Ernst Sasse (resistance fighter)

Ernst Sasse (born November 17, 1897 in Potsdam , † June 20, 1945 in Brandenburg (Havel) ) was a German KPD functionary and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

Sasse learned the trade of machine fitter , in which he also passed the master craftsman examination. In 1913 he became a member of the German Metal Workers' Association (DMV), for which he also took on functions.

In 1916 he was recruited for military service in World War I , which he carried out until his left leg was wounded in 1917. When he was able to work again in his profession in 1920, he became a member of the KPD and a functionary in the KPD sub-district Berlin-Pankow . From 1927 he became a full-time functionary in the Central Committee of the KPD (Technology Department). From 1931 to the beginning of 1934 he also worked as a correspondent in the Soviet trade agency.

With the beginning of the Nazi dictatorship, he participated in the illegal anti-fascist resistance and moved to Genia Bischowski , an employee of the Soviet trade agency in Berlin. In the spring of 1935, Sasse emigrated to Prague for fear of being arrested . For some time he was political director of the emigrant homes in Stodůlky and Strašnice .

From 1936 he was delegated to the KPD section leadership north in Copenhagen . There he was arrested on September 24, 1937 and charged by a Danish court with "preparation for high treason". The requested extradition to Germany was initially rejected. From February 1938 to November 1939 he was the deputy of the section leader North Heinrich Wiatrek . In this function he was also responsible for the smuggling of illegal printed matter into Germany. At the end of 1939 he was dismissed in this position by the KPD leadership, and a year later he was even expelled from the party. The KPD leadership reproached him for neglecting the elementary rules of conspiratorial work because Sasse had deposited written documents from the KPD in exile with a Danish friend. This behavior was seen as a breach of trust.

After the occupation of Denmark by the Wehrmacht , Sasse was arrested again by the Danish police on July 26, 1940 and brought to Germany in early 1941. On June 23, 1942 he was sentenced to twelve years in prison by the People's Court . In the Brandenburg penitentiary he became so seriously ill with open pulmonary tuberculosis that he was admitted to the hospital ward in February 1944.

At the time of the liberation of Brandenburg, he was emaciated to a weight of only 41 kilograms due to the hunger rations for prisoners in the infirmary.

literature

• Sasse, Ernst . In: Hermann Weber , Andreas Herbst : German Communists. Biographisches Handbuch 1918 to 1945. 2nd, revised and greatly expanded edition. Dietz, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-320-02130-6 .
• Claudia Kröber: Ernst Sasse (1897–1945) , In: Siegfried Mielke , Stefan Heinz (ed.) With the collaboration of Julia Pietsch: Emigrierte Metallgewerkschafter in the fight against the Nazi regime (= trade unionists under National Socialism. Persecution - Resistance - Emigration. Volume 3). Metropol, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-86331-210-7 , pp. 750-756.