife, Anna, née Mittler, were deported to Theresienstadt. He managed to survive and after the liberation returned to Vienna. Sommer immigrated to the United States, where he died. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: E.A. Schmidl, Juden in der K. (u.) K. Armee 1788–1918 (1989), 148; The National Jewish Monthly (Nov. 1946), 90–91. (Mordechai Kaplan / Albert Lichtblau (2nd ed.)