Ernst Sieber (resistance fighter)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ernst Sieber (born May 20, 1916 in Berlin ; † September 14, 1994 there ) was a German resistance fighter against National Socialism ( Red Orchestra ). In 1952 he was expelled from the SED in the GDR for alleged espionage and relieved of his state functions.

Ernst Sieber around 1980

Life

Origin and education

Ernst Sieber was born as the son of the deputy officer Erich and the hat maker Anna Sieber and grew up together with a sister. Both children were brought up very strictly in the imperial and German national sense. Even the great-grandfather was station master as a railway worker and was already out of service in 1879. The father, born in 1882, became a professional soldier and began military service with the railroad troops. After 1918 he became an official of the Deutsche Reichsbahn .

From 1923 Ernst Sieber attended elementary school, from 1927 to 1936 the Kirchner-Oberrealschule in Berlin-Moabit, from which he graduated with the Abitur. The strictness at home brought him into opposition to his father at an early stage. This is one of the reasons why he became a boy scout member of the Bündische Jugend around Eberhard Koebel [known by his journey name tusk]. In 1936 he had to do the labor service in Strehlen / Silesia (today Strzelin ). In October 1936 he was drafted into the 3 motorcycle rifle battalion in Bad Freienwalde / Oder .

After his discharge from military service in November 1938, Sieber began training as a supernumerar at the Deutsche Reichsbahn. This was interrupted by the conscription for military service on August 26, 1939; After his discharge from military service in October 1942, he continued it and completed it in March 1943 as a Reichsbahn inspector.

Illegal resistance

Ernst Sieber worked in various Berlin resistance groups from 1937. During his military service in Bad Freienwalde, he met a communist, Hans Lockenwitz ; they disrupted their military strength , formed illegal cells and studied Marxist literature. After their release in October 1938, they stayed in contact and continued to resist. In 1938 Sieber designed anti-fascist leaflets with Heinz Schlichting , whom he knew from the Bündische Jugend, which both produced and distributed themselves. On the freight floor of the Szczecin train station , Sieber met the Reichsbahn assistant John Sieg . Sieg introduced Sieber to Wilhelm Guddorf and Karl Hellborn . As a result, Sieber ended up in one of the resistance groups of the Red Orchestra . Victory influenced him politically and explained the rules of conspiracy to him. At Hellborn, political training evenings were held at 2 to 3-week intervals. It was attended by John and Sophie Sieg , Karl and Katharina Hellborn and their children Rudolf and Annette, as well as the Jewish resistance activist Werner Hendelsohn , known as Litwinow, and from mid-1939 also Sieber, who met the dentist Kurt Hess here .

Even before the war began, Sieber was drafted as a motor vehicle sergeant to the Medical Park 530 on August 26, 1939 and took part in combat operations in Poland and Yugoslavia. He kept in contact with Sieg, passed on information and reports as well as field post numbers for the distribution of the " Inner Front ". During a vacation in Berlin, Sieg brought Sieber together with Willi Seeger and Otto Grabowski .

Sieber had contact with communists in Poland and Yugoslavia and wanted to desert to join a partisan unit in Belgrade , but this was prevented in April 1941 by the sudden transfer of his unit to Africa. As a result, he took part in the Africa campaign as a sergeant and was also active here with resistance. He sabotaged through a deliberately stubborn execution of orders, as a result of which the Wehrmacht lost medical supplies from the Africa Corps to the English. The court martial did not conduct a hearing due to the clear command situation, but Sieber was transferred to a sentence and took part in the fighting near El-Alamein as a platoon leader . Then he succeeded in rendering himself unfit for the front; In the summer of 1942 he was in hospitals and was released on August 27th. After three weeks of convalescence leave, the Reichsbahn made him indispensable in early October 1942 ("uk"). He met John Sieg one last time before his arrest in October 1942.

In 1942 Sieber met Franz Sander by chance , who brought him together with Heinz and Emma Plüschke , Richard Gernhuber and Hackermann . They formed a group that was instructed by Sieber and that also printed sticky notes (“Nieder mit Hitler”, “End the war”), which were attached to house walls, timetable notices and advertising pillars. Hess introduced Sieber to Charlotte Bischoff , whom Sieber brought together with Plüschke and his friends. So they continued the work of John Sieg with Ernst Hartwig , Gernhuber, Grabowski and Seeger. In June 1943, the newspaper Zur Ding appeared , which from August onwards was named newspaper for the Inner Front . Around 10 issues were published up to 1944, one of which has survived. The content included current war policy information and analyzes as well as intercepted information from Moscow and London. Furthermore, leaflets were issued in Italian, French and Polish. These leaflets were distributed to prisoners of war and forced laborers in print runs of around 300 copies.

