Artur Goritz

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Artur Göritz (born April 14, 1907 in Schneidlingen , Quedlinburg district ; † June 20, 1938 in Plötzensee , Berlin ) was a German communist and resistance fighter against National Socialism and a victim of the Nazi justice system.

Life and activity

After attending school, Göritz learned the metalworking trade. Politically he was oriented towards communism: Before 1933 he belonged to the workers swimming club in Stuttgart and the Red Aid . Göritz was employed as a worker at the Dornier works in Friedrichshafen in the 1930s . He first worked in wing construction and then, from August 1934, in the type department. In the course of the armament of the Wehrmacht , the production of fighter aircraft began in secret in the Dornier works.

Göritz, who disapproved of the National Socialists' war course, then found himself ready to send the cell of the communist underground organization in Germany, headed by Stefan Lovasz , and especially the military intelligence service belonging to Lovasz's organization (the so-called “anti-militarist apparatus” or AM apparatus) with documents on the armaments activities in the Dornier factories that he smuggled out of them, as well as with inside information about them that he had become aware of in the course of his work or through work colleagues. Lovasz and the head of his AM apparatus, Josef Steidle , passed on the materials and information obtained in this way to foreign agencies of the KPD and the Comintern via intelligence channels. The most important information provided by Göritz concerned the production of types Do 17 , Do 18 and Do 19 as well as the scope of production and the mood among the workforce at the Dornier works.

In December 1935 and January 1936, the Lovasz and Steidle organization was broken up by the Secret State Police . Lovasz and Steidle were arrested, as were the student Lieselotte Hermann and Grötzinger, who had been involved in secretly forwarding the documents and information obtained by Göritz abroad. After lengthy and brutal interrogations of the four by the secret police, the role of Göritz became known, who was then also arrested on June 2, 1936. After a lengthy pre- trial detention, the five were charged before the People's Court , which sent its 2nd Senate to Stuttgart to carry out the process.

On June 12, 1938, all of the accused were found guilty. The court assessed the defendants' activities as arms espionage in favor of the Soviet Union . Göritz was, as Lovasz, Steidle and Hermann because of treason committed in coincidence with preparation for high treason with aggravating circumstances (Göritz, Hermann, Steidle) or preparation for high treason (Lovasz) to death sentenced. Grötzinger received twelve years in prison for preparation for high treason .

Göritz and the other three sentenced to death were executed on June 20, 1938 in the courtyard of the Plötzensee prison by executioner Friedrich Hehr . The executed judgment should have a deterrent effect and induce other communist resistance fighters to give up.

Honors

In the GDR, the polytechnic high school and a square in Trebnitz (Teuchern) were named after him. In addition, a memorial stone was erected in memory of the resistance fighter in Trebnitz in 1960. In the documentary story Silence about Lilo: The Story of Liselotte Herrmann by Ditte Clemens, Artur Göritz is one of the main characters.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ditte Clemens: Silence about Lilo: The story of Liselotte Herrmann. BS-Verlag-Rostock, ISBN 978-3-89954-013-0 , p. 84.
  2. ↑ Paul Sauer: Württemberg in the time of National Socialism. In: Meinrad Schaab , Hansmartin Schwarzmaier (ed.) U. a .: Handbook of Baden-Württemberg History . Volume 4: Die Länder since 1918. Edited on behalf of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-608-91468-4 , pp. 231-320, here: p. 269.
  3. ↑ Online snippets on Google Books
personal data
SURNAME Goritz, Artur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German locksmith and resistance fighter against National Socialism and a victim of the Nazi justice system
DATE OF BIRTH April 14, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Schneidlingen district of Quedlinburg
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1938
Place of death Plötzensee , Berlin