Josef Römer

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Josef "Beppo" Römer (born March 5, 1892 in Munich ; † September 25, 1944 in Brandenburg an der Havel ) was a German lawyer. His political career included the stations of German free corps leader , later communist , staff officer and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

Romans hit 1,911 military career as a cadet one was during the First World War captain and retired early 1919 from the army. In 1919 he participated as one of the leaders of the Freikorps Oberland in the suppression of the Munich Soviet Republic and in 1920 in the fight against the Red Ruhr Army in the Ruhr area . In the third of the uprisings in Upper Silesia he was involved in the storming of the Annaberges .

From 1919 he studied law and political science in Munich, and in 1922 he was awarded a Dr. jur. doctorate and was legal advisor at the Hugo Stinnes Group in Dortmund. In 1923/24 he was a representative of the German-Turkish trading company in Turkey, from 1925 to 1927 managing director of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Deutschen Landindustrien and from 1927 to 1932 syndic of Landkultur AG in Berlin.

In the 1920s, Römer approached the Communist Party of Germany through a school friend, the Landtag member Otto Graf . From 1923 Römer worked for the KPD's intelligence service. For this he published economic and domestic political articles under a pseudonym in the journal Die Neue Front , which he published from 1924 to 1926 on behalf of the KPD intelligence service and was intended to disintegrate the right-wing military organizations. In 1932 Römer became publisher and editor of the monthly magazine Der Aufbruch , around which a circle of left-wing intellectuals gathered.

Shortly after the " seizure of power " he was imprisoned from the beginning of February 1933 to May 1933 in the Berlin Columbiahaus .

In June 1934, Römer was arrested again. He stayed in the Dachau concentration camp until 1939 . After his release he returned to Altenkirchen. In 1940/41 he was a private secretary at an estate administration in Glienicke.

Resistance circles in the artists' colony

The writer Willy Sachse belonged to a communist resistance group in the north of Berlin. The illegal writings of the RAS group were produced on the premises of the “Wiking” sailing club in Tegel. Other members of the group were the actor Hans Meyer-Hanno with his wife Irene, the worker Fritz Riedel and Alja Blomberg .

In the spring of 1940 the resistance group around Römer established connections with John Sieg , Arthur Sodtke and Robert Uhrig , who was considered to be the head of the communist resistance in Berlin around 1940. Uhrig was able to extend his connection to Munich to the Hartwimmer-Olschewski group and finally to Tyrol via Römer .

The most important illegal pamphlet was the Information Service , an underground magazine published by Römer mit Uhrig. The information service appeared almost every month in 1941. The writings were sent from various post offices to addresses in Germany and abroad, even to the front with field post numbers . The information service “called for acts of sabotage and sought information on the economic and military situation. The aim of the group was to establish a socialist state after the fall of the Hitler dictatorship. "

Since 1941, Count Alexander Stenbock-Fermor and Römer no longer met in private apartments in the artists' colony for security reasons , but mostly in a swimming pool.

At the beginning of 1942 the Gestapo uncovered the Roman circle. On June 19, 1944, the People's Court sentenced Josef Römer, Willy Sachse , Arthur Sodtke , Robert Uhrig and Fritz Riedel to death . On September 25, 1944, Römer was executed with the guillotine in Brandenburg prison .

Honors

  • In Fredersdorf-Vogelsdorf near Berlin a street was named after him "Beppo-Römer-Straße".
  • From 1961 to 1969 a torpedo speedboat of the Volksmarine (project 183) was named Josef Römer.
  • In Gamengrund there has been a memorial stone since 1974 that commemorates the communists Josef Römer, Willy Sachse, Fritz Riedel and Kurt Ritter .

literature

  • Oswald Bindrich, Susanne Römer: Beppo Römer - A life between revolution and nation . Edition Hentrich, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-926175-97-4
  • Gert Rosiejka: The Red Chapel. "Treason" as an anti-fascist resistance. Results, Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-925622-16-0
  • Luise Kraushaar and others: German resistance fighters 1933 to 1945. Volume 2. Berlin 1970, page 101 ff.
  • Hans-Rainer Sandvoss : Resistance in Friedrichshain and Lichtenberg. Published by the German Resistance Memorial Center, 1998; ISSN  0175-3592 ;
    here: Group of Romans. Kaulsdorf-Süd, Am Birkenwerder 11 - meeting point near Butte , p. 153 ff.
  • Susanne Römer, Hans Coppi (Ed.), Foreword by Prof. Dr. Peter Steinbach: Departure. Documentation of a magazine between the fronts (reprint). Fölbach, Koblenz 2001, ISBN 3-923532-70-9 .
  • Römer, Josef (Beppo). In: Hermann Weber , Andreas Herbst : German Communists. Biographical Handbook 1918 to 1945. 2., revised. and greatly expanded edition. Karl Dietz, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-320-02130-6 .

Web links

Commons : Josef Römer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Bindrich, Römer p. 63. There also reference to incorrect mention of Berlin in some publications.
  2. ↑ Bernd Kaufmann u. a .: The KPD's intelligence service 1919-1937. Dietz, Berlin 1993, ISBN 978-3-320-01817-7 , pp. 83f.
  3. ↑ Bernd Kaufmann u. a .: Intelligence Service , p. 154.
  4. ^ Reprint: Hans Coppi junior and Susanne Römer: Aufbruch - Documentation of a magazine between the fronts, with a foreword by Peter Steinbach and Susanne Römer. Commentary by Hans Coppi. Koblenz 2001.
  5. ↑ Rosiejka (1986) p. 56.
  6. ↑ Wolfgang Benz: Opposition and resistance of the labor movement Federal Agency for Civic Education
personal data
SURNAME Romans, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Romans, Beppo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer, staff officer and resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH March 5, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH September 25, 1944
Place of death Brandenburg on the Havel