Gustav Melkert

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Gustav Friedrich Heinrich Carl Melkert (born April 22, 1890 in Wittenburg ; † July 17, 1943 in Neustrelitz ) was secretary of the agricultural workers' union in the former district of Waren and a member of the SPD and was killed as a resistance by the National Socialists.

Life

Gustav Melkert was born out of wedlock to the maid Anna Maria Christine Melchert (1868–1898) in the small town of Wittenburg in western Mecklenburg. At the time of the 1900 census, Melkert was living in Neu Luckwitz near Wittenburg. The mother had meanwhile married the servant Heinrich Römpage (1870-1924) and Gustav, who as a stepson continued to bear his mother's maiden name, had received two younger half-sisters.

According to family tradition, Melkert, as an illegitimate child, was said to have been prevented from pursuing his career aspirations and becoming a teacher. It is believed that these life experiences furthered his later social engagement. He was married to Johanna Elisabeth Auguste (called Guste) Melkert, née Krüger (1900–1978). The marriage had three children: Paul (1925–2018), Karl (1928–1999) and Lotte (1930–2019). The family first lived in Röbel on Mühlenstrasse in the house of his father-in-law, Otto Krüger. Otto Krüger was a master tailor who, like Gustav Melkert, was involved in the SPD and was one of the founders of the consumer association in Röbel. The family then moved to Waren and later back to Röbel, where the family had built a house on the Gildekamp.

Stumbling block for Gustav Melkert in Röbel
The indomitable , memorial for the fighters against reaction and fascism, south of the new cemetery in Neubrandenburg

Gustav Melkert had long bitterly watched the hustle and bustle of the Nazis but did nothing. Because of his age, he was not called up for military service, but had to work in an ammunition factory. When overtime was ordered there after the lost battle of Stalingrad , he called for protest on the grounds that the war was lost anyway. He was then arrested, taken to Neustrelitz prison , and beaten to death there.

Honors

A memorial plaque on the family house in Röbeler Gustav-Melkert-Straße 2 (formerly Gildekamp 13) commemorated him. The name of Gustav Melkert is representative of a representative of the former Röbel district on the monument to the indomitable on the edge of the new cemetery in Neubrandenburg (the central socialist memorial of the former Neubrandenburg district ).

A stumbling block in Röbel reminds of Gustav Melkert.

literature

  • Hermann Hunger: The achievement of the old people back then: Reconstruction of the construction unions in the 3 western zones 1945 to 1949 . The Industrial Union, 1999.
  • Karlheinz Jahnke: They must not be forgotten !: Resistance against the Nazi dictatorship in Mecklenburg 1933-1945 . BS-Verlag-Rostock, 2005.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In the literature, the place of birth and death are often mentioned differently: * Wittenberg is definitely wrong. † Strelitz-Alt is incorrect because Strelitz was already incorporated into Neustrelitz at the time of the event and was therefore no longer documented itself.
  2. ↑ Parish Wittenburg, church book duplicate, baptism entry No. 66/1899. The baptism took place on May 18, 1890.
  3. ↑ The surname appears in the documents in different spellings and was set in 1943 by the Mecklenburg family chancellery in Schwerin to the spelling Melkert.
  4. ↑ The date of death on the Röbeler “Stolperstein” (June 17, 1943) contradicts all literature and is probably an error.
  5. ↑ Christine Stelzer: Monument to the Indomitable. Neubrandenburg: District Commission. for research d. Story d. Local Labor movement at d. District management Neubrandenburg d. SED, 1977. p. 12.
personal data
SURNAME Melkert, Gustav
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Melkert, Gustav Friedrich Heinrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Secretary of the Agricultural Workers Union
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Wittenburg
DATE OF DEATH July 17, 1943
Place of death Neustrelitz