Engelbert Brinker

Engelbert Brinker (born November 16, 1883 in Cologne , † December 13, 1944 in Gestapo custody in the Brauweiler Abbey ) was a German resistance fighter and one of the leading members of the Cologne group of the Popular Front Committee Free Germany . The group was exposed in November 1944, the members were arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned and tortured in the Gestapo prison in the Brauweiler Abbey. Brinker died as a result of torture on December 13, 1944.

Life

The Cologne locksmith Brinker joined the Communist Party of Germany in 1919 . In the course of the Second World War he organized the underground resistance, provided people in hiding and escaped forced laborers with hiding places and with food. He was a member of the National Socialist People's Welfare (NSV) and was awarded the War Merit Cross, which was awarded to him for rescuing people buried after a bomb attack.

Memorial plaque Sülzgürtel 8

Brinker founded a communist resistance group that was active in the following period in the Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz works , which, in addition to sabotage in the engine plant and the procrastination of labor, also established contacts with Russian forced laborers. Using handouts written in Russian, he informed the Russian workers about the course of the war and the current situation at the front. At the same time, together with Willi Tollmann, Jakob Zorn, Otto Richter and Johannes Kerp, he built up a network of resistance groups in various Cologne companies. When the National Committee for Free Germany was founded in July 1943 in the Soviet Union , the Cologne Communists tried in the second half of 1943 to build a broad alliance against the Nazi tyranny in this region as well. Since March 1944, the Cologne resistance group called itself the Volksfrontkomitee Free Germany , which coordinated leaflet campaigns for support for those in hiding from a residential building in Cologne-Sülz. In addition to the communist members who headed the Popular Front Committee , the group of around 200 people also included Social Democrats , Bible Students , doctors, former company directors and even NSDAP members.

The group was exposed in November 1944 when vague information about the group was revealed in the course of the arrest of the family members of the Edelweiss pirates under torture in Gestapo custody. According to this information , the Gestapo, which formed the Ferdinand Kütter special command , was able to arrest Brinker on November 14, 1944 and bring him to the Gestapo prison in the Brauweiler Abbey, where he was tortured for days. On November 24, 1944, the Gestapo raided house Sülzgürtel 8 and arrested the entire leadership group of the People's Committee, their family members and two Jewish women who had hid in the house before the deportation . Over the next few days, over 70 members of the resistance group were arrested, for whom the Gestapo commissioner Ferdinand Kütter applied for the death penalty as part of a so-called special treatment .

Brinker died on December 13, 1944 in the Gestapo detention center in Brauweiler, presumably as a result of weeks of torture.

Commemoration

Stolperstein for Engelbert Brinker, Im Dau 4 ( Altstadt-Süd )

Before his last place of residence at Im Dau 4 in Cologne's old town , a stumbling block was laid by the Cologne artist Gunter Demnig in February 2001 . Shortly after it was laid, the memorial stone was smashed and smeared with white paint. In addition, there was a dispute with the homeowner, who resisted the relocation in front of the house entrance. On September 11, 2001, on the initiative of a school class at the Humboldt Gymnasium, a new public relocation took place. The stumbling block has been severely damaged again since 2005.

In the 1990s, a memorial plaque was placed on house Sülzgürtel 8 for the members of the Cologne resistance group Volksfrontkomitee Free Germany , who were arrested in November 1944 and later tortured to death.

literature

Engelbert Brinker (1883-1944) . In: Kirsten-Serup Bilfeldt: Stolpersteine - Forgotten names, blown traces. Guide to the fate of Cologne during the Nazi era . 2nd Edition. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-462-03535-5 , pp. 23–32.
Popular Front Committee Free Germany . In: Martin Rüther: Cologne in the Second World War - Everyday Life and Experiences between 1939 and 1945 (= writings of the NS Documentation Center of the City of Cologne. Volume 12). Emons Verlag, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-89705-407-8 , pp. 439-442.

Individual evidence

↑ Engelbert Brinker (1883–1944) . In: Kirsten-Serup Bilfeldt: Stolpersteine - Forgotten names, blown traces. Guide to the fate of Cologne during the Nazi era . P. 28.
^ Popular Front Committee Free Germany . In: Martin Rüther: Cologne in the Second World War - Everyday Life and Experiences between 1939 and 1945 (= writings of the NS Documentation Center of the City of Cologne. Volume 12). Emons Verlag, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-89705-407-8 , p. 440.
↑ Engelbert Brinker (1883–1944) . In: Kirsten-Serup Bilfeldt: Stolpersteine - Forgotten names, blown traces. Guide to the fate of Cologne during the Nazi era . P. 27.
^ National Committee Free Germany (NKFD). In: museenkoeln.de. Retrieved on March 19, 2015 (organizational sketch of the NKFD in Cologne).
↑ Engelbert Brinker (1883–1944) . In: Kirsten-Serup Bilfeldt: Stolpersteine - Forgotten names, blown traces. Guide to the fate of Cologne during the Nazi era . P. 31.
↑ Clemens Schminke: “Stumbling block” had to be replaced. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . September 12, 2001, Retrieved November 18, 2019 .
↑ Stolpersteine: Memorials for the victims of National Socialism: Brinker, Engelbert. The NS Documentation Center of the City of Löln, accessed on November 18, 2019 .
^ Fritz Bilz : Resistance for a Free Germany. In: taz.de . November 24, 2004, accessed November 18, 2019 . Life in Sülz and Klettenberg - people, stories and interesting things : Memorial plaque Sülzgürtel House No. 8. In: Leben-in-suelz.de. Archived from the original on March 19, 2015 ; accessed on November 18, 2019 .

personal data
SURNAME	Brinker, Engelbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH	November 16, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cologne
DATE OF DEATH	December 13, 1944
Place of death	Brauweiler Abbey

[1] Engelbert Brinker (1883–1944) . In: Kirsten-Serup Bilfeldt: Stolpersteine - Forgotten names, blown traces. Guide to the fate of Cologne during the Nazi era . P. 28.

[2] Popular Front Committee Free Germany . In: Martin Rüther: Cologne in the Second World War - Everyday Life and Experiences between 1939 and 1945 (= writings of the NS Documentation Center of the City of Cologne. Volume 12). Emons Verlag, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-89705-407-8 , p. 440.

[3] Engelbert Brinker (1883–1944) . In: Kirsten-Serup Bilfeldt: Stolpersteine - Forgotten names, blown traces. Guide to the fate of Cologne during the Nazi era . P. 27.

[4] National Committee Free Germany (NKFD). In: museenkoeln.de. Retrieved on March 19, 2015 (organizational sketch of the NKFD in Cologne).

[5] Engelbert Brinker (1883–1944) . In: Kirsten-Serup Bilfeldt: Stolpersteine - Forgotten names, blown traces. Guide to the fate of Cologne during the Nazi era . P. 31.

[6] Clemens Schminke: “Stumbling block” had to be replaced. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . September 12, 2001, Retrieved November 18, 2019 .

[7] Stolpersteine: Memorials for the victims of National Socialism: Brinker, Engelbert. The NS Documentation Center of the City of Löln, accessed on November 18, 2019 .

[8] Fritz Bilz : Resistance for a Free Germany. In: taz.de . November 24, 2004, accessed November 18, 2019 . Life in Sülz and Klettenberg - people, stories and interesting things : Memorial plaque Sülzgürtel House No. 8. In: Leben-in-suelz.de. Archived from the original on March 19, 2015 ; accessed on November 18, 2019 .