Hans Beckers (sailor)

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Hans Beckers (born February 17, 1892 in Alsdorf , † 1971 in Düsseldorf ) was a German sailor who was involved as a spokesman in a mutiny on warships of the imperial navy and was later active as a pacifist .

Life

After attending primary school , Hans Beckers initially worked as a miner. In 1912 he was called up for military service in the Imperial Navy. He did his job as a stoker on the large liner SMS Prinzregent Luitpold . In 1917 he was one of the leaders in a mutiny on the warships SMS Prinzregent Luitpold and SMS Friedrich der Große . The mutiny failed. Beckers was charged with the sailors Max Reichpietsch , Albin Köbis , Willy Sachse and Wilhelm Weber as the "main ringleader" for "completed war-treacherous uprising" and sentenced to death . Becker's application for a pardon was granted, according to his own statements, because he chose the patriotic salutation for his request to Admiral Scheer : “Winner of the Skagerrak Battle!”. His sentence, like the death sentences imposed on Sachse and Weber, was commuted to prison sentences of 15 years each; the death sentences against Max Reichpietsch and Albin Köbis were carried out on the Wahn shooting range near Cologne on September 5, 1917. Beckers later described the events in his book How I Was Sentenced to Death . The book was published in 1928 with a foreword by Kurt Tucholsky . This book was republished in 1960, 1986, and 2015. Since 2015 it has been available both as an e-book and as a paperback .

Ernst Toller processed a. a. the circumstances described in Becker's book in his historical play Fire from the Boilers . There the participating sailors are named by their real names. Toller quotes parts from Becker's book in the documentary appendix to his play.

The revolution of 1918 brought freedom to the Beckers. During the Weimar Republic, Beckers ran a book rental company in his home town of Alsdorf. He was involved in the SPD, in the trade unions and, from 1928, in the peace movement. In 1930 he played his own role in the drama Des Kaisers Kulis by Theodor Plievier , directed by  Erwin Piscator .

During the time of the Third Reich he was temporarily arrested, his book How I Was Sentenced to Death was placed on the “list of harmful and undesirable literature” and banned.

After 1945 until his retirement he worked as an employee of the German Federation of Trade Unions and then worked as an archivist for the DGB. In the 1950s he became involved in the debates about German rearmament in the area of conscientious objection . He also organized numerous youth consecration events in North Rhine-Westphalia .

His estate was donated to the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in July 2007 by Werner Ortmann , a friend of the Beckers family , and has since been kept in the archive of social democracy . In the German Literature Archive in Marbach a letter from Hans Beckers Kurt Tucholsky and ever Erwin Ackerknecht  archived.

plant

  • Hans Becker's How I Was Sentenced to Death - The Naval Tragedy in Summer 1917 . ISBN 978-3-596-30640-4 , four editions (1928, 1960, 1986 and 2015)

literature

  • Ernst Great fire from the boilers . Essen, 1930. New edition 2013, Paderborner Großdruckbuch Verlag. ISBN 978-3-95584-138-6
  • Klaus Weberskirch Hans Beckers (1892–1971): War experience and personal consequences of a miner sentenced to death. in: War and Utopia . Essen, 2006, pp. 338–347.
  • Brian Murdoch Remarque, Nothing New in the West . University of Glasgow, French and German Publications, 1991, p. 56.
  • Heinrich Neu The revolutionary movement on the German fleet 1917–1918 . Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelms University in Bonn, 1930
  • Wolfgang Günther The revolution of 1918/19 . Holzberg, 1979, p. 207.
  • Hermann Kunisch, Herbert Wiesner Handbook of contemporary German literature . Nymphenburger, 1981, p. 488.
  • Matthias Schöning A scattered community . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009, p. 298.
  • Helga Bemmann Kurt Tucholsky: A picture of life . Verlag der Nation, 1990, p. 488.
  • The causes of the German collapse in 1918 . Published on behalf of the German Reichstag. German Publishing Society for Politics and History, Berlin 1928. Chapter 4.
  • From Richthofen to Remarque: German-language prose on World War I. Edited by Thomas F. Schneider, Hans Wagener, 2003, p. 372
  • Stefan Appelius Pacifism in West Germany: the German Peace Society 1945–1968, Volume 1 , 1999, p. 136
  • Stefan Appelius Zero hour that wasn't: restoration and remilitarization in Wilhelmshaven , VSA-Verlag, 1986, p. 184.
  • Revolutionary events and problems in Germany during the period of the Great October Socialist Revolution 1917/1918: Contributions to the 40th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution , Akademie-Verlag, 1957, p. 134 ff
  • Deutsches Panorama, Volume 2 , P&E Information, 1967, p. 110
  • Coping with the real - investigations into the dramatic work of Ernst Toller between the world wars , writings of the Ernst Toller Society, Volume 2, Königshausen & Neumann , Kirsten Reimers, Würzburg 2000, ISBN 3826017668 , p. 238
  • Historical bibliography, reporting year 2006 , R. Oldenbourg Verlag 2007, ISSN  0933-5420 , page 1056: War experience and personal consequences of a miner condemned to death in war and utopia , Essen 2006, pp. 338–347
  • Der Spiegel , issue 6/1961: Cover story: Sea war - Dönitz - Aufgebaucht (see cover picture) , page 6 of 11 (DER SPIEGEL 6/1961, p. 38)

