Arztpraxis Dr. med. Paul Marcus
The popular physician Dr. med. Paul Marcus (born 1887, Pferdemarkt 7) practised in Schwaan and took his own life with poison in summer 1936 after hostility against him [1]. The Stolperstein laid for him at Pferdemarkt 7 bears the inscription "Humiliated / deprived of rights / flight into death / 1936" [1].
The physician and his practice
Paul Marcus was born in 1887, practised as a physician in Schwaan and lived at Pferdemarkt 7 [1][2]. He was the brother of the merchant Willi Marcus and of Alice Marcus [3][4].
After the Nazi seizure of power, extraordinarily active antisemitic propaganda was carried on in Schwaan. At all public meetings people were told not to buy from Jews, and smears kept appearing on shop windows and house walls, which rests on a report of the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens of 22 March 1935. According to this account particular difficulties were made for the popular physician, presumably prompted by another, non-Jewish physician who had first practised in Schwaan and later became district physician and head of the health office in Hagenow. His non-Jewish consulting-hour assistant is also said to have contributed to the reprisals.
Suicide in 1936
In summer 1936 Paul Marcus poisoned himself [1][3]. Contrary to the political mood many people of Schwaan joined the funeral procession, and it was the last burial in the Jewish cemetery [5]. The Stolperstein at Pferdemarkt 7, which was laid on 7 March 2014, bears the inscription "Humiliated / deprived of rights / flight into death / 1936" [1]. Borchert/Klose (1994), on the other hand, give the suicide as "1935/36" [5], so that the year is given differently [1][5]. Stolpersteine for Willi, Paula and Alice Marcus were laid at Pferdemarkt 7 on 20 February 2020 [1][3][4].