Erich Egerland

Erich Egerland (born March 27, 1907 in Berlin ; † February 1, 1945 in Sachsenhausen concentration camp ) was a German communist and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

Erich Egerland was born in the Tempelhofer Vorstadt (today Berlin-Kreuzberg ) and grew up in a middle-class family. The family moved to Mariendorf in August 1909 . As a young man, Egerland initially joined anarchist circles around Ernst Friedrich - founder of the Anti-War Museum - in 1925/26 , before becoming a member of the KJVD and the KPD in 1927 . During the Weimar Republic , Egerland was brought to justice because on May 1, 1929, he carried the red flag in a demonstration that was banned by the police .

Egerland married Frieda Kollberg and moved first to Marienfelde in early 1932 , then back to Mariendorf in early 1933 - after their daughter Edith had been born.

As an active functionary of the KPD, Egerland, who had meanwhile worked as an office worker, was arrested by the SA on March 5, 1933 . He was released after severe abuse in an SA cellar. Even after his release from prison, Egerland continued the illegal fight against the Nazi regime. In order not to be arrested again, he had to leave Germany at the end of 1934 and emigrate to Czechoslovakia .

From Prague he returned illegally to Berlin several times as an instructor for the KPD, in order to convey necessary information and support the resistance groups working there. After the occupation of Czechoslovakia by German troops Egerland was arrested again in 1939 and two years and three months prison convicted. In autumn 1941 he was taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp , where he was shot by the SS on February 1, 1945 for “decomposing the guards” .

literature

• Luise Kraushaar : German resistance fighters 1933-1945. Biographies and letters. Volume 1. Dietz, Berlin 1970, pp. 209-212.
• Thomas Friedrich (Ed.): 1945, how the war ended. A reader . LitPol, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-88279-020-2 , pp. 11-14 and 195.
• Kurt Schilde : From the Columbia House to the Schuleburgring. Documentation with life stories of victims of resistance and persecution from 1933–1945 from the Tempelhof district . Edition Hentrich, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-926175-40-0 , p. 72f.
• Kurt Schilde: Remember - and don't forget. Documentation on the memorial book for the victims of National Socialism from the Tempelhof district . Edition Hentrich, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-926175-55-9 , p. 43f.
• Hanne Job (epilogue): Fight for the human right. Life pictures and last letters from anti-fascist resistance fighters . 1st edition, unchanged reprint. Verlag Neuer Weg, Düsseldorf 1988, ISBN 3-88021-180-9 , p. 115.