Charlotte Müller (resistance fighter)

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Charlotte Müller (born November 5, 1901 in Berlin-Wedding , † March 14, 1989 in East Berlin ) was a German resistance fighter and survivor of the Ravensbrück concentration camp .

Life

Müller's father, a self-employed plumber, social democrat and trade unionist , had a decisive influence on their political development. At the age of 14 she began an apprenticeship as a plumber in her father's workshop. But he died in 1917 and Charlotte Müller had to give up this training. She was sent to a business school by her mother . She worked as an office worker until 1923, when she was fired and did not find work again as a swimming master until 1928. During this time she was active in the Red Women's and Girls' Union , a sub-organization of the Red Front Fighters' Union , and heard lectures at the Marxist Workers' School (MASCH) . In 1928 she joined the KPD .

In the summer of 1933 she was released again. From November 1933 she began her illegal political activity together with Mia Niederkirchner - until June 1934 in Germany, then, in order to avoid her threatened arrest by the Gestapo , in the Netherlands . In 1936 the Amsterdam immigration police arrested her with the intention of extraditing her to Germany, but deported Charlotte Müller to Belgium . In Brussels she was already expected by Otto Niebergall , who supported illegal groups in the Rhineland from Belgium , and was again entrusted with political work for the KPD.

After the Wehrmacht marched into Belgium in May 1940, she was arrested by the Gestapo in October 1940. Charlotte Müller's pre-trial detention lasted about a year. However, there was no evidence of illegal activity during her emigration. In November 1941, she and her co-defendants were tried in Berlin for preparation for high treason. She was sentenced to 15 months in prison, including pre-trial detention. After serving her prison sentence in January 1942, she was imprisoned in the Ravensbrück concentration camp with an interim stay in the Rhinow labor education camp .

For the first 8 months she worked in the weaving mill. After an illness it was written unfit for work in the weaving mill. When the camp was soon looking for women who knew how to do plumbing, she volunteered. In this position she was able to move around the camp relatively freely, but above all to work without the supervision of the SS. On the one hand, she used this to develop and maintain contacts between the political prisoners. On the other hand, as a prisoner on assignment, Charlotte Müller was also able to put together her own work crew. In doing so, for example, she helped two physically weakened inmates to survive the camp.

After the end of the war, she first worked in the city council of Berlin-Wedding . In July 1949 she switched to the German People's Police . In 1951 she began working for the State Security of the GDR (MfS), and in 1957 she worked full time for the MfS.

Her most important task as a courier was to keep in touch with West Berlin police officers who worked for the MfS and, if necessary, to develop them morally. One of her contacts was Karl-Heinz Kurras . After August 13, 1961, Charlotte Müller became his most important contact with the MfS. She used her visits to her sister Käthe, who lived in Spandau , to meet with Kurras in the Schleusenkrug in Berlin's Tiergarten . When he joined the SED in 1964 , she vouched for him. In 1965 another contact from Charlotte Müller, Heinz Weiss , was made by the West Berlin State Security. His wife testified extensively, including about his courier. So Charlotte Müller was no longer allowed to work in West Berlin. In 1967 she left the service with the MfS.

In 1981 her book Die Klempnerkolonne in Ravensbrück was published , in which she reports on her experiences during her imprisonment in the Ravensbrück concentration camp.

Charlotte Müller died on March 14, 1989 and was buried in Berlin-Baumschulenweg .

Awards

Fonts

  • The plumbers' column in Ravensbrück. Memories of the inmate No. 10787. Dietz Verlag: Berlin 1981, ISBN 3-320-00808-0 (licensed edition for the FRG: Röderberg-Verlag: Frankfurt / Main 1981 ISBN 3-87682-735-3 ); both with about a dozen new editions; as well as several translations.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ New Germany of February 27, 1982
  2. ^ New Germany of October 4, 1986
personal data
SURNAME Müller, Charlotte
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Müller, Lotti
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH November 5, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin-Wedding
DATE OF DEATH March 14, 1989
Place of death Berlin