Heinrich Fehrentz
Heinrich Hermann Fehrentz ( June 26, 1908 in Spiesen - December 22, 1943 in Stuttgart ) was a German driver who was executed for criticizing the Nazi regime and listening to so-called enemy broadcasters.
Life
Fehrentz came from a miner's family in Saarland , near the French border, had nine siblings and had to work in a coal mine at the age of 14. He broke off the locksmith apprenticeship in Saarbrücken for economic reasons. He then moved through Alsace and Luxembourg as a migrant worker , hiring himself out as a farmhand and building fitter. At the end of the 1920s he moved to his brother Hans in Heidelberg , where he worked as a shoemaker and roller shutter fitter. He became a member of the Red Sport , where he was particularly active as a wrestler. After a motorcycle accident, he found a job as a driver and locksmith at the Seppich haulage company. In 1938 he married Gertrud geb. Blum. The couple moved to Dreikönigstrasse and had two children.
After the defeat of Stalingrad , the course of the Nazi regime tightened. Even the slightest sign of resistance was punished with draconian punishment. Fehrentz came into contact with the KPD through his brother Klaus, who was a KPD city councilor in the citizens' committee, but did not join the party. He was suspected of communist activities several times and was arrested once. A group of friends met in the Zum Neckarstaden restaurant at Lauerstrasse 9, who were critical of the regime. You listened to foreign stations and while bowling you exchanged news that you had heard from friends or on the radio. Fehrentz contradicted the Nazi propaganda and the enemy image of the Russian subhuman. The district was betrayed to the Gestapo by a spy . Seven people were arrested on February 10, 1943, including Heinrich Fehrentz, and tried by the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court on October 26, 1943 . Six of them were sentenced to long imprisonment sentences for “listening to foreign broadcasters, distributing anti-subversive news from such broadcasters, preparing for high treason and degrading military strength ”, while Heinrich Fehrentz was sentenced to death. Public prosecutor Heinrich Krebs , who was a judge at the Federal Social Court after the war , characterized him as a dangerous public enemy and leader of the group. Emilie Fehrentz remembers: “And then I was present. They already had everything ready and done. You could say they read the verdict directly. It was like a show trial. "
On December 22, 1943, Fehrentz was executed in Stuttgart. His body was not released for burial, but was transferred to the anatomy department of Heidelberg University without the knowledge of the relatives. Around 1950, body parts of Fehrentz and other executed persons were discovered there by a taxidermist and finally buried in a grave of honor for executed resistance fighters at the Bergfriedhof Heidelberg .
Commemoration
- In 1950, an honorary grave for executed resistance fighters against National Socialism was laid in the Heidelberg Bergfriedhof . His name is engraved there.
- In 1974 Mühlstrasse in Bergheim was renamed Fehrentzstrasse.
- On October 12, 2010, Gunter Demnig laid a stumbling block in front of his last residence at Dreikönigstraße 15.
- In March 2014 the street sign was supplemented with a legend in memory of Heinrich Fehrentz.
literature
- Jürgen C. Heß , Hartmut Lehmann , Volker Sellin (eds.), In connection with Detlef Junker and Eike Wolgast : Heidelberg 1945. Transatlantic historical studies, volume 5. Franz Steiner Verlag Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-515-06880-5 , p 248.
- Ulrike Puvogel, Martin Stankowski : Memorials for the Victims of National Socialism. Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein (= memorials to the victims of National Socialism. Volume 1). With the assistance of Ursula Graf. 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Federal Agency for Political Education , Bonn 1995, ISBN 3-89331-208-0 , p. 45; PDF online
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Heinrich Fehrentz (1908-1943) , website initiative Heidelberger stumbling blocks
- ↑ a b c In memory of Heinrich Fehrentz (1908-1943) , press release City of Heidelberg on die-stadtredaktion.de , March 21, 2014, accessed on August 20, 2017
- ↑ Honor for Heinrich Fehrentz , VVN / BdA District Association Heidelberg, July 17, 2014
- ↑ Dieter Fehrentz: Persecution and Resistance in Heidelberg 1933-1945 , Association of those persecuted by the Nazi regime - Association of Antifascists (VVN / BdA), July 12, 2009, PDF, p. 5
- ↑ Norbert Podewin (Ed.): Braunbuch. War and Nazi criminals in the Federal Republic and in Berlin (West). Reprint of the 1968 edition (3rd edition). Edition Ost, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-360-01033-7 , p. 133 f.
- ↑ Contemporary witnesses - Heinrich Fehrentz an anti-fascist , video report with contemporary witness Emilie Fehrenz on YouTube
- ↑ Honor for Heinrich Fehrentz , VVN / BdA, Heidelberg District Association, July 17, 2014
- ↑ Eckard Bund: University in National Socialism - Preparations from Nazi Victims in the Anatomical Institute - Some Backgrounds. Interview with contemporary witness Sophie Berlinghof, in: Schlagloch - Heidelberger Student (inn) en Zeitung , 3rd year, no. 8, May 1989, p. 7; on-line
- ↑ Memorial for the Victims of National Socialism , website Via Monumentum - Denkmalpflege Heidelberger Friedhöfe e. V.
- ↑ a b Against forgetting: Remembrance of Heinrich Fehrentz (1908-1943) , in: Stadtblatt, Official Gazette of the City of Heidelberg , Issue No. 14, April 2, 2014, p. 4
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fehrentz, Heinrich |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fehrentz, Heinrich Hermann (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German resistance fighters against National Socialism |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 26, 1908 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Spiesen |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 22, 1943 |
| Place of death | Stuttgart |