filming

Correspondence

Hans Beckers' correspondence is archived in the German Literature Archive Marbach and in the Bavarian State Library:

  • Letter from Johann Adam Möhler to Hans Beckers (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, Munich November 29, 1835, 1 Br., German, letter, handwriting, DE-611-HS-999733)
  • Letter from Hans Beckers to Kurt Tucholsky  (German Literature Archive Marbach, Neckar / Manuscript Department, Alsdorf near Aachen, April 6, 1930, 1 sheet, German, letter, handwriting, DE-611-HS-500412)
  • Letter from Hans Beckers to Erwin Ackerknecht  (German Literature Archive Marbach, Neckar / Manuscript Department, Düsseldorf January 30, 1951, 1 letter 1 sheet, German, letter, handwriting, DE-611-HS-733007)
  • Letter from Theodor Plievier to Hans Beckers (German Literature Archive Marbach, Neckar / Manuscript Department, Wallhausen February 10, 1951, 1 letter, 1 sheet, German, letter, handwriting, DE-611-HS-737383)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sea War / Dönitz: Surface . In: Der Spiegel . No. 6 , 1961 ( online - Feb. 1, 1961 ).
  2. ↑ Ernst Toller: Fire from the boilers. Paderborner Großdruck Verlag, accessed on December 30, 2015 .
  3. ^ Banished books: Online publication of the list of writings banned by the National Socialists , berlin.de, accessed on December 28, 2015
  4. ↑ This side, Journal of the Humanist Association, 21st year; 3rd quarter, No. 80/2007, page 2 (humanismus.de, accessed on January 1, 2016)
  5. ↑ How I Was Sentenced to Death (eBook) (lehmanns.de, accessed January 1, 2016)
  6. ↑ Various editions in comparison with pictures ( memento of the original from January 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (eurobuch.com, accessed January 1, 2016) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.eurobuch.com
  7. ^ German National Library (Leipzig, Frankfurt am Main), ND 43, as of October 21, 2015 (d-nb.info new publication service, year: 2015 ND 43, as of October 21, 2015, accessed on January 1, 2016)
  8. ↑ DER SPIEGEL 6/1961, p.38: ... including the sailor Hans Beckers, who chose the patriotic salutation for his request to Admiral Scheer: "Winner of the Skagerrak Battle!" Beckers: "That's how I won the justice lottery." ...
  9. ^ Letter from Johann Adam Möhler to Hans Beckers, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München , kalliope-verbund.info from 2006, accessed on December 28, 2015
  10. ^ Letter from Hans Beckers to Kurt Tucholsky  , Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach, kalliope-verbund.info from 2002, accessed on December 28, 2015
  11. ^ Letter from Hans Beckers to Erwin Ackerknecht  , Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach, kalliope-verbund.info from 2004, accessed on December 28, 2015
  12. ^ Letter to Hans Beckers from Theodor Plievier  , Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach, kalliope-verbund.info from 2006, accessed on December 28, 2015


personal data
SURNAME Beckers, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sailor, participant in the sailors' revolt in 1917
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Alsdorf
DATE OF DEATH 1971
Place of death Dusseldorf