Franz Juergens
Carl Franz Jürgens (born November 14, 1895 in Einbeck , † April 16, 1945 in Düsseldorf ) was the commandant of the protective police in Düsseldorf and involved in the resistance against the Nazi regime .
life and career
As the son of a city architect, Jürgens attended elementary school and then the secondary school in Einbeck . In 1914 he volunteered for the infantry . He fought in Flanders and Artois and was later transferred to Lithuania. After being wounded, he returned to the Western Front after being in a hospital. In 1916 he was promoted to sergeant , and at the end of the war he lived as a lieutenant in the reserve.
He received the Iron Cross, First and Second Class.
After the war, he joined the police in Darmstadt in 1920 . He was first a police lieutenant, then from 1923 a first lieutenant. In 1932 he was promoted to captain. He joined the NSDAP as early as 1933 . He was promoted to major in 1937, and finally to lieutenant colonel in 1943 .
On October 27, 1944, Jürgens was transferred to Düsseldorf. There he took over command of the security police on January 1, 1945 .
At the beginning of April 1945 the chief of the Düsseldorf police placed him under the command of the center, which - consisting of men from the " Volkssturm " and the protection police - was supposed to offer the Allies the greatest possible resistance. He vehemently refused the command.
Jürgens had expressed himself negative internally about the plan to destroy all supply infrastructure in Düsseldorf and to clear the city of civilians and turn it into a combat zone. The lawyer Karl August Wiedenhofen contacted Juergens.
Resistance in Düsseldorf
In April 1945 he took part in an action by the citizens of Düsseldorf to surrender the city to the advancing American forces without a fight. A few hours before Düsseldorf was liberated, he was sentenced to death and executed. (See the main article Aktion Rheinland ) .
Honors
Jürgens has a grave of honor in the north cemetery in Düsseldorf. The Jürgensplatz , the forecourt of the Düsseldorf police headquarters , was named after him, as was Franz-Jürgens-Strasse in Düsseldorf- Golzheim . The Franz-Jürgens Vocational College is located on Färberstrasse in Düsseldorf-Bilk . The Jürgens Memorial was relocated from Feuerbachstrasse to Anton-Betz-Strasse in 2005 due to the abandonment of the Stadtwerke site.
swell
- Article by PHK Klaus-Fr. Dönecke, Düsseldorf Police Headquarters, press and public relations (PDF file; 415 kB)
- 60 years of the end of the war ( Memento from April 28, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) (kriegsende.ARD.de)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Graves of Honor - State Capital Düsseldorf , accessed May 31, 2019
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Juergens, Franz |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Jürgens, Carl Franz (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German resistance fighter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 14, 1895 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Einbeck |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 16, 1945 |
| Place of death | Dusseldorf |