Ady Claude

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Ady Claude

Ady Jean Pierre Claude (born June 8, 1913 in Oberkorn ; † February 12, 1942 in Cologne ) was a Luxembourg worker and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Origin and past life

The father from Hobscheid and the mother from a strictly Catholic family in Garnich had their own house in Oberkorn, later also in Garnich and Differdingen . He grew up as the second child of two sisters and two brothers, first in Oberkorn, from 1921 in Garnich, lastly in Differdingen; Mother tongue Lëtzebuergisch / German, raised Catholic and very religious himself; worked at the Differdinger Hütte from 1929; from 1932 active and enthusiastic member and later also head of the Catholic scout troop in Differdange. From this scouting activity later grew his Christian-patriotically motivated resistance to National Socialism.

Resistance and Arrest

After the occupation of Luxembourg on May 20, 1940, he openly opposed integration into the German Reich, wrote a letter to the head of civil administration , Gauleiter Gustav Simon , in which Simon spoke out against being forced to do Reich labor service on May 23, 1941 ordered, protested. Despite pressure from his environment, his German girlfriend and his employer, threats of job loss, he consistently refused to join the Volksdeutsche movement (VdB). He was thus no longer a blank slate for the civil administration and the secret police when he founded the illegal resistance group Lëtzeburger Freihétskampf , LFK, which emerged from the scout club in Differdange, which was banned by the Gauleiter in 1940. The group was betrayed. The Gestapo arrested him on October 1, 1941 at 2 am, shift change, at the personnel entrance to the Differdange hut, another 30 members of the freedom fighters on November 5, 1941. They were all taken to the Hinzert concentration camp for interrogation .

Indictment and Trial

On January 19, 1942 , the collective trial against 13 defendants of the group, including Claude, began before the special court , the People's Court of Luxembourg. The prosecution, represented by the public prosecutor Leonhard Drach , accused them of highly treasonable plans and activities; in addition, gun possession, leaflet activities, tapping and dissemination of radio and radio news.

Klingelpützpark, memorial stone for those who were executed on the ruins of the prison that was thrown into a hill.

For Claude and the co-defendant Dominik Dondelinger (born October 12, 1897 in Zolwer ) from Rümelingen , Drach applied for the death penalty. On January 23, 1941 at 0.15 am both were sentenced to death and transferred to the central execution site in the Cologne-Klingelpütz prison , demolished in 1969, today Klingelpützpark with a memorial stone for the Nazi victims. The co-defendants received prison sentences.

Last letter and execution

The day before the execution, on February 11, 1942, he wrote his last letter, Farewell and a review of his life. This was achieved with the support of sergeant Adam Pehl. The execution took place on the guillotine on February 12, 1942, at 5:20 a.m. The first public prosecutor (ESta) for the penal system, Otto Schulz , directed the execution, and public prosecutor Drach attended her and announced the death sentence, which was carried out immediately afterwards by the executioner Friedrich Hehr who had traveled from Hanover .

Like all of the Luxembourgers executed in Cologne, a total of 21, his body was brought to one of the anatomical institutes in Cologne, Bonn or Münster, placed there in formol and preserved in a concrete bucket. The corpses were found after the war, his remains could not be identified, others succeeded.

The parents and a sister were relocated to Leubus (Silesia) in the autumn of the same year ; one brother survived underground.

In autumn 1944, shortly before Luxembourg was evacuated, Drach had the files of the special court classified as secret burned in the courtyard of the Trier regional court.

Unveiling of the plaque for the national hero

Memorials

  • Memorial plaque on the parents' grave, in the Differdange cemetery.
  • Commemorative plaque on the house of the Claude family in Differdange, Rue Dicks-Lentz 134, placed on June 22, 1969 by scouts and resistance fighters.
  • Inscription (quote from his farewell letter) and short biography in several languages ​​at the Monumento alla Resistenza europea in Como.
  • Street name in Differdange: Rue Ady Claude .

literature

  • Matthias Herbers: Organizations in War, The Justice Administration in the Higher Regional Court District Cologne 1939–1945 , Contributions to the Legal History of the 20th Century, Volume 71, Verlag Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2012; Presentation of the activities of Drachs and Schulz in Luxembourg and Cologne.
  • Last letter (excerpt) in Piero Malvezzi and Giovanni Pirelli: Lettere di condannati a morte della Resistenza Europea , publisher: Giulio Einaudi, Turin 1954, German: last letters to death condemned , publisher: dtv, Munich 1962, page 183-187: Chronology of the Luxembourg resistance with a short biography and excerpt from the farewell letter.
  • Gilbert Renault , called Colonel Rémy: Une épopée de la Resistance: en France, en Belgique et au Grand Duché du Luxembourg , Verlag Grange Batelière, Paris 1976; on Claude and the freedom fighters: pp. 19, 96, 157–158.

Web links

Commons : Ady Claude  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ As the short form of Adolphe , Ady or Adi is preferred in Luxembourg, in German texts mostly Adolphe or Adolf .
  2. ↑ See Luxembourgish Wikipedia lb.wikipedia .
  3. ↑ Claude's trial and Drach's trial management, see web link: mahnmal-koblenz.de , part 3, pages 5–6.
  4. ↑ On January 23rd at 0.15, that is, on the princess's birthday, I and Dondelinger were sentenced to death for high treason ... I am ready ... So if one should proceed to carry out the same, then Germany's judiciary created two martyrs who fell for their homeland are. Claude's farewell letter, see Literature: Last Letter, p. 186.
  5. ↑ One-line typed copy of the manuscript, 21 pages, see website: ons-jongen-a-meedercher.lu .
  6. ↑ Adam Pehl, an opponent of the Nazis and the new prison director after the war, smuggled the letter out, added a personal afterword and forwarded it to his parents via the Luxembourg company Bernard-Kaufmann. See web links: ettelbruck.lu, pages 6–19.
  7. ↑ Otto Schulz (1904–1953), son of a craftsman, socialized in the judicial service, made a career in the penal system during the war (expansion of prison labor), came to Cologne in 1940, and from 1944 to Wittlich; see literature: Matthias Herbers, passim.
  8. ↑ Announcement of the execution two days later as a deterrent: Death for traitors: Adolf Claude, Differdange, and Dominik Dondelinger, Rümelingen, who were convicted by the special court, were executed. A crime of the worst treason has found its atonement ... The punishment of the court is harsh, not only for themselves, but also for their family members, their parents and siblings. But they themselves challenged the severity of the punishment. You played with the heads of others and lost your own ... , Luxemburger Wort 14./15. February 1942.
  9. ↑ See web links: ettelbruck.lu, pages 3–4, 9.
  10. ↑ See web links: mahnmal-koblenz.de , part 3, page 10.
personal data
SURNAME Claude, Ady
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Claude, Jean Pierre; Claude, Adi; Claude, Adolphe; Claude, Adolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Luxembourg resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH June 8, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Oberkorn
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 1942
Place of death Cologne