Anna Braun-Sittarz

Anna Braun-Sittarz (born April 4, 1892 in Aachen ; † April 24, 1945 there ) was a German politician of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and resistance fighter and co-founder of the Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB) in Aachen.

Live and act

Anna-Sittarz-Platz (2019) with the "Milchbüdchen"

Braun-Sittarz grew up in Aachen and after finishing school she worked as a weaver in the Delius cloth factory . She got involved in the interests of the workforce at an early stage and was elected works council member at Delius. In addition, she joined the Communist Party of Germany, for which she sat on the city council from 1924 to 1929. Since she often supported the draft resolutions of the Social Democratic Party of Germany during this time , she was expelled from the KPD in 1929 and then withdrew from active local politics.

She then leased a space on the square between Königstrasse, Mauerstrasse and Karlsgraben, on which she had a kiosk built at her own expense with the approval of the city, which she opened on December 1, 1929 as a "Milchbüdchen". During the National Socialist era, this kiosk became an illegal meeting place for opponents of the regime and a trading place for newspapers, books or leaflets of the resistance, which were distributed with the help of couriers mainly in the neighboring states of Belgium and the Netherlands, but also in the Cologne area and the Ruhr area . As a result, Braun-Sittarz was arrested for the first time in 1933 and in 1937, together with 20 other people, went to court in which she was sentenced to 27 months in prison for high treason. Afterwards she was under constant surveillance by the Gestapo, but she continued to stand up for the persecuted.

In the last months of the Second World War , during which a large part of the city's residents were evacuated, Braun-Sittarz stayed in Aachen at his own risk. After Aachen was liberated by American troops in October 1944, she was in constant contact with the new local commander, Major John P. Bradford, in order to explore the establishment of a new union with him.

Together with a group of former trade unionists and social democrats, including Mathias Wilms , Heinrich Hollands, Klaus Haaß, Nikolas Kreitz, who had already been able to gain experience there in the German Textile Workers' Association and in the General German Trade Union Federation (ADGB) until they were both broken up in 1933, as well Peter Spiegelmacher and Jean van Wersch, she met with the commandant on March 1, 1945 for negotiations on this matter, which were concluded on March 14 with the approval of the commandant's office. Finally, on March 18, 1945, the "Free German Trade Union Federation Aachen" (FGDB) with 83 members was founded as the first democratic union of the post-war period. As part of this founding meeting, Braun-Sittarz was elected to the new board together with Mathias Wilms, Toni Valder, Nikolaus Kreitz and Peter Spiegelmacher, but she was defeated by Comrade Wilms in the election of the managing director. Her further involvement in the trade union movement came to an abrupt halt a few weeks later, as she had lost her life on April 24, 1945 as a result of a tragic car accident near Aachen.

Honors

Plaque

For her services in the resistance and for her commitment to the workforce, Braun-Sittarz was honored in 1995 with the naming of the place where “her” milk booth stands to this day. In addition, a room in the Aachen DGB building was named after her.

In addition, a memorial plaque was placed on her kiosk in 2002 as part of the Ways Against Forgetting initiative in memory of her work in the resistance. Their inscription reads:

“The former communist councilor Anna Braun-Sittarz ran a milk kiosk here. From 1933 this served as a contact point for the resistance against the National Socialist rulers. Arrest, sentencing to prison and constant surveillance by the Gestapo could not break the resilience of this woman. After the end of the Nazi dictatorship in Aachen, she and others founded the Free German Trade Union Movement on March 18, 1945, which began in Aachen. "

literature

Ulrich Borsdorf: “A great day for the German workers”. The establishment of the "Free German Trade Union Federation Aachen" on March 18, 1945. In: German Trade Union Federation (Hrsg.): Trade union monthly books . Volume 36, No. 4. Bund-Verlag, 1985 ( pdf )

Web links

• Portrait on "Paths against Forgetting"
• The big kiosk report number 8 - Das Milchbüdchen, Anna Braun-Sittarz and the resistance , report on movieaachen.de from December 5, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ March 18, 1945: Foundation of the FDGB Aachen , in KAZ-Kommunistische Arbeiterzeitung No. 311