Karl Artelt

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Karl Artelt (born December 31, 1890 in Salbke ; †  September 28, 1981 in Halle an der Saale ) was one of the leaders and organizers of the Kiel sailors' uprising .

Life

Birth, school, training

Karl Artelt was born in the village of Salbke, which was later incorporated into Magdeburg, at Repkowstrasse 12 as the son of the machinist August Artelt and his wife Marie. He attended the eight-class Salbke elementary school and learned the machine fitter trade from 1904 to 1908 in the Buckau R. Wolf machine factory in Magdeburg. He worked there together with the later poet Erich Weinert , who also taught him the "basics of Marxism ".

Party memberships

He joined the SPD in 1908 and later became a member of the USPD . In spring 1919 he was one of the founding members of the KPD in Magdeburg and in 1946 he became a member of the SED .

East asia

Karl Artelt on the “Gneisenau” 1912 (below, second from right and enlarged section); Inscription on the board: Pump master staff SMS “Gneisenau”, Amoij, China 1912

In 1908 he hired the Hamburg-American Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG, a global shipping company) and spent several years as a stoker on ships that bought copra in the South Seas .

Two years later he was drafted into the Navy and served as a stoker and later as a pump master on the armored cruiser SMS Gneisenau of the German East Asia Squadron in Qingdao (Tsingtau). He was a contemporary witness of the bourgeois revolution in China under Sun Yat-sen . In September 1913 he returned to Magdeburg as a reservist and worked again in the Wolf machine factory.

First World War

Karl Artelt, I. Werft Division, left, (enlarged detail on the right), together with comrades from the I. Torpedo Division in Kiel-Wik, September 1914

With the outbreak of the First World War he was drafted into the Navy again in mid-July 1914, this time as an administrative clerk in the 1. Werft Division Kiel-Wik.

At the beginning of 1915 he was assigned to the Germania shipyard in Kiel as a mechanical engineer . After a few months he was elected manager of the German Metalworkers' Association for the shipyard. In mid-May 1916 the war situation and the food supply in Kiel came to a head. On June 14th, when the first new potatoes were distributed, there were attacks on sales outlets and warehouses. The following day, parts of the Germania shipyard workforce went on strike. Karl Artelt was one of the strike leaders. The supply situation deteriorated in winter. At the end of March 1917, in view of a planned reduction in bread rations, 1,450 workers from the Howaldtswerke and 4,000 workers from the Germania shipyard went on strike. Artelt was a member of the strike leadership.

Because of these activities he was arrested, tried by an extraordinary court martial and sentenced to six months' imprisonment, which he served in the fortress prison in Groß Strehlitz in Upper Silesia .

Artelt in April 1917 before the extraordinary court martial in Kiel; Photo sent as a postcard on November 2, 1917 from the fortress detention center in Groß-Strelitz to his brother-in-law Walter Heinke in Magdeburg-Salbke

With his release in mid-December 1917, he also received the order to march to the penal company of the 2nd Marine Engineer Battalion in Flanders . When Artelt protested against a leaflet in the military newspaper An Flanders Coast , in which the striking munitions workers in Germany were, according to his statements, "most severely defamed", he was admitted to a mental hospital in Bruges. But after six weeks of observation, the doctor attested that he had “very healthy nerves”. Soon after, he was transported back to Germany by express train. In a protocol from the Kiel naval station, Artelt is mentioned as one of the "main agitators" at a meeting in the union building on April 12, 1918. He is said to have spoken to numerous sailors and workers there, while still a member of the shipyard division. In mid-May 1918 he sent a card to his mother from a Hamburg naval hospital. It remains unclear why he was in the Hamburg hospital.

There were difficulties in finding accommodation in Kiel: his old unit sent him to the sailors division, where his admission was refused. Via Captain Ludolf, who knew him from his trial in 1917, he was housed in the torpedo division (barracks in Kiel-Wik ) and then worked there in the torpedo boat repair workshop. Other sources incorrectly speak of work in the Friedrichsort torpedo workshop. As a pump specialist, he led a column of shipyard workers drafted into the Navy. From here he rebuilt the stewards' body in the Navy, which had been broken up in 1917.

