Emil Schemmel

Karl Emil Schemmel (born January 21, 1887 in Schadewitz , Luckau district ; † November 1, 1945 ) was a German local politician ( KPD ), trade unionist and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

After finishing school, Schemmel initially worked in agriculture . At the age of twenty he began working for the Deutsche Reichsbahn and was later employed there as a conductor .

Schemmel joined the Spartakusbund and was a co-founder of the Heidenau local group of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in 1919 . He worked as the organization leader of the KPD and the main cashier of the international workers' aid . Schemmel was also a member of the Red Aid and the Red Front Fighter League . In addition, he was also involved in his spare time for his colleagues as the "main functionary" of the railway union in Heidenau. From 1920 to 1933 he was a city ​​councilor in Heidenau.

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists , he was one of the first Heidenauers to be arrested. On February 28, 1933, he was arrested at his workplace in Heidenau train station and taken to the Dresden police headquarters on March 1 . On April 12, 1933, Schemmel was deported to the Königstein-Halbestadt concentration camp and tortured there. After a short time in freedom, he was arrested again in July 1933 and imprisoned in the Hohnstein concentration camp . After his release on December 23, 1933, he contacted Rudolf Gebauer in Dohna . Schemmel was a leading member of the Gebauer resistance group and led a group of three. Schemmel and his group members established connections to emigrants in Czechoslovakia and to Olga Körner, who lives illegally in Dresden . They distributed anti-fascist written material and supported fighters in Spain and relatives of imprisoned comrades. In the spring of 1934 Schemmel leased a piece of land on the Ploschwitzer Höhe in agreement with the illegal local group of the KPD in Dohna, which then served the members as an illegal meeting place. In the spring of 1938, Schemmel took part in the illegal consultation near the Lugschänke near Heidenau. Rudolf Gebauer discussed the political situation and spoke about the threat of war. In addition to Schemmel, Arthur Schirmer from Dohna and Walter Schmiedel from Pirna -zutendorf were also present. On January 21, 1939, Schemmel was arrested again. In June 1939 he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison by the People's Court in Dresden for “preparing for high treason ”. In the same trial, Walter Hauptvogel from Pirna were sentenced to five and a half years and Arthur Schirmer from Dohna to seven years in prison. After serving his sentence in Waldheim prison, however, Schemmel was not released, but rather deported to Sachsenhausen concentration camp . The Red Army liberated Schemmel during the death march on May 2, 1945 in Grabow .

Schemmel returned to Heidenau on June 12, 1945. Despite his health weakened by his imprisonment, he helped to rebuild the local group of the KPD in Heidenau. He was elected its first chairman. In addition, Schemmel took on responsible functions at the Reichsbahndirektion in Dresden. Schemmel died on November 1, 1945 as a result of his long imprisonment.

Honors

• According to him, which is Emil Schemmel Street in Heidenau named.

literature

• Author collective: Chronicle 1933–1945. On the history of the anti-fascist resistance struggle on the territory of the former Pirna administration . Socialist Unity Party of Germany, district leadership Pirna, committee of anti-fascist resistance fighters of the GDR district committee Pirna / Sebnitz 1983, passim.
• District leadership of the SED Pirna, Commission for the Investigation of the history of the local labor movement (ed.): Memorials, monuments, memorials and Mahnstätten the labor movement and the anti-fascist resistance movement in the circle Pirna . 2nd revised edition, Pirna 1984, p. 88f.