Karger, Alfred, 1891-1968

Alfred Karger was born in Magdeburg in 1891. He studied law in Berlin, Munich and Halle and graduated from the University of Strasbourg in 1913. During World War I, he was stationed as a medic in the Ukraine. Later he practiced law in Berlin and in 1923 he became partner of the former Prussian Minister Wolfgang Heine. He also published widely on taxation and inheritance law. In 1925, Alfred Karger married Anna Guggenheim. In 1933, his license to practice law was revoked. He continued to publish and was allowed to practice as a law consultant. After preparing an expert opinion on the status of Germany's occupation of Czech territory for the minister of Ecuador in Berlin, Alfred Karger received visas for his family to immigrate to Ecuador. In 1941, the family left Berlin and arrived in Ecuador ten weeks later by way of Spain, Cuba and Colombia. In Ecuador, Alfred Karger continued to publish on legal issues and also obtained government permission to practice as a law consultant. He also handled some immigrants' restitution cases and finally was admitted to the bar at the state court of Hamburg. On occasion he would travel to West Germany to research new legislation and trials and to meet with publishers. His main source of income, however, was a business dealing with Ecuadorian silver articles and wood carvings. Alfred Karger was active in the Jewish Community Center and the B'nai B'rith of Quito, sometimes officiating at weddings and funerals. He died in 1968. His son Walter immigrated to the United States in 1949. Walter's sister, Lilli Guggenheim, a social worker, was deported to Auschwitz in 1942.