Karl Jarick

Karl Jarick (born June 19, 1891 in Berlin ; † May 4, 1947 ibid ) was a German communist union official and resistance fighter against the Nazi regime .

Life

Jarick attended elementary school and learned the lathe trade . He then worked in a Berlin locomotive and later in a car factory. In 1909 he became a member of the German Metal Workers' Association (DMV), in which he took on several functions over time. Jarick later belonged to the management of the Berlin DMV lathe industry, which is why he became a full-time employee of the DMV local administration.

Jarick joined the SPD in 1910 . During the First World War he became an enemy. Jarick joined the Spartacus group in 1916 . When the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) was founded in April 1917, he joined the new revolutionary party through the affiliation of the “Spartacus Group”. Before and during the November Revolution , Jarick belonged to the circle of Revolutionary Obleute . In connection with the revolution, Jarick was active in the council movement. With the conversion of the left wing of the USPD to the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) Jarick became a member of this party at the end of 1920.

During the Weimar period, Jarick was an avowed communist in the Berlin DMV for years. As a representative of the Berlin DMV lathe industry, Jarick confessed to the Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition (RGO) in early 1929 . Numerous members of this branch shared his opinion, which is why a considerable number of communist-oriented lathe operators were excluded from the DMV in the summer of 1929. Jarick also lost his full-time job at DMV and was expelled from the association. At the end of 1930 Jarick took part in the founding of the Unified Association of Metal Workers in Berlin (EVMB), which a comparatively large number of lathe operators joined. Jarick was a member of the closer board of the EVMB from the end of 1930 and was appointed "Works Council Manager" of the association. Just a few weeks later, in January 1931, Jarick took over the function of a “legal advisory council” on the EVMB board. At times Jarick is said to have participated in espionage activities for the RGO with Wilhelm Poeck and Erich Steffen . In connection with the allegation of industrial espionage, the security authorities arrested Jarick. He was imprisoned from March to December 1931.

After the seizure of power by the National Socialists to Jarick initially hid in Berlin because he feared reprisals from the ranks of the Nazi movement. He took an active part in illegal communist resistance groups, but did not take on any function in the illegal EVMB. Jarick was arrested in June 1933. First he was sent to the Berlin police prison on Alexanderplatz for a short time. The Gestapo then transferred him to the Brandenburg an der Havel concentration camp , where he was imprisoned for several weeks. The exact time of detention is unclear. After his release, Jarick was under police surveillance. He was arrested and interrogated several times in the ensuing period. Jarick, however, did not incriminate any of his colleagues in the resistance. He himself continued to be involved in illegal groups in Berlin metal works.

After the end of the Second World War, Jarick took part in the rebuilding of the union in Berlin in 1945/46. But soon he had to retire from his duties due to his poor health.

Literature / sources

• Stefan Heinz , Siegfried Mielke (ed.): Functionaries of the unified association of metal workers in Berlin in the Nazi state. Resistance and persecution (= trade unionists under National Socialism. Persecution - resistance - emigration. Volume 2). Metropol, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86331-062-2 , pp. 22, 39, 47, 170-173 (short biography).
• Stefan Heinz: Moscow's mercenaries? "The Union of Metal Workers in Berlin": Development and failure of a communist union. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-89965-406-6 , pp. 150, 368, 372 ff., 377 ff., 383 ff. 391 ff. 421 ff. 444, 459, 473, 528.
• Landesarchiv Berlin , inventory C Rep. 118-01, No. 2812 (documents in connection with recognition as a “victim of fascism”).