Karl August Kipp

Karl August Kipp (* 1911 in Oppenheim ; † December 5, 1959 in Mainz ) was a German resistance fighter against National Socialism who, as an SS member, tried to infiltrate the regime from within.

Life

Karl August Kipp trained as a locksmith and from 1931 tried his luck as an emigrant in Spanish Morocco . Just two years later he returned and joined the SS, although his primary concern was to secure a professional existence rather than ideological proximity to National Socialism . A former school friend, the communist Josef Engmann from Nierstein , recruited him shortly afterwards for a small resistance group, which also included the Jew Emil Löw and at least three other communists. As nominal SS member could tilt anti-fascist leaflets and propaganda material for use in Oppenheim and Opel -Werken of Rüsselsheim were meant to hide safely in their homes.

At the insistence of the resistance group, he took a job as a guard in the Osthofen concentration camp to support the prisoners there and to gather information about the system. He began his service in February 1934. The other guards, however, did not miss the good contact Kipp enjoyed with the prisoners. In addition, he hardly succeeded in having a positive effect. He left Oppenheim and went to Saxony, where he left the SS. Back in Oppenheim, he continued to work in the resistance until his group disbanded in April 1938.

After the end of the Second World War , he joined the KPD . He belonged to this until the ban in 1956 . He represented his party in the city council of Oppenheim. He initiated an arbitration board case against himself and was found "not guilty".

Kipp died on December 5, 1959 in Mainz.

Web links

• Karl August Kipp: A communist in SS uniform on the website of the Osthofen Concentration Camp Memorial