Detlef Girrmann
Detlef Girrmann (born May 18, 1929 in Breslau ; † April 8, 2011 in Erfurt ) was an escape helper and co-founder of the largest escape aid organization in the GDR , the so-called Girrmann Group . It brought about 500 East Berliners and GDR citizens to freedom.
Life
Girrmann grew up in Halle an der Saale and Magdeburg . During the Second World War , he volunteered for the SS , but later deserted while working in Hungary. After the end of the war, he became involved in the Magdeburg “Antifascist Committee” and joined the SPD in 1946, shortly before the forced unification of the SPD and KPD into the SED . He resigned from the SED in 1948. In an opposition group he began to distribute leaflets against the SED regime. Faced with the threat of arrest, he fled to West Berlin in 1950 , where he continued his law studies at the Free University of Berlin and looked after students who continued to live in the east of the city for the Studentenwerk . After the Wall was built, Girrmann helped several hundred students to flee to West Berlin with the organization that was later named after him, before the group ceased its activities in early 1964. He also shaped the moral and ethical guidelines for escape assistance . In 1963 he formulated that “a person in an emergency has its own moral quality that forces us to help him”. Girrmann's organization set about 500 East Berliners and GDR citizens free.
Girrmann did not finish his studies and later worked for the printing and paper processing trade association in Wiesbaden , from 1992 as an expert in the central salary office of the Thuringian Ministry of Finance in Erfurt.
literature
- Paths through the wall - escape aid and Stasi between East and West. Edition Berliner Unterwelten by Ch. Links Verlag, 2011/2019.
- Uwe Johnson : "I didn't want to leave out any question". Conversations with escape helpers. (Ed. By Burkhart Veigel ). Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin, 2010.
- Maria Nooke (ed.), Lydia Dollmann (ed.): Escape goal freedom. Reports from GDR refugees about the situation after the wall was built; Actions by the Girrmann Group. Ch. Links, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-86153-620-8 .
Web links
- Escape helper Detlef Girrmann on the construction of the wall 49 years ago . Deutschlandradio , August 13, 2010 (access via tagesschau.de)
- Freedom and human rights were his goals. On the death of Detlef Girrmann . Obituary on the website of the Berlin Wall Memorial
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Detlef Girrmann (born 1928) . Obituary of the Tagesspiegel, July 22, 2011
- ↑ Detlef Girrmann in the Small Chronicle of the Free University of Berlin
- ^ Sven Felix Kellerhoff : SED public enemy - GDR escape helper Girrmann died . Berliner Morgenpost, April 13, 2011
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Girrmann, Detlef |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German escape worker, co-founder of the largest escape aid organization in the GDR |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 18, 1929 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wroclaw |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 8, 2011 |
| Place of death | Erfurt |