Gertrud Classen

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Gertrud Classen (born July 3, 1905 in Königsberg ; † September 3, 1974 in Berlin ) was a German resistance fighter against National Socialism and a sculptor in the GDR .

Life

Classen, daughter of a dairy farm manager , visited upon successful completion of a secondary school and lyceum art academies in Königsberg and Berlin. Even in her early youth she was involved in communist organizations. She had been a member of the Wandervogelmädchenbund since 1919 and became a federal leader in 1925. When he merged with other independent scout and wandering bird associations to form the German Freischar in 1928 , Classen left the organization and became a member of the Communist Youth Association of Germany (KJVD).

In 1929, Classen joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), which initially kept it a secret. Classen worked for the KPD's illegal intelligence service, the so-called anti - militarist apparatus (AM apparatus) headed by Hans Kippenberger , which existed until 1937 . She was also a member of the Red Aid of Germany , the Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition (RGO) and the Federation of Revolutionary Visual Artists of Germany (BRBKD). At the end of the 1920s, Classen founded the Association of Revolutionary Technical and Art Students as part of the General German Trade Union Confederation (ADGB). In 1932 Classen was briefly arrested for participating in the KPD election campaign.

After the National Socialists came to power and the KPD was banned in 1933, Classen headed an illegal anti-fascist group of young artists at the United State Schools for Free and Applied Arts in Berlin. She participated in the production and distribution of illegal leaflets. Until 1937, Classen transmitted secret information to the KPD's intelligence service during several trips to France and Great Britain . In 1939 she returned to Berlin after a long stay in Switzerland and was arrested and interrogated several times. She then worked together in the resistance with the Schulze-Boysen / Harnack organization . In addition, she secretly housed the resistance activist Ilse Stillmann , whose father was Jewish, and the deserter and resistance fighter Oskar Huth . After July 20, 1944 , Classen is said to have obtained false papers for the co-conspirator Ludwig von Hammerstein-Equord and hid him. In the autumn of 1944 she took part several times in the production of counterfeit ration cards to take care of Ilse Stillmann.

After the end of World War II , Classen became a member of the SED in 1946 . From 1950 to 1953 she was a master class student at the Academy of the Arts (AdK) of the GDR with Gustav Seitz and Fritz Cremer . Afterwards she worked as a freelance sculptor in the GDR.

In 1970 she was awarded the Silver Patriotic Order of Merit .

Construction assistant

Works
Reading boy
  • 1974: Reading boy (together with Siegfried Krepp ), set up in the Pistoriusstrasse at the corner of Woelckpromenade in Berlin-Weißensee , a naked boy sits on a stone, an open book lies on his knees
  • Bündische Diversity , a young woman with a headscarf walks around playing the guitar
  • Mother with child : a mother leads her little daughter along the floor by both hands
  • Reading boy : a naked boy lies on his stomach and reads

In addition to pictorial works, the artist also created illustrations for children's books, such as Nili the male hippopotamus or The Clock .

literature

  • Christiane Kliemannel: Girls and Women in the German Youth Movement as Reflected in Historical Research . Edition Roter Drache, Remda-Teichel 2013. ISBN 3944180429 .

Web links

Commons : Gertrud Classen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gertrud Classen on www.buendische-vielfalt.de
  2. ^ Gertrud Classen in the archive of the Academy of Arts
  3. ↑ Gertrud Classen on www.kunst-und-kultur.de
  4. ↑ Neues Deutschland , July 31, 1970, p. 2
  5. ^ Directory of works of art in public space - Treptow-Köpenick district. (pdf) In: www.kunst-und-kultur.de. P. 18 , accessed on May 10, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Stolen bronze sculpture. In: www.berlin.de. May 11, 2018, accessed on May 10, 2018 (police report no .: 1042).
  7. ↑ cf. Illustration file: Statue Kiefholzstr 192 (Baums) Schwimmer & Gertrud Classen & 1966.jpg
  8. ↑ Concentrated women's power at www.moz.de, accessed on January 14, 2019.
  9. ↑ cf. Illustration file: Statue Pistoriusstr 19 (Weißs) Lesender Knabe & Siegfried Krepp Gertrud Claasen & 1974.jpg
  10. ↑ Figure of the sculpture
  11. ↑ cf. Image on kunst-im-oefflichen-raum-pankow.de, accessed on January 22, 2019
  12. ↑ Image on kunst-im-oefflichen-raum-pankow.de, accessed on January 22, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Classen, Gertrud
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German resistance fighter against National Socialism and sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd July 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Koenigsberg
DATE OF DEATH 3rd September 1974
Place of death Berlin