Fritz Wehrmann (sailor)

Fritz Wehrmann (* July 7, 1919 in Mölkau near Leipzig ; † May 10, 1945 executed near Flensburg ) was a German marine and a victim of the Nazi tyranny. He and his two comrades were "the last victims of the German naval justice ".

Life

He was born the oldest of three children. His parents divorced around 1930. The now single mother moved to Leipzig . After eight years of school, Fritz Wehrmann began an apprenticeship as a model maker and blacksmith . With his bike he went on numerous bike tours, which he u. a. also led to Hamburg . After visiting the port of Hamburg, Wehrmann decided to become a seaman. The beginning of the Second World War , however, thwarted his plans. He volunteered for service with the submarine weapon. However, he only stayed with the submarines for a short time and was then transferred to a torpedo speedboat . With his flotilla he was commanded to the Mediterranean, first to Sicily ( Italy ), later to Crete ( Greece ).

In 1943 Fritz Wehrmann was transferred to the 31st naval prison camp in Latvia for "violating military discipline and order" . At the end of 1944 he was posted to a speedboat flotilla near Aarhus in Denmark . Due to a lack of fuel, however, missions to secure the German retreat on the eastern front could hardly be carried out. Wehrmann's younger brother Gerhard fell on the western front in early 1945. Wehrmann was one in on May 2, 1945 Svendborg newly established (Denmark) Navy - battalion assigned to that for the defense of Berlin should be used.

After the partial surrender of the German armed forces to the British troops in the north-west on May 4, 1945, Wehrmann and three comrades left his unit on May 6, 1945 to return home. However, they were picked up by Danish auxiliary police officers and handed over to the German local commandant of Svendborg, who was still in office despite the surrender. This transferred the four men to the German speedboat flotilla assembled in the Geltinger Bay . Commodore Rudolf Petersen , the " leader of the speedboats ", had those who, in his opinion, deserted, arrested on the speedboat accompanying ship Buea . On May 8, 1945, after the German surrender, Petersen had the Reich war flag drawn down on his ships . The next day, went on board the Buéa a German court martial together and sentenced Fritz Wehrmann, Alfred Gail and Martin Schilling for desertion to death by firing squad . The fourth sailor was to three years in prison convicted. Although Petersen had the option of pardoning as a commander and court martial , he confirmed the death sentences on May 10, 1945 and had them executed by firing squad on the aft ship of the Buéa on the afternoon of the same day, i.e. the second day after the German surrender . The bodies of the executed were sunk in the Baltic Sea.

The Fritz Wehrmanns only found out about the death of their son and brother in 1946 through his farewell letter and his friend Theodor Meier. Since Meier was able to tell mother Anna Wehrmann the names of those responsible, she filed a lawsuit against Petersen and the members of the court martial with the Hamburg district court . Three manslaughter and perversion trials were held until 1953, which resulted in acquittals for all defendants. Anna Wehrmann couldn't cope with the death of two sons and died mentally deranged in 1983 after 20 years in a nursing home. Alfred Gail's mother took her own life after the last trial. Petersen made a career after the war as a businessman and in the Military Counter-Intelligence Service (MAD). He died in 1983.

Memorial stone in Steinberg OT Norgaardholz in memory of the three soldiers who were executed by a military court judgment immediately after the end of the war (photo 2012)

Honors

• Since 1999 a memorial stone has been commemorating the death of the three sailors next to the Steinberg seaside resort in the Norgaardholz district .
• On May 24, 2007, Gunter Demnig laid a stumbling block in front of the house at Brandvorwerkstrasse 46 in Leipzig's Südvorstadt , Wehrmann's officially last residence .
• In the district of Leipzig Gohlis was Wehrmann street named after him.

Literature and reception

• The writer Jochen Missfeldt processed the fate of Wehrmann and his comrades in his novel Steilüste. A lake and night piece (Rowohlt, Reinbek 2005, ISBN 3-498-04493-1 or ISBN 978-3-498-04493-0 )
• The story A war of Siegfried Lenz (1984) has parallels in Wehrmann's fate
• Frank Junghänel: Death on the Sea. In: Berliner Zeitung of May 7, 2005 ( online )
• The events surrounding the murder of Fritz Wehrmann were in 1970 in the TV five-part Rottenknechte of German Television with Hans-Peter Reinecke filmed in the role of Fritz Wehrmann.

Web links

• Project Norgaardholz University of Flensburg
• "Male discipline" beyond surrender
• Dierk's calendar sheet: The last victims of the war

Individual evidence

1. ^ Jochen Missfeldt: Steep coast. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2005, ISBN 978-3-498-04493-0 , p. 5.
2. ↑ Joachim Beckh: Lightning and anchor. Volume 1: Information Technology. History and background. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2005, ISBN 978-3-8334-2996-5 , p. 428 ( online ).
3. ^ Norbert Haase: Justice terror in the Wehrmacht. In: Cord Arendes , Edgar Wolfrum , Jörg Zedler (eds.): Terror inside. Crimes at the end of the Second World War. Wallstein, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 978-3-8353-0046-0 , p. 96 ( online ).
4. ↑ Hans Joachim Schröder: The stolen years. Storytelling and storytelling in an interview (= studies and texts on the social history of literature. Volume 37). Niemeyer, Tübingen 1992, ISBN 3-484-35037-7 , p. 854.
5. ^ Karl Heinz Jahnke: Decisions. Youth in the Resistance 1933-1945 ( Library of the Resistance ). Röderberg-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1970, p. 201.
6. ↑ Stolpersteine ​​Leipzig
7. ↑ Ralf Julke: Take care of your feet! Tomorrow the next 15 Leipzig stumbling blocks will be laid. In the Leipziger Internet Zeitung of May 23, 2007 ( online ).