Josef Wirmer

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Josef Wirmer
Berlin memorial plaque on the house at Holbeinstrasse 56 in Berlin-Lichterfelde

Josef Wirmer (born March 19, 1901 in Paderborn ; † September 8, 1944 in Berlin-Plötzensee ) was a German lawyer and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Live and act

family

Josef Wirmer came from a Catholic family of teachers, his father Anton Wirmer was a classical philologist and director of the Marianum Warburg high school . He was the second of five siblings, including Ernst Wirmer .

Josef Wirmer was married to Hedwig geb. Preckel and had three children (Johanna, Maria, Anton). In 1955 his daughter Maria married the diplomat Peter Hermes , the son of the resister Andreas Hermes ; from this marriage had six children.

Youth and Studies (1901–1924)

After his graduation with honors from high school this he studied from 1920 in Freiburg and Berlin law . He joined the student associations of the KV . In the summer semester of 1920 he joined the KStV Brisgovia. In the winter semester 1923/24 he was senior of the KStV Guestphalia Berlin and in 1924 in Freiburg co-founder of the KStV Flamberg, which now exists in Bonn as KStV Flamberg Bonn . Wirmer was also a member of the KStV Langemarck-Bonn and later became an honorary philistine at the KStV Semnonia-Berlin.

In a clear demarcation from the monarchist view that still prevails in the fraternity , Wirmer was committed to defending his democratic convictions during his studies. This earned him the nickname "The Red Wirmer". After passing the legal traineeship exam in 1924 and the assessor exam in 1927, he settled in Berlin as a lawyer.

Activity as a lawyer and politician (1924–1944)

There he politically joined the Center Party , to whose left wing he belonged. He campaigned for a grand coalition with the SPD . As an “old man” at KV in the “Cartel Association Council”, among other things, he was responsible for “career counseling”. Since the so-called seizure of power, Josef Wirmer stood in opposition to the National Socialists out of democratic conviction and concern for the rule of law . Because of his dedicated defense of racially persecuted people, he was expelled from the National Socialist Lawyers' Association , the professional association of lawyers, public prosecutors and judges. He refused to conclude the Reich Concordat. Whether he, as some believe, with the then Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII. , tried to intervene personally, cannot be proven with sources.

Activity in the resistance (1936–1944)

Wirmer's design for a flag for Germany from 1944

In 1936 he came into contact with the union resistance circles around Jakob Kaiser . Since 1941 he belonged to the circle around Carl Friedrich Goerdeler . Historical research has meanwhile agreed that through his personal contacts in the resistance he was able to overcome many reservations that traditionally existed between the groups of trade unionists and social democrats, the church circles and the old aristocratic elites. His house was one of the most important meeting places of the conspirators, where, in addition to Kaiser, Leuschner and Habermann , Goerdeler and the Abwehr staff frequented. He supported Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg's assassination plan from the start. Wirmer wrote the only independent design from the ranks of the resistance for a new national symbol: He designed a national flag that included a black, gold-framed cross with a crossbar on a red background, slightly shifted towards the mast, as the new national flag.

Arrest, Trial and Execution (1944)

Memorial for Wirmer and Wilhelm Freiherr von Ketteler in Warburg
Memorial plaque of the martyrs of the Nazi era in the crypt of the Saint Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin-Mitte

After the failed assassination attempt and coup attempt on July 20, 1944 ( personalities of July 20, 1944 ), which Josef Wirmer was supposed to succeed as Reich Justice Minister, he was arrested on August 4. His appearance in the process before the People's Court is documented by protocols and the film secretly shot on Hitler's orders. Wirmer gave u. a. as a reason for joining the resistance movement to:

"I am [...] deeply religious and came to this conspiratorial clique out of my religious beliefs."

When Roland Freisler , who headed the chair, accused him of a cowardly attitude:

“Josef Wirmer, yes you belong to the black parliamentary group, yes, you can see that, it cannot be otherwise. […] Lawyer until '43? Born in 1901? Yes, weren't you a soldier? ,No.' No. It's funny. They are of course UK placed. [...] How important the office of civil lawyer must have been that you had there, that you did not even become a soldier at that age. And from then on you were conscripted, which speaks in favor of your attitude that you wait until you are conscripted. Fine fruit! "(Wirmer wants to say something, Freisler interrupts him with a roar)" Yes, yes, yes, fine fruit! "

he countered:

Stumbling block in front of the house at Dürerstraße 17 in Berlin-Lichterfelde

"When I hang, I am not afraid, but you!"

