Fritz Gerlich

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Fritz Gerlich (1929)

Carl Albert Fritz Michael Gerlich (born February 15, 1883 in Stettin ; † July 1, 1934 in Dachau concentration camp ) was a German journalist and archivist . He is regarded as one of the most important representatives of the journalistic resistance against Adolf Hitler and National Socialism until 1933.

Life

Fritz Gerlich's birth certificate from the Stettin City Archives

Fritz Gerlich grew up as the eldest of four sons of the Stettin fish wholesaler and merchant Paul Gerlich in a Calvinist family home in Stettin. From autumn 1889 he attended the Marienstiftsgymnasium in Szczecin ; four years later he switched to high school. In 1901 he received his school leaving certificate. On October 9, 1920, he married Sophie Botzenhart, b. Stempfle (1883-1956).

From 1902 Gerlich studied mathematics and physics at the University of Leipzig, from 1903 history and anthropology at the University of Munich , where he was also involved in the free student body . In 1907 he received his doctorate under Karl Theodor von Heigel to Dr. phil. In his final exam he did so well that he was suspected of having known the exam topics, whereupon Gerlich offered to be examined again with other topics and again did very well. In addition to his work as a historian in the Bavarian State Archives Service, he published numerous articles on anti-socialist and völkisch- German-conservative topics in the Süddeutsche Monatshefte , the weekly magazine Die Reality , which he founded, and the historical-political papers for Catholic Germany . In 1917 he was a member of the select committee of the Bavarian state association of the German Fatherland Party . In the post-war period he campaigned against the Munich Soviet Republic. From 1920 to 1928 he was editor-in-chief of the Münchner Neuesten Nachrichten (MNN), the successor of which the Süddeutsche Zeitung sees itself. Financiers from the Rhenish heavy industry who had taken over the MNN had noticed the right-wing publicist Gerlich and entrusted him with the management of the MNN. In the editorial office he maintained a collegial working style and also corrected his own leading articles after criticism from the editors. After the Hitler putsch in 1923, he withdrew all support from the National Socialists. Gustav von Kahr's speech in the Bürgerbräukeller on the day of the putsch was written by Gerlich. Gerlich took a political turn and was now also benevolent towards Gustav Stresemann's foreign policy , which brought him into conflict with his publishing management. Gerlich left the MNN on February 1, 1928 after disputes with the management of the publishing house. Gerlich was impulsive and irascible, although he was not only palpable and abusive in the editorial office. There, for example, while drunk, he threw a beer glass at the publishing director Otto Pflaum and cursed senior boss Friedrich Trefz. His behavior also resulted in libel lawsuits and separation from his wife, who could no longer endure his tantrums.

In 1923, with the Hitler putsch , Gerlich changed from a more nationally authoritarian sympathizer of the National Socialist movement to a committed critic and opponent of Adolf Hitler. Fritz Gerlich's rejection of totalitarianism was based on natural law as a human right. In addition, Gerlich had made the acquaintance of Therese Neumann , the mystic of Konnersreuth , in 1927 , who encouraged him to resist the Hitler party. Originally he wanted to expose the "swindle" of her wounds, but Gerlich came back as a convert and converted in 1931 to the Roman Catholic faith. In 1929 he published his experiences and the results of critical research on Therese Neumann in two volumes.

In August 1929 Gerlich returned to the archive service. In 1930 he took over the publication and editor-in-chief of the catholic magazine Illustrierter Sonntag (financed by Prince Erich von Waldburg-Zeil , whom he knew from Konnersreuth), which appeared from 1932 under the title The Straight Path and consistently turned against Hitler and the NSDAP . Fritz Gerlich once wrote: “National Socialism means: lies, hatred, fratricide and boundless misery.” The newspaper also became popular through competitions and articles aimed at the taste of the general public and reached more than 100,000 copies. The headlines were in red letters, and Gerlich used clear language. It was printed in the same printing house as the Völkischer Beobachter , and there were frequent encounters between Gerlich and Hitler. After a headline in which he dubbed the National Socialists agitators, criminals and mentally confused, Hitler had a fit of rage and ultimately demanded that the printer cancel Gerlich's newspaper. Gerlich switched to a Catholic printing company and renamed the newspaper ( The Straight Way - German newspaper for truth and law ).