Kiel sailors' uprising

Together with Lothar Popp , he led the Kiel sailors' uprising in November 1918. Artelt formulated the first political demands and founded the first soldiers' council on November 4, 1918 . As its representative, he was asked to negotiate by Governor Wilhelm Souchon . With a big red flag on his car, he drove from the Wik to the Baltic Sea naval station. Artelt ensured through personal commitment that troops who were supposed to put down the uprising either turned back or joined the movement. On December 10, 1918, Artelt succeeded Lothar Popps as chairman of the Supreme Soldiers' Council.

Gustav Noske, Lothar Popp and Karl Artelt were recognized by various people on a photo of the Kiel city archive, which was believed to show the funeral ceremonies for the victims of the revolution in Kiel on November 10, 1918. Karl Artelt's grandson was certain that his grandfather would be the second person from the left in the first row. In February 2015, however, after information from Matthias Sperwien, the Kiel City Archives found that this famous photo was actually the funeral procession in Berlin for the burial of revolutionary victims on November 20, 1918. More information under Kiel sailors' uprising .

A bronze plaque is said to have been affixed to the barracks building of the fifth company of the 1st Torpedo Boat Division in Kiel-Wik, saying: “This is where the German revolution broke out on November 4, 1918 under the leadership of Karl Artelt . "

In spite of the sharp political differences, Artelt was also treated with respect by Gustav Noske : Noske wrote about him in Von Kiel bis Kapp : “He [Lothar Popp] was replaced by the inactive top heater Artelt, a personally decent man who quickly lost his influence when he tried to propagate Spartacist ideas. ”Artelt did not get through with his demand to build a powerful revolutionary force - the balance of power had fundamentally shifted due to demobilization, among other things - and resigned as chairman of the Supreme Soldiers' Council on January 5, 1919 .

Magdeburg

Alt Salbke 93, Karl Artelt found temporary accommodation here with a family friend, photo taken in 2010

He then returned to Magdeburg and found accommodation with a befriended family in Alt-Salbke 93. There he was one of the founding members of the KPD in mid-February 1919 and was elected to the workers' council in March of the same year. He took part in the fighting for the establishment of the Soviet Republic and against the Maercker Freikorps and spoke to the strikers from the balcony of the government building on Domplatz. After the fighting, he went into hiding in Nebra on the Unstrut , initially under a false name .

As secretary of the KPD in the subdistrict Merseburg / Querfurt, he led the fighting to ward off the Kapp putsch in 1920 . In 1921 he took part in the March fighting in central Germany. He was arrested and only released from Naumburg prison on August 22, 1921 .

As party secretary in Düsseldorf - Mörs he was arrested by the Belgian occupation authorities and charged with political activities against the occupying power before an extraordinary court martial in Aachen . He was taken to the Rhein Dahlen internment camp. He was then handed over to the senior Reich lawyer by the inter-allied commission.

In the following years he was district secretary of the Communist Party in Bielefeld and Kassel .

In 1924, at the age of 34, he became chairman of the works council at Schneider in Nebra. The company was closed because of wage claims in which the labor courts in Naumburg, Jena and Berlin found the workforce to be right. When it opened later, the works council was not reinstated.

time of the nationalsocialism

In the mid-1920s he became a sales representative, soon went into business for himself and worked as an independent businessman in Nebra until the end of 1943.

Artelt was arrested in 1933 and should be imprisoned. But when the senior officer recognized him as a former naval comrade, this was not done. In future, he had to report to the police every day at 12 noon and was not allowed to leave Nebra. He was also arrested and interrogated at regular intervals, but released. At the end of 1943 he was drafted into the Lützkendorf mineral oil works . There he was again under Gestapo supervision.

After 1945

After the end of the Second World War , Artelt was one of the initiators of the unification of the KPD and SPD to form the SED in the Querfurt district , where he was appointed 1st district secretary.

From 1948 to 1949 he was district council chairman and then first district secretary of the people's congress movement of what later became the National Front .

In November 1948, Artelt spoke with the permission of the Soviet and English occupation authorities, according to his statements, at seven major rallies in Kiel and the surrounding area on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Kiel sailors' uprising. The communist "Norddeutsche Echo" reported only one speech by Artelt at the memorial at the Eichhof cemetery and announced a "30th anniversary of the November Revolution" on November 9, 1948 in the auditorium of the PH. Chairman of the Workers 'and Soldiers' Council in Kiel in 1918, Karl Artelt, would speak.

