Hermann Koepcke

Herrmann Ludwig Friedrich Heinrich Bernhard Köpcke (born November 13, 1903 in Brüel , † September 28, 1978 in Wismar ) was a German resistance fighter against National Socialism . Hans Köpcke was his brother.

Life

Hermann Köpcke grew up as the son of a bricklayer in Brüel and attended the local elementary school. He then followed in his father's footsteps and learned the mason trade at a trade school . In 1922 he went on a hike . He was organized in the building trade federation and joined the SPD in 1922, of which he belonged with interruptions until the ban in 1933. He was also a member of the Reich Banner . In the 1920s, Köpcke traveled all over Germany and supported numerous organizations, including the SAJ and the Young Socialists .

In 1933 he became a member of the Red Strike Troop and also initiated his younger brother Hans Köpcke into the work. He distributed the illegal material of the Red Strike Troop, as well as other socialist and communist underground newspapers such as Neue Vorwärts and Die Rote Fahne .

Köpcke was arrested on March 8, 1934 together with his liaison man Alfred Böse in Berlin. On June 29, 1934, the Berlin Superior Court sentenced him to one year in prison, which he served in Berlin-Tegel . After he was released, he was under police supervision, but that did not prevent him from distributing leaflets and organizing reading groups.

In the spring of 1943 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht and served in the railway battalion. At the beginning of 1945 he deserted and became a prisoner of war in Yugoslavia. As an anti-fascist, he was treated as a preferred prisoner. He stayed in Yugoslavia for a year after the end of the war. He then returned to Brüel, where he joined the SED . In the GDR he was also the head of the FDJ . He also belonged to the FDGB and the Society for German-Soviet Friendship .

He then became the headmaster of a district party school of the SED. There he is said to have harassed two girls. The incidents were put on record, but did not harm his career. He then worked as district secretary of the National Front .

In 1958 he was recognized by the GDR as a fighter against fascism and one year later he received the GDR's Medal of Merit .

literature

• Dennis Egginger-Gonzalez: The Red Shock Squad. An early left-wing socialist resistance group against National Socialism . Lukas Verlag, 2018, ISBN 978-3-86732-274-4 , pp. 442 f .

Web links

• Literature about Hermann Köpcke in the state bibliography MV