Heinrich Arenz

Heinrich Arenz (born September 3, 1901 in Cologne , † September 4, 1943 in Bonn ) was a German tram driver, KPD politician and city councilor of Cologne.

Life and activity

Memorial plaque in the Spanish building for the Cologne city councilors who were victims of the National Socialist regime

Arenz, who earned his living as a tram driver, belonged politically to the Communist Party of Germany . In the city council election of March 12, 1933, Arenz was elected to the Cologne city council and could no longer take up his mandate because he was prevented from doing so by the National Socialist rulers. Around 1934 Arenz fled to Brussels , where he worked underground in the foreign leadership of the KPD. In Germany he was expatriated and the expatriation was announced publicly in the Reichsanzeiger .

The National Socialist police, who mistakenly suspected Arenz to be in Great Britain , declared him an enemy of the state and in the spring of 1940 put him on the special wanted list GB , a list of particularly wanted persons who in the event of a successful invasion and occupation of Great Britain by the Wehrmacht automatically and primarily from SS Sonderkommandos should be arrested. In the early stages of World War II , Arenz was interned in France. In 1943 he was arrested and transferred to Bonn prison . Here he committed suicide on September 4, 1943.

Stumbling block for Heinrich Arenz, Luxemburger Straße 222

Today a memorial plaque next to the meeting room in the Spanish building of the Cologne city hall commemorates Arenz and ten other Cologne city councilors who perished during the Nazi regime. In addition, a stumbling block was laid in front of the residential building at Luxemburger Strasse 222 in Cologne-Sülz , pointing to Arenz's fate.

Individual evidence

↑ Life data according to DY 55: Overview of the holdings "Association of persecuted people of the Nazi regime" in the Federal Archives
↑ Michael Hepp / Hans Georg Lehmann: The expatriation of German citizens 1933-45 according to the lists published in the Reichsanzeiger , 1985, p. 171.
^ Entry on Heinrich Arenz on the special wanted list GB (reproduction of the list on the website of the Imperial War Museum in London)
↑ Cologne KPD city council, killed in the fight against the Nazi regime .
^ NS Documentation Center (Historical Archive of the City of Cologne): The brown Cologne: a city guide through the city center during the Nazi era . Emons, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-89705-141-9 , pp. 10 .

personal data
SURNAME	Arenz, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German tram driver and politician (KPD)
DATE OF BIRTH	September 3, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cologne
DATE OF DEATH	September 4, 1943
Place of death	Bonn

[1] Life data according to DY 55: Overview of the holdings "Association of persecuted people of the Nazi regime" in the Federal Archives

[2] Michael Hepp / Hans Georg Lehmann: The expatriation of German citizens 1933-45 according to the lists published in the Reichsanzeiger , 1985, p. 171.

[3] Entry on Heinrich Arenz on the special wanted list GB (reproduction of the list on the website of the Imperial War Museum in London)

[4] Cologne KPD city council, killed in the fight against the Nazi regime .

[5] NS Documentation Center (Historical Archive of the City of Cologne): The brown Cologne: a city guide through the city center during the Nazi era . Emons, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-89705-141-9 , pp. 10 .