John Kienow

Jonnie (John) Hans Friedrich Kienow (born September 11, 1906 in Hamburg ; † September 26, 1976 there ) was a German employee and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Live and act

Jonni Kienow, who later called himself John, was the son of Peter Friedrich Kienow and his wife Maria Sophia Luise, née Steinhagen. His father, who first went to sea, worked as an officer in the police of the Hamburg port . Jonni Kienow attended elementary school and began commercial training at Rhederei AG from 1896 in Hamburg in 1921 , which he completed in 1924. Until 1935 he worked for several ship brokers and shipping companies as well as in export.

Since 1925 Kienow was a party member of the SPD , for which he was committed as a delegate, cashier and from 1928 as district leader for the Barmbek-Süd district . Since 1925 he was also a member of the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold . As a group leader, he led the protection formation 11 and from the beginning of 1933 the protection formation in Fuhlsbüttel . After the seizure of power by the National Socialists Kienow engaged in the resistance movement of the Social Democrats. Until the beginning of 1934 he took part in the organizational management of the banned SPD in Fuhlsbüttel, Ohlsdorf , Alsterdorf , Winterhude and Eppendorf . In this position he worked closely with Emil Auhagen, who in turn was part of the leadership of the SPD in Hamburg led by Walter Schmedemann .

Walter Schmedemann was arrested in November 1934. Emil Auhagen had fled to Denmark before . Auhagen and Emil Hansen, who represented the SPD leadership in exile in Copenhagen , asked Kienow to come to Copenhagen. From here, Kienow was supposed to lead the illegal SPD in Hamburg and organize contacts with the Danish capital and other cities in northern Germany. Kienow then visited Denmark several times and communicated with people in Kiel , Rendsburg , Flensburg , Lübeck , Stettin , Braunschweig , Hanover and other cities. In mid-1935, the Gestapo discovered the resistance group and imprisoned all leading persons. John Kienow was arrested on August 30th in his apartment at Bilser Strasse 4 E in Alsterdorf .

The prosecutors were able to prove that Kienow had read an illegal newspaper twice. He also gave his address once so that it could be used for resistance purposes. However, the prosecutors were unable to prove all of the activities in the resistance. After abuse and four weeks of tied solitary confinement in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp , the Hamburg Higher Regional Court decided to detain Kienow for four years in a prison in Bremen-Oslebshausen . After he was released, Kienow resumed loose contact with Walter Schmedemann and other people in the resistance. From 1940 to 1952 Kienow was employed by Reichhold Chemie AG and from 1954 worked as a clerk at the Wandsbek district court .

John Kienow was married to Herta Junius for the second time since 1940, with whom he had a daughter since 1941.

literature

• Holger Martens : Kienow, John . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 4 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0229-7 , pp. 192-193 .