Hans Kunke

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Hans Kunke (born December 12, 1906 in Biała ; died October 30, 1940 in Buchenwald concentration camp ) was an Austrian insurance officer and resistance fighter against the Nazi regime . Like his wife Stefanie Kunke , he was arrested, deported and murdered.

Life

Hans Kunke was the son of Norbert Kunke (1871–1938) and Cäcilie Kunke, geb. Schiffer (1880–1942), also called Cilli or Cilla. His father was born in Komorowitz and was most recently director of insurance protection for Austrian consumer associations in Vienna. He retired in 1934. Hans had two older sisters: Alice (dates unknown), who attended a theater school and was called Kordaszewska after their marriage , and Herta Gertrude (1901–1942), a French teacher. Hans is said to have been the most musically gifted of the three siblings, to have an exceptionally beautiful baritone and to have played the piano excellently . He was interested in both classical and contemporary music. However, at the request of his father, he graduated from the commercial academy and eventually became an insurance officer at Wiener Städtische Versicherung .

Kunke got involved in the Socialist Workers' Youth (SAJ), where he met his future wife Stefanie Jelinek , who was chairwoman of the SAJ in Mauer from 1923 to 1927. He quickly became a functionary and first shaped the local wall group (1930–1932), then the leasing district organization, and finally the Vienna area. He and Stefanie not only had a political commitment, but also a love of music. She had learned to play the violin as a young girl and played the guitar in a mandolin orchestra. When she practiced Beethoven sonatas, she was accompanied by Hans Kunke. Stefanie is also said to have been musically excellent, but her greatest talent was in the literary field. From 1930 to 1934 Kunke wrote "Political Revues", which were a great success. Political texts were written to well-known melodies, revolutionary poems were set to music. The demand for these programs was so high that the local wall group was no longer able to perform all the desired performances in Lower Austria . Rehearsals with members of other local groups became necessary.

After the February fights in 1934 and the prohibition of all social democratic organizations by the Dollfuss dictatorship , Hans and Stefanie were elected to the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Socialist Youth , and they married on September 28, 1934. The couple moved into an apartment in the 7th district, Neubau , at Zieglergasse 46. From 1931, his wife worked as a junior teacher in three different districts. The young couple was arrested by the state police on January 9, 1936 for spreading socialist literature and sentenced to prison sentences on July 8, 1936 - Stefanie to seven months, Hans to 18 months. However, due to the amnesty law, the couple were released.

Two months after Austria's "annexation" to the National Socialist German Reich , on May 20, 1938, the couple was arrested again for their work for the Revolutionary Socialists and sent to concentration camps without a court judgment . Stefanie Kunke was initially taken to the Rossauer Lände police prison , in July 1938 to the women's concentration camp in Lichtenburg in Thuringia for almost a year and from May 1939 to the women's concentration camp in Ravensbrück for more than three years .

Hans Kunke came from Vienna to the Dachau concentration camp on June 17, 1938 and from there to the Buchenwald concentration camp . “According to eyewitness reports, he was very tortured there. He had to haul stones and could no longer do so, he was no longer physically able to do so. ”He is said to have walked towards the barbed wire on October 30 or 31, 1940, knowing that the SS would shoot every prisoner who walks in that direction. Hans Kunke was shot, cremated and his urn was buried in the family grave in the Hietzingen cemetery (group 28, number 15).

In the spring of 1942 Stefanie Kunke was deported to Auschwitz . There are divergent statements about the cause of death, ranging from typhoid to death by being killed. She was cremated in Auschwitz and her aunt's ashes were given to her for a fee. Her urn was buried next to her husband's on March 30, 1943.

Commemoration

Kunkegasse Vienna Version 2.JPG

A memorial stone and a street named after him and his wife, Kunkegasse in the 23rd district, Liesing , part of the Wall , commemorate the resistance fighter against the Nazi regime:

  • On May 19, 1954, Mackgasse , a side street of Maurer Langen Gasse , where Stefanie Kunke grew up, was renamed after Hans and Stefanie Kunke by resolution of the municipal council committee for culture.
  • In front of the house at Kroisberggasse 8, the Stones of Remembrance Initiative in Liesing laid a memorial stone for Hans, his mother Cäcilie and his sister Herta Gertrude Kunke . A memorial stone was also laid for his wife in front of her former residence at 47 Maurer Langen Gasse. Kunke's name and that of four of his relatives can also be found in the list of Liesinger victims of National Socialism 1938–1945 .

The grave of Hans and Stefanie Kunke in the Hietzingen cemetery has been rededicated as a grave of honor.

Sources and literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Both for the date of birth (December 6 or 12, 1906) and for the date of death (October 30 or 31, 1940) there are divergent information. The most credible or most frequent statements were used.
  2. ↑ a b Heinz Böhm: Kunke family , accessed on June 6, 2015
  3. ↑ The dates of the arrest also differ, here between May 15 and 20, 1938.
  4. ↑ Kunkegasse in Vienna History Wiki of the city of Vienna
  5. ^ Peter Autengruber : Lexicon of Viennese street names. Meaning, origin, background information, previous designation (s). Vienna Pichler-Verlag, 9th edition 2014
  6. ↑ Liesingen Victims of National Socialism 1938 - 1945 ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed May 31, 2015  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.steine23.at
  7. ^ Vienna Tourist Guide: Hans and Stefanie Kunke, victims of fascism , accessed on May 31, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Kunke, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian insurance officer and resistance fighter against National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH October 30, 1940
Place of death Buchenwald concentration camp