Josef Planke

Josef Planke (born April 20, 1877 in Sirnach , † May 5, 1945 in Hengersberg ) was a German forest master and a victim of National Socialism .

Life

Josef Planke first grew up in Sirnach, Canton Thurgau , as the illegitimate son of a Jesuit father . However, his mother married a wine merchant who gave the boy his name. The family moved to Cologne, later to Innsbruck and Stuttgart. After his father's death, he attended elementary school and the new grammar school in Regensburg, where he graduated from high school in 1896 . He then studied forestry , initially at the Central Forestry School in Aschaffenburg . There he became a member of the Corps Hercynia Aschaffenburg . He was severely injured in a scale length and was therefore not suitable for military service. He continued his studies from 1898 at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . He then entered the forestry service and in 1926 became head forester and head of office in Pressath ( Upper Palatinate ). After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists in 1933, he refused to raise the swastika flag on the forestry office to Gauleiter Hans Schemm , whom he dubbed "Mr. Teacher, from whom he would not be told" in a letter . He demanded an official order required by the law of the time. This came a few days later. Plank turning in was not enough. He was immediately transferred to the Markt Bibart forestry office in the southern Steigerwald .

Just two months later, however, he was allowed to move to the Seestetten Forestry Office . Although he continued to be viewed critically, he was able to live there largely undisturbed until 1941. In 1941 he was again targeted by the National Socialists when he uttered the following sentence during a radio broadcast of a Hitler speech in a bar: "Do it away, the G'lump, she shouldn't talk so much". He tried to counter the subsequent rumors in a clarifying conversation with the Passau district manager Max Moosbauer . Then the political persecution of Planke began, first through research activities, then through complaints and denunciation. Among other things, Planke is said to have interpreted newspaper waste commented on as toilet paper, only shown the Hitler salute to superiors, expressed disrespect for the government and the Wehrmacht , and listened to enemy broadcasters.

On March 8, 1944, Planke's apartment and his official residence were searched by the Gestapo . A picture of Hermann Göring was found , under which it was written that he was recognizable as a “ half-Jew ”. A radio that was tuned to a Swiss station was also found. Planke was finally arrested and transferred to Passau. He admitted some offenses but strongly disagreed with others. He remained imprisoned in Passau until November 20, when he was taken to Würzburg. He was tried there on December 14, 1944. Hans Carossa intervened in his case and described him in a letter as a "physically disturbed, disturbing old man". The judge followed this document and requested a psychiatric report. This saved Josef Planke's life. He was admitted to a psychiatric clinic at the University of Würzburg . After the heavy bombing raid on Würzburg on March 16, 1945 , he was evacuated and transferred to the Straubing prison. On April 21, 1945, his arrest warrant was overturned and Planke was released. In the chaos of war in the last days of the Third Reich, he walked to his daughter in Hengersberg, 45 kilometers away.

He only survived the Nazi Reich by four days. On May 5, 1945 he died of an infection of unknown cause.

After his death

On July 20, 1946, Planke was rehabilitated by Oberlandforstmeister Wilhelm Mantel and counted “among the politically persecuted and (...) victims of the National Socialist tyranny”. Hans Carossa used Planke's case in his book Uneven Worlds as evidence of how he helped people in the “Third Reich” and tried to justify his actions as President of the National Socialist European Writers' Association .

literature

• Maximillian Waldherr: The persecution of the forester Josef Planke in the Third Reich. In: Corps students in the resistance against Hitler, edited by Sebastian Sigler, Duncker & Humblot Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-428-14319-1 , pp. 329–341.

Web links

• S. Michael Westerholz: SA home, reception camp and psychiatry on the Leeb estate in Mainkofen. 2011 digitized at hagalil .com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Maximillian Waldherr: The persecution of the chief forest master Josef Planke in the Third Reich. In: Corps students in the resistance against Hitler. Edited by Sebastian Sigler, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2014, p. 331.
2. ↑ Maximillian Waldherr: The persecution of the chief forest master Josef Planke in the Third Reich. Berlin 2014. p. 332
3. ^ Maximillian Waldherr: The persecution of the chief forest master Josef Planke in the Third Reich Berlin 2014. P. 329.
4. ↑ Maximillian Waldherr: The persecution of the chief forest master Josef Planke in the Third Reich Berlin 2014, p. 341