In the 1960s / 70s he gave lectures on his past in companies and schools. He has been referred to in publications as the "red admiral". Artelt was married to Marie Artelt, nee Neumann. His wife died on October 1st, 1979 at the age of 84.

From mid-1980 until his death on September 28, 1981, he lived in the “Clara Zetkin” retirement home in Halle (Saale) . In June 2012 his grave in the cemetery in Nebra was converted into a grave of honor by resolution of the local council.

Awards

During the GDR era, Karl Artelt received various awards. He received the honor clip to the patriotic earnings in gold . In addition, he was a holder of the medal "Fighters against Fascism 1933 to 1945".

Publications

  • Lothar Popp with the assistance of Karl Artelt: Origin and Development of the November Revolution 1918: How the German Republic came into being . Kiel: Behrens 1919. Reprint as special publication 15 of the Society for Kiel City History. Kiel 1983
  • With the red flag to Vice Admiral Souchon. In: Forward and don't forget. Experience reports from active participants in the November Revolution 1918/1919. Institute for Marxism-Leninism at the Central Committee of the SED, Dietz Verlag, Berlin, 1958.

literature

  • Karl Artelt (junior): Artelt, Karl. In: Guido Heinrich, Gunter Schandera (ed.): Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon 19th and 20th centuries. Biographical lexicon for the state capital Magdeburg and the districts of Bördekreis, Jerichower Land, Ohrekreis and Schönebeck. Scriptum, Magdeburg 2002, ISBN 3-933046-49-1 .
  • Peter Kast : The Red Admiral of Kiel. Life and struggle of a revolutionary worker. Berlin (East) 1958.
  • Commemorative publication on the 40th anniversary of the November Revolution. Edited by the SED district leadership in Magdeburg.
  • Born in the fire. To the fight of the KPD in the district of Magdeburg-Anhalt. In: Contributions to the history of the city and the district of Magdeburg. Edited by the SED district leadership in Magdeburg 1978.
  • Collection of sources on the history of the labor movement in the Magdeburg district. Part II 1917-45
  • Reminder report of Karl Artelt's SAPMO Federal Archives, Sign .: SGY 30/0022.

