Folkert Potrykus

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Folkert Potrykus (born August 25, 1900 in Geestemünde , † March 8, 1971 in Bremerhaven ) was a German politician ( KPD ) and resistance fighter .

biography

Potrykus was the son of a shipyard worker. He began an apprenticeship as a lathe operator at the Tecklenborg shipyard in Bremerhaven in 1915 . He became a member of the trade unions, the Socialist Workers' Youth (SAJ), and in December 1918 of the Spartakusbund , an association of Marxist socialists in Germany, from which the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) emerged in 1919.

In 1919 he fought unsuccessfully for the Bremen Soviet Republic . From 1925 he was a travel agent and later editor of the communist Arbeiter-Zeitung in Bremen. Several times he had to answer for his articles in court.

After the seizure of power by the Nazis , he gave the illegal small Arbeiter-Zeitung out. In February 1933 he gave a speech in the Central-Hallen in Bremen to commemorate the struggle for the Soviet Republic in Bremen. The police force closed the meeting. Together with KPD and SPD supporters, he organized the self-protection of their facilities such as consumer shops and district offices at the Focke Museum, and they chased away the thugs of the SA . He was arrested by the Gestapo in October 1933. In the Karlsburg he had to survive the torture of the SA. In July 1934 he was sentenced to two years in prison by the Hamm Higher Regional Court for preparation for high treason . He was then imprisoned in Herford, in the Esterwegen concentration camp and from 1935 to 1938 in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Oranienburg . He then worked as a lathe operator at the Unterweser shipyard in Bremerhaven. Another six arrests were made during this period.

After the Second World War , Potrykus remained active in the KPD and the trade union. He became the leading man of the KPD in Bremerhaven and was temporarily first secretary of the district leadership. He became a member of the provisional city council and was a member of the Bremerhaven city council from October 12, 1947 to 1955 ; until 1951 he was parliamentary group leader of the KPD.

In 1950 Potrykus had to survive first internal party conflicts. He was reprimanded by the KPD secretariat “because of his political uncertainties and his behavior that inhibited the development of the party”; he was accused of "anti-party, Trotskyist" behavior. He exercised self-criticism and therefore remained a candidate for the upcoming election of the city council. In the election, the KPD in Bremerhaven suffered a heavy loss of votes. The state secretariat decided that Potrykus should renounce his mandate, as his behavior "is not suitable for promoting the work of the party". He refused to comply with the secretariat's decision.

Between March and November 1951 a series of changes took place in the KPD: Rudolf Rafoth as the KPD parliamentary group leader of the Bremen citizenship was dismissed; Rafoth, Potrykus (November 1951), Reinhold and Käthe Popall expelled from the party. His "lack of discipline" is an expression of the fact that he is "no longer connected to the party", since he "does not stand up for the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic". The course and method of purifying the party with the elimination of internal opposition had considerable effects on the KPD and its reputation among the population. In Bremerhaven, the exclusion of the long-standing communist Potrykus, who was highly respected at the grassroots level, led to numerous protests and resignations. After 1951, Potrykus joined the group of workers policy .

Honors

The Folkert-Potrykus Street in Bremerhaven Center was named after him.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hendrik Bunke: The KPD in Bremen. 1945-1968 , pp. 130 ff. Papyrossa-Verlag, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-89438-230-9 .
personal data
SURNAME Potrykus, Folkert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (KPD)
DATE OF BIRTH August 25, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Geestemünde
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 1971
Place of death Bremerhaven