Jakob Kraus (resistance fighter)

Jakob Balthasar Kraus (born December 25, 1904 in Ingolstadt ; † January 27, 1943 in Stuttgart ) was a German resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

After completing his apprenticeship as a baker, Jakob Kraus was unable to find a job in the profession he had learned and therefore worked in various other professions. In 1923 he became a member of the Communist Youth Association , in 1930 he joined the KPD . In the same year he moved to Stuttgart-Feuerbach and married Eva Wringe. The couple lived at Klagenfurter Strasse 11. Jakob Kraus worked as a grinder in the Thürrauch metal factory in Feuerbach. From December 1931 he was a member of the Feuerbach municipal council until the KPD was banned in 1933.

Jakob Kraus was involved in actions against the National Socialists at an early stage. This included distributing leaflets and sticking up posters, as well as organizing an unauthorized street parade and gathering. Kraus was also involved in a prisoner liberation. The Secret State Police (Gestapo) arrested Jakob Kraus in October 1933 for distributing illegal documents imported from Switzerland . From November 8, 1933, he was in prison at the Stuttgart District Court . After his conviction in July 1934, Kraus was taken to the Ludwigsburg prison . After his transfer to Bruchsal prison in February 1939, he was considered incurably insane. Therefore, he came to the Heidelberg psychiatric clinic in August 1939 . He was released home in December of that year. Jakob Kraus returned to Feuerbach, worked again at Thürrauch and continued to try to fight against National Socialism. He made himself available as a distribution station for illegal writings. After his second arrest by the Gestapo, he was imprisoned in the police prison and sentenced for preparation for high treason. From September 1942 to January 1943 he was in the police prison on Büchsenstrasse . There he was subjected to severe abuse. He was probably killed by the Gestapo in Gregor-Schmid-Straße, which later became the New Bridge in Stuttgart. His body was cremated and buried in an urn grave in the Prague cemetery; later the urn was transferred to Ingolstadt.

Jakob Kraus' widow was allowed to pick up her husband's clothes at the Prague cemetery. According to her statement, they were "soaked through and through with blood and completely torn," suggesting that their husband had died violently.

Honors

In 1947 a memorial for the victims of fascism was erected in the Feuerbach cemetery , on which the name Jakob Kraus is also engraved. In the Feuerbach residential area of ​​Walpenreute, a street was named after him. In front of the house at Klagenfurter Straße 11 there has been a stumbling stone since 2006 that reminds of Jakob Kraus.

Web links

• biography

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stolpersteine ​​Stuttgart