Franz Zielasko

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Franz Zielasko (born July 19, 1896 in Busch , † August 18, 1943 in Gladbeck ) was a German miner and resistance fighter against National Socialism.

Live and act

Zielasko lived and worked as a miner in the Zweckel district in the Westphalian city of Gladbeck. On site he was a member of the “Solidarity” workers' cycling association. In 1918 he first joined the USPD . In 1920 he fought in Gladbeck units of the Red Ruhr Army . After the USPD reunited with the SPD in 1922 , Zielasko joined this party before switching to the KPD in 1926 or 1927 . There he worked, among other things, as literature chairman.

In the course of the global economic crisis in 1929, Zielasko lost his job. After many years of unemployment and because of his political convictions, he emigrated to the Soviet Union in 1932 . There he initially worked in lignite mining around the central Russian city of Tula . When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936 following the coup of General Francisco Franco, who was inclined to fascism, against the Second Spanish Republic and the ruling Frente Popular and the International Brigades were formed to support the republican anti-fascist forces , Zielasko joined them.

During the Second World War he completed an eighteen-month training course and was parachuted to the vicinity of Warsaw in March 1943 with the assignment to build up a regional resistance organization in the Ruhr area as an instructor . Zielasko received forged personal papers, some money and forged ration cards issued in the name of his brother-in-law . He took the train from Warsaw to the Ruhr area and initially stayed with relatives in Dortmund . His former residence, Gladbeck, became the basis of his actions. His actions also reached Gelsenkirchen , where he worked with resistance groups in the mines. He maintained further contacts in Herne , Essen , Rheine and Hamm .

The Gestapo became aware of Zielasko and his activities in July 1943 at the latest. This is what it said in a telegram from the Münster control center on July 22, 1943:

"Zielasko has reappeared here and is trying to found an illegal KPD group."

- Gestapo, Münster control center

It is not known where the Gestapo got their information from. However, Franz Zielasko was known to his former colleagues at the Zweckel colliery in Gladbeck as a former buddy, but still appeared there openly. On August 7, 1943, he was arrested by the Secret State Police. In the course of the ensuing wave of arrests, according to various sources, 44 and 56 other resistance members or suspects were arrested. Franz Zielasko was taken to the Gladbeck police prison. A telegram from the control center in Münster on August 10, 1943 stated:

“Zielasko is a Soviet parachute agent. He was arrested on August 7, 1943 in Gladbeck. During his interrogation, which is extremely difficult, he only admits what can be held against him through investigations or interrogations of other people. All leaders of the former cycling club "Solidarity" and those returning from Russia who are still suspected of being supporters of the KPD are requested to be recorded, and to be made available to the local office, as there is an urgent suspicion that Zielasko with them has contacted them. "

- Gestapo, Münster control center

On August 18, 1943, he was murdered after or during torture in Gladbeck prison. The official cause of death was given that he had died of "severe anemia and jaundice ". Nothing is known about the whereabouts of Franz Zielasko's body.

Members of the Zielasko group

and more.

Honors

A memorial plaque was put up at the birthplace of Zielaskos in Busch, in the Altmark municipality of Iden. The local school, which was closed in 2004, bore his name until after the political changes in 1989/90 . A memorial stone was erected in front of her in 1988. In front of Franz Zielasko's house in Gladbeck, at Redenstrasse 34, there is a stumbling block in the pavement. There is also a street in the Westphalian city, the Franz-Zielasko-Weg, named after him.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Detlev Peukert: Ruhr workers against fascism , Röderberg-Verlag, 1976, p. 288
  2. ↑ In Busch, a district of Iden, see The knowledge of the region . Volume 1, Arneburg - Goldbeck - Advertising and the surrounding area. 1st edition. Edition Kulturförderverein Östliche Altmark, Hohenberg-Krusemark 2005, p. 120 .
  3. ↑ a b c d The resistance group around Franz Zielasko . Accessed December 24, 2014.
  4. ^ The People's Court in the National Socialist State , page 127 f, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-486-54491-6
  5. ↑ a b Stefanie Goldenbogen, Nora Herlemann, Beatrix Kahl, Monika Scheer, Regina Endlich: Memorials for the Victims of National Socialism , Volume 2: Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Thuringia. Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn 2000, p. 553, ISBN 3-89331-391-5 .
  6. ↑ Antje Mahrhold: Iden hopes for funding: “We have strong partners” . Published on July 1, 2014 in az-online.de, accessed on March 11, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Zielasko, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German communist resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH July 19, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH bush
DATE OF DEATH August 18, 1943
Place of death Gladbeck