Gustav Adolf Weigand

Gustav Adolf Weigand (born March 24, 1893 in Görbersdorf ; † June 21, 1956 in Penig ) had been a member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) since 1920, took over the management of the KPD local group in Penig from 1924, and from 1926 to 1933 city councilor in Penig and after the Second World War first mayor in Penig (from 1945 to 1953).

Life

Youth and Employment

Gustav Weigand grew up in very poor circumstances. From 1899 to 1907 he attended elementary school in Schönerstadt (near Flöha). His parents couldn't pay for an apprenticeship. In addition to his work, he attended the advanced training school in Flöha for 3 years. Afterwards, he mainly acquired political knowledge as an autodidact. From 1907 to 1909 he worked as an unskilled worker in the Flöha cotton mill. From 1909 to 1911 he worked on various construction sites. From 1911 to 1912 he worked as a worker in the Hartmann iron foundry in Chemnitz. From 1912 to 1913 he worked in agriculture in Hartmannsdorf (near Chemnitz). In 1913 he was drafted into the military (First World War). Gustav Weigand was not released from the military until 1919. He then found work as a sawmill worker in the Ölsnitz coal mine in the Lugau mine. The father of his future wife Anna was employed in the Peniger patent paper factory. In 1921, Weigand became a wood grinder in the paper factory. He lost this job through his political engagement in 1933. In 1937 Gustav Weigand worked as a stone setter for the Penig master stonemason Willi Winkler.

family

In 1917 he married Anna Frieda Unger (November 8, 1897 - January 12, 1978). On December 24, 1920 († 2007) his first child, Ilse, was born and in 1921 he moved with his young family to Penig , on Bahnstr. 11. On October 28, 1925 († 1974) his son Günter was born in Penig. In 1933 Gustav Weigand lost his job, so that his wife Anna took care of the family alone. She worked in different households as a laundress.

Political career

In 1909 he joined the Mühlau Workers' Gymnastics Club. He was a union member and held various functions there. After the First World War he joined the trade union organization “Concordia” and the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) in Lugau .

In the period from 1921 to 1933, when he worked in the Penig patent paper factory, he made a name for himself as a functionary of the KPD in Penig.

Gustav Weigand was elected chairman of the KPD in Penig in 1924 by the members of the Peniger local group. In the same year he was elected chairman of the works council by the workforce at the paper mill. He held this position until 1933. He also became an assessor at the labor court in Burgstädt (near Penig). As a representative of the paper mill, he was a member of the Reich leadership of the Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition (RGO).

Gustav Weigand was elected to the city council of Penig in 1926 as a representative of the KPD, of which he was a parliamentary group leader until 1933. At the same time he became a member of the extended Erzgebirge / Vogtland district leadership of the KPD. In 1928 he was delegated to Hamburg as an opposition delegate to the Association Day. In 1929 Gustav Weigand ran on the KPD's nomination list for the state elections.

On March 3, 1933, mass arrests took place in Penig, including Gustav Weigand. The notorious SA murder storm in Limbach brutally beat up the approximately 80 arrested persons. Then the arrested were transported to Chemnitz and the Colditz concentration camp set up at Colditz Castle . Gustav Weigand was also brought to Colditz, where he was interned until his release in August 1933.

The Peniger local group of the KPD continued to exist illegally until July 1935. Gustav Weigand was arrested again in August 1935 and sent to Sachsenburg concentration camp . He was not released until August 1936. In April 1937 he was arrested again and taken to Sachsenburg. He was released in June of the same year.

Gustav Weigand was arrested again on August 22, 1944 and interned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp . There he met the Peniger communist Walter Kluge , an old comrade in arms.

When the Red Army advanced towards Berlin, the National Socialists evacuated the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and drove the prisoners west. Gustav Weigand was also a participant in this agonizing march, which went down in history as the death march . After 10 days, on May 2, 1945, the Red Army liberated the prisoners. After his liberation, Gustav Weigand set out for Penig. After overcoming unspeakable difficulties, e.g. Sometimes on foot, by bicycle, he reached his hometown on May 19, 1945 as a seriously ill man.

The Red Army entered Penig on June 14, 1945 and the Americans withdrew across the Mulde on the same day. The following text appeared in No. 2 of June 19, 1945 in the daily newspaper for Penig and Lunzenau under the heading “Official Announcements”: “As of today, I have been appointed mayor of the city of Penig, east of the Mulde, by the Russian commander. Penig, June 17, 1945. The Mayor Weigand. "

On June 24, 1945, the local group of the KPD was founded in Penig, and Gustav Weigand was elected chairman. In his capacity as mayor and chairman, he also became the party’s base officer and the district administrator for the communities in the Peniger area.

Gustav Weigand served as mayor for seven years. He had returned from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in poor health. In March 1952 he became so ill that he had to give up his office as mayor on January 15, 1953. He continued to exercise the function of 1st secretary of the local branch of the SED and the chairman of the local committee of the National Front.

Gustav Weigand died on June 21, 1956.

Honors

• A street in Penig bore his name until 1991 (today's Flinschstraße)
• During the GDR era, a traditional room and the “People's Solidarity Club” in Penig bore his name

swell

• Document by K. Loth, December 1988,
• Information about descendants of the Weigand family