Ewald Berndt

Ewald Berndt (born January 8, 1902 in Ummendorf ; † November 15, 1958 in Helmstedt ) was a German politician ( SPD ) and mayor of Helmstedt who was politically persecuted during the National Socialist era .

Life

Berndt was the son of a farm laborer and attended elementary school in Ummendorf. In 1916 he began training as a typesetter in Eilsleben, and from 1925 to 1948 he worked for the JC Schmidt publishing house and printing company, which published the Helmstedter Kreisblatt. His last position there was operations manager. In addition, he chaired IG Druck und Papier from 1929 to 1933 and was a member of the board of the Helmstedt union cartel from 1931 to 1933. He was then employed by the Helmstedt district from 1949 to 1950 , before running a bookstore in Helmstedt that was connected to the Braunschweigische Presse until his death.

Political career

Berndt joined the SPD in 1922 and served as a city councilor and member of the party executive from 1931 to 1933. On March 28, 1933, Berndt was arrested and severely mistreated by the SA , so that he resigned from his seat as a city councilor. After the failed assassination attempt from 20 July 1944 to Adolf Hitler , he was arrested again and into the warehouse village admitted. He was later transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp . Here he was liberated by the Allied troops in 1945. From 1945 to 1950 he was again chairman of the SPD local association in Helmstedt and was a member of the board there until 1952. From 1945 he was also a member of the board of directors of the Helmstedter trade union federation and until 1949 he was first chairman of the re-established IG Druck und Papier. On January 21, 1946, the British military government confirmed him in his office as councilor of the city of Helmstedt. From February 21, 1946 to November 21, 1946, he was also a member of the appointed Braunschweig Landtag (MdL). From 1946 to 1956 he was a member of the Helmstedt Council and held the office of mayor from 1946 to 1949. Furthermore, he had a mandate as a district council member from November 1, 1946 to November 27, 1948. After the end of the war, Berndt was actively involved in dealing with the flow of refugees, eliminating the housing shortage and rebuilding a democratic administration in the city of Helmstedt.

literature

• Barbara Simon : Member of Parliament in Lower Saxony 1946–1994. Biographical manual. Edited by the President of the Lower Saxony State Parliament. Lower Saxony State Parliament, Hanover 1996, OCLC 312361812 , p. 35.
• Rolf Volkmann: Berndt, Ewald. in: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 53-54 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Berndt, Ewald. in: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 53-54 .