Heinz Droßel
Heinz Droßel , also Heinz Drossel (born September 21, 1916 in Berlin ; † April 28, 2008 in Waldkirch ) was first lieutenant in the German Wehrmacht during World War II . He became a judge after the war and was named Righteous Among the Nations .
Life
In November 1939, one day after the state examination in law , Heinz Droßel was drafted into service in the Wehrmacht. His attempt to emigrate a year earlier had failed. In 1940 he took part in the campaign in the West and from 1941 to 1945 in the German-Soviet War . In the summer of 1941, his unit captured a Soviet officer. Instead of taking him to the company further back, where he would have been executed according to the commissioner's order, which was contrary to international law , Droßel let him run secretly near the Soviet troops.
On home leave in 1942, Droßel helped a Jewish woman in Berlin who, initially terrified by her uniform, wanted to flee and jump off a bridge. He calmed the woman down, let her rest at home and also gave her money to help her find a place to hide. Shortly after the end of the war, he met her again by chance and they married.
A home leave in February 1945 brought him to live with his parents in Senzig . A Jewish family had found shelter there for years under the code name "Hesse". When a neighbor was about to betray the family, they asked the Droßel family for help. Heinz Droßel gave the family the key to his Berlin apartment, gave them a pistol and destroyed treasonous documents.
On May 4, 1945, four days before the end of the war, Heinz Droßel refused to send his unit on a suicide squad. He was therefore sentenced to death . The unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht saved his life.
In the post-war period after the Second World War in Germany , Heinz Droßel completed his legal training. He became a judge and ended his career as President of the Freiburg Social Court . He lived in Simonswald until his death . He was hospitalized on April 27, 2008, where he died of severe pneumonia that night .
Honors
- Righteous among the peoples
- Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon (September 7, 2001)
- University of Michigan Wallenberg Medal (2004)
- Heinz Droßel Education Center in Seelbach (Schutter) (2006, from 2008 community service school)
Works
- The time of the foxes . Waldkircher Verlagsgesellschaft, 2001, ISBN 3-87885-338-6 .
literature
- The savior . Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , January 25, 2006, p. 40.
- Wolfgang Benz: Survival in the Third Reich: Jews in the Underground and their Helpers . Munich: Beck, 2003, ISBN 3-406-51029-9 .
- Tungsten bet (ed.): Rescuer in uniform: leeway in Vernichtungskrieg of the Armed Forces . Frankfurt am Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-596-15221-6 .
- Beate Kosmala and Claudia Schoppmann (eds.): Solidarity and help for Jews during the Nazi era: Survival in the underground . Berlin: Metropol, 2002, ISBN 3-932482-86-7 .
- Katharina Stegelmann: Always stay human. Heinz Drossel. A silent hero 1916 - 2008 . Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-351-02759-9 .
Web links
- Wallenberg Foundation (English)
- Information about Heinz Droßel on the occasion of the Federal President's competition "Heroes: revered - misunderstood - forgotten"
- Sylvia Timm: Lessons for today's life: Memorial ceremony for Heinz Drossel at the grammar school , In: Badische Zeitung , Waldkirch, June 27, 2008
Individual evidence
- ↑ Heinz Droßel: The time of the foxes. Waldkirch 2001, pp. 88 f., 162 f., 256.
- ↑ Heinz Droßel on the website of Yad Vashem (English)
- ↑ List of the bearers of the Federal Order of Merit (Federal President's Office).
- ↑ 2004, Heinz Drossel - Wallenberg Legacy, University of Michigan. In: wallenberg.umich.edu. Retrieved November 1, 2016 .
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Droßel, Heinz |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Drossel, Heinz |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German lawyer, Righteous Among the Nations |
DATE OF BIRTH | September 21, 1916 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin |
DATE OF DEATH | April 28, 2008 |
Place of death | Waldkirch |