Erhard Stenzel

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Erhard Stenzel (born February 5, 1925 in Freiberg , Saxony) is a German peace activist, armed forces deserter and the last living German Resistance fighter (as of March 2019).

Life

At the age of eight, Stenzel had seen his father, a metal worker and communist , be picked up from his apartment on May 2, 1933 and thrown bleeding onto a truck ; he was placed in " protective custody " because of his union activities . In 1944 the father was murdered in the Buchenwald concentration camp . Stenzel's mother was a textile worker.

After graduating from elementary school , Erhard Stenzel learned the profession of typesetter . In the last year of his apprenticeship the Gestapo arrested him and accused him of sabotage. Despite three months of torture, nothing could be proven and he was released. In the autumn of 1942, at the age of seventeen, Stenzel was drafted into the Wehrmacht and, after his first assignment in Norway, was assigned to the occupation troops in Northern France in December 1943. The camp was near Oradour-sur-Glane , where the Oradour massacre took place just three days before his arrival on June 10, 1944 . He saw the dead, some of which were still smoking, and was confirmed in his wish to escape the Wehrmacht as quickly as possible. After making contact with a German-speaking French communist, Stenzel deserted , taking his weapons with him. On January 3, 1944, he was officially accepted into the Resistance and the Communist Party of France .

Stenzel is one of the liberators of Paris , Rouen and Le Havre . In absentia, the Nazis sentenced him to death for being removed from the Wehrmacht. The judgment was overturned in 2002 by the law for the repeal of Nazi judgments in the criminal justice system .

After returning to Saxony, Stenzel became deputy director of the Sächsische Zeitung publishing house . His work for the Socialist Unity Party of Germany then took him to East Berlin , where he became deputy director general of ZENTRAG . Further stations in life were Teltow and Petzow .

In 1978 he moved to Falkensee for family reasons . After the fall of the Wall , he was a member of the city council and was elected deputy city president. Erhard Stenzel campaigned specifically for the preservation of the subcamp Falkensee of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp as an authentic memorial. And he often goes to schools to tell young people about his experiences.

Honors

  • Hero of the French Republic
  • Medal of the Landtag Brandenburg for the recognition of services to the community
  • Honorary chairmanship of the Left Party in the Havelland district

literature

  • I was nineteen. Why Erhard Stenzel deserted from the Wehrmacht and how he helped liberate Paris. In: Karlen Vesper: The Doll Seamstress from Ravensbrück: Twelve portraits. New Life Publishing House, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-355-01832-6 , pp. 77-102.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Salut Camarade. In: New Germany .
  2. ↑ a b Interview with Erhard Stenzel .
  3. ↑ a b c Silvia Passow: The last fighter. In: Berliner Zeitung. March 11, 2019, p. 16.
  4. ↑ Patrick Rachner: Fully armed in the resistance. on www.moz.de, February 5, 2012.
  5. ↑ Erhard Stenzel deserted from the Wehrmacht and was sentenced to death for it.
  6. ↑ Red Fox . 12/2017, p. 23.
  7. ↑ Awarding of the medal of honor of the state parliament to Erhard Stenzel.
  8. ↑ For tolerance and political wakefulness. on www.maz.de.
  9. ↑ Premiere in the Falkenseer ALA: Erhard Stenzel on falkenseeaktuell.de, October 29, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Stenzel, Erhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German armed forces deserter and resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH February 5, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Freiberg , Saxony