August Bolte (resistance fighter)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

August Bolte (born April 1, 1896 in Hanover , † October 15, 1981 in East Berlin ) was a German communist union official and resistance fighter .

Life

After attending school, Bolte did not complete any professional training, even if he later worked as a semi-skilled metal worker. He joined the SPD at a young age . He later resigned from the party. It was not until 1927 that Bolte organized himself into the KPD. At the same time he was a member of the Red Aid Germany (RHD).

From 1931 Bolte was the editor of the magazine "Der Metallblock", which was the official organ of the Unified Association of Metal Workers Berlin (EVMB), the first independent association of the Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition (RGO). From the end of 1930 to the beginning of 1933 he was a member of the closer board of the EVMB.

After a small part of the EVMB had gone illegally at the beginning of National Socialism , Bolte became an instructor of the illegal association for the districts of Wedding and Reinickendorf-Ost in the summer of 1933 . The historians Siegfried Mielke and Stefan Heinz write with regard to Bolte's tasks: “The focus of Bolte's activities was on the one hand on building up illegal organizational structures. Here he succeeded in winning over the future instructor for EVMB districts 5 to 8, Wilhelm Bielefeld , as well as Hans Brennig , Erwin Sickert , Wilhelm Haase , Karl Schatz and Wilhelm Lentzsch , all of whom were leading positions in the EVMB as district managers took over. On the other hand, Bolte was involved in the production and distribution of illegal leaflets and magazines. "

After Bolte was arrested on December 13, 1933, he and most of his illegal colleagues came to the Columbia concentration camp , where he stayed until early January 1934. The group of communist trade unionists was imprisoned in the Oranienburg concentration camp from January 5 to 17, 1934 . The communists then came into custody in Berlin-Moabit . Finally, on June 19, 1934, Bolte was sentenced to three years in prison by the Berlin Court of Appeal. The court justified this comparatively high sentence, which the head of the illegal EVMB Rudolf Lentzsch received with him , with the "extensive" and "criminal activities" of these defendants. Bolte was sent to the Brandenburg-Görden prison . He was then imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp , from which he was released on April 20, 1939.

At the end of the Second World War, Bolte came as a member of a punitive battalion in British captivity. He was only able to return to Berlin at the beginning of 1947. There he worked for the German Economic Commission . Bolte later worked for the Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB). Bolte, who was a member and functionary of the SED , received several prestigious awards in the GDR . He is buried in the Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery .

Literature / sources

  • Stefan Heinz , Siegfried Mielke (ed.): Functionaries of the unified association of metal workers in Berlin in the Nazi state. Resistance and persecution (= trade unionists under National Socialism. Persecution - resistance - emigration. Volume 2). Metropol, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86331-062-2 , pp. 22, 30–32, 40, 44, 60–61, 66–68 (short biography), 82 ff., 159, 175, 198, 238 ff. 251, 255.
  • Stefan Heinz : Moscow's mercenaries? "The Union of Metal Workers in Berlin": Development and failure of a communist union. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-89965-406-6 , pp. 150, 187, 226, 231, 277, 288, 290, 312, 324, 368, 466 ff. 528.
  • Stefan Heinz, "Red Association" and resistance group. Der Einheitsverband der Metallarbeiters Berlins (1930–1935) , In: information - Scientific journal of the study group German Resistance 1933–1945, 42nd year (2017), No. 85, pp. 10–15.
  • Landesarchiv Berlin , inventory C Rep. 118-01, No. 13230 (documents in connection with the recognition as a “victim of fascism”).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Short biography of Siegfried Mielke and Stefan Heinz in the internet exhibition about political prisoners in Oranienburg concentration camp
personal data
SURNAME Bolte, August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German communist resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanover
DATE OF DEATH October 15, 1981
Place of death East Berlin