Right up to the end Gerlich warned of the danger and the consequences of a " seizure of power " by the National Socialists and tried to prevent them. Urgent, but in vain, he warned: You who have become addicted to this deception of someone possessed by tyranny awakened! It's about Germany, about your, your children's fate . Despite warnings (colleagues had offered to rescue him to Switzerland) he stayed in the editorial office, which he did not want to let down. On March 9, 1933 , he was mistreated by an SA troop in the editorial offices of the Straight Way , he was tortured in the most severe manner (an SA man jumped on his hands with full force in the Munich police headquarters so that he could never write again) and stayed in “protective custody” in Munich for almost 16 months. It was clear to Gerlich himself that he was being murdered, as he said to a fellow prisoner, because he knew too much. On the night of June 30 to July 1, 1934, in connection with the so-called Röhm Putsch, he was transferred from the Munich police headquarters to the Dachau concentration camp , where he was shot together with the Kampfbundführer Paul Röhrbein at the camp's shooting range.

Like many other victims of the Röhmputsch, the body was cremated in the municipal crematorium in Munich's Ostfriedhof .

memory

Lion with memorial plaque for Fritz Gerlich at the Catholic Academy of Bavaria
Memorial plaque (center) on the successor to the former Süddeutsche Zeitung publishing house

The historian Rudolf Morsey became aware of the surviving letters and works by Gerlich, who was almost forgotten at the time, in the early 1990s. Since then, Morsey has been working to make Gerlich better known. Thanks to Rudolf Morsey's mediation, the Bavarian Main State Archives were able to acquire Fritz Gerlich's estate in 2019.

Since the 75th year of his murder in 2009, Stattreisen München e. V. Fritz Gerlich and his newspaper took a city tour. On the occasion of this anniversary, the Catholic pastoral care at the Dachau concentration camp memorial created the traveling exhibition "Fritz Gerlich (1883–1934) - As a journalist against Hitler".

Several places in Munich today commemorate Fritz Gerlich:

In 1947 Gerlichstrasse in Pasing-Obermenzing was named after him. Streets in Landshut , Neusäß , Neuss , Pullach im Isar Valley and Regensburg also remember Fritz Gerlich . There is also a bronze sculpture by the sculptor Andreas Prucker on Fritz-Gerlich-Straße in Regensburg.

The Catholic Church accepted Fritz Michael Gerlich as a witness of faith in the German martyrology of the 20th century .

On the 75th anniversary of the assassination in 2009, the Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Reinhard Marx , celebrated a memorial service.

Beatification process

The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising has initiated the process of beatification of Fritz Gerlich. It was officially opened on December 16, 2017 with a service in the Liebfrauendom .

Fritz Gerlich Film Prize

The film holding company Tellux , which is mostly owned by Catholic dioceses , awards the Fritz Gerlich Film Prize , endowed with 10,000 euros - the only Catholic film prize in Germany - for contemporary feature or documentary films that courageously take up a publicly discussed topic as part of the Munich Film Festival . dealing with resistance to intolerance and dictatorship, abuse of power, persecution and humiliation.

Fonts

  • The will of Henry VI. Attempt at refutation . Berlin 1907. Reprinted by Kraus, Vaduz 1965.
  • History and Theory of Capitalism . Duncker & Humblot, Munich, Leipzig 1913.
  • Communism as a doctrine of the millennium . H. Bruckmann, Munich 1920.
  • The stigmatized Therese Neumann von Konnersreuth. J. Kösel & F. Pustet, 2 volumes, Munich 1929.
  • The struggle for the credibility of Therese Neumann. A discussion with Professors Wunderle and Mager. Naturverlag, Munich 1931.
  • Prophecies against the Third Reich. From the writings of Dr. Fritz Gerlich and Father Ingbert Naab OFMCap. Collected by Dr. Johannes Steiner. Schnell & Steiner, Munich 1946.

literature

Biographies:

