Walter Poller

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Walter Poller (born January 6, 1900 in Kiel , † October 17, 1975 in Hagen ) was a German party functionary ( SPD ) and editor as well as a resistance fighter against National Socialism and a prisoner in the Buchenwald concentration camp .

Life

Walter Poller was the son of the metal former, city councilor of the SPD and police president Wilhelm Poller . After graduating from secondary school, Poller completed an internship at the Kieler Arbeiterzeitung and then worked for the Schleswig-Holsteinische Volkszeitung . From the summer of 1918 he took part in the First World War as a soldier and in November 1918 was a member of the soldiers' council in Jüterbog . Already during his school days he was involved in the youth workers and eventually became a leading functionary of the Socialist Workers Youth (SAJ). Poller joined the SPD after the end of the war in 1919. Poller became editor-in-chief of the socialist daily Der Hammer in Hamm in 1919 . He went on a trip abroad to Istanbul in 1923 and later wrote his impressions in the book The Revolution of a City. Visit settled in Istanbul .

After the seizure of power by the National Socialists , the publishing house, worked in the bollard was, by SA men devastated. Poller was briefly held in protective custody in March and June 1933 . He then built up a resistance group made up of social democrats, which the Gestapo overturned in autumn 1934 . The resistance group also included the future Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia and long-time friend of Pollers Hubert Biernat , who, however, was able to evade police prosecution. Poller later described the circumstances of his arrest:

“On the night of October 31st to November 1st, 1934, five members of the Secret State Police arrested me in my apartment. I had organized a resistance movement against National Socialism, mainly supported by members of my party. Two of the leaflets I had written fell into the hands of the Gestapo through the police spy Maczek from Wiescherhöfen near Hamm / Westphalia. I was handcuffed, locked in a heavily soiled cell in the cellar of the Dortmund stone guard and then subjected to numerous interrogations. I was interrogated 'hard' a total of seventeen times, that is, in seventeen of these interrogations an attempt was made to get me to confess by hitting my back, buttocks, shins and abdomen by hitting me with a stick and rubber truncheon. I managed to carry out my resolution not to betray or incriminate any of my sympathizers. "

- Walter Poller: doctor's clerk in Buchenwald. Report by inmate 996 from Block 36 , Offenbach 1960, 2nd edition, p. 12.

Afterwards bollard was indicted with 51 other defendants because of "conspiracy to commit high treason" and on June 29, 1935, four years prison sentenced. He served his imprisonment in Münster, Neusustrum, Börgermoor , Plötzensee , Oslebshausen, Celle and the Lührsbockel moor camp. After his release from prison, Poller was imprisoned again in Dortmund and Celle without giving any reason. In December 1938, Poller was transferred as a political prisoner to the Buchenwald concentration camp, where he was given prisoner number 996. Poller was first employed in the quarry work detail and from spring 1939 as a doctor's clerk in the prisoner infirmary. In May 1940, Poller was released from Buchenwald concentration camp. Poller's release from the Buchenwald concentration camp was favored by the move of his family to Hamburg, where he was finally employed in the company of a family member. Poller published his memoirs about his imprisonment in the Buchenwald concentration camp after the liberation from National Socialism under the title doctor writer in Buchenwald - report of prisoner 996 from block 36 . In this report, Poller et al. a. on the circumstances of the murder of the SPD politician Ernst Heilmann and the torture of pastor Paul Schneider . In his report, Poller also describes a “retaliatory action” ordered by SS leader Arnold Strippel on November 9, 1939 against Jewish prisoners for the failed assassination attempt by Georg Elser on Adolf Hitler in Munich's Bürgerbräukeller . On the instructions of the drunken Strippel, Poller had to write down the names of 21 prisoners murdered in the quarry; on the death report it was noted: "shot while trying to escape". The next day, Poller went to the death barracks, where he noticed the murdered prisoners were shot close-up in the head.

After the end of the war, Poller served as the SPD's political secretary at the Hamburg regional association. He then worked as editor-in-chief at social democratic newspapers in North Rhine-Westphalia, a. a. from 1946 to 1961 at the Westfälische Rundschau . He also worked as a publicist under the pseudonyms Walter Raven , Walter Weissenburg and Walter Jeune . Due to illness, Poller retired in 1961 and then lived in Hohenlimburg . Poller died on October 17, 1975 in Hagen, where his son lived.

Fonts

Walter Poller medical clerk 1946 cover.jpg
  • Doctor's clerk in Buchenwald. Report from inmate 996 from Block 36 , Phönix-Verl. Christen & Co, Hamburg 1946 (published in several editions)
  • Memorial sheet for Theodor Haubach . Frankfurt a. M., Dortmund 1955.
  • The revolution of a city. Visit to Istanbul . Verlag "das segel", Frankfurt am Main 1953
  • Reason must win. Two years of German politics in the mirror of the "Westfälische Rundschau" . Dortmund 1948

literature

  • Wolfgang Röll: Social Democrats in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp 1937–1945. Wallstein, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-89244-417-X .
  • Harry Stein, Buchenwald Memorial (ed.): Buchenwald Concentration Camp 1937–1945 , volume accompanying the permanent historical exhibition. Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 1999, ISBN 978-3-89244-222-6 .
  • Bernd Faulenbach , Stefan Goch , Günther Högl, Karsten Rudolph , Uwe Schledorn: Social democracy in transition: the district of Western Westphalia 1893-2001 . 4th edition. Essen: Klartext, 2001 ISBN 3-89861-062-4 , p. 143f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Walter Poller in the Lexicon of Westphalian Authors
  2. ↑ a b c d e Wolfgang Röll: Social Democrats in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp 1937–1945 , Wallstein-Verlag, 2000, p. 302
  3. ↑ Walter Poller
  4. ↑ a b Josef Börste: On the 100th birthday of Hubert Biernat "... who, despite all his experiences, believed in the good in people" (PDF; 547 kB). In: Yearbook of the Unna District 2007, p. 89
  5. ↑ Josef Börste: On the 100th birthday of Hubert Biernat “... who, despite all his experiences, believed in the good in people” . In: Yearbook of the Unna District 2007, p. 88
  6. ↑ Quoted in: Josef Börste: On the 100th birthday of Hubert Biernat "... who, despite all his experiences, believed in the good in people" . In: Yearbook of the Unna District 2007, p. 90
  7. ↑ Wolfgang Röll: Social Democrats in Buchenwald Concentration Camp 1937–1945 , Wallstein-Verlag, 2000, p. 102
  8. ↑ Short biography: Paul Schneider (1897-1939) - The Preacher von Buchenwald . From: come and see 16/2009 on www.soundwords.de
  9. ↑ Thomas Schattner: Strippel's blood trail through Europe's concentration camps - it began 70 years ago here in Unshausen ( memento of the original from July 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 107 kB). In: Breitenau Memorial: Circular 24–57, p. 58 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gedenkstaette-breitenau.de
  10. ↑ Josef Börste: On the 100th birthday of Hubert Biernat “... who, despite all his experiences, believed in the good in people” . In: Yearbook of the Unna District 2007, p. 93
personal data
SURNAME Poller, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Raven, Walter; Weissenburg, Walter; Jeune, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German party functionary (SPD), editor, former resistance fighter and concentration camp prisoner
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Kiel
DATE OF DEATH 17th October 1975
Place of death Hagen