Fritz Benke

Fritz Benke (born October 1, 1913 in Cöpenick ; † December 30, 2003 in Berlin ) was a resistance fighter against National Socialism and a local politician ( SPD ).

Life

Fritz Benke grew up in Cöpenick (today: Berlin-Köpenick). He trained as a locksmith and worked as a foreman and teacher in Berlin. Organized as a trade union, it was organized in the German Metal Workers' Association (DMV) until it was banned in the course of the Gleichschaltung in 1933 . In 1931 he joined the Socialist Workers 'Youth (SAJ) and the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAPD). After the seizure of power , he helped Robert Keller , among others , to hide from the Gestapo in Berlin. Benke went underground and secretly sold the banner of revolutionary Marxism , the magazine of the forbidden SAPD. From 1936 he became the illegal head of the SAPD and thus successor to Hubert Klein . He also worked with Willy Brandt .

During the time of National Socialism , Benke is said to have helped more than sixty people escape. He also traveled abroad several times to organize the resistance.

After the Second World War he joined the SPD , but was expelled from Köpenick because he had opposed a merger between the KPD and the SPD. He moved to West Berlin, where he was active as a district councilor and party secretary of the SPD. He died in Berlin in 2003.

literature

• Dennis Egginger-Gonzalez: The Red Shock Squad. An early left-wing socialist resistance group against National Socialism . Lukas Verlag, 2018, ISBN 978-3-86732-274-4 , pp. 388 f .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Dennis Egginger-Gonzalez: Der Rote Stosstrupp: an early left-wing socialist resistance group against National Socialism . Lukas Verlag, 2018, ISBN 978-3-86732-274-4 , pp. 388 f .
2. ^ Gertrud Lenz: Gertrud Meyer. A political biography. Inaugural dissertation . Ed .: University of Flensburg. December 2010, p. 164 ( zhb-flensburg.de [PDF]).