Karl Jänicke

Karl Jänicke (born April 8, 1888 in Schönebeck near Magdeburg , † July 5, 1935 in Halle ) was a German worker. As a former member of the Reichsbanner, Jänicke was accused of murdering an SA member in 1934, sentenced to death despite the dubious evidence, and executed in 1935.

Live and act

Jänicke grew up in a working-class family. As a young man he joined the Social Democratic Party . From 1914 he took part in the First World War, from which he returned as an invalid.

Since 1924 Jänicke belonged to the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold . He took on the role of drummer in the marching band of the Reichsbanner formation in his home town of Schönebeck.

Shortly after the National Socialists came to power in the spring of 1933, Jänicke was embroiled in a street battle on March 3, 1933. When an SA unit attacked a Reichsbanner parade, there were fights with numerous injuries on both sides. A member of the SA died a few days later from his injuries sustained in this confrontation. Jänicke, who had taken part in the procession as a member of the Reichsbanner, was arrested on March 4, 1933 on the charge that he was the one who had inflicted the fatal injuries on the SA member and taken to the Roter Ochse prison in Halle.

Although no clear evidence of his guilt could be produced - most of the testimonies indicated that Jänicke had been in a completely different place on the train than the one where the SA member had suffered his injuries, so that he was the author of the fatal one Injuries with high probability ruled out - Jänicke was sentenced on December 11, 1933 by the Magdeburg Regional Court to a 15-year prison term. In an appeal procedure initiated by the public prosecutor's office on October 12, 1934, the Halle Special Court tightened the sentence and sentenced Jänicke to death. In addition, the Magdeburg jury sentenced him on April 4, 1935 for treason to another eight years in prison.

Janicke's execution took place on July 5, 1935.

literature

• Werner Binger: Memorial sites for the victims of National Socialism in Saxony-Anhalt: an overview , 1998, p. 44.
• Hermann-Josef Rupieper: The situation reports of the secret state police for the province of Saxony 1933 to 1936 , 2004, vol. 2, p. 214.
• Social Democratic Party of Germany: Committed to Freedom: Commemorative Book of German Social Democracy in the 20th Century , 2000.