Karl Brand (politician)

Karl Brand (born October 10, 1897 in Schwemlingen , † February 28, 1978 in Merzig ) was a German resistance fighter against National Socialism and a local politician of the KPD .

Life

Karl Brand grew up as the son of a factory worker in Schwemlingen, where he attended Catholic elementary school. He then became a butcher's journeyman in Mettlach . In World War I he served at the front, after which he earned his living as a nurse. After he married his wife Maria Brand (née Holzhauser) in 1921, he moved to Dillinger Hütte. There he was released in 1929. Shortly afterwards, he joined the KPD and became the first chairman in Merzig, which at that time still belonged to the Saar area . In 1932 he was elected to the Merzig district and city council. In 1935 the referendum took place on the whereabouts of the Saar area. In this so-called referendum campaign , he campaigned against the German Front , which campaigned for the Saar area to belong to the German Reich. Over 90% of the population voted in favor of returning to the German Reich. After the annexation of the Saar area to the German Empire , he emigrated to France.

In exile he organized the leaflet smuggling of "Sturmtrupp Engels" under the direction of Max Bärwolf , a successor organization of the Red Front Fighters Association . After the war began in 1939, Brand was interned by the French authorities. Although he managed to escape, the French authorities extorted Brand by blocking the distribution of food to his wife and their children, who were in the southern part of France. Brand and his son Phillipp surrendered to the German authorities. In 1941 he was arrested. After a short stay in the Zweibrücken prison, he was held in the concentration camp system of the German Reich until the end of the war . He was interned in Buchenwald , Natzweiler-Struthof and most recently in Dachau , where he was finally liberated in 1945 by US troops.

Brand then worked in the youth development of Merzig and was on the board of the Merzig sports association . From 1956 to 1960 he had a seat on the Merzig city council.

literature

• Max Glandien: Germany yes - Hitler no! About Karl Brand . In: Luitwin Blies / Horst Bernhard (ed.): For the overthrow of the Nazi regime. Resistance and persecution of anti-fascists from the Saarland . Blattlaus-Verlag, Saarbrücken 2007, ISBN 978-3-930771-44-8 , p. 107-109 .
• Bernd Rauls: Persecution and Resistance . In: District of Merzig-Wadern in connection with the association for local history in the district of Merzig-Wadern (Ed.): 175 years of the district of Merzig-Wadern 1816–1991 . Merzig 1991, p. 151-163 .