August Grotehenne

August Grotehenne († March 28, 1933 in Langelsheim ) was a German trade union official.

Life and murder

Grotehenne, a social democrat and union official, was arrested on March 27, 1933 in the course of a mass arrest in the Braunschweig area ("overtaking") directed against the organized workforce and taken to the Bokemüller restaurant in Langelsheim. There he was subjected to severe abuse by members of the SS, as a result of which he died the following morning.

Grotehenne was immediately received with blows on his arrival and beaten out onto the stage. There he was first placed on the table with clothes and abused with various striking tools. Since these beatings did not seem to have the desired effect, the SS men tore off their victim's pants and continued the abuse until Grotehenne stopped making a sound. He was then purposely pushed off the table in such a way that his head hit the floor. He lay there unobserved for half an hour. When Grotehenne stirred again, he was seized again. He was ordered to wipe up a layer of dirt and blood that had grown around the table. When Grotehenne stooped to carry out the order, he was kicked from behind so that his head fell into a bucket in front of him. Then he was thrown back on the table and again ruthlessly beaten with tools of all kinds. Then Grotehenne was pushed off the table a second time. Now two SS men seized him and turned him upside down. They spread his legs apart and hit him on the genitals with a beech club. Then Grotehenne was grabbed by the arms and legs of four SS men and wiggled it back and forth several times, with a fifth SS man whipping the defenseless man on the stomach with each swing. Finally he was under the exclamation used in another case: 'We'll show you how to throw a pig in the pod!' thrown about four meters into the hall. Grotehenne remained motionless; A large pool of blood immediately formed around him. Grotehenne died the following morning.

Today August-Grotehenne-Straße in Langelsheim is a reminder of his fate.

literature

• Reinhard Bein: "Report on the slaughter of the Social Democrat August Grotehenne in Langelsheim", in: Ders .: Resistance in National Socialism. Braunschweig 1930 to 1945 , 1985, pp. 60f.