Franz Cerny

Franz Cerny (born January 31, 1906 in Berlin , † July 19, 1943 in Anomanolas , Greece) was a communist politician and resistance fighter .

Life

His parents immigrated from the Czech region of Austria. After elementary school and an apprenticeship as a furrier , he went into business for himself at the age of 25 to escape unemployment.

In KPD, KPD-O and workers' sports

In 1926 he joined the KPD . Since he opposed the new ultra-left course of the RGO policy in 1928 , as well as against the social fascism thesis, he was expelled. In early 1929 F. Cerny became a member of the Communist Party opposition . In the large non-partisan workers' and sports club Fichte , which was headed by KPD members, the leadership began the same course of division as in the free trade unions. F. Cerny opposed this new policy. He left the organization with a larger group of athletes and founded the Free Sports Association Fichte (FSF). The FSF remained a member of the Workers' Gymnastics and Sports Association (based in Leipzig); the association became a gathering point in the workers' district of Berlin-Kreuzberg. In addition to gymnastics and sport, intensive socialist educational work was carried out, and efforts were made to create an anti-fascist united front .

resistance

In the KPD opposition he supported illegal work after 1933, was arrested in the summer of 1934 and sentenced in April 1935 to two and a half years in prison, which he served in Brandenburg . Then he was expelled to Czechoslovakia , where he worked again as a furrier. There he was soon drafted into Czech military service. After the occupation of the CSR by the German Wehrmacht in March 1939, he was called up again by the Wehrmacht, now as a former political prisoner in the "probation battalions" of the 999s . For "training" he came to the Heuberg in Württemberg, location for the Wehrmacht and for a concentration camp. From there he came to Greece , where he continued his resistance activities with the 999s. He made friends and planned an organized group transfer to the Greek partisans . One of the soldiers betrayed him. To save his friends, he took all responsibility and was sentenced to death. His battalion commander reported: “The Schtz case. Cerny. He knew how to win people within the 8th Company who agreed to turn their weapons on their own superiors in the event of an attack and to overflow. These were all political convictions, 1 death sentence and 3 penitentiary sentences of 5 years each had to be imposed. 4 acquittals were made due to lack of evidence. It is safe to assume that Cerny County was a much larger one and that similar circles still exist in other companies today. Cerny and his accomplices succeeded in deceiving their superiors through impeccable leadership, eagerness to serve and good soldiery demeanor so that they enjoyed special trust. C. was used, for example, as a reporter in the company troop, the others as officers' boys, etc. ” On July 19, 1943 he was executed in Anomanolas.

His son was the historian Jochen Cerny (1934-2018).

literature

• Hans-Peter Klausch : The 999s. From Brigade "Z" to Africa Division 999. The probation battalions and their part in the anti-fascist resistance. Röderberg, Frankfurt am Main 1986, ISBN 3-87682-818-X (therein: Interview with Eugen Zgainski).
• Theodor Bergmann : Against the current. The history of the KPD (opposition). VSA, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-87975-836-0 (therein: Short biography Franz Cerny, pp. 426-427).