Ferdi Hülser

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Ferdinand "Ferdi" Hülser (born October 28, 1907 in Cologne ; † March 27, 1995 there ) was a Cologne merchant , anti-fascist resistance fighter and peace activist .

Life

Even in his youth, Hülser was “noticeable”: from the midst of the not inconsiderable group of siblings, he took care of the family of the mother, who was widowed at an early age, and he already assumed the role of father towards the younger ones. Hülser began a commercial apprenticeship with a construction company in 1922, and in the same year switched to the electrical wholesaler E. Kahle in Cologne, where he completed a three-year apprenticeship; he also attended evening business school.

In 1930 he became deputy head of E. Kahle KG. In 1934 he married Eva Wolter; from this marriage there were three children. As early as 1934 he went into the resistance. He illegally sent food to Polish slave laborers. Due to the involvement of the Kahle company in the electrification of the Wahn air base, classified as " indispensable ", he nevertheless became a soldier in 1941 on the advice of the resistance group.

After operations and a. As a truck driver for the transport of ammunition, he was assigned to the office of the Wahn airport command from 1943; there he forged papers to enable deserters to go into hiding. For the local group of the National Committee Free Germany, he procured weapons and directed military training. In November 1944 he was arrested as a member of the resistance movement. First imprisoned in Cologne's EL-DE house and then in the Gestapo prison in Brauweiler , he was subjected to abuse, the consequences of which he suffered until the end of his life. After the liberation he worked as a partner in the reconstruction of the E. Kahle company from 1945, which he later became sole owner.

In 1947, Hülser was a co-founder of the Association of Those Persecuted by the Nazi Regime and was active in other initiatives, for example against rearmament, emergency laws, nuclear missile stationing and the war in the Gulf; in the Federal Republic of Germany he helped rebuild the German Peace Society . He also helped politically persecuted people and shared his experiences with students in Cologne. With Grete Humbach and Jakob Zorn he is at the center of the documentary Resistance and Persecution in Cologne 1933-1945 (1976) by Dietrich Schubert.

credentials

“Even as an employer, he has consistently laid down his personal convictions, so he is the only employer who has introduced the 35 hour week with full wages. […] “ German Trade Union Confederation, Cologne District.

"[...] If his worldview were that of a person who is successful in business; Or if it were all around the socially critical zeal that we expect from a peace fighter - in one case as well as in the other, we would find it easy to assign him to the stereotypes that we need for orientation in social life. But Ferdi Hülser disappoints this expectation. It combines roles that we usually do not find embodied in one and the same person. Seen abstractly, this complexity and modernity is irritating. But if you get to know Ferdi Hülser, then any irritation evaporates - before his simplicity. He 'simply' accepts people in their contradictions. The people are more important to him than 'the thing'. [...] And he gives his friends [...] the feeling of unshakable reliability. ” Karl Otto Hondrich in Festschrift Ferdi Hülser is 75 years old.

Quote

"We were liberated from the concentration camp, but not from the resistance."

literature

  • German Peace Society - United War Service Opponents eV (Ed.): Ferdi Hülser will turn 75 - 90 years of the German Peace Society. Festschrift. Cologne 1982. 72 pp.
  • NS Documentation Center of the City of Cologne (ed.): Against the brown stream , Cologne ISBN 3-89705-172-9 , 2nd edition 2000, p. 68ff
  • 90 Years for Peace , Kölnische Rundschau , 1./2. November 1982
  • Two anniversaries for peace , Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , November 4, 1982
  • The "Association of those persecuted by the Nazi regime" is turning 40 these days , Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, March 25, 1987
  • Ferdi Hülser always stands up for the oppressed , Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, December 27, 1988
  • A life in the resistance - Ferdi Hülser dies , Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, April 4, 1995
  • He will live on in us. On the death of Ferdi Hülser , ZivilCourage vol. 21 (1995) H. 2, p. 3

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fritz Bilz Resistance for a Free Germany , the daily newspaper November 24, 2004
  2. ↑ NS Documentation Center of the City of Cologne (ed.) Cologne under National Socialism: a short guide through the EL-DE-House , Cologne: Emmons 2001, p. 46 as well as Manfred Huiskes The wall inscriptions of the Cologne Gestapo prison in the EL-DE-House 1943 -1945 Messages from the city archive of Cologne, issue 70, here p. 60
  3. ↑ Christa Aretz, Irene Schoor Köln im Film: Filmgeschichte (s) einer Stadt Köln: Emons 2004, p. 215; see. also resistance and persecution in Cologne 1933-1945 (cpMedia) and entry (Cologne in the film)
personal data
SURNAME Hülser, Ferdi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hülser, Ferdinand (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German merchant, anti-fascist resistance fighter and peace activist
DATE OF BIRTH October 28, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1995
Place of death Cologne