Generalmajor Emil Samuel von Sommer

Emil Samuel Sommer is born in Dorna Watra [today: Vatra Dornei in Romania] as the legitimate son of the merchant Aron Sommer and Franziska, née Drach. The family is Jewish. Emil Sommer attended elementary school and grammar school in Suczawa [today: Suceava in Romania], where he graduated in 1888. He then worked in a bank in Suczawa for a year before enlisting as a one-year volunteer in the army in Lviv [today: Lvov in Ukraine] in 1889. He remained in the military and was subsequently deployed in various infantry regiments (IR 30, IR 24, IR 6, IR 50, IR 24, IR 3, IR 20 and IR 100). In 1894, he took the supplementary examination to become a professional officer. In 1900 he married Teresia Jonas, who died a year later. In 1908, he married Anna Mittler, who was also Jewish, for the second time. This marriage produced two children.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Emil Sommer was a first lieutenant. As a battalion commander and now promoted to captain, he is wounded on the Austro-Russian front at the Uszoker Pass in 1915 and becomes a Russian prisoner of war. After an unsuccessful escape attempt, he manages to flee from the Novo Nikolayevsk camp via Finland to his home country. He was immediately sent to the Austro-Italian front and took part in the Piave offensive in June 1918 as regimental commander. In the same year, he was promoted to colonel and raised to the nobility.

After the defeat of Austria-Hungary, the break-up of the dual monarchy and the expulsion of the imperial family, Emil von Sommer was transferred to the Austrian army. He became commander of the Vienna IR 5 and took an active part in the defensive battles during the Hungarian occupation of Burgenland in 1921/1922. He retired on December 31, 1922 and was appointed Major General in 1924.

In 1932, Emil von Sommer founded the Bund jüdischer Frontsoldaten (BJF), of which he became Federal Chairman. The Bund jüdischer Frontsoldaten is not only an association of former front-line soldiers, but also a defensive movement against the growing anti-Semitism spilling over from Germany. Due to internal disputes, it split from the BJF and founded the Legitimist Jewish Front Fighters (LJF) in 1934. The staunch Austrian Otto von Habsburg, who had been expelled from his homeland, took over the patronage of this organization.

In September 1936, Emil von Sommer also founded the Reichsverband jüdischer Legitimisten (Reich Association of Jewish Legitimists), whose aim was to bring about the unification of all monarchist Jewish associations. In his organizations, the passionate Austrian patriot opposes the National Socialism coming from Germany with all his might.

On 12 March 1938, he has to witness how the free and independent Austria perishes with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. The next day, he was picked up for a "friction party". [Note: After the occupation of Austria, primarily Jews but also opponents of the regime were forced to clear the streets of pro-Austrian slogans. This took place to the cheers of the National Socialist mob and was intended as humiliation and mockery.] Emil von Sommer asked for permission to change his clothes and appeared in the Austrian Major General's uniform with all his decorations. The mob then withdrew.