After completing his training at the Deutsche Reichsbahn in March 1943, Sieber was drafted as a sergeant to the Panzer Reconnaissance Replacement Department 4 in Berlin-Stahnsdorf. Here he met Helmut Zabel again, whom he knew from Bad Freienwalde, and got to know his brother Franz Zabel and Hartwig, whom he integrated into the group around Plüschke. Through Hartwig, Sieber met Walter Glass and his daughters Lucie Nix and Vera Wulff . Sieber met Bernhard Bästlein in Wulff's apartment . They conducted political discussions, and Bästlein let him read the newspaper National Committee Free Germany . Sieber and Schlichting procured a Reichsbahn service card for Bästlein and thus gave him the opportunity to false legitimacy. In his Wehrmacht office, Sieber also organized the illegal exchange of a defective P 38 Bästlein pistol for a working pistol 08, stolen pistol and infantry ammunition and two kilograms of explosives with fuses that were supposed to be used in acts of sabotage. Sieber also supported Bästlein financially.

In order to avoid the imminent arrest, Sieber succeeded in April 1944 in being transferred to the Wehrmacht investigation service in Frankfurt / Oder. He was again "fit for use in the war" ("kv") and then transferred to the marching company of the Panzergrenadier Replacement Battalion No. 50 to Küstrin. Nix informed Sieber about the arrest of Bästlein on May 30, 1944 and organized a meeting with Franz Jacob for Sieber .

Persecution and Liberation

Sieber was provisionally arrested on August 18, 1944 in Küstrin, locked up in the Wehrmacht detention center in Potsdam and released from the Wehrmacht. After the betrayal of a change of cashier with the also imprisoned Soviet captain Balai, he was taken to the Gestapo's house prison on Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse in Berlin and was imprisoned on January 23, 1945 in the pre-trial detention center at the Berlin Criminal Court [Alt-Moabit 12a]. On January 23, 1945, the senior Reich attorney at the People's Court accused Sieber of "preparing for high treason", " favoring the enemy " and " war treason" and applied to order the main hearing before the People's Court . After the building of the People's Court was destroyed by bombs on February 3, 1945, about 300 political prisoners and remand prisoners from Berlin and Brandenburg were taken with Sieber with two barges to Coswig and on by rail to Bayreuth to attend the negotiations of the People's Court to carry out. Sieber and other prisoners managed to escape in Hof . He was caught and admitted to the St. Georgen penitentiary in Bayreuth on February 20, 1945, weighing 55 kg .

The prison was liberated on April 14, 1945 by US troops. The German prisoners elected Sieber as their chairman. He got to know Hannelore Willbrandt , who as a member of the “White Rose” Hamburg had to wait for her trial in Bayreuth, and went with her on June 17, 1945 to her parents in Hamburg. At the end of June they both went over the “green border” near Lauenburg into the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ) in Berlin. Sieber, who was accepted into the KPD by Bästlein in 1944 with a handshake , founded the KPD with Willbrandt and other prisoners on May 1 in Bayreuth, although it was banned by the American allies. He officially joined the KPD in July 1945 (from 1946 SED).

Life in the Soviet occupation zone and in the GDR

Ernst Sieber began his working life at the age of 29 and took over the press office of the Deutsche Reichsbahn on July 27, 1945. From August 11, 1945, he was the personal advisor to Willi Kreikemeyer , Deputy President of the German Central Transport Administration. In August 1945 he married Hannelore Willbrandt; a child was born in the marriage in 1946. On March 29, 1946, the couple moved into their first own apartment in Berlin-Zehlendorf, American sector. The marriage with Hannelore Willbrandt was divorced in 1951, Sieber later entered into a new marriage.

On February 2, 1946, Sieber took part in the first Reich Conference of the Communist Party of Germany since the end of the war. From October 1, 1946, Sieber was "Deputy Head of the Transport Police " in the German Interior Administration. Sieber was recognized in 1946 as a " victim of fascism " with the note "fighter" and a member of the VVN . Because of the progressive division of Berlin, the Sieber family moved to the Soviet sector in Weissensee in August 1947 .

In November 1947 Sieber became a consultant in the German Central Administration for Transport. From April 1948 Sieber was director of the Berlin Waterways Directorate at the General Directorate for Shipping and from October 1949 “2. Director "of the German Shipping and Handling Operations Center (DSU) .

The Berlin State Party Control Commission (LPKK) passed the resolution on February 18, 1952 to expel Sieber from the SED. In the internal party papers, suspected agent activity is given as the reason. No reason was given to Sieber himself, he fought in vain for his party membership. The exclusion was confirmed by the Central Party Control Commission on May 20, 1953 with Hermann Matern's signature. In this context, Sieber was also relieved of his state functions and forced to resign from the DSU on March 31, 1952.

From April he was employed in the HO as a department head in various functions. In October 1953 he received the special order to set up the machine restaurant in the HO department store on Alexanderplatz , the Alexanderhaus . He then worked as a trading manager at the wholesale company Kulturwaren until he became production manager at the Urania company in the GDR in 1969 .

The Ministry for State Security (MfS) repeatedly investigated Sieber; 1961 in the People's Police and Stasi investigations into white-collar crime; the investigations were justified by official activities. He was also investigated in 1964/65 because he had unsaleable records copied and destroyed. In both cases he was found to be innocent. The investigations were carried out in his professional and family environment as well as in the residential area.

