Hermann Kinkele

Hermann Kinkele (* 6. May 1892 in Rexingen ; † 5. December 1956 in Isny ) was mayor in Rexingen , Eisenharz and Isny. As a Catholic and pacifist , he was able to save two Jewish women during the Nazi era.

Live and act

As the son of the mayor (mayor) of Rexingen was born Hermann Kinkele in Rexingen 1892 and grew up in a traditional Catholic family. There was a lively Jewish community in Rexingen . After his one year military service, he completed short apprenticeships in various administrations. He served on the Western and Eastern Fronts in World War I and was released in 1917 due to a serious wound. In 1919 he became mayor in Rexingen, where he then joined the German Peace Society and, in friendship with the Jews, publicly sided with them against the emerging National Socialism . From 1930 he led meetings and training courses as a functionary. This commitment to the Jews led to the seizure of power of the Nazi party in 1933 to the fact that he was dismissed as an unwanted official on June 4 1,933th

In iron resin

In November 1933 he was transferred to Eisenharz because of his friendship with Jews. There he got to know the local group leader Carl Wunderlich, the owner of the dairy business, who was supposed to supervise him. But both agreed that they wanted to prevent the worst. At the urging of Carl Wunderlich, he finally joined the NSDAP in 1937. Kinkele repeatedly advocated preserving Christian traditions against the influences of the NSDAP, which wanted to make them secular and prevent them. As the first director of the Eisenharz music band since 1935, he was able to successfully assert himself against being integrated into the National Socialist Folk Musicians Association.

The rescue of Elise Helmes

He was transferred to Düsseldorf in the summer of 1943 due to air damage. There he met again with the couple Elise and Hans Helmes, who had met him a year earlier in Eisenharz. Elise Helmes was Jewish . Her “ Aryan ” husband managed to prevent her from having to wear a yellow Star of David. One of her brothers was arrested in 1942 and has since been considered missing. The other brother had been arrested during the Catholic trials in 1936 and had been imprisoned in Buchenwald concentration camp since 1938 . Hermann Kinkele knew about the couple's fears. So Elise Helmes was able to come to Eisenharz with her husband in May 1943. Elise was registered as an evacueee there and Kinkele found a small apartment for her in the delivery house of B. Harlacher's farm. Out of caution, she hardly dared leave the house.

When Elise fell ill with pneumonia in the fall , she took care of Toni, Mrs. Kinkeles. It was Carl Wunderlich who helped Elise send her brother a grocery package in the concentration camp. She was able to meet her brother again in Eisenharz after his liberation.

The Jewish soprano Elisabeth Klepner

Elisabeth Klepner had great success as an opera singer at the Berlin State Opera, in Aachen, Stuttgart and in the USA. Her “Aryan” husband had divorced her in 1938. To escape deportation , she fled to Düsseldorf. She was also able to take Kinkele with the train to Eisenharz, where she initially spent the night in his house. In the nearby hamlet of Sandraz, he was able to accommodate her in the H. Huber farmhouse under the name Elisabeth Koch, where she helped out as a farm worker.

In the summer of 1944, however, she was tracked down by the Gestapo . Wunderlich informed Kinkele, who had Elisabeth Klepner brought to his brother-in-law Gustav Schmid at the Bromerhof near Eisenharz at night. There in the guesthouse she lived tucked away in a secluded room under the attic. During the last weeks of the war, members of the Volkssturm , members of the Vichy government and German deserters lived next door . So she didn't leave her room until after nightfall.

When the French troops occupied the Allgäu at the end of April and made arrests, she revealed herself.

End of war

Mayor Kinkele had anti-tank barriers removed the night before French troops marched into Eisenharz. On April 28, he faced the French in a black suit and a white sheet to indicate the surrender without a fight . Eisenharz was spared from warlike events.

Kinkele had to answer to the French occupation authorities for his behavior during the Nazi era . With their testimony, the rescued were able to save him from arrest and punishment.

From 1946 to 1950 Kinkele was still mayor of Isny, where he died on December 5, 1956. At his grave there was no mention of his standing up for the persecuted.

literature

• Elischewa German: Hermann Kinkele - a friend and helper in dark times . In: Oberland , Ravensburg, 2016, issue 1, pp. 34–40.
• Claudia Schöwe: Hermann Kinkele, the savior of the Jews, a protector in dark times . In: Heimat Allgäu , Zeitschrift für Heimatpflege, Kempten 2016, No. 1, pp. 36–38.

Web links

• Pictures of Hermann Kinkele
• Hermann Kinkele - A friend and helper in dark times . PDF by Elischewa German

Individual proof

1. ^ Protocol of the Eisenharz band