Fritz Theilen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fritz Wilhelm Theilen (born September 27, 1927 in Cologne ; † April 18, 2012 ibid) was involved as a youth in the Ehrenfeld group within the Cologne Edelweiss Pirates in the resistance against National Socialism .

Life

Theilen grew up as the first of two sons in Cologne's working-class district of Ehrenfeld and joined the Nazi youth there in 1937 at the age of ten . Over time, however, he distanced himself from the group's drill and was then expelled in 1940 for refusing to give orders to the youth group leader. He sought contact with other unadapted young people around Barthel Schink , with whom he organized activities - including illegal ones - against the ruling groups. During his apprenticeship as a toolmaker at Ford-Cologne , he was a member of the urban express command of the police and fire brigade during the bombing war until 1944 . After several arrests and interrogations, he went into hiding in April 1944, but was arrested again after July 20, 1944 and taken to a military training camp and then to a satellite camp of the Dachau concentration camp , from which he was able to escape again. He experienced the end of the war in the Allgäu . In August 1945 he returned to the destroyed Cologne.

He worked as a toolmaker at Ford until the mid-1980s and was also a shop steward for the union. In 1984 his book about the edelweiss pirates was published. After the group had long been ostracized because of its criminal past , the relatives were rehabilitated late, around the 1990s. Together with the Cologne Edelweiss Pirates, who were still alive, he received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon from the Lord Mayor of Cologne, Jürgen Roters , in April 2011 .

Since 1983 Theilen lived in Nörvenich- Frauwüllesheim . In April 2012 he died after a stroke .

Works / literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nicole Trum: Edelweiss pirate Fritz Theilen died. Lord Mayor Jürgen Roters condolences the bereaved. City of Cologne - Office for Press and Public Relations, April 23, 2012, accessed on April 23, 2012 .
  2. ↑ Obituary in the weekly “Super-Sonntag”, online edition May 6, 2012, p. 5  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / e-paper.supersonntag.de  
  3. ↑ Obituary in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, issue of 5./6. May 2012, p. 17
  4. ↑ to Experienced History
  5. ↑ Mattias Pesch: Edelweisspiraten "Role models for civil courage" , in: Kölner Stadtanzeiger from April 14, 2011, p. 26 online (accessed June 23, 2016)
  6. ↑ Fritz Theilen died at 84. ksta.de, April 23, 2012, accessed December 4, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Theilen, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Theilen, Fritz Wilhelm (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German resistance fighters against National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH September 27, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH April 2012
Place of death Cologne