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.
A Wehrmacht combat commander who had only just been appointed, and who was subordinated to a unit of SS storm troopers, had ensured that Aue was ready to defend itself, true to the Führer's orders.
When he heard of the refusal of the Head of the Technical Emergency Service (Technische Nothilfe) to blow up the bridges, Poepel looked to an ally in Captain Zind of the Army engineers.
Within four days members of the Technical Emergency Service built numerous anti-tank obstacles on the key bridges in Aue, using wooden beams and stones ridges.
[3] Anneliese Poepel studied under the strict tutelage of her father's car mechanic, passed the trade test and later received the master's certificate.
After Poepel's death in Aue on 28 August 1966, Schmutzler at first allowed the garage to be run under by an employee and ran the cutter and punch business himself.
When the number of employees working for independent artisans became regulated by the authorities, Erich Schmutzler finally gave up Max Poepel's garage in 1969.