When Freisler replied that Wirmer would soon go to hell, he replied:

"It will be my pleasure to see you soon, Mr. President."

Wirmer also confessed to the Cartel Association (KV) before the “People's Court” , whereupon Freisler yells at him: “[…] that you are KVer, well!”

On September 8, 1944, Josef Wirmer was sentenced to death by the “People's Court” . Two hours after the verdict was announced in the show trial , he was executed with a wire noose in Plötzensee together with the five other convicts Georg Alexander Hansen , Ulrich von Hassell , Paul Lejeune-Jung , Ulrich Wilhelm Graf Schwerin von Schwanenfeld and Günther Smend .

On August 7, 1944, Wirmer wrote to his friend J. Hermann Siemer , who, after Wirmer's arrest, took in his youngest son Anton and later the rest of the family. a. written:

"Even the failed mission has its value in itself."

memory

In 1962, near the Plötzensee execution site, the Wirmerzeile was named after him.

In 1988 a Berlin memorial plaque was attached to his house (1941–1944) at Holbeinstraße 56 in Berlin-Lichterfelde .

In Warburg on the Brüderkirchhof (school grounds of the Gymnasium Marianum) on the wall of the old town there is a memorial in memory of the two former Marians and victims of National Socialism, Josef Wirmer and Wilhelm Freiherr von Ketteler . In addition, the former Mittelstrasse in Neustadt was renamed Josef-Wirmer-Strasse in the same city.

In 1999 the Catholic Church accepted Joseph Wirmer as a witness of faith in the German martyrology of the 20th century .

See also

literature

  • Michael F. Feldkamp : Josef Wirmer. In: Siegfried Koß, Wolfgang Löhr (Hrsg.): Biographisches Lexikon des KV. 3rd part (= Revocatio historiae. Volume 4). SH-Verlag, Schernfeld 1994, ISBN 3-89498-014-1 , p. 125.
  • Friedrich Gerhard Hohmann (Ed.): German Patriots in Resistance and Persecution 1933–1945. Paul Lejeune-Jung - Theodor Roeingh - Josef Wirmer - Georg Freiherr von Boeselager. A memorial book of the city of Paderborn. Schöningh, Paderborn, ISBN 3-506-73935-2 .
  • Annedore Leber (Ed.): The conscience stands up. 64 life pictures from the German resistance 1933–1945. Berlin 1963.
  • Helmut Moll (Ed. On behalf of the German Bishops' Conference): Witnesses for Christ. The German martyrology of the 20th century. , Paderborn u. a. 1999, 7th revised and updated edition 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , pp. 186–189.
  • Wiegand Pabsch : Josef Wirmer. KStV. Flamberg , Bonn 1986.
  • Museum Association and Kulturforum Warburg (ed.): Josef Wirmer - an opponent of Hitler. Articles and documents. 2nd edition, Warburg 1993, ISBN 3-922032-25-7 .

Web links

Commons : Josef Wirmer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wiegand Pabsch : Josef Wirmer. Publisher: KStV. Flamberg, Bonn 1986
  2. ↑ Michael F. Feldkamp in Siegfried Koß, Wolfgang Löhr (Ed.): Biographical Lexicon of KV. 3rd part (= Revocatio historiae. Volume 4). SH-Verlag, Schernfeld 1994, ISBN 3-89498-014-1 , p. 125.
  3. ↑ See Joachim Fest : Coup. The long way to July 20th. Siedler: Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-88680-539-5 , p. 400.
  4. ↑ July 20, 1944. Plötzensee Memorial - A joint website of the German Resistance Memorial Center and the Foundation July 20, 1944, 2003, accessed on November 28, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Wirmerzeile. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near  Kaupert )
  6. ↑ Jürgen Meyer-Wilmes: Josef Wirmer. Archdiocese of Berlin , accessed on October 19, 2015 .


personal data
SURNAME Wirmer, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer, resistance fighter, Nazi victim
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Paderborn
DATE OF DEATH September 8, 1944
Place of death Berlin-Plötzensee