Ernst Sieber died in Berlin-Pankow and is buried in the Pankow II cemetery on Gaillardstrasse.

Honors

See also

literature

  • Valentin Tomin, Stefan Grabowski: The heroes of the Berlin illegality . Dietz Verlag, Berlin, 1967 p. 77.
  • Ewald Thoms: The "Inner Front" . Newspaper series, Berliner Zeitung am Abend (BZA) , February 8, 1969 a. a.
  • Alexander S. Blank, Julius Mader : Red band against Hitler . Verlag der Nation Berlin, 1971, p. 109.
  • Walter Klaws: Fighter and Winner. The anti-fascist resistance struggle in Berlin-Pankow 1933–1945 . Published by the SED district leadership Berlin-Pankow and the committee of the anti-fascist resistance fighters of the GDR, Kreiskomitee Pankow, no year, pp. (159) / 164, 177 f.
  • Regina Griebel, Marlies Coburger, Heinrich Scheel : Recorded? The Gestapo album for the Red Orchestra. A photo documentation . Audioscop, Halle 1992, ISBN 3-88384-044-0 , p. 193.
  • Ursel Hochmuth : Illegal KPD and movement “Free Germany” in Berlin and Brandenburg 1942–1945. Biographies and testimonials from the resistance organization around Saefkow, Jacob and Bästlein. Hentrich and Hentrich, Teetz 1998, ISBN 3-933471-08-7 (Writings of the German Resistance Memorial Center, Series A, Analyzes and Representations, Volume 4). P. 238 fu a.
  • Hans J. Fieber, Klaus Keim, René Mounajed: Resistance in Berlin against the Nazi regime 1933–1945. A biographical lexicon . trafo, Berlin, 2005, ISBN 978-3-89626-362-9 Vol. VII a. a., p. 235 and a.
  • Kai Burkhardt: Adolf Grimme (1889–1963) - A biography . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne Weimar Vienna, 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-20025-1 , p. 193
  • Alfred Gottwaldt : Inner Front - Memories of John Sieg, Reichsbahngehilfe and resistance fighter . In: Railway History , German Society for Railway History , No. 26, February / March 2008.
  • Alfred Gottwaldt : Railway Workers Against Hitler - Resistance and Persecution on the Reichsbahn 1933–1945 . Marixverlag , Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-86539-204-6 , p. 273 ff.
  • Siegfried Mielke , Stefan Heinz : Railway trade unionists in the Nazi state. Persecution - Resistance - Emigration (1933–1945) (= trade unionists under National Socialism. Persecution - Resistance - Emigration. Volume 7). Metropol, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-86331-353-1 , pp. 293, 301–305, 311, 497, 671–672 (short biography), 733.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alfred Gottwaldt: Railway workers against Hitler - resistance and persecution on the Reichsbahn 1933-1945. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-86539-204-6 , p. 273.
  2. ↑ a b c Alfred Gottwaldt: Railway Workers Against Hitler - Resistance and Persecution on the Reichsbahn 1933–1945. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-86539-204-6 , p. 274.
  3. ^ Alfred Gottwaldt: Railway workers against Hitler - resistance and persecution on the Reichsbahn 1933-1945. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-86539-204-6 , p. 276.
  4. ^ A b c Hans J. Fieber, Klaus Keim, René Mounajed: Resistance in Berlin against the Nazi regime 1933–1945. A biographical lexicon. trafo, Berlin, 2005, ISBN 978-3-89626-362-9 , Vol. VII et al., p. 235 and a.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h Ursel Hochmuth: Illegal KPD and movement “Free Germany” in Berlin and Brandenburg 1942–1945. Biographies and testimonials from the resistance organization around Saefkow, Jacob and Bästlein. Hentrich and Hentrich, Teetz 1998, ISBN 3-933471-08-7 (Writings of the German Resistance Memorial Center, Series A, Analyzes and Representations, Volume 4), p. 238.
  6. ^ Alfred Gottwaldt: Railway workers against Hitler - resistance and persecution on the Reichsbahn 1933-1945. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-86539-204-6 , p. 275.
  7. ^ Regina Griebel, Marlies Coburger, Heinrich Scheel: Captured? The Gestapo album for the Red Orchestra. A photo documentation. Audioscop, Halle 1992, ISBN 3-88384-044-0 , p. 193.
  8. ↑ Short biography of the German Resistance Memorial Center .
  9. ^ Alfred Gottwaldt: Railway workers against Hitler - resistance and persecution on the Reichsbahn 1933-1945. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-86539-204-6 , p. 277 f.
  10. ↑ a b c d Alfred Gottwaldt: Railway workers against Hitler - resistance and persecution on the Reichsbahn 1933–1945. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-86539-204-6 , p. 278.
  11. ^ A b Alfred Gottwaldt: Railway Workers Against Hitler - Resistance and Persecution on the Reichsbahn 1933–1945. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-86539-204-6 , p. 279.
personal data
SURNAME Sieber, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German resistance fighters of the Rote Kapelle
DATE OF BIRTH May 20, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH September 14, 1994
Place of death Berlin