Web links

Commons : Karl Artelt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k CVs created by grandson Karl Artelt: one copy unpublished, the other see the website of the University of Magdeburg: http://www.uni-magdeburg.de/mbl/Biografien/0264.htm .
  2. ^ A b c d e f Peter Kast, Der Rote Admiral von Kiel, publishing house of the Ministry for National Defense, Berlin 1958.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Karl Artelt, self-written curriculum vitae, unpublished in 1960 in family ownership: Karl Artelt, grandson.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Dirk Dähnhardt, Revolution in Kiel, Wachholtz Verlag, 1978, pp. 37, 40, 56, 71, 136, 137.
  5. ↑ Against the military dictatorship! - Reichstag speech by MP Dittmann on October 11, 1917 According to the official shorthand, in two Reichstag speeches, October 1917.
  6. ↑ a b c d Karl Artelt: With the red flag to Vice Admiral Souchon. In: “Forward and don't forget” - reports from active participants in the November revolution 1918/1919. Dietz Verlag Berlin, 1958, pp. 88-100.
  7. ↑ a b Klaus Kuhl, Conversations with the grandson Karl Artelt, 2010 unpublished.
  8. ↑ In the documents of the chief of staff in the naval station of the Baltic Sea, Küsel (Federal Archives RM 8/1027 Bl. 41) there is a memo in which it says: "There is a danger that the great hate speech that is currently taking place among the local [ Kieler] workers is spreading, is carried over to the latter due to the close relationships between the workers and our people [in the Navy] One of the main agitators among the workers at the Germania shipyard - Artelt by name - is a man belonging to the IWD [shipyard division] Through [!] A report by the military police master about a meeting held by the social democratic association Groß-Kiel in the trade union building on April 12th, in which Artelt particularly excelled with inflammatory speeches, no less than 25-30 uniformed officers took part who made themselves unpleasantly noticeable to the social-democratic minority through shouts. Unfortunately, it was not possible to determine the names. The whole strictness of the law is against such people to bring zes into application. After their punishment, such people have to be expedited from Kiel by being ordered to the front. "
    The grandson in Magdeburg confirmed that his grandfather had sent a card to his mother from a Hamburg naval hospital on May 5, 1918 the following month The front is a photo showing Karl Artelt (Mützenband I. Werft-Division) together with two comrades in uniform with peaked caps. Behind you can see flowering bushes. On the back he writes: "Dear mom, you send your best wishes on your birthday Karl. "The card is stamped on May 5, 1918. The grandson also has no explanation for why his grandfather was in the hospital in Hamburg after he had apparently already arrived in Kiel. He suspects it could be because of He had eye problems from an early age, you can also see from the "usual" photos that he was wearing a pince-nez.
  9. ↑ According to Dirk Dähnhardt, Revolution in Kiel (p. 56), Artelt worked in the torpedo workshop in Friedrichsort. Here Dähnhardt apparently made a transcription error: In the sources to which he refers and in the report in the Federal Archives (see below), the torpedo boat repair workshop or shipyard in Kiel-Wik is clearly mentioned. Robert Rosentreter, Blaujacken im Novembersturm (p. 32) seems to have simply adopted this information, although he is referring to statements by Artelt from 1960.
  10. ↑ Also Hermann Knüfken reported in "From Kiel to Leningrad" (publishing base pressure, Berlin 2008) (ff p. 32) by a reconstruction of the stewards body in the Navy
  11. ↑ http://www.kurkuhl.de/images/img_hist/demo.jpg . Before the photo was clearly assigned to Berlin and not Kiel in 2015, Karl Artelt's grandson was certain that his grandfather was the second person from the left in the first row. Information from Karl Artelt, grandson at the time: The marine member, third from the right with coat and saber, is my grandfather. He was small or maybe "medium-sized". On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Kiel sailors' uprising, I, then a student at the Institute for Literature "Johannes R. Becher" in Leipzig, was asked to write two full-page weekend articles about this historical event for the Magdeburg Volksstimme . Of course, so-called "trivialities" were also discussed. Therefore, I remember very well that he gave me a. said that he was armed with a pistol 08 during the uprising because he "never really got along with a rifle." (He had a congenital eye disease.) Since he was appointed 1st District Secretary of the KPD in 1945 by the Soviet military administration also received a pistol 08, we both talked later about the strange match. The mariner in the middle, identified by others as Karl Artelt, is out of the question. Those who still have doubts should compare the Artelt on the “Gneisenau” in 1912 and the one with Mantel, six years older, marching through Kiel. When I was about three years old, I became aware of my grandfather's face and was closely associated with him for a total of 39 years. (Lived in his house for ten years, lived near his home town of Nebra for eight years and stayed with him on the weekends. Later, from Magdeburg, visited him very often. Long conversations with him, also about politics and history.) A small episode: As 1st District Secretary of the KPD, he owned a pistol 08 in 1945. Sometimes it lay on a chair in the kitchen and when I eyed it curiously, Grandma said: “Hot, don't touch it!” - When asked about it later, said he to me: "I had one like that in Kiel too." - "No rifle?" - "I only had a rifle in 1914." (He was a clerk - recruit, 1st shipyard division, Kiel - Wik. August to December 1914 .)
  12. ↑ According to a police card index from December 17, 1919 "radicals in the province of Saxony."
  13. ↑ Dissertation Martin Gohlke: The councils in the revolution of 1918/19 in Magdeburg, 1999. - VI, 289 sheets - University of Oldenburg. Accessible at: http://docserver.bis.uni-oldenburg.de/publikationen/dissertation/2000/gohrae99/gohrae99.html
  14. ↑ See also: Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (Hrsg.): Der Ort des Terrors . History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps. Volume 3: Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald. CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-52963-1 , p. 511. ( Online ).
  15. ↑ Maik Hattenhorst, Magdeburg 1933 , Mitteldeutscher Verlag Halle (Saale) 2010, ISBN 978-3-89812-775-2 , page 30
  16. ^ Obituary for Marie Artelt in Neues Deutschland from October 5, 1979, page 8
  17. ↑ Dieter Jäger: Council resolution - Karl Artelt's resting place is now an honorary grave . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, June 2, 2012
  18. ^ Obituary in Neues Deutschland from 10/11. October 1981, page 8
personal data
SURNAME Artelt, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German revolutionary and politician
DATE OF BIRTH December 31, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Ointment
DATE OF DEATH September 28, 1981
Place of death Halle on the Saale