Alfred Etscheit

Alfred Etscheit

Alfred Etscheit (born August 2, 1879 in Koblenz , † September 5, 1944 in Flossenbürg concentration camp ) was a German lawyer and Nazi opponent.

Life

Alfred Etscheit first studied law at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . In 1902 he was reciprocated in the Corps Suevia Munich . He passed the state examination at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel . In 1906 he was at the University of Rostock to Dr. iur. PhD. From 1913 he worked in Douala , German Cameroon , as a lawyer for the Agricultural Association for North and Central Cameroon. In Cameroon during World War I fell into English captivity.

In Berlin he later ran a law firm with a notary's office for commercial law with his wife Alexandra Etscheit . In 1938 he was supported in his law firm by Otto Lenz , who later became the head of the Federal Chancellery . Lenz had previously had to quit his service as regional court director, which he had held for four years, with the loss of his pension entitlements. Both were close to the German Center Party and also defended Jews who suffered from the confiscation of their property or expropriation. After the seizure of power , Etscheit belonged to the Solf circle around Hanna Solf . In 1939 he wrote the memorandum “The inner and outer situation”. The treatise reports on the atrocities committed by the SS and the police against the Polish civilian population during the attack on Poland . The pessimistic pamphlet called for the regime to be overthrown. This should be done through the support of the opposition by German war opponents.

Etscheit also worked for the Abwehr (intelligence service) and the local resistance group around Hans Oster and Hans von Dohnanyi . As a lawyer he handled the Ludwig Kaas case from the Center Party. He also worked with Fred Dubitscher to produce parentage reports that saved 40–50 people from deportation . On January 26, 1944, Etscheit was arrested by the Secret State Police and taken to the "prominent wing" of the Ravensbrück concentration camp . He was later transferred to the Flossenbürg concentration camp, where he died at the age of 65.

Appreciation

In 1999, the Roman Catholic Church accepted Alfred Etscheid as a witness of faith in the German Martyrology of the 20th Century .

Works

• with Alexandra Etscheit and Otto Böhmer: Handbuch des Devisenrechts . Carl Heymanns Verlag , Berlin 1936.

literature

• Helmut Moll (publisher on behalf of the German Bishops' Conference), witnesses for Christ. The German Martyrology of the 20th Century , Paderborn a. a. 2019, 7th, revised and updated edition 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , Volume I, pp. 156-161.
• Sebastian Sigler , Hans-Bernd Herzog: Alfred Etscheit , in: Corps students in the resistance against Hitler , ed. by Sebastian Sigler. Duncker & Humblot , Berlin 2014. pp. 485-487. ISBN 978-3-428-14319-1 .

Web links

Commons : Alfred Etscheit  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1960, 114/1219.
2. ↑ Dissertation: The problem of heir liability under imperial law .
3. ↑ Winfried Becker: Securing the livelihood of Catholics in the Resistance , in: Detlef J. Blesgen (Hrsg.): Financiers, Finances and Financing Forms of Resistance , LIT Verlag, Münster 2006, ISBN 978-3-8258-7662-3 , p. 95-96