Karl Wolff (antifascist)
Karl Wolff (born September 17, 1911 , † August 1, 1933 in Altona / Elbe ) was an anti-fascist from Hamburg . He was found guilty of murder and executed in 1933 in a trial staged by the Nazi judiciary on Blood Sunday in Altona . In November 1992 the judgment was overturned.
Life
Karl Wolff, son of a blacksmith, was an orthopedic shoemaker. He lived in a back building on Süderstrasse 323 in Hamburg and was single. During Blood Sunday in Altona, Wolff, who had no criminal record, was arrested at 29 Christiansstrasse. He was accused of having been complicit in the violent death of SA men Heinrich Koch and Peter Büddig on the same day together with the anti-fascists Bruno Tesch , Walter Möller and August Lütgens .
In the autumn of 1932 Wolff was briefly imprisoned; then the criminal proceedings were discontinued. After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists , he was charged again together with 14 other men and, from May 8, 1933, was brought before a special court in a staged trial at the Altona district court . According to witness statements, Wolff should not have left the backyard of Christiansstrasse during the time of the crime and could therefore not have been responsible for the fatal shots. Reputation witnesses also attested Wolff's willingness to help and a moderate political attitude. While ten suspects were sentenced to long prison terms, Wolff was found guilty of the murder on June 2, 1933, as one of the four main suspects, as well as Möller, Lütgens and Tesch. The four death sentences were carried out with the ax in the courtyard of the prison adjacent to the district court. On November 13, 1992, the judgment was overturned by the Hamburg district court because of manipulated evidence and dubious testimony against Wolff.
Commemoration
In the honor grove of Hamburg resistance fighters at the Hamburg cemetery in Ohlsdorf there is a pillow stone for Karl Wolff (fourth row from the left, thirteenth stone).
- The musician Wolf Biermann , officially Karl Wolf Biermann, was named after Karl Wolff by his parents, who were both staunch communists.
- A feeder trawler with the fishing identification number ROS 413 of the "Artur Becker" series got its name.
- In 1992, in Altona-Altstadt , Karl-Wolff-Strasse was named after him.
- At the place of execution, the site of the former prison yard on the edge of a playground in the residential area behind the courthouse of the Hamburg-Altona district court , there is now a memorial.
- In front of the entrance to the district court at Max-Brauer-Allee 89 there are four stumbling blocks arranged in a square: for August Lütgens, Karl Wolff, Walter Möller and Bruno Tesch, and in Hamburg-Hamm at Süderstraße 323 there was a stumbling block in memory of Karl Wolff relocated, his last home address.
literature
- Luise Kraushaar et al .: German resistance fighters 1933–1945. Biographies and letters. Dietz-Verlag: Berlin 1970, and 1, p. 609 - Volume 2, p. 330 and 567 (photo)
Web links
- Memorial event on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the murder of the victims of the Altona Bloody Sunday
- The four execution victims of the Altona Blood Sunday (with Karl Wolff's portrait)
- Birgit Gewehr: The four execution victims of the Altona Blood Sunday: Karl Wolff. In: Stolpersteine Hamburg , September 2015.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wolff, Karl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German resistance fighters against National Socialism |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 17, 1911 |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 1, 1933 |
| Place of death | Altona / Elbe |