Julius Helmstädter

Julius Helmstädter (born July 17, 1879 in Pforzheim ; † February 11, 1945 in Dachau concentration camp ) was a German politician ( SPD ).

Life

Born on July 17, 1879 in Pforzheim, Julius Helmstädter came to Edingen near Mannheim at an early age . His father was a cigar maker, he himself became a bricklayer. In 1907 he was one of the founding members of the SPD in Edingen. Here he moved in 1913 as the second Social Democrat in the Edingen municipal council, which he then belonged to for 20 years until 1933. He was a soldier in the First World War. In 1919 he became chairman of the Edingen local association and here, too, Hitler's seizure of power marked the end.

When the USPD split off from the SPD in 1920 , and many members were torn back and forth, he was largely able to hold the party together and integrate those returning after reunification in 1923, whereby they got their old offices back.

From 1902 to 1904 Helmstadt was the chairman of the “heavy athletes department”, which was merged into the “Fortuna” Edingen in 1913, and he was also a member of the “Arbeitergesangverein Vorwärts”.

In 1929 he ran for the Baden state parliament without success, but then moved up to the state parliament in 1932 for the late Bernhard Gehweiler . Helmstädter only experienced the decline of democracy and the beginning of the Nazi dictatorship there. His persecution began shortly after the Nazis came to power when, on March 14, 1933, he was only able to escape arrest by fleeing just before a local council meeting. An odyssey began, always on the lookout for the henchmen of the National Socialists. He found shelter with his son Fritz in Stuttgart, his daughter Hermine in Mannheim, with other relatives in Heppenheim and finally with his sister in Maudach, where he was arrested in October 1933. He was only released six weeks later through violent intervention by his son. "It won't be long now, then there will be war," his daughter Hermine Hofmann remembers her father's words when he came home. And: "Father has done it again as a bricklayer." Julius Helmstädter was constantly observed both professionally and privately because of his political stance. But he was and remained a social democrat. "We have already sacrificed a lot, my God," sighs Hermine Hofmann.

After the failed assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944 , the Himmler decree was issued, all suspected persons (over 5,000 opponents of the regime in the whole Reich) should be arrested. Julius Helmstädter was arrested in the course of the "Operation Grid", first imprisoned in Mannheim prison and then from August 29, 1944, like 14 former social democratic and communist city councilors from Pforzheim, imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp, where he was exposed to special dangers as a severely heart disease. Julius Helmstädter died on February 11, 1945 in the Dachau concentration camp under unknown circumstances shortly before the end of the war or the liberation.

A memorial commemorates Julius Helmstädter in the Edinger Friedhof. The memorial stone was inaugurated on July 17, 1949. The inscription reads: “Freedom was what it had to end for, the freedom that we are beginning to complete.” He is one of the 18 MPs who are commemorated in the 2004 memorial book in the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg . Julius Helmstädter's descendants include his son Fritz Helmstädter and his grandson Wilfried Helmstädter , both SPD politicians. His daughter Hermine was a member of the Edingen municipal council for eleven years after the Second World War.

literature

• Peter Kaiser: The district of Mannheim under National Socialism . Heidelberg 2009, ISBN 978-3-932102-20-2 .
• A Social Democrat who could not be denied , in: Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung Heidelberg, April 9, 2005.
• Dr. Kurt Stenzel / Thomas Zachler: “Anniversary publication 100 years of the SPD local association Edingen-Neckarhausen”. Edingen-Neckarhausen, 2007.

Web links

• Biography of Julius Helmstädter . In: Wilhelm H. Schröder : Social Democratic Parliamentarians in the German Reich and Landtag 1876–1933 (BIOSOP)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mannheimer Morgen February 12, 2005  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ State Parliament of Baden-Württemberg March 30, 2004  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Mannheimer Morgen, February 26, 2005  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.