Max Poepel
German politician (1896-1966)

Max Poepel (21 October 1896 – 28 August 1966) was the acting Lord Mayor (Oberbürgermeister) of Aue in the German federal state of Saxony from the end of 1945. In this capacity he prevented the destruction of the most important bridges in the industrial town by German Wehrmacht forces.
Life and works
Poepel was born on 21 October 1896 in Aue in the German state of Saxony, the son of a smith, Albin Poepel. At 18 years of age Max Poepel became a soldier in the First World War, where he obtained a driving licence and worked as a vehicle driver. Following his return to his home town he finished his education and became a master smith. He eventually took over his father's horseshoe workshop and smithy and developed it into a car workshop because of increasing motorisation. In the 1930s he had the Ford franchise for Aue and the surrounding area. In 1933 he joined the Nazi Motor Corps (NSKK). Due to differences of opinion with the leadership of the Corps he was later banned. In the same period Poepel was elected to the town council.
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This entry incorporates text from “Max Poepel” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.