Hanna Sturm
Johanna "Hanna" Sturm (born February 28, 1891 in Klingenbach ; † March 9, 1984 ) was an Austrian political activist and resistance fighter against National Socialism .
Life
Johanna Sturm was born in Burgenland . Her parents came from the Croatian villages of Großwarasdorf and Nikitsch . She grew up in poor conditions and had to work for farmers, farms and factories from the age of eight . At the age of 14 she launched her first strike and lost her job as a result. She later moved to Vienna, where she learned to read and write at the age of 18. In 1912 she gave birth to her daughter Therese, she had to look after her alone, as the father did not look after the child. Two years later, their second daughter, Relli, was born.
She was arrested in August 1917, acquitted after months in prison and released in January 1918. After the collapse of the Austrian monarchy, she had to leave Austria because she was a Hungarian citizen. She supported the struggle of the Soviet government in Hungary , raised money for the Red Army in Austria , provided courier services and crossed the border illegally several times. In 1919 she was picked up by the Hungarian police and taken to the camp in Zalaegerszeg , from which she was able to escape after 10 days. She learned from acquaintances that her daughter Relli had died during her absence.
After the fall of the Hungarian councilor government , she continued her illegal political work, often crossing the border at night to deliver money, forged papers and messages.
Her father died in the autumn of 1922. On his initiative, a number of convenience stores were opened in Klingenbach and the surrounding villages . At that time Hanna Sturm was working in Neufeld and was elected to the works council. As a woman, she felt that her political career and work were impaired. In 1925 she was expelled from the Social Democratic Party and became a member of the Communist Party. At that time she was unemployed almost all the time, making a meager living from selling newspapers and magazines. She helped the unemployed and was elected chairman of the unemployment committee in Eisenstadt . There, too, she was arrested several times by the authorities on various pretexts. In 1927 she was banned from the city.
Hanna Sturm had almost no chance of finding work in her home country. So she tried her luck in Berlin in 1929. She didn't find anything there either and moved on to Bremen . There she and her daughter Therese found employment in a textile company and secretly organized the union and political work. In 1930, after successful works council elections, they were given notice without notice and had to leave Germany within 24 hours. Back in Burgenland they found no work and joined a group of Austrian miners who, with the permission of the KPÖ and an employment contract, went to the USSR in August 1931, where they worked in a textile factory in Leningrad until 1932. In October she was arrested for leafleting. At the time of their release, the Soviet party was already banned. Her daughter stayed in the Soviet Union and studied there, was arrested in 1935, was sent to a Siberian camp and there married a Yugoslav engineer.
In 1938 Hanna Sturm was arrested again. She was taken to the Lichtenburg concentration camp on the Elbe and then in the spring of 1939 as prisoner number 893 to the Ravensbrück concentration camp . She stayed there until the camp was closed. In 1945 the camp was evacuated. Hanna Sturm had found out that the transport was supposed to end in an ammunition factory and was to be blown up with the prisoners - which actually happened. At an appropriate moment, the group withdrew and fled through a forest, where they waited in a bomb crater for the war to end.
After the war, Hanna Sturm witnessed several war crimes trials. In 1946 two men tried to murder Hanna Sturm on the way home from the sports field. This attack was prevented by chance. In 1955 the couple was rehabilitated and in 1957 went to Yugoslavia. Johanna Sturm died in 1984 with her daughter in Zagreb.
literature
- Hanna Sturm: The life story of a worker; From Burgenland to Ravensbrück. Arranged by Gro Fisch. Publishing house for social criticism, 2nd edition, Vienna 1982. (Austrian texts on social criticism). ISBN 3-900351-08-2
Web links
- Portrait of Johanna Sturm on the website ravensbrueckerinnen.at (research by the Institute for Conflict Research)
- Sturm, Therese. Austrian Stalin victims (until 1945)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sturm, Hanna |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sturm, Johanna |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian political activist (SDAP / KPÖ) and resistance fighter against National Socialism |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 28, 1891 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Klingenbach |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 9, 1984 |