Alfred Pontius

Alfred Pontius (born September 30, 1907 in St. Johann , † March 6, 1948 in Merzig ) was a German resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

Alfred Pontius grew up in a social democratic family in Saarbrücken. Pontius attended elementary school and then went hiking as an unskilled worker . In 1931, Pontius joined the KPD in Berlin . After his return to Saarbrücken, he became a member of the Red Workers' Sports Club in 1934 .

After the annexation of the Saar area to the German Reich , he maintained contact with the illegal KPD branch in Lorraine . In addition, his relatives were active in the Red Aid . Pontius himself came into the sights of the Gestapo through his participation in conspiratorial meetings of the Red Aid. On February 5, 1937, he was arrested and, together with a group around Franz Scherer, accused of having been actively involved in rebuilding the KPD. On 18 January 1938 he was three and a half years prison sentenced. He received another three months for a passport offense. After serving his sentence, he was taken into protective custody and taken to the Dachau concentration camp .

On April 1, 1943, Pontius was transferred to the Auschwitz concentration camp . There he was to be a nurse ( function inmate ) during a raging typhus serve epidemic. As a political prisoner, he became a Kapo of the disinfection department of Block 20. During this time he was involved in the Auschwitz combat group . He hid potential weapons in his department and protected older inmates during the selections .

On November 7, 1944, he became a member of the SS Dirlewanger special unit , which consisted of voluntary and compulsory concentration camp prisoners. After the end of the war he returned to Saarbrücken. He worked there as a road worker for three years until he died in 1948 of pulmonary tuberculosis as a late consequence of his imprisonment.

literature

• Klaus-Michael Mallmann , Gerhard Paul : The splintered no. Saarlanders against Hitler . Ed .: Hans-Walter Herrmann (=  resistance and refusal in Saarland 1935–1945 . Volume 1 ). Dietz , Bonn 1989, ISBN 3-8012-5010-5 , p. 213-217 .