Karl Zink (resistance fighter)
Karl Zink (born April 24, 1910 in Mehlis , † September 6, 1940 in Berlin-Plötzensee ) was a German resistance fighter against National Socialism .
Life
Karl Zink was born on April 24, 1910 as the first son of Gustav and Anna Zink in Mehlis. The family moved to Ilmenau in 1917 (his mother came from Ilmenau). From the fifth year of school, Karl attended the Goetheschule in Ilmenau , but he had to leave it early because his parents could no longer pay the school fees.
Karl Zink then began an apprenticeship as a businessman in his parents' business. At the same time he attended the commercial school in Ilmenau. He also learned the gunsmith's trade in his father's workshop .
The global economic crisis in 1929 ruined the family's business and he became unemployed. In 1930 and 1931 Karl Zink did his labor service . In 1931 he joined the KPD .
When the National Socialists came to power in 1933, Karl Zink decided to join the left resistance. His activities became known early, however, and he was first arrested in 1935. In August 1935 he was sentenced to two years in prison for high treason and membership in the KPD . In 1937 he was released from prison and returned to Ilmenau. Karl Zink was arrested again in 1939. The sentence, pronounced by Karl Engert at the People's Court , was imposed in 1940 and was punishable by death . His execution was carried out on September 6, 1940 in Plötzensee .
He wrote his mother Anna a farewell letter with which he wanted to raise her up in view of his impending death:
"The last thing I call out to you, stay strong and carry your head up to your last breath, like our father did."
Honors
During the GDR era, Karl Zink was honored as a resistance fighter in southern Thuringia . In his hometown of Ilmenau, Carl-August-Strasse, named after a Weimar duke, was renamed Karl-Zink-Strasse in 1945 , just as Friedrichstrasse in Zella-Mehlis got its name. The name of the Ilmenau girls' school was also renamed Karl-Zink-Schule a few years after the end of the war.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Our Neue Zeitung 8-2010, p. 14
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Zinc, Karl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German resistance fighter, member of the KPD |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 24, 1910 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mehlis |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 6, 1940 |
| Place of death | Berlin-Plötzensee |