  • Erwein Freiherr von Aretin : Fritz Michael Gerlich. Prophet and martyr. His source of strength. Schnell and Steiner publishing house, Munich 1983 (2nd supplementary edition with a foreword by Karl Otmar von Aretin).
  • Ovidio Dallera, Ilsemarie Brandmair: Deadly Headlines. Fritz Michael Gerlich, a journalist against Hitler. Verlag St. Michaelsbund, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-939905-44-8 (preface by Franz Herre).
  • Stefan Meetschen : A straight path. The Catholic journalist, resistance fighter and martyr Fritz Gerlich , Fe Verlag, Kißlegg 2015, ISBN 978-3-86357-134-4 .
  • Rudolf Morsey: Fritz Gerlich (1883-1934). An early opponent of Hitler and National Socialism . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2016, ISBN 978-3-506-78398-1
  • Augustin Niedermeier: A fighter for truth and law. Fritz Gerlich, a man of the Catholic resistance . EOS-Verlag, St. Ottilien 1995, ISBN 3-88096-723-7 .
  • Hans-Günter Richardi , Klaus Schumann: Gerlich / Bell secret files. Röhm's plans for a Reich without Hitler. Ludwig, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-7787-2135-6 .
  • Michael Schäfer: Fritz Gerlich 1883–1934. Journalism as an examination of the “political religions” of the 20th century. Munich 1998 (dissertation).

Short biographical sketches of Gerlich

Entries on Gerlich in reference works:

Newspaper article about Gerlich :

Source editions on Gerlich :

Movies

  • Juri Köster: On the straight path. Life and resistance of Fritz Gerlich . Documentary 2013/2014, 45 min.
  • In the TV movie Hitler - Aufstieg des Böse (2003), Gerlich's life is shown in a supporting role from 1919 until his death, played by Matthew Modine .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rudolf Morsey: Fritz Gerlich, publicist and prophet - how did he resist the Nazis? Website of the city of Bamberg (PDF; 50.45 kB).
  2. ↑ Georg Schwaiger: Dr. Fritz Michael Gerlich , in: Helmut Moll (Ed.): Witnesses for Christ. The German martyrology of the 20th century. 6th edition. Paderborn u. a. 2015, Volume I, p. 479.
  3. ↑ Feldmann, Hitlers Erzfeind , In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung , February 18, 2018, p. 4.
  4. ↑ Feldmann, Hitlers Erzfeind , In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung , February 18, 2018, p. 4.
  5. ↑ Eberhard Kolb : In ecstasy against mass madness. The publicist Fritz Gerlich paid for the fight against National Socialism with his life . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , November 22, 2010, p. 13.
  6. ↑ Joachim Käppner : A brave head of fire: Fritz Gerlich . In: Joachim Käppner, Wolfgang Görl , Christian Mayer (Ed.): Munich. The history of the city . Süddeutsche Zeitung Edition, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-86615-622-7 , p. 311f. ( online )
  7. ↑ in The Straight Path of July 31, 1932 ( digitized version ).
  8. ^ Christian Feldmann, Hitler's archenemy . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung , February 18, 2018, p. 4.
  9. ↑ Christian Feldmann, loc. cit. Gerlich gave detailed information about Goebbels and Göring's perpetration of the Reichstag fire and that Hitler had shot his niece Geli Raubal.
  10. ↑ Markus Krücken: Dr. Fritz Gerlich: The forgotten hero . In: Berliner Kurier , November 15, 2013.
  11. ↑ Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv acquires estate from Nazi critic , WDR, August 26, 2019.
  12. ↑ Stattreisen München e. V .: The straight path ( memento of July 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 4, 2012.
  13. ^ Hannes Hintermeier : Hitler's intimate enemy. Munich finally has a memorial for Fritz Gerlich . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, June 19, 2015, p. 13.
  14. ↑ Helga Pfoertner: Living with history. Vol. 1, Literareron, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-89675-859-4 , pp. 143-148 ( PDF; 1.1 MB ( Memento from April 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive )).
  15. ↑ Carl-H. Pierk: Going the straight way. In: Kath.net , July 5, 2009.
  16. ↑ Beatification initiated . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of July 18, 2016.
  17. ^ Beatification processes for Gerlich and Guardini , accessed December 17, 2017.
  18. ^ Fritz Gerlich Prize - Munich Film Festival ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ↑ www.tellux.tv ( Memento from June 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

Wikisource: Fritz Gerlich  - Sources and full texts
Commons : Fritz Gerlich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Gerlich, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerlich, Carl Albert Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist and historian
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Szczecin
DATE OF DEATH July 1, 1934
Place of death Dachau concentration camp