Erich Schulz (Reichsbanner activist)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erich Schulz (born February 12, 1898 in Berlin ; † April 25, 1925 there ) was a member of the Reichsbanner Black-Red-Gold Republic protection organization during the Weimar Republic . He was one of the first victims of right-wing extremist violence in Berlin.

Life

The warehouse worker Erich Schulz was a participant in the First World War and in 1924 became a member of the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold . He lived in Berlin-Kreuzberg (Trebbiner Strasse 10). As a non-party, Schulz was committed to the Weimar Republic.

In connection with the presidential election at the end of April 1925 , the Kreuzberg comradeship of the Reichsbanner, in which Schulz was organized, supported the center politician Wilhelm Marx , who stood for the three democratic parties in favor of the republic (SPD, DDP, Zentrum). In the early afternoon of April 25, 1925, right-wing extremist opponents of the republic stopped an open moving van with members of the Reichsbanner on it in Innsbrucker Strasse in Berlin-Schöneberg . The 21-year-old Alfred Rehnig , a member of the right-wing extremist " Bund Wiking ", pulled a gun and seriously injured Schulz. He died of his serious injuries on the way to the hospital.

On May 2, 1925, a large mourning rally for Schulz took place in Trebbiner Strasse. The speaker was among others the Berlin SPD chairman Franz Künstler . A large funeral procession through Berlin-Kreuzberg ended at the New Garrison Cemetery (today: Columbiadamm Cemetery ). There Dietrich Graue , Prussian member of the state parliament of the left-liberal DDP, gave another address.

The shooter Alfred Rehnig , who later joined the NSDAP and the SS, was acquitted by the jury on July 9, 1925, on charges of bodily harm with fatal outcome.

Commemoration

On the occasion of the first anniversary of Erich Schulz's death on April 25, 1926, a gravestone donated by the Reichsbanner was ceremoniously inaugurated at a large rally. Up until the beginning of National Socialism, large commemorative events were regularly held at Schulz's grave.

The tombstone in the Columbiadamm cemetery is still preserved today and was restored in 2016. The Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold e. V. and the German Resistance Memorial Center have been organizing a memorial event in honor of Schulz there since 2017 on the anniversary of the assassination on April 25. The event sees itself as an invitation to active democratic engagement. Every year prominent federal and state politicians have their say at the event. In 2019, among other things, an honorary post of the guard battalion of the Bundeswehr took part, which positively refers to the democratic tradition of the historical black-red-gold banner.

literature

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ↑ For biographical details see the short biography on the website of the German Resistance Memorial Center and Reichsbanner e. V. and invitation to the commemorative event in 2019 with a short biography and the German Resistance Memorial Center : For Freedom and Republic! The Reichsbanner Black-Red-Gold in the Fight for Democracy 1924 to 1933 , Berlin 2018, p. 3 ff., 118 ff.
  2. ↑ See ibid.
  3. ↑ See ibid.
  4. ↑ See ibid.
  5. ↑ See: Invitation and press release: Memorial hour and lecture evening on April 25, 2017.
  6. ↑ See the report: Commemoration of Erich Schulz and Schaudepot opened (2019).
personal data
SURNAME Schulz, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Reichsbanner activist
DATE OF BIRTH February 12, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 25, 1925
Place of death Berlin