Else Merkel
Else Merkel , née Elisabeth Schommer , (born September 22, 1905 in Saarbrücken ; † August 7, 1990 there ) was a German communist , resistance fighter against National Socialism and co-founder of the Association of Victims of the Nazi Regime - Association of Antifascists (VVN-BdA e.V.).
Life
Origin and education
Else Merkel was one of ten children of a Catholic family in Alt-Saarbrücken . After elementary school, her father, a book printer , did her job at the Saarbrücker Zeitung .
Marriage and engagement in the KPD
In 1922 she met Karl Merkel , whom she married against her parents' wishes in 1924. When her husband, a KPD member , lost his job, she was employed as an unskilled printer at the publishing house of the Saarbrücker Arbeiter-Zeitung . In 1931 she also joined the KPD. In 1932 she was put up as a candidate for the city council election in Saarbrücken.
Like her husband, Else Merkel was also involved in the voting campaign for the Saar area . When Karl Merkel had to flee after the vote was announced, she stayed in Saarbrücken with her ten-year-old son. Her husband kept in touch with the family across the green border . Merkel was actively involved in the resistance herself and worked as a money courier for the Red Aid . In 1936 she was exposed by the arrested Oswald Gentes , but initially remained at large. In 1936 she was interrogated once after the wife of the arrested communist Emil Nolthen reported her.
emigration
She then emigrated to Forbach , while her son stayed with his in-laws.
From Forbach, Merkel went to Paris, where she financed her living with smaller jobs. After the outbreak of the war, she and Anna Lenz were picked up and interned in Camp de Gurs . She escaped the German occupation with the help of Hermann Ratering , who pretended to be her husband, and spent the remaining war years in the unoccupied part of France, where, as a member of the Resistance , she continued to resist by distributing leaflets. Two soldiers helped their desertion .
Return to the Saarland
After the end of the Second World War, she returned to Saarland. Her husband had since fallen in the Spanish Civil War . She earned her living as an unskilled worker. She became active in the KP-Saar and co-founder of the association of those persecuted by the Nazi regime - Bund der Antifaschisteninnen and Antifaschisten (VVN-BdA eV). From 1979 until her death she accompanied an "alternative city tour" organized by the VVN-BdA and the Volkshochschule in Saarbrücken as a witness .
Honors
On November 10, 1988, she was awarded the Saarland Order of Merit by the then SPD Prime Minister Oskar Lafontaine (official announcement on June 27, 1989).
literature
- Klaus-Michael Mallmann ; Gerhard Paul : The fragmented no. Saarlanders against Hitler . Ed .: Hans-Walter Herrmann (= resistance and refusal in Saarland 1935–1945 . Volume 1 ). Dietz , Bonn 1989, ISBN 3-8012-5010-5 , p. 182-186 .
- Horst Bernard: Else Merkel . In: Luitwin Blies / Horst Bernard (ed.): Saarland women against the Nazis. Persecuted - Evicted - Expropriated. Blattlaus-Verlag, Saarbrücken 2004, ISBN 3-930771-31-4 , p. 83-88 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Horst Bernard: Else Merkel . Saarbrücken 2004, p. 87-88 .
- ^ Announcement of awards of the Saarland Order of Merit . In: Head of the State Chancellery (Ed.): Official Gazette of the Saarland . No. 35 . Saarbrücker Zeitung Verlag und Druckerei GmbH, Saarbrücken July 13, 1989, p. 995 ( uni-saarland.de [PDF; 206 kB ; accessed on June 2, 2017]).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Merkel, Else |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Schommer, Elisabeth (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German communist, resistance fighter and co-founder of the Association of Victims of the Nazi Regime (VVN-BA) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 22, 1905 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Saarbrücken |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 7, 1990 |
| Place of death | Saarbrücken |