Eugene Ochs

Eugen Ochs (born April 4, 1905 in Stuttgart , † November 17, 1990 in Ludwigsburg ) was a communist politician and trade unionist.

Eugen Ochs, trade unionist, 1985 Ludwigsburg

Life

Eugen Ochs grew up in a working-class family in Stuttgart. He had two sisters. After attending elementary and secondary school, he began an apprenticeship as a machine fitter at Daimler-Benz in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim. In 1921 he joined the German Metalworkers' Association (DMV) and soon became a youth shop steward and works council. He was there when the Daimler workers, led by communists, organized a strike in 1920 against the (new) direct wage tax deduction, which led to hard disputes: deployment of the military, closure of the plant.

In KPD and KPD-O

In 1923 Ochs became a member of the Communist Youth Association and took on functions there as well. In 1925 he joined the KPD . Eugen Ochs stood against the KPD's new ultra-left policy. He stood up against the RGO policy and was committed to the united front of communists and social democrats against the fascist danger. At the end of 1928 he was expelled from the KPD. He became a member of the Communist Party opposition .

resistance

After 1933 he was active in the resistance of the KPD-O and became its courier, who maintained contact with the foreign management. In 1934 he was arrested and sentenced in a trial against six defendants to four years in prison and three years in loss of honor. After the prison he was interned in the protective custody camps in Welzheim , Dachau and Buchenwald . He belonged to the group that put up resistance in the Buchenwald concentration camp . During this time he was in close contact with his fellow KPD-O comrades Willi Bleicher , Ludwig Becker and Robert Siewert .

reconstruction

Liberated from Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945, he immediately began to work on rebuilding the metalworkers' union in Stuttgart. He married Johanna Semmler, who had been convicted with him. At first he was a member of the KPD, separated from it for political reasons and supported the independent communist group workers' policy . He continued to reject the policies of the SPD . From Stuttgart he went to Ludwigsburg and built up the local administration of IG Metall there. In 1970 he retired. He wrote down his memories. He died on November 17, 1990 in Ludwigsburg.

literature

• Eugen Ochs: A worker in the resistance. Stuttgart 1984.
• Theodor Bergmann : Against the current. The history of the KPD (opposition). Hamburg 2004 (trial against Ochs and comrades p. 248, short biography p. 504–505).