Georg Scherer (prisoner functionary)

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Georg Scherer (born March 2, 1906 in Pasenbach , † April 8, 1985 in Dachau ) was a German socialist and first camp elder in the Dachau concentration camp . Scherer was a leader in the Dachau uprising of April 28, 1945.

Life

Scherer, who came from a poor background, was a trained iron turner. After completing his training, Scherer, who lived in Dachau, found a job at BMW and eventually became a foreman there. As a passionate athlete, he became a member of the Dachau “Arbeiter-Turn- und Sportverein” (ATSV) from 1923 and won first place in the 1,500-meter run at the first Workers' Olympics in Frankfurt am Main . Through his sports club, he received a qualifying course in sports at the federal school of the German “ Arbeiter-Turn- und Sportbund ” (ATSB) in Leipzig . He joined the SPD around 1929/1930, but switched to the SAP Socialist Workers' Party in autumn 1931 . After the “ seizure of power ” by the National Socialists , the anti-fascist Scherer distributed anti-regime leaflets and expressed himself critical of National Socialism. Scherer was arrested on December 22, 1935 and transferred to the Dachau concentration camp on December 24, 1935. During interrogation in January 1936, Scherer was severely mistreated because he did not reveal the names of the addressees of his leaflets and did not clarify the origin of the leaflets. Scherer, who as a citizen of Dachau was only deployed within the camp, was initially a Kapo in the laundry and from around 1937 on the camp construction site. He was one of the hundred prisoners who remained in the Dachau concentration camp after the Dachau prisoners were temporarily transferred to Mauthausen . Finally he became a block elder and from 1940 the first camp elder in the Dachau concentration camp. Scherer stood up for the prisoners in spite of the camp penalties he had been subjected to by organizing the fair distribution of food and removing endangered prisoners from the field of vision of the camp SS . This is how he got to know Walter Neff , the head nurse of the inmate infirmary who, at Scherer's request, hid endangered inmates in the infirmary. Scherer, who became friends with Neff, was released from Dachau concentration camp on January 17, 1941.

Then he was able to prevent his draft into the Wehrmacht by getting a job at the “Precix” screw factory. Together with his wife, Scherer lived secluded again in Dachau. Walter Neff kept Scherer informed about what was going on in the Dachau concentration camp. Together with his friend Walter Neff, he led the Dachau uprising on April 28, 1945, before the Dachau concentration camp was liberated . The aim of the failed uprising was to save Dachau from destruction and to prevent the final liquidation or evacuation of the Dachau concentration camp.

After the end of the war, Scherer continued to stand up for the prisoners and helped with the care of the survivors and the burial of the dead. From April 30, 1945 to January 31, 1946, Scherer was appointed second mayor by the American military government. He was a member of an anti-fascist action committee that compiled lists of incriminated NSDAP members. As a non-party, he entered the Dachau city council via the KPD list in July 1946 , to which he was a member until April 1952. In 1946, Scherer acquired a tailor's shop from the town's property and built it up into the clothing factory “Bardtke & Scherer”, in which Neff also found a job. As a sponsor of sport, Scherer founded the ATSV again in 1945 as the "General Sport Club Dachau" (ASD, today ASV). In 1975 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit. Scherer died at the beginning of April 1985. In Dachau the gymnasium "Georg-Scherer-Halle" and a street is named after Scherer.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans-Günter Ricardi: Georg Scherer . In: Hans-Günter Richardi (Ed.): Curricula vitae - fates of people who were in the Dachau concentration camp: fates of people who were in the Dachau concentration camp (= Dachau documents, vol. 2). 2001, p. 11 ff.
  2. ^ Stanislav Zámečník: That was Dachau. Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 386f.
    Walter Neff: The Dachau uprising. “For example Dachau” working group for research into Dachau contemporary history, archived from the original on May 27, 2009 ; accessed on June 18, 2017 .
  3. ↑ See Bernd-A. Rusinek: end of war 1945 ; Pp. 31, 37.
  4. ↑ Hans-Günter Ricardi: Georg Scherer. “For example Dachau” working group for research into Dachau contemporary history, archived from the original on April 13, 2012 ; accessed on June 18, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Scherer, Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German communist and first camp elder in Dachau concentration camp
DATE OF BIRTH March 2, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Pasenbach
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1985
Place of death Dachau