Dora Zeitz

Dora Zeitz (born October 1, 1913 in Engelfangen ; † May 2, 1980 in Dresden ) was a German resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

Dora grew up as one of two daughters in a miner's family in Püttlingen . From 1920 to 1928 she attended elementary school and then worked as a household helper. In 1929 she became a member of the Communist Youth Association of Germany (KJVD). There she met her future husband Fritz Nickolay . In June 1933 she was arrested in Mannheim . After two months in prison, she was deported to the Saar area . There she supported the KPD's campaign to vote.

After the annexation of the Saar area to the German Reich , she emigrated to southern France. In October 1935 she gave birth to a daughter. It was not until 1938 that she was reunited with her husband, who had meanwhile founded the Free German Youth (FDJ). She supported both the work of the FDJ and the exile KPD group. Both were also driving forces in the French Popular Front movement .

In May 1940 Dora Zeitz was interned in Camp de Gurs and was released in summer 1940 with the support of her husband. The two went to the unoccupied part of the south of France. There Zeitz became involved in the Resistance movement , for which she smuggled goods and documents. There she remained undiscovered until the end of the war.

Together with her husband she then went to Paris, where she supported the Comité “Allemagne libre” pour l'Ouest (CALPO). Then they returned to Saarland, where they tried to bring the communist movement back to life. Dora Zeitz was involved in the newly founded Saar Communist Party . However, after her husband met another woman, she left the Saarland and went to the Soviet zone of occupation .

She took her daughter with her and settled in Dresden. The marriage ended in divorce in 1949. In the GDR she took on leading positions in the human resources department, among other things, she was head of the human resources department at the University of Transport from 1957 to 1968.

For her work and her commitment in the resistance against National Socialism, she was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit and the Medal for Fighters Against Fascism 1933 to 1945 .

literature

• Luitwien Bies: Dora Zeitz . In: Luitwin Bies / Horst Bernard (ed.): Saarland women against the Nazis. Persecuted - Evicted - Expropriated . Blattlaus-Verlag, Saarbrücken 2004, ISBN 3-930771-31-4 , p. 129-135 .
• Luitwin Bies: Active in the resistance: Dora Zeitz, a woman from the Köllertal . DKP city council group Püttlingen, Püttlingen 1998. (Brochure)

Web links

• Dora Zeitz on Zeitzfamily.org ( webtrees )