Erich Honstein

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Erich Honstein (born February 23, 1904 in Eisenach ; † July 1, 1934 in Halle (Saale) ) was a German KPD functionary and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

Honstein - a typesetter by profession - was a city councilor in Eisenach until 1933. When he was out of law, he initially headed the KPD sub-district Gotha - Waltershausen and from July 1933 worked as an instructor for the district leadership throughout Thuringia . The district management of the KPD district of Greater Thuringia had appointed him in July / August 1933 as editor and chief responsible for the KPD district organ Thüringer Volksblatt . After Otto Schiek's arrest , Honstein was appointed the new political director of the Halle- Merseburg district by the Berlin state leadership of the KPD in mid-May 1934 . As such, he endeavored - together with other members of the district management such as Otto Berger and Josef Pfaff - to establish regular connections with the sub-district managements active in Bitterfeld , Eilenburg , Naumburg , Weißenfels , Wittenberg and Zeitz, among others .

A few weeks after taking over the management function, Honstein was arrested on June 24, 1934 at an illegal meeting in Eilenburg. He was then severely tortured for days and succumbed to his injuries on July 1st. It is very likely that information from a KPD member from Eilenburg who was tortured and forced into spying by the Gestapo led to Honstein's arrest. The management of the Halle-Merseburg district was initially taken over by Franz Urbanski and, after his arrest in October 1934, Wilhelm Künzler .

Honors

Stumbling block for Erich Honstein at the address Große Wiegardt 2 in Eisenach

Honstein was buried in 1946 with five other Eisenach anti-fascists in the honor grove to commemorate the victims of the revolutionary workers' movement in the municipal main cemetery in Wartenberg / Mühlhäuser Strasse. During the GDR era, the Eisenach youth hostel at Bornstrasse 7 was named after him. A street in Eisenach's southern district bears Honstein's name.

On May 14, 2019, stumbling blocks for Erich Honstein and Ernst Böckel were laid in Eisenach .

In Friedrichroda , a polytechnic high school and an FDGB convalescent home were named after Erich Honstein.

literature

  • Karl-Heinz suffering, Karl-Heinz Gasse, Jürgen Hermann, Hans Wendler: Against fascism and war. The KPD in the Halle-Merseburg district 1933–1945 . SED district leadership, Halle (Saale) 1983, p. 182ff.
  • Ulrike Puvogel, Martin Stankowski: Memorials for the Victims of National Socialism. Documentation II: Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Thuringia . Federal Agency for Political Education, Bonn 2000, pp. 810f.
  • Hermann-Josef Rupieper, Alexander Sperk (Ed.): The situation reports of the secret state police for the province of Saxony 1933 to 1936 . Volume 2: Merseburg administrative region . Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 2004, p. 87.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Further stumbling blocks relocated in downtown Eisenach. In: Eisenach Online. Retrieved September 12, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Karl-Heinz suffering, Karl-Heinz Gasse, Jürgen Hermann, Hans Wendler: Against fascism and war. The KPD in the Halle-Merseburg district 1933–1945. SED district leadership, Halle (Saale) 1983 ', p. 182.
  3. ↑ Karl-Heinz suffering, Karl-Heinz Gasse, Jürgen Hermann, Hans Wendler: Against fascism and war. The KPD in the Halle-Merseburg district 1933–1945. SED district leadership, Halle (Saale) 1983, p. 183.
  4. ↑ Karl-Heinz suffering, Karl-Heinz Gasse, Jürgen Hermann, Hans Wendler: Against fascism and war. The KPD in the Halle-Merseburg district 1933–1945. SED district leadership, Halle (Saale) 1983, p. 215.
personal data
SURNAME Honstein, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German KPD functionary and resistance fighter against National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Eisenach
DATE OF DEATH July 1, 1934
Place of death Halle (Saale)