Frieda Schwarz

Frieda Schwarz (born December 18, 1887 in Höhr-Grenzhausen ; † November 5, 1954 in Lengerich ) was a German actress, lawyer and notary. The Frieda-Schwarz-Weg in Ostbevern was named after her.

Life

Frieda Schwarz was born as Frieda Bahl in a small village. She graduated from elementary school and high school in Höhr-Grenzhausen. Before the First World War she moved to the United States of America. She worked as an actress in Hollywood, but after the war she turned to studying law, which she completed with the first state examination in Cologne and the second in Berlin in 1928. During this time she did her doctorate at the University of Leipzig in 1924 “ cum laude ”. From 1928 to 1932 she worked as a court assessor at the District Court I in Berlin. On June 3, 1932, she married the Senate President August Schwarz, who presided over the Higher Regional Court in Hamm. Due to the effects of the war, the couple lost their home in Hamm and were forced to move to Ostbevern.

Use for Ostbevern

On April 2, 1945 Ostbevern was handed over to the advancing US armed forces, the 36th Squadron of the 11th Cavalry Group of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment , although the Volkssturm had been mobilized. Official retirement master Heinrich Reckermann handed over the place at 10 p.m. at the Middrup-Dierkes house, as the mayor Haase had fled. He assured that there would be no German or enemy soldiers within the municipality; the white flag waved from the steeple of St. Ambrose Church . When the security troops retreating from Münster-Handorf airfield to the east tried to break through the seam of the Ruhr basin between the English troops in the north (Greven) and the American troops in the south, bloody fighting broke out on the following day increased especially on the night of April 3rd to 4th, 1945. See: Battle of April 3 to April 4, 1945 . The US troops then withdrew to the south. It was originally planned that Ostbevern would now be bombed by the United States Air Force . However, Frieda Schwarz succeeded in convincing the Americans that the attack was not a breach of a word on the part of the office retainer and that Ostbevern had nothing to do with it. - Such reprisals were not uncommon, such as B. Sögel in Emsland shows. As a result, the US Army decided against retaliation. It was not just her knowledge of English, but above all her empathy and experience with the American mentality, with which she was able to prevent or mitigate a lot. In this way she managed to save many men from captivity. So has z. B. Carl Esser brought a seriously wounded officer to the American hospital on Grevener Strasse. Since he could only identify himself as a Wehrmacht veterinary surgeon, he was threatened with imprisonment, which Frieda Schwarz prevented. But it was also able to prevent the shooting of the village policeman Karl Stricker, in whose house, contrary to his testimony, a weapon was found. The demolition of Loburg Castle by a drunken soldier could also be largely contained with their help.

"That this brave, exemplary, selfless woman was active in Ostbevern during the most difficult times was undoubtedly a real stroke of luck for the whole community."

- Heinrich Eickholt

After the war

She headed the appeal committee for denazification in the Münster administrative region. Finally she moved to Munster. At the age of 66 she died in a nursing home in Lengerich from prolonged cancer.

literature

• Heinrich Eickholt: Ostbevern in World War I , Ostbevern 1993.
• Heinrich Eickholt: “A guardian angel in difficult times.” In: Eugen Kotte: Ostbevern in view of the post-war period , Ostbeverner Heimatblätter, No. 2, Ostbevern 1990, pp. 36–41.
• Franz Meyer: History of the community Ostbevern. Ostbevern 2000, ISBN 978-3-00-006943-7

Individual evidence

1. ^ Franz Meyer: Geschichte der Gemeinde Ostbevern, Ostbevern 2000, p. 368
2. ^ Heinrich Eickholt: Ostbevern in the World War, Ostbevern 1993, p. 259
3. ↑ Heinrich Eickholt: A Guardian Angel in Difficult Times, in Eugen Kotte: Ostbevern in view of the post-war period, Ostbeverner Heimatblätter, No. 2, Ostbevern 1990, p. 41