Ernst König (resistance fighter)
Ernst König (born March 3, 1898 in Suhl-Heinrichs , † January 5, 1945 in Weimar ) was a toolmaker and communist resistance fighter against National Socialism who was executed with the guillotine in the court of the Weimar Regional Court .
Life
After attending primary school, he learned the trade of toolmaker. He practiced it until 1916 in Heinrichs, then in Berlin . During the First World War he was drafted into the artillery as a soldier . In 1918 he was gas poisoned at the front . When he was restored, he went back to work in Suhl and Sömmerda , interrupted by periods of unemployment . In 1924, König joined the German Metalworkers' Association (DMV). He recognized the danger of the rising fascism . In 1931 he became a member of the KPD and in 1932 head of organization in the " Kampfbund gegen den Faschismus " ( Combat League Against Fascism ). He belonged to the head of a resistance group in the Simson factory of Heinrichs. Together with others he designed and distributed leaflets against fascism and war. They also made the brown book about the Reichstag fire known. In 1936 he was sentenced to three months in prison . From June 1937 to April 1939 he was again taken into so-called “ protective custody ”. Together with Erhardt Schübel , he supported several families of arrested anti-fascists with the proceeds of pamphlets and with collected donations. In the following years he made further connections to other Hitler opponents. In 1942 he received four pistols from the Gestapo spitz Fritz Klett ; one of them was passed on to Bernhard Kleffel from the SPD resistance group around Guido Heym . After the Gestapo had sufficient evidence in hand, König was sentenced to death by the People's Court in Rudolstadt in December 1944 . The execution took place on January 5, 1945 in Weimar together with eight other death row inmates.
Ernst König married in 1926, the marriage remained childless.
memory
- In a grave and memorial site with a statue in Heinrich's cemetery, the names of Gottlieb Heß , Erhardt Schübel and Ernst König are carved on the foot .
- In Heinrichs an "Ernst-König-Straße" was named during the GDR times.
- On May 29, 2010 a stumbling block was laid at the entrance to this street .
literature
- Gerd Kaiser (Ed.): Upright and strong, in it a memory of Ernst König by Dagmar Schmidt , p. 87
Individual evidence
- ↑ Memorials for the Victims of National Socialism II, p. 885
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | King, Ernst |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German resistance fighters against National Socialism |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 3, 1898 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Suhl |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 5, 1945 |
| Place of death | Weimar |