Albert Blankenfeld

Albert Blankenfeld (born December 1, 1900 in Münster , † November 8, 1993 in Hamburg ) was a German lathe operator , administrative inspector and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Live and act

Albert Blankenfeld attended elementary school and completed an apprenticeship as a lathe operator at the Triton works in Hamburg from 1915 to 1918. In his youth he became a member of the Socialist Workers' Youth . During the First World War he had to do military service, but no longer reached the war front. After the war he worked actively in the German Metalworkers' Association and in the SPD . Together with Theodor Haubach , he got involved with the Young Socialists , became a member of the Vereinigung Republik in 1923, and one year later helped to set up the Reich Banner Black-Red-Gold . Together with Theodor Haubach, he started the so-called sports team 10 at the school on Biedermannplatz in Barmbek-Süd . The protective formation 10 later developed from this.

Albert Blankenfeld lived in Barmbek-Nord from 1928 and was committed to the SPD in the electoral district there. Due to the global economic crisis , he became unemployed and remained unemployed until 1934. Blohm & Voss hired him as a lathe operator in May 1935. Together with other SPD members, Blankenfeld acted illegally after the seizure of power and was arrested on November 16, 1936 for this reason. Together with 14 other members of the SPD, he was accused of “preparing for high treason”. From May 1933 to May 1935, they illegally maintained the party in Barmbek, circulated illegal documents, received money to support the party and contacted other SPD members who were abroad, according to the indictment. Albert Blankenfeld was one of the main defendants. In May 1937 the Hamburg Higher Regional Court sentenced him to three years in prison. Blankenfeld was serving his sentence in the Fuhlsbüttel prison . Two and a half months of “protective custody”, which he had previously spent in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp , and the three-month pre-trial detention were taken into account .

Since the National Socialists did not support relatives of those politically persecuted enough, Hermine Blankenfeld was forced to leave her apartment with three underage children. She was accommodated in a poorly equipped arbor in an allotment garden, where she spent about a year. Their children tried to contribute money to a living by delivering newspapers. After his release from prison on November 19, 1939 the company Nielsson & Korte gave Albert Blankenfeld a job as a lathe operator.

After Operation Gomorrah , Blankenfeld lived with his family in Eppendorf , where he helped to build up the SPD immediately after the end of World War II . In 1946/47 he took over the chairmanship of District II, which included Eppendorf as well as Winterhude-Nord and -Süd and was therefore also a member of the state executive committee of the SPD Hamburg . From 1948 until his retirement, Blankenfeld worked as an administrative inspector at the Hamburg employment office . In the same year he became chairman of the working group of formerly persecuted social democrats and remained in this position until 1986. He was also involved in the Geschwister-Scholl-Stiftung , of which he became a board member in April 1955. From October 1955 to August 1982 he took over the chairmanship of the foundation.

Alfred Blankenfeld died in Hamburg in November 1993.

Honors

In 1975 Blankenfeld was awarded the Hamburg Medal in bronze for loyal work in the service of the people for his merits in reparation for the injustices suffered during the Nazi era . In 1985 he received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon .

literature

• Holger Martens : Bärsch, Walter . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 4 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0229-7 , pp. 52-53 .