Heinz Strelow

Heinz Strelow (born July 15, 1915 in Hamburg , † May 13, 1943 in Berlin-Plötzensee ) was a German journalist , non-commissioned officer and resistance fighter .

Life

Heinz Strelow grew up in Hamburg and attended the Lichtwark School there . Heinz Strelow's parents were communists from Bremen and Hamburg, so he became a member of the KJVD at an early age . In October 1935 he was taken into “ protective custody ” for a few weeks in Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel . After his release, he continued his resistance activity in the workers' youth movement and organized a Hamburg group that also had contacts with Klaus Bücking and Gustav Böhrnsen in Bremen . This also made contact with the instructor for the North Section of the KPD, Conrad Blenkle .

In 1940 he did his military service in Hamburg. At the end of 1941 he met Cato Bontjes van Beek . Together they moved into an apartment on Kaiserdamm in Berlin-Charlottenburg . Heinz Strelow participated for a while in the resistance activities of Cato Bontjes van Beek in one of the groups of the Red Orchestra . Together they printed and distributed illegal pamphlets and leaflets calling for struggle and resistance against the National Socialists. The actionist behavior of the group around Harro Schulze-Boysen contradicted his clear ideas about the organizational necessities of illegal work, which he had won over the years. In August 1942 he convinced Cato Bontjes van Beek that it would be better to separate from the group around the two Schulze-Boysens. At this point, however, Harro Schulze-Boysen was already under observation by a special command from the Gestapo , which then tracked down the two of them. On September 20, 1942, Cato Bontjes van Beek was arrested together with her father, and at the beginning of October 1942, Heinz Strelow as well. On January 14, 1943, a hearing of the 2nd Senate of the Reich Court Martial took place on Witzlebenstrasse in Berlin-Charlottenburg , at which the defendants Heinz Strelow , Cato Bontjes van Beek, Friedrich Rehmer and Werner Krauss only submitted the indictment shortly before the hearing, and that too only got to see extracts. On January 18, 1943, the four were sentenced to death for " favoring the enemy " . The judgment against Heinz Strelow, which is not legally binding by today's standards, was carried out on May 13, 1943 in the Plötzensee prison by beheading .

Honors

• In the Heinrich-Hertz-Schule in Hamburg-Nord there is a memorial plaque in memory of Heinz Strelow

literature

• Hermann Vinke : Cato Bontjes van Beek. "I did not beg for my life". A portrait. Zurich, Hamburg 2003: Arche. ISBN 3-7160-2313-2
• Gert Rosiejka: The Red Chapel. "Treason" as an anti-fascist resistance. - With an introduction by Heinrich Scheel . Results publisher: Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-925622-16-0
• Mietje Bontjes van Beek : Burn these letters! Publisher Atelier im Bauernhaus: Fischerhude 1998
• Katja Behrens (Ed.): "Live well and happily." Farewell letters from five centuries. With an essay by the editor.
• Jörg Wollenberg : Antifascist Resistance in Bremen 1933–1945 (University Print ) Bremen 1981
• Heinrich-Wilhelm Wörmann: Resistance in Charlottenburg ; Volume 5 of the series of publications by the German Resistance Memorial Center , Berlin 1998

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Wolfgang Benz (ed.) And Walter H. Pehle (ed.): Lexicon of German Resistance . S. Fischer Verlag Frankfurt 1994; ISBN 3-10-005702-3 ; P. 400
2. ↑ Raimund Gaebelein: "Rote Kapelle" in Bremen; in BAF 09/2004 page 2-4. as pdf  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Review by Eckhard Fürlus
4. ↑ contains Heinz Strelow's farewell letter to his mother  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• Networks of Resistance ( German Resistance Memorial Center )