Fritz Klein (resistance fighter)

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Fritz Klein (born December 18, 1898 in Hilschbach , Riegelsberg , † September 22, 1944 in Bruchsal ) was a German resistance fighter who was executed by the National Socialists .

Life

Fritz Klein grew up in Engelfangen as the son of a miner's family. He worked as a cutter and tugboat in the Viktoria mine in Püttlingen until he had to serve as a soldier on the Western Front in World War I in 1918 . After the war he became involved in the miners' association and was a member of the SPD from 1919 . In the Saar referendum , he was the chairman of the local SPD association and representative of the Socialist Protection Association. After the annexation of the Saarland to the German Empire , he emigrated to France. In Forbach he belonged to the SPD border post around Emil Kirschmann , Hanna Kirchner and Richard Kirn . He acted as a courier bringing propaganda, funds and news across the green border to Germany. In February 1937 he was one of 33 social democratic and communist politicians and trade unionists who took part in a conference in exile in view of the second anniversary of the resettlement of the Saar region. There the resistance against National Socialism was organized and the appeal “Saar people listen” passed, which was directed to the Saar area.

Klein was interned in September 1939, but volunteered for the French army. However, he was found unfit for military service and worked in various mines in southern France. On October 9, 1943, he was picked up by the German military police in Carmaux and taken to Germany. He was sentenced to death by the People's Court on June 29, 1944 for high treason , treasonous weapons aid and favoring the enemy . On September 22, 1944, he was guillotined in the Seilerbahn prison in Bruchsal.

reception

Klein was mentioned in the white paper of the German opposition against the Hitlerite dictatorship of the exile SPD and honored on June 30, 1946 at the first party congress of the Social Democratic Party of the Saar area as a " victim of fascism ".

literature

  • Klaus Michael Mallmann / Gerhard Paul: The splintered no. Saarlanders against Hitler . Dietz, Bonn 1989, ISBN 3-8012-5010-5 , p. 135-136 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ursula Langkau-Alex: History of the committee for the preparation of a German popular front . Akademie-Verlag, 2004, ISBN 978-3-05-004032-5 , pp. 281-282 .
personal data
SURNAME Klein, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Hilschbach , Riegelsberg
DATE OF DEATH September 22, 1944
Place of death Bruchsal