German-Jewish Resistance fighter during the period of National Socialism (Nazism). His acknowledgement of his Jewish heritage, which he made in 1942 during one of his periods of captivity by the Gestapo, has been frequently proclaimed and used as an example of Jewish resistance to the National Socialist regime.
After the National Socialists seized power, Hornstein emigrated to Amsterdam and opened a leathergoods business. In May 1940, during World War II, as the National Socialists occupied the Netherlands, he was still able to liquidate his business and with the proceeds from the sale of his business to acquire jewelry and other valuables. However, he was not able to leave the Netherlands and flee abroad.
Hornstein was captured by the security police (Sicherheitsdienst or SD) and transferred to the prison in Düsseldorf, where he was first detained and then also tortured. During one of his periods of imprisonment by the Gestapo, Hornstein wrote the following declaration about his Jewish identity on 24 January 1942:
I possess German citizenship and according to the letter of the law I am considered a German citizen. However, as a Jew, I have, for all practical purposes, lost all rights in Germany, and was therefore forced to seek a new homeland … […] … As a Jew, I fought [in Spain] for my convictions and my rights. Under the present circumstances I no longer consider myself a German citizen and would use every opportunity that I might be given, to become a citizen of another country, where, as a Jew, I would be prepared, at any time, to fight for my rights. I have no further comments to make.
On 6 March 1942, Hornstein was taken into protective custody at level three (as “especially dangerous”) and transferred to the Buchenwald concentration camp, where he arrived on 7 May 1942. There he was placed under constant surveillance and was not allowed to work. Georg Hornstein was murdered by members of the SS in Buchenwald on 3 September 1942 at age 41.
Link to Wikipedia biography