Joachim Franke (resistance fighter)

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Joachim Franke (born January 8, 1905 , † August 18, 1942 in Berlin-Plötzensee ) was a German engineer who actively fought against National Socialism as a resistance fighter in the group around Herbert Baum .

Life

He worked in the Oberspree cable works in Berlin , where he belonged to an illegal group of resistance fighters who, through sabotage, made war-essential products unusable. He was significantly involved in planning the attack on the exhibition The Soviet Paradise , among other things, the ignition charges were made in his apartment. Together with Herbert Baum and Werner Steinbrink , he set the incendiary device on May 18, but it caused only minor damage. He was then arrested along with other group members, sentenced to death on July 16, and executed on August 18, 1942 in Plötzensee prison. Suspicions that Franke betrayed the group to the Gestapo were not confirmed. They are mainly based on the fact that his wife Erika Franke was acquitted in the later trial.

In the judgment of the People's Court of December 10, 1942 “against Heinz Rotholz and others” it says: “... belonged to two illegally connected communist groups ... One group was under the leadership of a certain Franke, the leader of the other group who belonged exclusively to Jews, was the Jew Baum; both were involved in the attack; ... "

Memorial stone

The Berlin memorial stone in the Lustgarten

Today, a memorial stone in Berlin dedicated to the Baum group also commemorates Joachim Franke. This memorial stone, designed by the sculptor Jürgen Raue, was erected in 1981 on behalf of the magistrate of East Berlin without any further information about the resistance action in the Lustgarten.

literature

  • Peter Steinbach , Johannes Tuchel , Ursula Adam: Lexicon of Resistance 1933–1945 . Beck Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-406-43861-X , p. 59 .
  • Wilfried Löhken: Jews in the Resistance . Ed .: Werner Vathke. Edition Henrich Duck, 1993, ISBN 3-89468-068-7 .
  • Hans-Rainer Sandvoss : The “other” capital of the Reich: Resistance from the workers' movement in Berlin from 1933 to 1945 . Lukas-Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-936872-94-1 .
  • Regina Scheer : In the shadow of the stars. A Jewish resistance group . Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-351-02581-5 .
  • Margot Pikarski: Youth in the Berlin Resistance. Herbert Baum and comrade in arms. Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1978

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from Hans-Rainer Sandvoss : The “other” capital of the Reich: Resistance from the workers' movement in Berlin from 1933 to 1945 . Lukas-Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-936872-94-1 , p. 496 .
  2. ↑ Resistance group around Herbert Baum on "memorial plaques in Berlin": "This memorial stone designed by the sculptor Jürgen Raue was erected in 1981 on behalf of the magistrate of Berlin (East) without any further information about the resistance action in the Lustgarten."
personal data
SURNAME Franke, Joachim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Francke, Joachim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1905
DATE OF DEATH August 18, 1942
Place of death Berlin-Plötzensee