Horst Menzel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Horst Menzel (born July 26, 1912 in Chemnitz , † July 29, 1938 near Gandesa ) was a communist and volunteer fighter on the side of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War .

Life

Horst Menzel was born into a working-class family in Chemnitz in 1912. His parents were already involved in the KPD . First he learned a trade.

Menzel joined the Communist Youth Association of Germany in 1928 . Colored by the GDR is z. B. in Karl-Marx-Städter Blick recorded that he “stood up for the legitimate interests of the working class during a demonstration” and was injured by “fascist hooligans”. Even after the National Socialists came to power, he organized illegal meetings for the KJVD, participated in the dissemination of communist ideas and later acted as a liaison abroad. This ultimately led to his being interned in the Döbeln labor camp for a short time . In 1934 Menzel joined the KPD. For fear of being arrested again, Menzel fled to the Saar region and a short time later to France .

Shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he joined the International Brigades in the "Edgar André" battalion in the XI in 1936 . Brigade on. He was badly wounded and was taken to the hospital in the southern Spanish city of Murcia . In July 1938 Menzel returned to the interbrigadists and took part in the Battle of the Ebro . He crossed the Ebro with his battalion on July 25, 1938 and was fatally wounded by a bullet in Gandesa, Spain, on July 29. The obituary of the International Brigades says: “Horst, you were our role model in the fight against German and international fascism. Your fight is our fight, which we will continue until the victorious end. "

Act

Due to his origins in a simple working class environment and his commitment as a communist, Horst Menzel was idealized as a “fighter for Spain and Germany's freedom” during the GDR era, especially in the Chemnitz area. A high school and a street in the Chemnitz district of Kaßberg were named after him.

literature

  • AL Nothnagle: Building the East German myth: historical mythology and youth propaganda in the German Democratic Republic, 1945–1989. University of Michigan Press 1999, ISBN 0-472-10946-4 .
  • From the life of revolutionary fighters: a contribution to the history of the labor movement in Chemnitz / Karl-Marx-Stadt. Volume 3, Karl-Marx-Stadt 1988.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The details of the exact occupation differ. So, depending on the source, he was a bricklayer or a carpenter.
  2. ↑ a b Horst Menzel - Fighter for Spain and Germany's freedom. In: Karl-Marx-Städter Blick. Karl-Marx-Stadt 1970, p. 7.
  3. ↑ From the life of revolutionary fighters: a contribution to the history of the workers' movement in Chemnitz / Karl-Marx-Stadt . Volume 3, Karl-Marx-Stadt 1988.
  4. ^ E. Greiser: Chemnitz historical schools. Phönix, Chemnitz 1997, OCLC 313093397 .
personal data
SURNAME Menzel, Horst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German communist, interbrigadist
DATE OF BIRTH July 26, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Chemnitz
DATE OF DEATH July 29, 1938
Place of death Gandesa